I got my (very precious) new bike exactly a month ago. Before that I hadn’t cycled since I was a teenager, but since choosing to start ironman training, the biking was going to be pretty essential…

I have totally fallen in love with it and have managed to do 418 kilometres in the last four weeks. That’s only a total of nine rides, which doesn’t seem that many at all considering I have a 300km overnight bike ride ‘looming’ next month! (I really must learn how to say no to ridiculous challenges!)

But the ‘moral of the story’ is that cycling is good for you! My bum has definitely had a lift and my belly seems more toned. I know that part of seeing some results this quickly is because I am doing something new that my body isn’t used to. But it’s definitely working!

So anyone reading this who is thinking of getting a bike, go for it! Chances are you will see lots of new places that you wouldn’t visit otherwise, get out in the fresh air – and did I mention you’ll get a toned bum?!

And just to clarify, sadly that’s not mine on this post. I’ll be needing quite a few more rides (and a spray tan!) before I’ll share my derriere with you!

Hands up who thinks it’s a good idea to sign up for a 300KM overnight bike ride when you have only just started cycling, and the longest ride you’ve ever done is 60KM? Really. Not. Clever. But then again, I’m starting to wonder if I need professional help…

Vätternrundan in Sweden is the largest recreational bicycle ride in the world. So it makes perfect sense for a bike novice like me to do it, right? My friend James who has done it twice before had a friend drop out, so he asked me if I wanted to jump in. It seems I’m unable to say no to any challenge thrown at me, so I now have 10 weeks to train for a ride that is probably going to take me at least 12 hours to complete!

The longest I’ve ever exercised in one go is just over two hours. So I have no idea how my body will cope and what my head will do. I’m definitely jumping in at the deep end here, but I think I’ll be fine. I’m pretty fit and stubborn as hell, so quitting is not an option.

James says one of the main things is that I start getting used to the gears so I make riding as easy as possible for myself. He also reckons we can get enough long rides in before June and that I will be absolutely fine. I’m loving the confidence, but I’m slightly  shitting it, if I’m honest. 300KM sounds ok. Spending way over 10 hours on the bike saddle, not so much…

But here is how I look at it: I can say I’ll do it next year as ten weeks is not long enough to train for something like this, or I can just man up and do it. It will definitely be tough, but it will properly test my physical and mental strength. And if I struggle with 10+ hours of exercise, I can let go of the idea of ever doing an Ironman.

I sometimes wish I was one of those people who are happy with a little jog, a zumba class or a splash in the pool as part of their fitness routine. That would save my body from a lot of pain, for sure. But then again, I love finding out how far I can push myself! (Plus I’m doing this for a great charity!)

I’d love to hear from anyone who has done this ride!

I’ve been neglecting my blog and any other social media almost completely for the last week, as I took a very much deserved holiday with my family. We spent an amazing week in San Sebastian, Spain.

When I checked the weather forecast, it was meant to be 10 degrees with heavy rain, but we managed to get a couple of lovely days on the beach before the bad weather kicked in.

We ate ridiculously well. The food is not only delicious but pretty cheap, with the wine being even cheaper! Happy days…

In addition to managing to spend some much needed quality time with my lovely family, I went for a couple of jogs. I love running in new places and it’s a fantastic way to get to know a city. I’ll post about them in more detail, but I think I did about 45KM in 6 days.

But for now, I must get on with catching up on emails, as I didn’t check them once last week…

I’m so pleased to be the first UK stockist for Ivana Helsinki, (the SS13 collection arrives in store and online in the beginning of March) and I was in clothes heaven when I went to place my AW order with them today. I played dress up, but I think we can all agree that the model, Vera Hyvämaa looks much better in the designs than I do.

I fell in love with this cape. I also love it that all the Ivana Helsinki knitwear is still made in Finland and the quality is excellent.

My next stop was the new Minna Parikka store. I had a hard time deciding which AW styles to go for besides the glittery bunny ear heels, which are just amazing.

I knew I wasn’t going to have time to go for an actual training session today, but I wasn’t going to fail my self imposed fitness challenge so I came up with a little plan. And here is why I don’t buy the “I don’t have time to exercise” excuse!

Day 6: Bum squeezes on the bus (20minutes)
It takes me about ten minutes to get into town from my mum and dad’s house. So I spent the journey there and back working on my butt. Yep, that happened… I felt ridiculous doing it but it was effective and gave me a good laugh! It also proves a point that you don’t have to go and do an actual training session at a gym to work on your fitness.

I’m hoping to run tomorrow, but I’m out with my friend tonight so I don’t think it will be a long one…

Since I’ve made my point of trying to be super mum this week and spend as much quality time with the kids as possible, it was another action packed day.

