Lisa Norden

Grown up in a smaller Swedish town I was the typical horse girl who was good at sport. I rode my bike everywhere (most times quicker than the bus) and learnt about hard work and responsibility in the stable. I wanted to go places with my competing but with limited finances horseriding proved to be a difficult venue.

In the summer of 2000 I rode my bike to Italy together with my mum. The day she turned 40 we put our feet in the Mediterranean having been on the bike for 19 days, most of these in a heavy rain... I had an old steel bike 5 sizes to big, gears down on the frame and bags attached both front and back. It did the work, but I can't say I was sold on the sport.

The turnaround was a few weeks after the return to Sweden when I signed up for a local triathlon event in my hometown. I had to breastswim all the 400m in the pool and was 2nd last out of the water... With a solid bike base in my legs I managed to overtake a whole bunch of people and win my age group.

Another year down the road my horse got injured and I made the decision to learn to swim and put some more time into my own training. This paid off and in 2002 I won the Swedish Junior Champs, the Nordic Junior Champs and qualified for Europeans. FUN! Finally I found a sport where you get rewarded for your training and commitment , not by the size of your familys wallet. ]

I still have all my family and friends back in Sweden. The horses are swoped for dogs but my mum is still active and have done three IM's since the cycling trip to Italy.

I'm currently based in Australia training with Darren Smith, my coach since 2007. I'm living the dream, riding my bike and training hard day after day. My ultimate goal is to found out how good I can be and how fast I can get.

The challenge will be to time this with the day if the triathlon event in London 2012...

3 sleeps to go in Hamburg

July 16, 2010

I think this is one of my fav triathlons out there.

Number one reason is probably the streak of great races I had there. Not only great results, but races where I after the finishline was struck by the thought; "how the heck did I do that?".

My first Hamburg experience was as a young "nordo" brushing elbows with the big girls feeling totally out of league... I managed a decent run and broke into my first top 20!

My second time was when I ran away from the rest of the field and won the U23 World Champs. I think that was the day my career really took shape. I remember standing on the podium thinking "you better soak all this up and remember every bit, every smell, every feeling... cause you might never ever get back up here again" I think my smile was stuck on my face for days.

Third time was last year where I ended up in a break away with Moffat and Daniela. A great set up that ended up with a 2nd place and lots of beer in my hair (traditional hamburg podium cermony).

So Hamburg def brings on some great memories. But it is so much more to this race than the results. Most athletes loves it here. The organisation is great. The race course is brilliant and very spectator friendly. The spectators is a knowledgeable crowd and makes sure you never, ever slacks off out there. Even during the swim leg there are pacthes of the course where you eye ball the people on the side. Terrific!

I have now two days ahead of me of which I devide between some quality coffee sipping, a few main sessions, lazing around in my room and hanging at the specialized tent. The latter being one of the favorites as it's easy to combine with the coffee as my AMIRA get some TLC from Dylan.

Stats for Lisa Norden are coming soon.