Nordicgirl Adventures 2019 Part 2 - March & April

March and April, I became a slave to my ultimate goal. Nobody said training would be easy and with May 31st just around the corner this would become my biggest challenge of my life. When I did my first triathlon, i nearly died, being that it was a very small sprint size, what's all the fuss I thought. For me being the fully motivated and sometimes crazy person, I thought, forget the Olympic size, lets head straight for the Half Iron .. needless to say i put everything into being able to survive that day, more on that in Part 3! 

My schedule was somewhat of what a hamster would endure on the wheel.. going around and around, and it felt like there was no stopping at all. Every single day.. don't stop ! keep moving.  

My swimming became my place to work out all my emotions, days of frustration, happiness and just general work computer related problems.  Only an IT person would understand this !

Keith, my best friend and my training partner.. did his best to keep me moving, but he had his own goals, and sometimes, it was hard to keep the momentum going, cause there was no one pushing me along. Days of slacking off came, usually, I crashed every 5 weeks, getting sinus issues and the odd cold.. but i managed to get back up on the horse and keep moving.

Keith and I did a practice run as a relay of the UBC Triathlon. Worst event ever ! Will never do that again.  I did the swim and bike, Keith did the run. You see after 3 years, i have been suffering with IT band issues, so running has been put on hold in my life, and still today, i don't dare go back to it anytime soon.

The day of the UBC Triathlon, i was freaking out. We left, it was hard to tell where I needed to be, what to do, once we arrived, I was able to check in and figure it out, but the lack of organization had befuddled me, as this is suppose to be the highly anticipated event to start the triathlon season.

When I started the swim, i placed myself in where i thought i should be able to hold pace. As soon as I hit the pool, i panicked, I was passed by many people, my heart rate jumped up way too high, the water was very cold, and to top it off, i had never swam in a 50 m pool !  somehow i made it through, my time was horrible and i was already disappointed in myself.  When i got out of the pool, we had to run outside and change in a tent on the cold cement. That was not pleasant. As Keith reminded me, go for comfort, so take the time, and put on the best clothes for the next leg.

The bike was next. that was OK. I can ride a bike, no problem, and luckily the snow had been gone for a day or two prior, so riding was good. Small hills and 2 loops. I managed to get a good timing on that. When i finished my first loop, i came barreling around the corner, and saw my co-worker and my work dog, standing there. I felt so empowered at that point, so i took off as a quick and went for loop 2.

The last leg, was up to Keith !  thank god for that... He left with a smile, and i went and stood and waited at the finish line for him. And as usual he arrived with a smile.  We were done! I felt relieved, but I was so pissed off about the swim, it took me days to get over that. 

Nordic Girl Adventures Part 1 - February

Well we are at December of 2019, this year has flown by so fast ! As I sit here and think about the year, I have embarked on so many adventures in my life.

Not only has my life been filled with athletic training, it was filled with travel, meeting new people and exploring new aspects of my life, i never thought would be possible.

I started out the beginning of the year, signing up for a race in California ! I figured driving to California not so far away, winter months, should be nice weather.. right ?   ah no... farther from the truth of what my naive thoughts would be.

February's journey took me through a 2 day trip through Washington, Oregon and finally landing in Crescent City. This was the start of the Redwood forest. Spent one night there, and one morning, cruising around the city on the bike.  Nice place, too cold, but we weren't staying, so it didn't matter all that much...

The next day took us to Fort Bragg. Small town, not sure what it had to offer, but we cruised around by the ocean side, where i was able to smell the salt air take some photographs of the beautiful rock cliffs of the shore. This is truly a  place I would like to revisit again.  When we got back on the road, we took the coast down and finally headed inland towards Orville and final destination was Gridley.

Well, Gridley was a iconic little american town, with big historic homes, orange groves in front yards and wild turkey's. Surrounded by the Buttes.  A beautiful rolling hillside covered in Almond farms, orange groves and grazing cows, horses and others

The town was originally discovered by Spanish & Mexican's in the 18th century, until a grain farmer named George Gridley, who owned a 960 acre farm moved in town became the largest landowner, so the town was named after him.

We rode the 100 km ride and it was a cool day, high of 12 C and wind gusts up to 100 km per hour. the wind was so bad, cyclist needed to tandem to break the wind. For the most part I was on my own, as there were fewer people in the 100 km ride.

