When you spend 28 years of your life wasting your attention on hating yourself, it’s a bit hard to imagine a life where that isn’t the case. What would I think about then? What would I spiral over if not how bothered I am by what I see in the mirror? What could I possibly do with my free time other than scroll through Instagram wishing I looked like someone else?

In many ways, it feels like I was reborn. If you’re thinking “woah that’s a lot of importance you’re placing on an aesthetic change” read this article I previously wrote, specifically this part:

“It’s just how you look” as if how you look doesn’t live inside you every single day. As if it doesn’t decide what you wear in the morning, whether you go to the beach, whether you feel like yourself in a room full of people. I lost years (so. many. years.) to this, years quietly shrinking around something I thought I couldn’t resolve.

For the first time in my life, I got to actually enjoy summer. Like genuinely enjoy it. I took two weeks off from work, which is something I don’t think I’ve ever done since I started working full time. And it was the most enjoyable two weeks of my life. I felt so light, so happy. No thoughts of “you can’t possibly enjoy this, remember how bad your legs look and how much you hate them”.

This is not to mention the physical benefits. I’ve been able to progress with my training in a way I hadn’t been able to before. Garmin says my fitness has never been this good (lol, I’m aware how stupid this sounds, but given the way I’ve been feeling and how I’ve been progressing during training, I’d say it’s correct). I’ve found a whole new love for exercise that does not revolve around “maybe this training might finally slim down my legs”. I can now stick to what I really like because there is no hidden interest behind it (I am, in fact, retiring from triathlon after the 70.3 in Cascais).

And the clothes! Oh the clothessss!!! The amount of stuff I can to wear now! I used to spend my summer in long pants because there was absolutely no chance I’d ever show them. I have been wearing dresses and shorts I’d never even allow myself to look at before, and I don’t think I will ever wear leggings for running ever again unless the weather forces me to (and even then I might fight it). The other day I got kindly gifted a pair of knee high boots by Bared Footwear and I almost cried when I put them on - I have never been able to zip anything past my calves. Literally never.

Every day my iPhone shows me a new memory, and it always makes me feel so, so sorry for the girl I see in those photos. All I ever wanted was to feel good in my own body. Everything I did was with that in mind, and I was never able to reach that goal until I got surgery. I went to some real dark places to get here. I led my body through restriction, through bulimia, through 60h+ long fasts, to binge eating. And all I ever needed was someone to not dismiss how I felt, to not tell me I needed to accept how I looked like and learn to love myself as I was. That was all it took for me to get here (that and a €10k surgery lol).

I am an overall better person now. I’m a better partner, I’m a better friend. I no longer skip plans because I feel bad in my body and hate the way I look (this happened way more often than I’d like to admit). You have no idea the amount of times I felt too self conscious to even leave the house. There were so many times I forced myself to go to bed at 7PM so I could sleep and forget about it all. It’s no longer about me now. I’m able to focus on other people.

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If you take anything from this, I hope it’s that you don’t have to spend your life making yourself smaller around something that is making you unhappy. You deserve to feel at home in your own body. And I hope you find your way there, whatever that looks like for you.

Since we’re at it, I thought I’d answer some of the most common questions I get about my lipedema.

Who was your doctor? How much was it?

Dr. Olivas Menayo, from Ms Medical Institutes. For my case (one single surgery for type 3 stage 1 lipedema), the surgery itself was 9760€. It’s very important you get a quote for your case.

Is it possible that it will come back?

Lipedema is a chronic inflammatory disease. That means that I will live with this forever. If, for some reason, I end up with an inflamed body (which means a terrible diet - alcohol, sugar, gluten, all of it - lack of exercise, overall being unhealthy), it will definitely come back. As long as I stay healthy, it shouldn’t.

How was the recovery?

I had a pretty good recovery I’d say. The worst part was for sureeee having to wear the compressive leggings 24/7 for the first 5 weeks. The first 7-10 days everything is uncomfortable and you’re very bloated, and I had some terrible nights of sleep, but after that it gets much much better. And about 3 weeks in I started seeing the results so then it was much easier mentally.

How long did it take you to get back to exercising?

I started the physio exercises right away, got back to cycling, swimming and (light) strength training about 4 weeks post op and running 5 weeks later.

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Let me know if there’s anything else you’d want to ask me! See you next time :)

Anyway, what I really want to talk about is the race outfit.

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The breakdown

Soar Running top

I love Soar. Their stuff is very performance-focused, but they do not leave aesthetics behind, as so many other brands do. It's pricey, but every product I've tried is SO good. And they look cool AF. I wore this top that I got for the Copenhagen half last year, but it didn't arrive in time. As always, I had my trusty Nike sports bra underneath, the one with pockets in the front and in the back I’ve mentioned a million times. I'll never understand why they stopped making these.

Oner Active shorts

I’ve talked about Oner before because they have the absolute best running leggings I’ve ever tried, and they’re not even originally made for running. So I was a bit disappointed when I got these shorts because they keep crawling up. At some point I felt like I was running in underwear because they rolled alllll the way up. (editors note: I absolutely love Oner Active for everything else. Like actual true love).

Adidas Evo SL

My favorite running shoes, which need no introduction at this point. Found them on sale here, by the way! I own two pairs. I'm still suspicious there's a hidden carbon plate somewhere in them.

District Vision sunglasses

If I could pick one sportswear brand to wear for the rest of my life, District Vision would be it. In case you’re not aware, it was founded by Elsa Hosk’s husband, and that tells you a lot about the brand’s aesthetics. I am forever in love with this campaign. They’re very big on eyewear and I think that’s what they do best, although I love every single piece. I own two shades of this same Koharu model, and on this day I wore the black pair. 10/10, no notes, would 100% wear outside of running.

Coros heart rate monitor

My most recent purchase out of everything here. I love that it goes on your arm and not around your chest (if you're a woman, you know how uncomfortable that can get… and sweaty). The only issue I foresee is unwanted sunburn lines, but for now I'm in love with it. It's not a necessary purchase at all, I think smartwatches generally do a good job of showing you your heart rate and that should be enough. But if you're in the market for one of these, I can vouch for this one.

The Verdict

I would wear all of this again, but I'd have to retest the shorts, I've since gotten lipedema surgery, which means I had a significant amount of fat removed from my legs, so maybe that would help prevent it from feeling like I'm running in briefs. But those are the only conditions under which I'd rewear them. I am a firm believer that you should make your clothes fit you, and not the other way around.

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See you!

Body image has been a topic I've discussed with every single therapist I've ever seen. It has actually been the main topic, almost at all times. Unfortunately, I'm not special, and I know this is the reality for the majority of girls. I've always heard some version of the following:

You have to learn to love your body.

You’re brazillian, brazillian women have thicker legs, it’s just part of who you are.

Try and appreciate what your legs can do for you.

It never really felt right to me. I don't wear dresses (unless they're long, no legs on sight), or skirts, or mini shorts. For the longest time I wouldn't even wear normal shorts, not even during summer. When I started running, I wore leggings all the time. I have a dear friend who once told me how ridiculous it was to run and suffer in leggings in +30ºC heat, and it was only then I realized she was right, and I started wearing shorts to run (life changing). But if you asked me about it, there has never been a single moment I was genuinely comfortable in them. Anytime I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, my legs are the first place I look. I have spent days and nights crying over this. I have developed eating disorders because of it. Every sport I've ever gotten into, including triathlon, had the sole and primary goal of slimming my legs. It is something that bothers me to the depth of my soul, for as long as I can remember.

