Elephants

NOT an elephant...

I was doing my job today, but at some point I wasn't doing a good job of it. I had driven straight past a stop where people were due to get off the bus. One of them came forward and said 'we want to get off'. I stopped, apologised and told him I had been thinking of elephants. He must have thought I was mad (quite a generally held opinion by the way, I don't worry about it too much) and got off.

Now, those elephants live in my wall. They are small and blue and have pink dots (some have yellow dots). Their tail is very short and they like rassspberry jam. Miss Oswin is about their size to give you an idea about how big they actually are. 

In other news: next week I am getting serious. Really serious. And I mean REALLY! On Monday, I will go jogging. Then on Tuesday, a spinning class (cycling on a stationary bike, very fast). On Wednesday we will probably start our annual rowing training. On Thursday another jogging evening. On Friday it will be chocs and telly, it just has to be!

During our very first race in 2013

The jogging is in aid of the first jogging race of the season. I did it last year (well, I trudged) in just over an hour. Of course it is also in aid of the upcoming triathlon. There will be four spinning lessons in total, throughout May, so that will hopefully help me with the cycling bit of the triathlon. And the rowing is of course in aid of our annual rowing race. Until now we've always come in first or second (out of two), but we're always on for a win of course.

So, elephants and training. I wonder whether that rassspberry jam is any good?

A little bit of this and a little bit of that, a little bit of sis and a bit of so

A lovely exception a few weeks ago

All my Dutch readers are by now of course humming, but for those of you are not Dutch, don't worry. It's not you, it's me! Anyway...

Summer in Norway. Those beautiful long summer days that last well into the evening and in some parts into the night and beyond. Long treks into the mountains. Fishing both in the sea and the many lakes. Before the summer I heard one of the weather people say it was going to be a warm(ish) summer. But wet. I wish that weather person had been wrong. Because boy, has it been wet and there is still no end in sight!

Which meant that yesterday's cycle training was not. Partly because of the weather: a lot of wind and a bit of rain. Partly because I felt my legs for some reason. But mainly because I didn't want to. I just didn't. And I felt I was completely entitled to just sit on the couch and watch others do sports. 

Not olympic. At all!

Like fencing. And archery. A bit of swimming, which confused me somewhat. And cycling. The women's road race. Where the Dutch girl Annemieke van Vleuten was in a winning position, before having such an ugly fall, there was no way she could win (she ended up in hospital). The girl in second position had the best name and I was rooting for her (Mara Abbott from the USA), all the way until another Dutch girl came flying past her in the last few meters and won. I must have screamed the house down! Well done Anna van der Breggen. Mara ended in the most horrid of places: fourth. 

Back to my training progress. Last week has been both good and bad. The swimming was great, I managed to swim without too many stops (lap one: twice, lap two: once). The walking a day later went fine as well, apart from the discomfort in my knees, especially my left. I know of course that having this bit of extra weight to lug about is not good for the knees, so today I bought me some knee protectors. Hopefully they do enough of a trick to help me be more comfortable. I also bought some wrist protectors. When cycling, my wrists really start to bother me after a while and I hope that the protectors will ease that as well. 

Other than that, nothing much. There you have it. 

The gizmo

As you may know I entered this mad scheme of getting fit. And not only that, to get fit enough to participate in a triathlon! What can I say? Marbles, senses, the lot. But...

Over the recent weeks I have noticed a difference. Before I stooped a bit when walking. No more, I go upright! Before I plodded a bit when walking. No more, I go delicately (ahem) now. Before I got tired just walking to the other side of the bus lot. Well, that's a thing of the past as well. 

In fact, I am really enjoying this whole getting fit thing. I enjoy the walking and even the climbing of hills and mountains. I enjoy the cycling and I enjoy the swimming. It has actually gotten so bad that when I don't do anything on any given day, I feel quite guilty and sorry, even if I am tired from the day before. 

Now, in order to help me understand how much I walk/run/cycle, I decided I needed a gizmo. A little thingymebob that would tell me all. A few days ago I bought a gizmo. And it is perfect. 