We explored down in to San Francisco for a day. Met my cousin and his wife, and Olive. Olive the dachshund who gets to travel around ! She completely stole my heart.
The day in San Fran was interesting as i reflected on where my Great Aunt would have traveled and what she would have seen there in the early 1900's.

We saw the ' Little boxes on the hill side' after that famous song,  Lands End park, the Golden gate bridge and other interesting hilly neighbourhoods. Lunch at the pier, where Olive was able to join us, but had to sit in the carrier. She was good with that.

Going home back to Canada, was done in one day through the Shasta Mountains, back to Grants Pass, Oregon, Washington. Once we hit Redmond... SNOW.... that's a dirty word for something so pure and white !  Driving most of the night through Seattle and Bellingham was the worst snow, i had seen in a few years, and i was glad, i still had snow tires on.

It was a long haul, but after 18 hours on the road, we finally reached home.

to be continued.....

The struggle is real..

Guess it is time to get back to my writings here... Lots has happened since I had last made an entry here.
I have managed to complete a number of events between March 2018 until August 2019.
Stykeproven in Norway, 140km race.  Tour de Victoria in Victoria BC in August 2018

After that, i started in with some strength training and in November 2018 started working with a  Triathlon coach, to work through to my next journey.

My goal for 2019 was to complete a Half Iron.. or some variation of one.. so I chose Aqua bike.  Aqua bike was a 2 km swim, and a 89km bike ride.. no run. Great event for me, as I suffer with IT issues, and have for a very long time now. 
It went as good as could be expected, it was tough.. and I didn't feel all that well prepared for it.
I had lots of anxiety going into the race, but I had my best friend on my side through out the whole event, and that really helped alot. I totally appreciated that support.

After the Half, I moved on to swimming events.. 2 endurance swimming events. The first one was July in Kelowna, and that was 2.1km swim. I was accompanied by paddleboard with my friend Kelly. It was good, and i did very well time wise on that event. 
and being who i am ... i decided... heck ya.. lets do an aqua bike the next day !!!

This was the peach classic triathlon and aqua bike.  I struggled with the swim, it was choppy and shallow, and it was like competing with a bunch of salmon spawning up a river. 
The bike was good, hilly ....  and i really went through with no expectations.. i just figured... ah... what ever happens, happens... and what happened ?  Well I took 3rd in my age class... got to love
that !

August, i had signed up for another endurance swim 7 km, but after all my practicing on the lake, i realized my body was having a hard time getting through to 4 km ... so i cut it back to the 3.1 km version... and because of the wind, i ended up swimming about 4.3km... so that's over 1000 meters more, then i should have gone.
Again I had my best friend beside me in a solo canoe.. and it was pretty calming event for me.

This past week, i took another crack at Tour de Victoria... i had a record time... i cut back to the 60 km distance, and did not stop through out the whole ride.. and managed to come in under 3 hrs... i was pleased !

Well that's my recap for 2018-2019

I would like to explore more on swimming for next year.. and little less focus on aqua bikes...

Run Ramp-up

This year I was asked to join the 2018 Run the Year challenge.  You can either run 2018 miles in 1 year yourself, team of 2, team of 3 or team of 4.  I am on a team of 4, best thing to keep me moving.

We offer support to each other almost daily, recording our miles online, using Facebook chat and our Facebook private page. My team started on January 1st, and 1 month later we are at 945 miles !
It is very exciting once we meet that goal, and most of us will continue on.

As of March 18, 2018 we finished our 2018, but we decided to keep working towards 2018 per team member.. will we do it... HELL YES !   

We keep moving forward, only 6054 miles to go or 9687 KM ....

Until next time, run happy, run strong, and don't forget to keep moving !

Hello..... Torq Products anyone ?

Hello Torq !
Have you heard of Torq products yet ? Well I was lucky enough to be chosen to try out their products, and I am really enjoying them.

Torq comes out of the UK . you can check out their page ! for more information of nutrition information.
I came across Torq when I was working at the Whistler Gran Fondo in Vancouver. I met John and Maria from Swim Bike Run distributors from Kelowna, BC
Please check out their page, they have lots of great training items available, and if you want to try a sample selection of Torq, you can order it direct from them.  SWIM BIKE RUN Website

Today I tried the Torq recovery drink.
I have a friend who every time we would exercise he would say to me.. Do you have any recovery drink ? and I was like.. what ?  you mean water ??,,, well now I get it. 