Somewhere last year, I came across a TikTok of a girl talking about a condition called lipedema. I had never heard of it, but a lot of things felt familiar: legs that won't slim down no matter what you do and how healthy you are, heavy and swollen legs at the end of the day, random bruises, plus other symptoms I didn't actually relate to. TikTok is not the most reliable source of information (shocking), plus I didn’t check all the symptoms boxes, and although I went into a bit of a rabbit hole, I didn't do anything about it for months.

Fast forward to this year, when I saw another TikTok of a girl squeezing her leg, with the caption: "this is what lipedema fat looks like". I squeezed my leg, and noticed how similar it looked to hers. For context: lipedema fat looks different from regular fat, as it’s not the same thing. (see below)

I went straight to ChatGPT and asked it to tell me everything about lipedema and how to deal with it. It told me that part of the treatment involves eating well, working out, and getting lymphatic massages regularly. It also told me there is no cure–that the only way to get rid of it is surgery. Another rabbit hole: lipedema surgery. I saw before and afters, read people's stories, and was absolutely ecstatic about this potentially being exactly what I needed.

Around two weeks ago, I went to a doctor who officially diagnosed me with lipedema stage 1, type 3 (stage is the severity, type relates to where in the body you may have it–I actually also have it in my arms but it’s very much under control and not something that bothers me, so I’ll leave it be).

The diagnosis was a vindication of years of hating what I saw in the mirror. For years I had been told I needed to adjust my perception, to reframe my thinking and to learn to see myself differently. And there is truth in that, there genuinely is. Those therapy sessions did not go to waste. But there was also something real happening in my body that no amount of reframing was going to touch. It was never just in my head. And I think there is something quietly devastating about spending decades being guided toward self-acceptance, when part of what you needed was simply to be believed.

This is why I reallyyyy push back when people dismiss aesthetics as shallow. “It’s just how you look” as if how you look doesn’t live inside you every single day. As if it doesn’t decide what you wear in the morning, whether you go to the beach, whether you feel like yourself in a room full of people. I lost years (so. many. years.) to this, years quietly shrinking around something I thought I couldn’t resolve.

But here is where I want to be careful, and honest. Fixing the physical thing is not the whole answer, and I think it’s important to state that very clearly. It would be easy to read this and think: she found the solution, she’s getting the surgery, problem solved. But I’ve done enough therapy over the years to know that’s not how it works. There’s a version of this story, one we see play out all the time, where you fix the thing that’s been bothering you, feel better for a few months, and then quietly find a new thing to fixate on, a different body part, a new perceived flaw. Because the deeper pattern never got addressed, it just relocated. The surgery, or whatever the intervention is, becomes a temporary answer to a question that was never really about your legs to begin with.

That's why therapy is essential here, not instead of taking your physical experience seriously, but alongside it. You have to do both. Ideally, you start the inner work before you make any physical changes, not after. Take what your body is telling you seriously, and then do the full work, all of it, without pretending one half cancels out the need for the other.

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I am getting surgery in a couple of weeks. I have found an incredible doctor, an incredible endocrinologist, and above all, an incredible therapist, that have all listened and acknowledged my feelings and pushed me to go after a proper solution for my issue, and for that I feel very very lucky. I am so excited I even started a pinterest board of all the things I’ll be able to wear once I have my new legs. The recovery part is not so fun, but that is the price I’m willing to pay (plus the monetary price of the surgery which is pretty damn expensive lol).

See you on the other side!

I did my first 70.3 Ironman last year (June 22nd, 2025 to be exact). There’s a huge chance that if we’ve talked about it, I told you I did not enjoy the training and I did not want to do it again. That is partially true (I am, in fact, doing it again).

The reason why I didn’t enjoy the training came down to, mainly, the winter depression I was going through. I first started triathlon training in June 2024, a year prior to the race, and the first few months were pure joy (except for the first bike rides which were actual hell and made me question all my decisions and give up on the sport entirely). It was also summer. By the time fall rolled around, days became shorter and waaaay colder, and I was faced with my first Danish winter (which is toughhhhh to say the least, specially when you come from somewhere like Portugal where the sun shines 90% of the year). I had to bike indoors for hours on end, run on a treadmill or face the unbearable cold and rain, and swim in a packed pool (and I mean packed. Like ten-people-in-one-lane packed) with random men touching my feet (funny story – I later found out when people touch your feet while swimming, it actually means they’re going to overtake you. For the longest time I thought they were just weirdos and I would leave the pool crying due to overstimulation/rage/all the bad feelings). On top of all of this, I also decided to run a marathon a month and a half before the race. Turns out having to run 60km+ a week in the depths of winter by yourself can really drain all of the joy from you. My mood and happiness, unfortunately, depend directly on the weather, and I guess I just wasn’t prepared for how tough winters are up in Scandinavia.

All of that being said, I had the best day on race day. It was truly, truly, a lot of fun (amidst the pain, obviously). My mom came to see me, and I had my boyfriend and my dog there to support me, as well as the friends I made through triathlon who were doing the race with me. Plus, and most importantly, there’s something really really satisfying about doing something really hard and knowing you pushed through all the times you wanted to give up. There’s truly no better feeling. And I guess that helps explain why I’m doing it again.

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This time around

I’m doing 70.3 Cascais this year. It’s in October, which means the most important part of the training will be done during the summer months. I am now back in Portugal, where I have my friends and family and the weather is lovely. All of this make for perfect training conditions. That might be the biggest change, but there are still some internal things I really want to work on this time around.

I want to fix my relationship with food. This is a work in progress, and it has been for years at this point, but it got worse when I started triathlon. I was constantly hungry and oscillated between not eating enough and stuffing my face with food to the point where I felt physical discomfort. (You’d be happy to know I have since started therapy again).

I want to go back to enjoying swimming. I did competitive synchronized swimming for years when I was little, and as long as I can remember I love being in the water. I feel like I had such a bad experience with the swim part of the training that the idea of ever jumping into a public pool again would haunt me in my dreams. (Editor’s note: given this was written as I was just restarting training, I didn’t know yet, but so far Lisbon has presented me empty pools where I get my own lane 99% of the time. It has been absolute bliss).

I want to respect, and mainly understand, the difference between productive discomfort and unnecessary suffering. I remember last year when I had to resort to treadmill running due to Danish winter I immediately created these nonsense rules about not being able to watch/listen/do anything other than running when using the treadmill. What a miserable idea, and what for? What was I trying to prove, and to whom? It only made the whole experience feel traumatic. It’s an ongoing process, but this time I really want to be better at distinguishing between pushing my limits and completely draining myself because I think I “should.”

I want to ride outside more!!!!! I always end my outdoor rides thinking “why the hell do I not do this more often”. Invite me for 3h rides during the weekend and I’m in.

I’m back to training with Gui, head coach at Sommet Coaching, and I couldn’t be happier about it. He is truly, truly the best. I can’t recommend him enough. He also doubles as a therapist (the number of times he’s had to deal with my complaining gives him the right to this unofficial title).

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I’m still competitive. I still want to beat my time. But more than that, I want to enjoy the months leading up to it, because the race is one day, but the training is the life around it.