Me and my mum took the three pixies to an inside soft play and I realised that the high climbing frames and tunnels do make you get our of breath if you have a daughter who wants to constantly race you. (I wonder where she gets that urge from?!) There may also be a video of me hammering it on this mini hoop. Not my proudest moments, but I couldn’t help myself…

After lunch, it was time for some more sledging. My gorgeous nephew joined us and you can see how happy Alvar is about it! He really is quite jealous when it comes to babies, which Venla and Veikko never were. As for the picture, YES, I am wearing UGGs, my mother’s gloves and tracky bottoms and my husband’s hat. It’s all about fashion when one is sledging…

We ended the day at a basketball game. (My brother is a coach.) I swear the kids only agree to come along to the games as they know they get pulla (cinammon buns) at half time! I loved watching the game, my brother’s team won, and I got all nostalgic thinking about all those years I used to play.

So after all that, we finally get to my fitness challenge part. Phew! I wonder how many people have given up reading this post already…

Day 4: 5K run, 500m of walking lunges and 50 jumping squats.
It was a late one as the boys refused to go to bed, and I didn’t leave the house until almost 10.30pm,  but I loved running on snow. I did leave my recently purchased running head band at home so I thought I needed to wear my hat since it was -5C.

So far my New Year’s resolution of getting super fit has been an epic fail… I’ve been nothing but ill and have ran four times. That’s the reason I’ve decided to set myself a mini fitness challenge of exercising every day I’m in Finland. I’m really lucky as my mum and dad are amazing with my three pixies, so today when they all went to watch a Pippi Longstocking puppet show, I escaped to a nearby gym.

Day 1: Spinning and Body pump

I used to teach a lot of spin and pump, and really miss both classes. I haven’t done pump since I was in Finland last summer, so I’m fully aware it wasn’t the best idea to load the bar more than I did even then, just because I didn’t want to lift less than the girls who clearly do the class regularly do. I’m pretty sure my arms will absolutely kill tomorrow, which serves me right for being stupidly competitive.

I will report back… I’m planning a snowy run tomorrow. I’m also hoping to finally give cross fit a go and play tennis one day next week, but so far I haven’t found anyone who wants to challenge me as I haven’t played in almost 20 years!

My friend is travelling the world with her boyfriend (lucky them!) and I spotted this picture on their Facebook wall the other day. It’s of the Killing Fields in Cambodia. I think the picture looks quite beautiful, actually. The history of the place, however, is anything but!

I think it’s shocking that what happened, wasn’t even that long ago. For anyone who doesn’t know, the Khmer Rouge regime executed over a million people, including children between 1975 and 1979. Mass graves containing almost 9000 bodies were discovered in 1980 after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime .

You can read in more detail about the  horrendousness here.

Checking out the ice and electric wire pre race…

No magic marker on my forehead. Must draw the line somewhere

Muddy much?

A little bit fresher after a dip in the pond.

Ok, so I admit it: I’m ridiculously competitive. I’m also a sucker for a challenge. I’ve been into running for just under two year now. Until then I hated it with passion. I’ve done a few 10K races and two half marathons, but I felt I needed to up the game a bit, so me and two friends did the 5K Spartan sprint in the summer.

I absolutely loved it and was buzzing after an amazing result. Some of the challenged were tough as you were doing them, but we all agreed that we could have ran the whole thing again after we finished.

I’m now trying to decide what to sign up for next year. So far, I’ve decided to do the Tough Mudder in May. I’m very pleased I’ve managed to rope a few friends into doing it with me. I must get running proper distances though as with 12 miles and a ridiculous amount of obstacles it will definitely be a proper challenge.

I’m also strangely tempted and intrigued by this ‘danger marathon’ in Finland’s Lapland next October. I really am not sure why, as I’ve said I won’t have time to train for a marathon, let alone one where you run over mountains, swamps and other insane natural obstacles. Oh, and there is also an option to run 86K, which is just completely insane.

I’d love to know if anyone fancies joining me for a race or if you are doing or know of any challenges that I should check out!

I’m very proud of my heritage and being Finnish. I’ve lived in the UK since 1999, and it’s my home, but I don’t consider myself being British. I love it here and I’m married to a great Englishman from ‘up North.’ Also, the likelihood of us moving to Finland is pretty small and I am ok with that.

Despite living in the UK for over a decade, I still very much miss Finland and my family and there are certain random things like tooth paste and chewing gum (weird, I know!) I always bring back with me after a visit back home.

You wonder where I am going with all this patriotic shenaniganz… Well, it’s the Finnish independence day today and the I just remember I wrote a post last year about how ‘we’ won out independence back after fighting  the Russians and how I will always speak Finnish to our three children.

I’d love to hear from other bilingual families and find out how speaking two languages at home works for them. But for now… Happy 95th birthday, Finland!

Spotted this on my friend’s Facebook page. Him and his girlfriend are travelling in the States and I think he took this somewhere in New York.

Have a great weekend, everyone!