For example: last Sunday I cycled. Not just any old cycling either: I cycled the route we will be doing during the triathlon. And since that route is only 5 km, I needed to do it 4 times. The gizmo told me exactly how many kilometers I had done, my average speed and the speed I was going at at any given time. Plus, I even have the opportunity to use the heart rate monitor as well.

Once I get home and plug it in to my computer, I can see exactly where I have been, because of its gps. It shows the number of meters above sea level, it shows where I slowed down and where I speeded up. 

On Wednesday I used it again. This time I cycled and walked. Once I had stopped the walking part and was due to go back to the cycling bit, it told me that I had reached today's goal! And I wasn't even home yet!!

Oh, and before you ask how far I have come in my training? I actually swam 750 meters on Tuesday. For the first time! I cycled the 20 km on Sunday and I have done a lot of walking lately. Now it is just a case of training a bit more, swimming, cycling and walking the distances I have to do, preferably in the terrain I have to do them in. And this gizmo is certainly a big help!!

Klauv

Do you know I never had tasted blueberries before I moved to Norway? In fact, I can't even recall seeing them in the supermarket back in the Netherlands. But, once I moved here, I have eaten lots of them. Mostly foreign (from Poland and such), but on the weekend I had Norwegian ones. Picked by yours truly on my way to that mountain top. 

And then today I went blueberry picking. Together with a new hiking partner, who almost flew up the mountain. I was quite jealous, but then again, she had four legs and I only have two. Lotta (as this little dog was called) took her owner along and the three of us made our way up the highest mountain in Haugesund, a staggering 246 meters above sea level (Valhest was 313). 

That's Valhest in the distance

Along the way there was mud, more mud and even more mud. And blueberries. So many blueberries. Fortunately I didn't have to handpick them, my friend had a gizmo for that. I managed to get to the top with my blueberries and I managed to hold on to them on the way down as well. 

Mmmm, blueberries with vanilla sauce for dinne dessert tonight.

A new week

They were fit! (yes, in more than one way)

Last Sunday was a bit of an eye-opener for me. For starters, did you know how many good looking cute guys do those Iron Man competitions? And all those different styles of running? Plus all those people who just. want. to. finish!! 

And I stood there all day, handing back their personal belongings. Congratulating them on their achievement. In Norwegian, English, French, German, Dutch. They thanked me for volunteering. They thought it was so good to not having to look for their bag because it was already in their hands. 

I realised that I had been a bit slack. Yes, of course I had the excuses of ear infection and headache, but still, I could have walked! So, I decided that a real effort was needed now. No more dilly-dallying. No more excuses. No more tv instead of the gym. 

This definitely beats the gym

Today I was planning on swimming, but my colleague couldn't make it at the time I could make it. I thought about cycling, but then I saw my friend at work. How about a trip around Visnes? Oh yes please was the answer. 

Which is what we did. To prepare me for my triathlon in August. Fast pace from the get-go, slowing down a bit afterwards, but never stopping, no breaks, no 'I have to catch my breath now'. 

Monday afternoon

I was attacked here mostly. 

After a really lovely weekend, my Monday wasn't as lovely. Far from it in fact. You want the list of blerghs? Well, want them or not: here they come anyway!

First of all, on Saturday during that lovely (long) walk, I had gotten quite severely sunburnt on both shoulders. They were both visible in the dark so to say. Which meant that sleeping was hindered somewhat by those sore shoulders. But since I was free on Sunday that didn't bother me too much. 

Then on Sunday I realised that far from not being targeted by flying creepies, I had been a feast for them. The ones on my arms aren't bothering me that much, but the ones on my legs were likely caused by (what they call here) bird fleas and they cause a lot of grief. Prolonged itching, large marks, you know what I mean.

On Monday (ie yesterday), I had to work. At 5am. Which meant that I had to get up very early. In turn, I had to go to bed very early on Sunday. And even tired after a long hike and a nice swim, I couldn't sleep and lay awake for over 2 hours before finally falling into a somewhat fitful sleep.

Because some of my colleagues have gone on holiday already and some called in sick, whilst all the shifts are still going strong, there was a lack of drivers, which meant that I worked overtime yesterday as well. All the way up to 4pm! By which time I was nearly on my knees.