I’m learning that how I get there matters just as much as whether I get there.

Excited for what’s ahead.

See you soon.

The injury was something in my shin—not really shin splints, but similar—and only on the left side. The doctor I saw told me it was due to the way I run (I overpronate), so he had me buy some insoles to help with that. Those same insoles caused me two painful little blisters during my shake-out run the day before the race, which led me to not use them during the actual race. But it was already too late, and the blisters developed into two huge open flesh wounds that didn’t allow me to walk for 4 days after the race (and they’re still not fully healed 8 days later as I write this).

So you’re probably right to assume I will not be recommending the insoles I wore, or at least, if you buy something similar, wear them for a while beforehand and use the right blister pommade so you can get used to them and avoid the same issue. But here’s the breakdown of what I actually ran in (with a video representation in the form of an instagram reels if you’d rather watch that):

The breakdown

Scarf from Vinted

You’ll find a bunch of these classic bandana scarves on Vinted. I got a pack of 4 for 12€, but I’ve since seen them for much cheaper. They might not be the most sweat or performance-proof accessory, but the weather wasn’t hot enough for it to bother me, and honestly, I love wearing them.

Oakley Eyejacket Redux

I really got my money’s worth with these. I have a bunch of running sunglasses, but somehow I always come back to this specific pair. I love the way they fit and they’re great for running, so they’re also great for trail (there’s arguably way less proper running involved than in a normal race). They stay in place no matter what.

H&M top & Nike sports bra

Again with my trusty Nike trail sports bra that has two small pockets in the front and one big one in the back (they don’t make it anymore, so no link). I didn’t end up using those as I also wore a hydration vest that had all my stuff in it, but I always go with my most trusted sports bra for every race to avoid any surprises. For the top, I wore this H&M one (H&M has a great sports line, by the way. I swear by their stuff, and it’s very affordable).

Bandit Running shorts

I loooove Bandit. I bought these shorts at the Rich & Hanc store back in Copenhagen. I also wore them for my marathon back in May, so they have been properly tested. They’re very (very) flowy, as they have side splits, and I don’t feel them at all while running, plus I also love the color. 100% recommend. They don’t seem to have my colourway in stock anymore, but these are quite similar.

Salomon x Pas Normal Studios hydration vest

You really do need a vest for trail running. You don’t specifically need the one I have (I think it’s sold out anyway), but if you’re going to buy one and you’re willing to invest a bit more money, go for Salomon. They’re really good, have a bunch of pockets for all your snacks, your headphones, your actual phone, truly anything you can think of, and mine even has a 8L backpack. They don’t move when you run (as long as you wear the right size) and they’re very comfortable.

Hoka x Unna shoes & Distance socks

I can’t give you a proper review of these shoes just yet because of the blisters the insoles caused me. I’ll come back with proper feedback once my feet are healed and the shoes get their chance to shine. Socks were from Distance.

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The race

As I said before, it was my first trail race, so I didn’t really know what to expect. It turned out to be tough (but I think that’s due to my lack of preparation because… injury) but fun. We ran (and walked) through the forest, up and down, and through the beach (the last 3km were in fluffy sand—do not recommend). I made friends with a man in his 50s and we did around 20km together. I got to eat energy bars, gummy bears, chips. Had I not run with him, I probably would have been alone for the majority of the race, so I’m sure my experience would have been different. But I’ve been talking to people who have been running trails for a while, and they say you more often than not end up tagging along with someone with the same pace as you—and given you can actually talk to them (unlike in a normal road race), time goes by faster and it’s much more fun.

My time was 3h32, with a 6:52/km pace (6:22/km if you look at the GAP). I didn’t have any goal besides completing it, as I wasn’t sure that was something I’d be able to do because of the pain in my left shin. It was truly a lot of fun, and I’d love to do it again, and I most likely will.

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See you next time :)

This comes from my ongoing quest to find clothes that actually work for running, which isn’t easy, despite the endless technical fabrics on offer. Plus, I’ve found there’s far less attention put into women’s running gear compared to men’s, which makes it even harder. I’ve bought expensive pieces that turned out to be anything but good for running (shorts that roll up immediately as soon as you run your first 50 meters, t-shirts that make you sweat your balls off when they promised full breathability, and so on). On the other hand, I’ve also discovered that some things not even designed for running end up working just as well—like a specific pair of cotton shorts I love, an old t-shirt, or even my boyfriend’s sweatshirt.

To start off, I thought I’d talk about my Stockholm Half Marathon outfit. Top to bottom, I wore a Pas Normal Studios scarf, Oakley sunglasses, Adidas top, Nike sports bra, Salomon shorts, Bandit socks and On shoes.

The breakdown

Pas Normal Studios scarf

By no means a necessity—I wore it purely for the fun of it. I ran with this same scarf a few days before the race for 4k just to make sure it wouldn’t move or bother me (although one could argue 4k is not nearly enough to draw that conclusion). I didn’t feel it at all during the race, and it did in fact not move an inch. 10/10 would (and will) do it again.

Oakley Eyejacket Redux

I’m obseeeessed with these sunglasses. They’re probably the only pair of running sunglasses I’d happily wear outside of running, which says a lot (plus it makes the cost per wear go significantly down—a win in the girl math books). They’re super comfortable and you don’t feel them at all while running. I’ve also worn them for the cycle and run legs of my half ironman, so I’d say they’ve been properly tested. I got mine here.

Adidas top & Nike sports bra

I’m aware some people find it borderline offensive to mix Adidas with Nike, but alas, I am not of one of them. I can’t remember the last time I wore only one brand head-to-toe, and I have no intentions of ever letting go of my favorites for the sake of brand coherency (unless one of these brands wants to sponsor me, then by all means I shall be your walking billboard).

The Adidas top came with padding (which I removed), so technically I guess it could be worn without a sports bra underneath. But for a race, I always wear my trusty Nike sports bra—the one with three pockets that I have in about 5 colorways and that can hold my phone, gels, AirPods, and basically anything else I can shovel in. Sadly, I think Nike has discontinued them since I can’t find them anywhere anymore.

Solid choice overall, I was extremely comfortable the whole time.

Salomon S-Lab shorts

Here’s where I fucked up. I had worn the shorts before (don’t ever try new things in a race, whether that’s clothes, nutrition or shoes. Just don’t.) so thought I’d be okay, but the truth is that they’re a size too big. That makes not only can I not use their pockets properly (if I put anything in them, the shorts immediately roll down), but I also ended up with chafing on the left side of my belly. To be fair, I only noticed it the next day, so it didn’t bother me mid-race, but I probably won’t wear them again for such a long run.

On shoes & Bandit socks

I’ve been wearing this combo for about 60% of my runs, so I was surprised they gave me blisters this time. I’m not entirely sure why—it’s my only bad experience with them compared to the many good ones. That said, I do feel the shoes have become a bit too soft for my liking over time, though I’ve also logged more than 500km in them, so that probably explains it. Bandit socks are great, though a little on the thick side. Shoes are the On Cloud Eclipse.

Bonus

I also wore my current favorite necklace, which I got as a gift for myself after completing my half ironman in June. It’s such a fun piece and it brings me a lot of joy. I thought it might be a bit overstimulating since it moves a lot while running, but but since most of my focus was spent convincing myself not to DNF, I didn’t notice it at all.

