German Olympian and winner of the 2008 Hamburg ITU Triathlon World Cup, Ricarda Lisk, decided to be rather adventurous with her off season and is currently trekking through Argentina.

From Ricarda Lisk, 9th October 2009:
I flew back to Spain after the final of the Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championship Series in Australia, as I wanted to race the Spanish Championships the following weekend. Unfortunately I caught a cold and couldn’t train much. But I felt better on the race day.

The water temperature was only 12.8°C and I got very cold. So after the swimming I was a bit behind and on the bike I couldn’t catch the two leading girls. I had to cycle four of the seven laps by myself. On the run I felt better at the end and finally finished in second place behind Radka Vodicova (CZE) and in front of Eva Ledesma from Spain.

During the next week, Javier Gomez and I did a roadtrip for three days through North Galicia. The weather was great and the beaches and mountains are beautiful.

Afterwards I flew back home to Germany as I had appointments with sponsors before my last race. I raced with my French team from Chateauroux at the Coup de France in Gruissan on the Mediterranean coast. All the teams raced every two minutes and at least three athletes had to finish together. With Carol Peon and Melanie Annaheim we took third place with just a four second lead.

Now the season is finally over and I won’t think of training at least for the next four weeks!

From: Ricarda Lisk, 24th October 2009:
I am back in Galicia and I have the distinct feeling that as soon as I book a flight on the internet, a system is programmed to turn on the rain, as soon as I land at my destination. Since I arrived it’s been raining non-stop. According to the forecast from the start of next week it will once again brighten up, I can assure the people of Northern Spain this is true because I am leaving on this day!

Together with my friend, I will fly to Argentina for a good three weeks. We will start in Buenos Aires and then travel through Patagonia to Tierra del Fuego by plane, car, bus, boat and train. We want to do a lot of hiking, climbing and horseback riding or explore by mountain bike. It will not be warm, but we know we will definitely have good clothes because we have tested them well enough on the Costa de la Muerte in the wind and rain!

Stay up to date with Ricarda’s blog by visiting her website.