Torq carries a recovery drink that can be used
post -exercise. It has been formulated to
re-hydrate, refuel, repair and recharge your fatigued body after a heavy exercise session.

The recovery drink comes in a powder form which you mix with water. Depending on your body weight will depend on how much you use. See chart below.

For me, I am on the heavier side, so I went with the 500 ml of water to 125 g package.
It mixed up very easily in blender bottle, and has a very smooth and silky texture.
I did find that once i drank it, i was totally re-hydrated and it totally quenched my thirst immediately.
.
The flavours are interesting, tonight I tried strawberries & cream. I quite like the taste of it.. There are some unique flavours available  such as banana & mango, mandarin yogurt, chocolate mint, cookies & cream ...

Check out our Canadian distributor at  SWIM BIKE RUN 
If you like more information, or want a discount code, to try any of their product, drop me a note in the comments.

Hello January 2018

Happy New Year !  What does 2018 bring for you ? Hopefully something fun !

I am glad that 2017 is over ! It was the last year we owned our business, and it has been a challenge to run it to the end but now it is over and we are moving forward !

From a fitness standpoint !  Well as you may know I starting working with a Coach from Forerunners, Jerry Ziak. (featured right)
Greatest guy I have ever met and very patient.  Most of my training with him, has been spent in recovery and now we are starting to move forward from a injury I sustained 9 months ago. Even though he is my run coach, we still work on the bike too. As long as your moving, that's all that matters at this point for me.

This is the year, I will turn 50, and with that, my goal for this year is to run a 5 km and set my personal best.  In the spring I am scheduled to run a 10km  and then I will aim for a half marathon next November (Vancouver Fall Classic).   Big Goals so I'm told ! I hope to  accomplished  it in 50 year of life !

January 1st started out with the Running Room's Resolution Run.
This is one that I ran with a few friends of mine. I did alright, 36 mins for 5 km. I was hurting that day, not feeling that well. As I started to run, i eased into it and it became a lot better. Pleased with my time, 30% improvement for time from 2016.

This was also the day I started with Team 'Medal Heads'  and Run the Year 2018. Myself, my friend Amy and 2 new FB friends, log our miles together to reach 2018 miles in one year. At the rate we are going, we will be done in 8 months !  Its a awesome challenge. Maybe this will become a tradition !

Besides my running goals, I have a Cycling race all set up for June 2018. This year I will be flying to Norway to see my family and race the midsummer event. The event is called the Strykeprøven which means
'Strength Test'. I will ride in the 136 km distance this year.  Should be interesting and fun.  I am fortunate that I will make the trip this year.

Signing out.... More on ambassadorships I am involved in for 2018 !

Vancouver Fall Classic Run

Time to sit down and recap the weekend. This past Sunday, I did the Vancouver Fall Classic Run at UBC. These past few months have been a bit brutal. I've had a IT band injury, which I have recovered fairly well from, and now I am seeking physio who has diagnosed a completely different problem with my ligaments in my knee, which stems back from a dance injury a few years ago. However we keep working at it, and little by little things do get better.

This would be the last chance for my cousin and I to get out and spend the day together and run a little a race.
After discussion with my coach, he had said to just treat it like a everyday training session.  Basically take it easy, and don't push on it, as we don't want to go back and repeat the last 6 months of injury.

The race itself was not too packed, offering up distance of,  Half marathon, 10 km or 5 km.
 We opted for the 5 km. The day was pretty wet, and pretty cold, but once we got moving it was ok.
With in the first 10 mins, the rain let up quite a bit, and at that point, i had to get rid of my jacket as I was warmed nicely.

I completed the 5 km using 5 min run / 1 min walk. This seemed to be the perfect formula for me to sustain.  I had thought I could get through the race in 35 mins, i would be happy, but overall, i cane in just at 37 mins.   Average pace 7:25 /km . That is a 30% increase in time since I started to run in 2016. It can only get faster !

My coach was there on the side lines, as was my good friend, who pretty much  has motivated me to keep moving. I remind he is responsible for kicking my butt ! and I am thankful for that.

  I pushed at the very end to get through it, as  I was just coming up around the corner and my cousin  was gone...... no sight of her !
but she only beat me by 13 seconds... so that' s OK                  Pictured Above: Me and Coach Jerry 

What's up next.. well, we are hoping for 2018, I will get to a Half Marathon.. that's the goal, but I will have to run a few 10 km before that happens.  !
Stay tuned !