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The race

The race itself was tough, probably the one I’ve struggled with the most (even the half marathon I did as part of my 70.3 in Elsinore wasn’t as much of a struggle), mainly due to starting off too fast and not accounting for how hilly Stockholm would be. I had been there before a few years ago, plus I did check the elevation gain for the course, but I still wasn’t ready for all those hills.

I’ve also never managed to run the exact race distance, whether in a half or full marathon. This time my official result was 1:54:04 for 21.37km. But since a half marathon is technically 21.0975km, Strava shows my “true” time as 1:52:33—so that’s the one I’m sticking with.

Overall, I had a great time (now that the hills are behind me) and was very much comfortable (clothing wise, not effort wise though) the whole way through. If I were to do it again, I’d probably only swap my shorts.

If you’re a running girlie, I’d love to know what are your trusty race-day go-tos (or everyday life, really) as I’m always on the look out for great and functional gear. And if there’s anything else you’d like me to cover in this series, let me know!

Thanks for being here, see you next time :)

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I’m currently based in Copenhagen, which means Helsingør is just a 40 minute drive away. We drove there on Saturday to pick up my bib number, drop off my bike and hand in both my bike and run gear. These are packed into two bags, a blue and a red one, and each contains the essential for the transitions—when you come out of the water, you take off your wetsuit, goggles and cap and put it in the blue bag, which also contains your helmet, cycling shoes and anything else you might need for the bike leg. After the bike, you come into transition to find your red bag which should have everything for the run.

You have to drop off both bags the day before, but you still have access to them on race morning in case you want to add or remove anything. I also got my braids done so I wouldn’t have to worry about hair on race day (boxer braids tend to work the best for triathlon. It turns out finding a hairstyle that will handle salt water, sweat, helmets and caps is no easy feat). After that, we headed home and I spent the rest of the day lying down and getting as much rest as possible.

On Sunday, I woke up at 3:30AM, half an hour earlier than I needed to so I could have a moment to myself, have a cup of coffee and write down a few words about how I was feeling. I then had breakfast (three slices of bread with a tiny bit of peanut butter, raspberry jam and banana if you’re curious) and got ready. Since most of my gear was already packed, I only had to get my swim stuff together (wetsuit, cap, goggles and vaseline to avoid chaffing) and put on my trisuit. We left around 5AM and arrived at around 5:45. I went into transition to drop some extra nutrition and check that everything was okay with my bike.

My start group was scheduled for 7.41AM, so around 6:30 I put on my wetsuit, and half an hour later I went into the water to warm up (I had swum in the same harbor during a training session the week before and got really bad calf cramps from the cold, which forced me to stop halfway. I didn’t want that to happen again, so I made sure to get used to the water temperature before the race.

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The Swim

According to my Garmin, I started the swim at 7:44 AM. It was awful, and everything I had ever been told about people swimming over you, pushing and kicking was true. It was pure survival. I finished in 40:40, with an average pace of 2:08/100m, quite a bit slower than the 2:00/100m I was aiming for. When I got out of the water to get to my bike, I was extremely dizzy—turns out going from horizontal to a vertical position in a matter of seconds is as bad as people had told me it would be. Transition was looooong, over 600m, but aside from needing to sit down for a minute to regain balance, everything went fine.

The Bike

The bike was the most fun part. Until it wasn’t. I started off strong (as in too strong), so by the time I hit 60km, I was already feeling very fatigued. I managed to keep a somewhat consistent pace and finished in 2 hours and 53 minutes, a time I’ll happily take considering my initial goal was to do it under 3:15. The course was absolutely breathtaking (I’ve heard it has been nominated Europe’s best Ironman bike course) but I was definitely not prepared for the 500m of elevation—living in Copenhagen, the highest elevation you encounter is probably 50m. There was also a brutal headwind on the way back into town, though thankfully it only lasted the last 10 km. T2 was smooth except I hadn’t managed to pee on the bike (yes, that’s a thing), so I lost a few more minutes in the portaloos than I would’ve liked.

The Run

Definitely the toughest part, both physically and mentally. The route consisted of 3.5 loops through central Helsingør, which meant that on one side, there was always people cheering everywhere and I managed to see my mom, my boyfriend and my dog in every loop. But on the other end, it felt very repetitive and never ending. It was also boiling hot (editors note: boiling hot for Denmark—it was 25 degrees celsius) and I don’t do very well with running in heat. I still managed to do it under 2 hours (1:58:28 to be precise, with an average pace of 5:37), which was my goal, but I’d be lying if I said it was easy. I wanted to stop at every single step.

The Result

My final time was 5:45:23. My original goal was to go sub 6h, so mission accomplished. There are a bunch of things that could have gone better (one of them being on my period), but overall, I’m very happy with the result.
I later found out I could have qualified for the World Championships if I’d gone to the slot allocation ceremony (not because I had a world-class performance, far from that, but because you have to be physically there to claim the spot and pay the 800€ registration fee. If no one claims it, the slot rolls down), which is a very weird feeling. On one hand, it does feel strange that placing 51st in my age group would guarantee me a spot in the 70.3 World Championship—it seems too easy. On the other hand, it’s pretty cool that I technically did and I can now cross that off as one of my goals.

As to what’s next, I know I eventually want to do another 70.3 and improve my time. I know I do not want to do the full distance, at least not in the foreseeable future. Right now, I’m focused on finding my way back to enjoying movement for its own sake—not for a race, not for a training plan—just because moving makes me feel like a better human, both on the inside and outside. And I definitely don’t want to step foot in a swimming pool any time soon.

See you!

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Fast forward to February this year, when I actually started my marathon training cycle, and I was hit with a very tough reality: you actually have to train for the marathon you signed up for.

My marathon prep happened to coincide with my first Danish winter, which I could write about for hours, but what I really want to express is how deeply that shaped my experience of this training block. If you’re not familiar with Danish winters, it’s night from 3 PM to 9 AM, and when it’s not dark, it’s just grey, windy, rainy, and cold. I thought I was (kind of) ready for this—I was wrong. Those months were incredibly tough, and I questioned my life choices every single day. I cried A LOT. I was sad, pale, and honestly numb. And on top of that, I had to head out every weekend and run 21km+ in the cold and rain. It was far from a good time.

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1. Think about it first. Like really think about it. Don’t be fooled by the wholesome TikToks of people crossing the finish line—running 42km is no joke. Maybe start with a half marathon instead?

2. Do not sign up for a marathon thinking you will lose weight. You will probably gain weight, actually. I’ve touched on this topic before, but one thing that goes hand in hand with marathon training is eating. You have to eat a lot to sustain your effort, recover properly, and prevent injury. I don’t mean eating whatever—you still need to fuel properly—but you will need to increase your caloric intake. That might not be an issue for someone who doesn’t struggle with body image, but if you do, watching your body change can be frustrating and make you question a lot of things. I know I did. (I weighted myself after the marathon and it turns out the scale only showed me +1kg from my normal weight while I could have sworn I had gained at least 5kg from the way I felt puffy, so there’s a mental aspect to it as well. The brain can be very tricky).

3. Know you’ll have to make sacrifices. Running isn’t just putting on your shoes and heading out. When it comes to long runs (which are non-negotiable if you’re marathon training), the prep starts the day before. You have to think about your nutrition and hydration both before and after, which might mean your social life won’t be as flexible anymore. Beers and pizza on Friday night don’t go very well with a 25km run on Saturday morning.