I got home (after finally having bought some sunscreen, aftersun and stuff for the bites) and decided that the swimming training was out of the question. It wasn't that I didn't want to, my body decided against it quite vehemently. So, in the end it was pizza and telly before heading to bed at 8.30. 

Oh, and it rained all day as well!!!

Sunday afternoon

When I first started the swimming for the triathlon, my main problem was my breathing. Trying to breathe in under water is apparently not good for a human being. So, I needed a bit of training. Which I had plenty of last week.

But on Sunday afternoon I made my way over to a colleague's place for some more training. One that would hopefully help me even more. And it didn't disappoint at all. She told me to try and keep my head as low as possible and I tried to do that. It actually worked. We then swam all the way to the rocks on the other side of the lake, which must be close to 200 meters away. 

I didn't do it in one go. I had to stop twice because I was swallowing mouthfuls of water, but I made it to the other side. And then we had to swim back of course. She was willing to get a boat and row over to get me, but I felt fit enough to swim. So, I swam. 

Once out of the water, we changed in proper clothes, I covered my very sunburnt arms with a towel and we had strawberries and cream and chatted and chatted. All in this lovely place, not disturbed by a single siren, car or people. 

There are many ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. This was one of the better ones!!

This training malarkey

During the past few weeks I haven't been training as much as I should have. Or could have. But I have been busy at home as well and headaches are not good when working out, so I have a bit of an excuse (yes, I know it's flimsy). 

One thing I have done though is the swimming. The first training was pretty disastrous. Breathing in under water and things like that. The trainer said I wasn't a fish, but I realised the breathing was definitely a thing to work on. Fortunately the second training (last Monday) was a lot better. I managed to get my head under water while swimming! I was so pleased. Especially since there was a pack of piranhas swimming in that lake. Well, 38 other people, but it looked like piranhas. 

Tonight we should have had a cycle training. Instead we had a swimming training and this time my friend came along to take pictures. The ones where I try and hoist myself into my wet suit needed a bit of editing (my two personal life buoys showed pretty prominently on some of them) and most of the ones where I was swimming aren't that interesting. 

What was interesting though was the fact that I am getting more and more comfortable in the water. T1 and I was trying to drown myself. T2 and I was able to get my whole head under water and T3 and I was able to come up for air and immediately go under again. Not all the time, but I am working on it. 

The most fantastic thing though: I am starting to look forward to this triathlon thing. I 'knew' I could do it, but now I know it for real. 

Tweety

It's been a while since I last wrote anything. My week has been filled with training and work and yes, occasionally sleep. I took a day off training on Thursday, but was due back yesterday. Little did I know that the gym closes early on Friday: by the time I arrived, there wasn't a car in the car park. And no, I didn't drive there, I walked.

This morning was a bit different though. I had plans to join another 5k run, but was a little unsure as to whether or not I would be allowed. My last 5k had been a 62 minute affair and the maximum today would be just under an hour, since the half marathon was due to start exactly an hour after the 5k!

But, I was allowed and I started jogging with the other 50 or so runners. I didn't keep that up for long though and quickly settled in a fast walk, using my arms to propel me forward just a bit faster. I wasn't even half way into my first round when one of the other contestants came flying past. And about two thirds of the way in, he came flying past again. By the time he had finished, I was still on round one!

I got encouragement though. From my colleagues who were there as well, from my tri-trainer and from random runners. A thumbs up, a pat on the shoulder, a big smile or just a few words of encouragement. By the time I had finished the second round, most of the other runners had come in. I had one more lap to go. I was joined by one of my colleagues and we kept walking and walking. 

When I finally came back into the stadium, it was filled with runners, all there to do the half marathon. I stuck to my guns and stayed in one lane, they could avoid me! The last fifty meters or so I jogged and once across the finish line I was received by my tri-trainer with a big hug! 

The time though? Well, it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be (just under an hour). It was much much BETTER!!! The time for my first run had been 1 hour, 2 minutes and 19 seconds. I haven't got the exact time yet, but it looks like I did it in about 51 minutes and 30 seconds. That is over ten minutes faster!

I may have come in last. I may have looked like a huge tweety bird, I may have lost my bottoms when running, but I made it. And I am proud of myself!!