4. It can get very expensive. This one is relative, but between shoes, clothing, gels, and food, the costs do add up—especially if you have a shopping problem and will latch onto any excuse to splurge on new gear (guilty AF). But seriously, even if you avoid the carbon-plated-shoe rabbit hole, gels alone are pricey. And if you’re running at least a half marathon every weekend, plus other runs throughout the week, the monthly cost starts to pile up.

5. You get to learn a lot about yourself during the process. There’s something that happens when you put yourself out there when you really don’t want to and when you keep the promises you make to yourself even when it’s freaking hard to do so. You learn that you can do things that once felt impossible. That the only real obstacle is often just you. And that if you want to, you can push through almost anything.

6. Don’t sign up for a spring marathon. Spring marathon means winter training. And winter training, if you live somewhere where winter really winters, means a lot of “why the hell am I doing this to myself” while stepping outside in the pouring rain and real feel of 3 degrees at 7AM on a Saturday to run 28km. This is probably my biggest learning: I will only ever sign up for a marathon if it’s during fall, so I can train for it during summer.

7. Be prepared to lose some toenails in the process. Who needs them anyway? I finished my marathon cycle with a total of 4/10 black toenails. A 60% success rate I guess?

While I can’t say I enjoyed my marathon cycle, I know I’ll always look back at these months with a deep sense of pride. I kept showing up, even when I was exhausted, unmotivated, or completely over it. I didn’t quit, even when I really, really wanted to. And that’s what I’m most proud of—the fact that I did it anyway. Even when it was miserable. Especially when it was miserable. There’s something powerful about sticking with something that’s hard simply because you said you would. And as the quote I saw online a few months ago goes, “What a blessing it is to be tired in the pursuit of a challenge of your own choosing”.

I will leave you with a quote from one of my favourite authors, Haruki Murakami, in his book What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, which I had read many years ago when I didn’t run at all, and I’m re-reading it now.

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I did the doubles women modality, which means we could split the stations however we wished, but both of us had to run the eight 1km laps.

The one in Paris was held at Grand Palais, the most stunning and breathtaking venue. Here’s the TikTok to prove it.

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Now that I’ve been through it, here is everything I learned from it (in no particular order):

1. If it’s a multi-day event, plan to stay the whole time. We booked our flights from April 17th to 20th, and the competition was held from the 18th to the 20th. We were lucky to be allocated to a slot on the 18th, but if we had been scheduled on the 20th, we would’ve missed it as we’d already be flying home. You can’t pick your race day, so make sure you’re around for the full event window. We also missed a boat party on the last day because of this.

2. There are starting waves every 10 minutes, starting at 10AM all the way to around 10PM. This mainly means that no one is really watching you (unless they’re there specifically to support you). There are so many people racing at the same time, it's just not possible to focus on anyone else.

3. No one really notices if you take breaks. Building on the point above: no one notices if you walk or take a break. Everyone is focused on themselves, and with the amount of athletes competing at the same time, it’s impossible to keep track of who’s doing what.

4. It’s not that easy to get penalized. Here I’m speaking for the non-pro categories only. TikTok made it seem like judges were hyper-strict and you needed to memorize every rule or risk disqualification. It is very important to know the rules, but it’s also not the end of the world if you make a mistake—judges will probably just warn you. The only direct ways of getting a penalty is if you miss a lap, do an extra one, or mess up the order of the exercises—but it’s really just a matter of paying attention.

5. If you’re doing doubles, split the race with each other strengths in mind. You can pretty much split the race however you’d like, as long as both run the eight 1km laps. With this in mind, don’t just divide everything 50/50 and instead leverage each other’s strengths.

6. Practice the sled pull beforehand!!! A very personal one here, but don’t neglect the sled pull. I did, and I regretted it. I had only tried it once before the competition, and I think I used too little weight in training because damn that was heavy! So definitely make sure to train with the correct weight beforehand.

7. Burpees were invented by the devil. I already knew this one, but got full confirmation during the race. Station 4 is 80m of burpee broad jumps, and the most demanding station (competing with sled pull, which was also freaking hard).

8. Pay attention to where the fast lane begins and ends. We were briefed that the fast lane was for anyone running at a pace faster than 4:15/km, but we saw plenty of people in there going much slower and eventually getting run over by those who were following the rules and trying to run fast. Don’t be that person—make sure you’re in the right lane.

9. There is a warm up area in which you can do every single exercise prior to starting. It’s like a mini Hyrox in there—you can try out every exercise before starting. This was great because I did both the ski and the sled pull for the first time there and didn’t go in completely blind. So make sure to use it!

10. It really is for everyone. We saw older people, we saw younger people, we saw moms, we saw dads—there was a bit of everything, which was very refreshing to see, because prior to that I had only seen TikToks of very fit people racing like their lives depended on it, making the whole thing a bit intimidating.

11. Expect to be sore the next day, even if you train regularly. This means if you’re in a new city, maybe don’t plan a full sightseeing day right after. Or do, and complain the whole day (as we did).

12. There is no medal, but there is a patch. I swore I had read somewhere that they’d start giving out medals to everyone, but at least for this one, it was still not the case. We got a rectangular patch (pictured below) that says finisher, but to be honest, I’d much rather have a medal.

    

Above all, it is a lot of fun (specially if you’re doing doubles), and an experience I’ll cherish forever and recommend to everyone.

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Let me know if there’s anything in particular you’d like to know! See you next time.

Carolina

But for now, I have a training plan to complete and I thought I’d talk about all the things I’ve been doing, wearing, eating and drinking to help me get through it.

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Comfortable shoes for long runs. I was struggling with black toenails because I didn’t size up as I should have, and let me tell you—they’re painful. Knowing I had 20km+ runs coming, I caved and got these (but these are actually my favourite colorway). I’d been meaning to try the brand On for a while now and I honestly regret not doing it earlier. They’re SO nice to run in. I think this might be my favourite pair of running shoes so far?

Gels. You’re going to spend so much money in gels it’s not even funny. During my long runs, I have one every 30-40 minutes, which means I’m having 3-5 gels in one run alone. If I don’t have any other gels outside of that (which I sometimes do, for interval runs, for instance), that’s equivalent to 12-20 gels a month. So yes, it’s probably going to get pricey. Make sure to not neglect them though—nutrition before, during and after a run is key for recovery. I like SiS and Maurten (they’re very chewy), and I really dislike GU.

Nitrate shots (aka beetroot juice). Disclosure: I have a nutritionist who tells me every single thing I should take or eat—I do not pull these things out of my ass. I take one shot 1h30 before every long run. It’s meant to boost endurance by improving oxygen efficiency (aka helps you sustain effort for longer) and it enhances blood flow by increasing nitric oxide production. These are the ones I take.

Eating (a loooot). You will be hungry. Don’t train for a marathon if you think it’s going to help you lose weight—I can assure you it won’t. You need to fuel your body to sustain long efforts, and cutting down on food is the worst thing you can do. This doesn’t mean eating anything in sight without a care in the world, though—actually, quite the opposite. You need to make sure you’re fuelling properly: mainly lots of carbs and protein.

Electrolytes. I recently tried LMNT electrolytes and I’m hooked—they deserve all the hype. I get mine at Healf (my new favorite website). I drink these throughout the whole week—citrus is the winning flavor for me.

Mental games. A fun one, but there are so many mental games I play with myself throughout those 2 hour+ runs. The most common one is imagining the run as a pyramid—the first half is going up, but as soon as I hit the halfway point, it’s all downhill from there, which means it’s easy and I can do it. Another one is breaking the run down—so if I have 25km to run, that’s only five 5km runs, which I’ve done many times, and 5km is only half an hour. It sounds silly, but it helps tremendously.

Post-run tradition. In my case that’s getting a BMO (bolle med ost in danish, which translates to a bun with cheese). If you’re thinking “what’s so good about a bun with cheese” it’s 100% because you’ve never had one in Copenhagen. They’re delicious and I like to keep them as a reward to have something to look forward to after the run. Just look at this beauty (this one is from Lipa, if you’re in Copenhagen. 10/10):

I also wrote about running shoes here, cold weather essentials here, and not-so cold weather attire here.

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I really want to write about my thoughts on the whole training cycle when I’m finished and what I learned from it, but I’m not quite there yet, so for now, this is it.

See you next time,

Carolina

Starting with today—easily the sunniest day in months (and the coldest! -7ºC, with a real feel of -10ºC). I ran 10km through the lakes and enjoyed every second of it.

I feel like we’ve all seen these pictures by now, but I couldn’t not include them here as they have been on my mind for weeks. My love for Khaite keeps growing substantially. Their price tags, however, are very steep, so it’s been a long-distance relationship thus far.

I got these beautiful tulips for Valentine’s Day and they’ve brought a little color to my otherwise very grey house (again, blaming it on the lack of sunlight coming through the windows). They’ve brought me a lot of joy!

Everything about the Louise Roe café (actually called The Roe Bar). If you ever find yourself in Copenhagen, make this a mandatory stop. It’s a gallery with a coffee shop inside, and every detail is incredible—there’s just something about that pile of cardamom buns that gets to me. It’s also where I’ve had the best banana bread of my life (and probably the most expensive as well).

You’ve probably heard of Mel Robbins, or at least come across something from her. She has a great podcast called The Mel Robbins Podcast, which I highly recommend. This is her newest book that I read in 3 days—to be fair, I had a lot of time in those 3 days as I was travelling, but still. It’s not the most groundbreaking thing you’ll ever read, but sometimes the obvious needs to be said. It’s also a great reminder of how we’re very much the only ones responsible for our lives, for the good and bad. 10/10.

That’s pretty much it for now.

Have a great week!

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However, what I’ve come to realize is that raising the bar can sometimes be as detrimental as never raising it. Raising the bar (e.g. doing things you don’t feel comfortable doing in order to achieve a greater goal) is only valuable when you also take time to appreciate your work, recognize all the bars you’ve raised in the past, and acknowledge how you’ve overcome them.

Let me give you a personal example. I’m training for a marathon (you already know this if you’ve read any of my posts because it turns out running a marathon includes telling everyone you know that you’re running a marathon at every opportunity), I live in Copenhagen and it’s winter. This trifecta means that many of my runs have to be done on a treadmill. Not only is that already a very unpleasant experience on its own, but when I first started, I decided that I wouldn’t wear headphones (I don’t plan to wear headphones during the marathon and they’re not even allowed in triathlon, which I also do).

So I would run for an hour on a treadmill, staring at a blank wall (there’s a TV there, but it doesn’t work and is always turned off, so technically, I am staring at a blank wall), in a very heated room (gyms double as saunas here apparently), hating every single second. And for what? I was miserable.

It was not until I was telling a friend about this that I realized how hard I was making things for myself. I’d get anxious the day before knowing I’d have to run under these conditions the following day. The mental training I was hoping I’d develop was being completely crushed by my feelings of misery and dread for these runs. After I talked to her I realized this is not the time or place to try and push myself. I’m already on my limit here—winter depression is hitting me hard, which means motivation has not been high and I have to run 10km in place. Why try and make it even worse?

There will come a time when I will in fact challenge myself to only run on a treadmill without headphones. It’s a mental battle I’d like to win eventually. But maybe that time should come only after I’ve stopped hating the treadmill experience so much. (This post could also have been titled: “Stop Trying to Do Everything, All the Time.”)

I guess what I’m trying to say is: raise one little bar at a time. And when you overcome that little bar, make sure you recognize it before moving on to the next. If you’re already struggling to do something, maybe don’t try and make it even more challenging. You’re not David Goggings (talking to myself here). Take small, baby, steps, and don’t bite off more than you can chew.

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On my mind this week:

1. This David Lynch moment that has resurfaced with his passing—honestly my 2025 mood.

2. Louise Carmen’s Roadbook, which is inevitably going to be one of my next purchases as soon as I decide on the colorway. Fabulous.

3. I posted this on my instagram stories but thought it’d deserve a mention here as well: I’ve been making this smoothie every morning, and as a green smoothie hater, trust me when I say this one is bomb. 250ml coconut water, 2 slices of pineapple, 1 tsp matcha, ginger and mint to taste. Blend everything and voila.

See ya!

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Luisiana Museum of Modern Art. If you’re around Copenhagen, take the train to Humlebæk (a 40 minute ride) and you’ll find the most beautiful museum. The architecture of the museum alone is worth the visit. And if you’re around Copenhagen often, you should seriously consider getting the membership — 260dkk (around 35€) for a full year of free entry for one person plus one guest between 18-29 years.

That brings me to number two on this list, from the current Havet exhibition at Louisiana, this painting from 1640 by Baltashar Van Der Ast that immediately caught my attention: “While the redcurrants and cherries are still fresh on their stems, the shells are clean and empty, devoid of any trace of the life that has left them. The shells will retain their porcelain perfection, whereas the fruits will perish. A reminder of the beauty of life, but also its transience”.

I should also mention this sculpture, rescued from the Antikythera shipwreck (as per Wikipedia, “a Roman-era shipwreck dating from the second quarter of the first century BC”). What fascinated me the most was not only the fact that it is 2100 years old (!!!!) but also that it stayed underwater for thousands of years until it was discovered in 1900. It was buried 45 meters deep, and as you can see, the part that was buried in the sand is almost perfectly preserved, whereas the part exposed to the water is significantly degraded. Mind-blowing.

Not ashamed to say I started watching American Gigolo purely because someone posted about this exact trench coat Lauren Hutton wears and how good everything about it is (mainly the color). And I’m even less ashamed to admit this was 100% worth wathcing for the outfits alone. The whole aesthetic, really. I’m now obsessed with the Bottega pouch Lauren carries throughout the movie. I found one on Vestiaire, a little out of my budget let’s say, but a girl can dream.

Dianna Cohen, from Take Your Time with Dianna Cohen (you should subscribe if you haven’t), posted this on one of her latest Substack posts and I immediately screenshotted it. One of the most beneficial things my therapist has ever taught me was “Don’t believe everything you think” — your thoughts really do build your reality, for better or worst.

Leandra Medine posted about how she keeps her pills in this little sugar bowl and if that isn’t the epitome of chic, I don’t know what is. I’ll be thinking about this for a while.

Honorable mention of the best book I’ve read in a while — Tudo é Rio by Carla Madeira. I genuinely wish everyone could read in portuguese so they’d get the chance to read this in its original language (and if you can read in portuguese, do it). I posted on my other instagram account some of the quotes I underlined and that’s not even 1/5 of it.

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Have a great week!

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While I don’t necessarily have any groundbreaking tips, just the usual advice — break down your goal into smaller and manageable steps, make sure it’s something within your control (maybe winning the lottery is not the best goal to have?), come back to them, revisit and adapt as needed as the months go by, etc — I do have some things to say about being a beginner at anything.

We all know how overwhelming and scary starting something new can be. I really doubt anyone needs me to explain why that is, because we’ve all been there. So I’ll go the complete opposite direction: let me tell you how freaking exciting being a beginner can be.

First of all, starting from zero means there’s SO much room for improvement. And there’s nothing more motivating than seeing progress happen in real time.

In order for this to not get too vague, let me give you a personal example of when I started running last year: my very first workout consisted of a 2 minute power walk followed by 30 seconds (yes, seconds) of running, repeated 5 times. The entire workout came down to 3.18 km in ~34 minutes, with an average pace of 10:48min/km. Less than a month later, I ran my first ever 5km in 32min (averaging a pace of 6:24min/km). That’s a 40% improvement!!!!!!
To put it in perspective — Ruth Chepngetich broke the women’s marathon world record last year by shaving 2 minutes off the previous record (more on that here if you want to read about it). 2 minutes!! That’s a 0.81% improvement — and it was a freaking massive accomplishment.
Although it’s just the natural progression (you can’t keep improving at the same rate forever) one could argue seeing the progress is not exciting in the way it is when you first start.

Being a beginner opens you up to a journey of self-discovery and pushes you out of your comfort zone (every situation I’ve been uncomfortable with, although not the most pleasant at the time, has undoubtedly been where I’ve found I’ve grown the most). It's normal to be scared of failing (it would be very unnatural for you not to be), of looking foolish, or of not measuring up — that's part of the deal when you're starting something new. To that I say: “Feel the fear and do it anyway”, one of the quotes I repeated to myself multiple times throughout the last year.

You also get to discover so much and have your eyes opened to a whole new world. The best friendships I’ve made in the past few months have been through running. We, as humans, are inclined to bond with people who have similar interests, so whether you’re starting your running journey, building your entrepreneurial career or even picking up crocheting — you will be able to form beautiful friendships out of it if you want to.

The beauty of starting fresh is that you get to learn, grow, and figure so much about yourself during the way. If I can give you one advice: lean into the uncertainty. Embrace it — all of it: embrace the awkwardness, the failures, the joy, the frustrations, the accomplishments, the good and the bad.

I genuinely hope you get to be a beginner this year.

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And now… On my mind this week:

1. Saw this quote on instagram and haven’t stopped thinking about it. Thought I’d share.

   

2. This screenshot I took from Merci, C’est Vintage instagram stories — it is now my life’s mission to own this bag.

Happy new year!

1. Oner Active leggings for running: these take first place for the sole reason of ending what I thought would be a never-ending search for the perfect running leggings. Their activewear is designed with weightlifting in mind, but I recently went for a run in my Unified Wrap Leggings and my life hasn’t been the same since. They do not move one inch!!!!! This link gives you 10€ off.

   

2. Outlive by Peter Attia. Hands down the best health book I’ve ever read. I’ll leave you with my favorite paragraph: “This is why I've come to believe that emotional health may represent the most important component of healthspan. Nothing else about longevity is really worth much without some degree of happiness, fulfillment, and connection to others. And misery and unhappiness can also destroy your physical health, just as surely as cancer, heart disease, neurodegenerative disease, and orthopedic injury”.

   

3. Heaven Mayhem! I’ve been wearing their earrings for a while now, but the reason I’m including them here is that I recently got this pair and, as someone who usually prefers gold over silver, I’m completely sold. My style tends to be pretty low-key, so I always like to accessorize with more of a statement piece, something they do wonderfully. I also have their jewelry box coming in soon and I suspect it will make it to this list eventually.

   

4. JCrew cashmere socks. I bought these because they were on sale (along with the loafers pictured above, which I haven’t taken off since — full grandpa mode and I absolutely love it). It’s my first pair of cashmere socks and I admit I was not expecting to notice that much of a difference but damn!!!!! My feet (thus, me) have never known this level of comfort and coziness.

   

5. Burgundy phone case. 11€! From Amazon! I used to buy my phone cases from Apple and spend 55€ only for them to start wearing out after a month. Not only do I find this color the chicest, as my phone has had some falls since getting this case and I’m happy to report it’s intact (both the case and the phone).

   

6. My new running vest! I have to admit I’m not completely sold on the look of running vests just yet, but there’s no denying how useful they are. I’ve started my marathon training block so now that I’ll be doing weekly long runs (building up all the way to 32km) I really needed something to take my gels, jackets, water, lip gloss and whatever else in. Mine is Salomon x Pas Normal, which seems to be sold out, but the non-PAS and much cheaper version is available here.

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That’s it for now — I have a bunch of packages arriving in the next few weeks that I suspect might make it to this list once I’ve had a chance to use them properly.

Happy holidays!

So, having written “progress is in consistency” and felt like one of those gurus myself, I feel the need to justify myself. This is the instagram story I’m referring to:

I wrote this after a swim session I really, really did not want to do. I’ve been living in Copenhagen for six months now, and I’m one month into my first Danish winter. It’s been harsh, to say the least, and it’s just the beginning. There’s light (not sun, and by light, I mean not total darkness) from 8:30 to 15:30, and the temperatures are never above 5°C (with the wind making it feel at least 0°C, usually below freezing). This is not at all what I’ve been used to, having lived in Lisbon for the past 20 years of my life.

The thing is, I signed up for a marathon in May. And a half-Ironman in June. As much as I’d love to throw in the towel some days, I can’t. I have goals I want to accomplish — I can’t forget about them just because the weather is bad and there’s no sun outside. The only way I can get there is by doing what I need to do, not what I want to do, day after day. There’s no magic trick (unfortunately). I can’t think of a single training session I’ve done in the past month that I was excited for.

The only difference between people who make it and people who don’t is that the first kind of people keep showing up. They’re not better; they just don’t give up (this applies to all areas of life). I guess what I’m trying to say is: do it regardless of whatever else is going on. Do it mad, do it frustrated, do it when the only thing you can think of is giving up, but do it anyway. It’s freaking hard, but it’s the only way forward.

A little tip:

The other day, I saw a TikTok of a girl saying she has a note in her Notes app called “Hype Me Up”, where she writes every single hard thing she’s done and reads it regularly to remind herself she can do hard things. Our brains have a tendency to focus only on the bad — a good example of that is how obsessed we get if someone points out something bad about us but how we don’t really believe them if they compliment us. I’ve started doing this, and you better believe this swim session made its way there.

Also, if you haven’t read it yet, Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins is the lesson on mental resilience, which is something all of us could use a bit more of (at least I know I could).

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This is much more a post from me to me than anything else.

I bought mine in March 2023 after wanting it for about a year. I’m obsessed with anything health related, and I’m even more obsessed with figuring out how my body works. I love getting to figure out what my body likes and what it does not like, how it works optimally and what throws me off track — so if you’re like me, I’m afraid Oura is the perfect product.

The app

I thought I’d show you some screenshots of the app so you can see exactly what kind of data you get access to (from a random day last week). You get three daily scores: Readiness, Sleep, and Activity. I mostly pay attention to the first two (I’ll explain why in a bit, but in short: the Oura ring isn’t great at measuring activity).

There’s more to explore, and if you click on any of the metrics, the app provides a detailed breakdown of what contributes to a good or bad score for that metric. But this overview should give you a general idea.

What the Oura ring is really good at:

Tracking sleep data and anything related to it. I can always tell if I’m about to get sick (my Oura ring detected COVID almost a week before I had a positive test) because my resting heart rate rises, and so does my temperature. If I eat less than an hour and a half before bed— or have a big meal —I know my sleep will suffer, as my resting heart rate will stay higher than usual. Unsurprisingly, alcohol impacts my sleep the most. It’s getting little insights like this that make me love my Oura ring so much.

Oura recently introduced stress tracking, as you can see in the screenshots above, which is quite interesting. It identifies when your body shows signs of stress throughout the day. It’s fascinating to see how it accurately correlates to specific events (like an important meeting you were nervous about — true story).

What the Oura ring is really not good at:

Tracking activity. Whenever I’d ride my scooter, it would ask me if I was cycling. It overly estimates the calories in any given workout (comparing against Garmin data). I would never invest on one if tracking activity is your main goal.

Things to be aware of

It can get quite obsessive. Sometimes (a lot of times) I’d be at a late dinner out with friends and be stressed with what my Oura ring would have to say about it. Other times I’d wake up feeling perfectly fine only to open the app and see a low readiness score and that throwing off my day. Be careful with not letting it dictate your life (I try and take some breaks from wearing mine from time to time) — use it as a tool to know and improve yourself, not as an obsession. At the end of the day it’s better to have a low score knowing it happened because you had an amazing late evening laughing at the dinner table with your friends than going to bed at 8PM and missing out on life just to be able to see a high score on the app the next day (been there, done that).

Another thing to note — it can be expensive. I have the Gen3, which is actually currently on a very good sale (down to 279€!), but if you want the latest one you’ll have to pay almost 400€ (this link gives you 40€ off in case you’re really tempted to spend that amount of money). And that’s for the silver version, because if you’d rather get the gold you’re looking at around 600€. Not only do you have to pay for the actual ring, but you also need to pay for a monthly subscription, which comes down to 5.99€ a month. I love mine, so I do think it’s worth the money (I paid around ~300€ though, not the 600€), but I’m also very aware that it’s not cheap.

I have recently come across the Ultrahuman ring, which seems to to provide similar data but without a subscription fee, (and the 200€+ if you want the gold version). I have seen some reviews on TikTok and it looks very promising (the main downside seems to be the lack of integration with Natural Cycles, which apparently is the only thing making people choose Oura vs Ultrahuman).

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If you can’t tell, I love talking about my Oura ring, so feel free to shoot me any questions related to it if you have any.

I found this vintage clamshell dish on Etsy (probably my new favorite app) and it’s been sold, and I shall remain heartbroken until the day I die that I wasn’t the one buying it (the 30€ shipping fee is what stopped me, I must confess). My aunt told me I was clearly “my grandma’s granddaughter” when she saw me share this, and that made my whole week.

This is my beautiful grandma, who passed away two years ago and whose birthday is this week. My forever inspiration, and the chicest woman I ever met.

I found Merci, C’est Vintage instagram account a while ago and I’ve been completely obsessed with every single thing she sells. This look stopped me in my tracks. She’s holding a popup in NY this weekend and I’ve never been so FOMO in my life.

This flower arrangement I saw while walking around the streets of Copenhagen tickled something in my brain. My ultimate life goal is to have a florist come to my house every week and make all sorts of flower arrangements like this one.

Probably one of my all time favorite purchases, these gloves always make me feel so put together no matter what I have on. I can’t wear my Oura ring underneath them because it doesn’t fit, so I put it in my pinky finger and something about this look felt very satisfying (the ring itself does not track anything if you wear it like this, this was for my commute only).

It’s my first time in life experiencing snow like this, and it’s genuinely so beautiful to see (if you can get past how freaking cool it is). I had the nicest Saturday morning walking around through Copenhagen with my boyfriend and my dog before eventually sitting down to have breakfast in the sun. It was definitely my favorite moment from this week.

Lastly, this screenshot I took from Christina Grasso’s instagram stories. It doesn’t get much more inspiring (or chic) than this.

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Happy Sunday!

I’ve built a sleep routine that I’d love to share here because it has truly improved every aspect of my life. It’s by no means perfect — I spend way too much time on my phone in bed and rarely meditate before sleeping (to the dismay of many wellness gurus out there). But it’s something. Above all, it’s doable, which I think is the most important thing.

The essentials

If you were to see how I sleep, you’d probably laugh out loud. It looks ridiculous — I’m very much aware of that. I quite literally resemble the 🙈🙉🙊 emojis: I wear an eye mask, earplugs, and mouth tape. Let me explain:

The Amazon eye mask I swear by. Forget everything you know about eye masks — this one is a game-changer. It even has holes for your eyes (!!!!!). No light gets in, ever. I’m so confident anyone who tries this eye mask will love it that I’ve told my friends if they buy it and don’t like it, I’ll pay them back. I haven’t payed anyone yet.

Loop ear plugs. You don’t need the fancy versions; the cheapest option (called Quiet, the one I linked) works perfectly. Using earplugs feels strange at first because you genuinely can’t hear anything, but once you adjust, it’s the best thing ever. And no, I’ve never slept through an alarm while wearing them. Even if you don’t use them daily, they’re great for trips where a noisy hotel room might ruin your sleep.

Mouth tape. I was very skeptical about this — not to mention scared I’d suffocate in my sleep — but it turns out sleeping with your mouth taped does wonders for your sleep quality (some even claim it helps define your jawline over time. While I can’t verify that, I 100% choose to believe it.) Mouth tape prevents mouth breathing, which is often linked to snoring and sleep apnea (more information on that here).

Magnesium Bisglycinate. If you search for this on Huberman’s Lab AI website*, you’ll find everything you need to know about this supplement, but to summarize, magnesium bisglycinate promotes relaxation and supports deep sleep. I take two capsules about an hour before bed.

*Huberman Lab has an AI website that allows you to prompt it with anything health and wellness related and will give you the answers you need — think ChatGPT but make it Huberman. I highly recommend you check it out.

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That’s pretty much it. I also make sure to go to bed around the same time every day, which helps train the body to recognize when it’s time to wind down. I have my last meal around 2h before going to bed, which is a very important detail that is often overlooked — letting your body have time to digest is crucial for a good sleep. I avoid watching scary content before bed (think horror movies, intense series, or creepy North Sea TikToks). Occasionally — though not as often as I should — I trade my pre-sleep scrolling for a book, and that always works wonders.

A (very) nice to have

As I’ve said, I love sleeping. I also love data. So having data about my sleep makes me very happy. I’ve had my Oura Ring for almost two years now, and if you’re a health stats nerd like me, I highly recommend it. You learn so much about your habits and how they affect your life overall. I could (and probably will) write a whole post about this because there’s so much to explore, but for now, below you’ll find a preview of some of the available stats (this is just the sleep section of the app).

This link gives you 40€ off an Oura Ring if you’re interested in buying one.

Let me know if you try any of these out, as I swear by all of them and I do pride myself in having great sleep (with the accompanying Oura Ring stats to confirm it). Happy sleeping!