Weekends of summer!/ green and red smoothie/ Berlin/ Ottonenlauf/ Shower gel

The summer is almost over. I have had a wonderful time, still not much time to update this bog with a new entry. And then I finished a new entry, but couldn't upload it. Everything was gone! I really hate putting things back together that had been finished already and that is why I stay away from putting it back together.
Anyways... here is what I have started to write sometime in June:

So I have spent some wonderful weekends. It is rare for me lately since I had to write reports and also need to refurbish the new apartment still. Today we had worked on the terrace and the soon to become living room.

Wonderful weekend of July 5th to 7th:

Friday: sleeping, cycling to swimtraining, cycling to WolfXdown/Keep them shut show @Druckluft, Adults only @ Altenberg, cycling back home: All with my bro Rene. How I love to cycle on mild summer nights!

Saturday: cycling 32km to ultrashorttriathlon in Herne, winning this triathlon together with Rene (got to the finish line together), cycling back home, picking up my repaired tyre and finding a mountainbike to buy there this week, working in the apartment with the electrician, working with the hammer, helping our neighbour to pick a new massive refrigerator, lakeswimming with my daughter and friends with little kids, able to do some shortswims with my training buddy Rene, wanting to cycle to the night of the industrial culture, but realizing that Iron Maiden can be seen for free, so we went up the Gasometer and checked Iron Maiden from there, cycling to another museum (Ludwiggalerie) with a nice photoexhibition, sneaked in for free, almost falling a sleep while standing, cycled back home and fell asleep in no time.

Sunday: Alarm clock set for 7.30 to bring my daughter to her badminton tournament and hanging outside the sportscenter. Did some Power workout later on and some Yoga in the evening to end this weekend.

Rene and me did the whole race together, even the finish!

Me before the swimstart at the UKT Herne

One week later my daughter wanted to go to the Splash Festival with her. We always take passengers with us to make up for the gasmoney. So we had this dude who wanted to work at a vegan snack bar. Of course we talked alot about his profession as organic vegetable farmer. Quite interesting. Beforehand I wouldn't have expected this festival to serve vegan food. We didn't find his snackbar but the one from Alles-Vegetarisch and had Cheeseburgers twice in those two days we spent thee. My daughter goes crazy for Casper, so we checked him out. Since he's got hardcore roots it is quite funny to see him play in front of 20000 people while I have played shows with my band and his hardcoreband from almost 10 years ago in front of 50 kids. Anyways... the Caspershow was great. A Tribe Called Quest were great, but all this new sexist hiphop stuff is just nothing for me!

I found the time to go running there, but no special training or anything. Even the one travelling day without training.We drove back in the night after the Caspershow to hang out at some Badminton tournament again. 

Hanging out at Splash! festival

This is how we had celebrated the open water season:

1st open water training with my team: Nordtriahtleten

and since then I have trained there a couple of times, like here at 7.30 am

Sven and me with 3km of swimming done at 7.30am !!!

Spring weekend in Berlin:

A few weekends earlier we went to Berlin and ate at Yoyo (fastfod), Freckles (cakes), Tanne B (Icecream) and Zeus (pizza and pide). We had visited the XX show at the Plänterwald (Videolink), the Isolation, ThugXLife show in a squats basement after the XX show and Sundowning at the open air cinema stage at the Tiefgrund. Three completely different shows but all amazing. It was also our first time to ever try out a tandem bike. I had really enjoyed this, while my girlfriend found my driving style too rowdy. On our last day in Berlin we had also visited the Hamburger Bahnhof, which hosts a really big arts exhibition in a former railway station. The main exhibition was Martin Kippenbergers art, so the punkrocker I am I had much pleasure discovering what was for me new material by this guy. Definitely a must see for any punkrelated, arts-interested person.

Powernap in front of Freckles

In front of Tanne B with our tandembike

Have you ever walked into public shower and seen shower gel, which still stands there after you get back to the shower after your workout? Lately I collect all shower gels that lie around abandoned in public showers such as the gym's or the swimming pool's. I can't see any sense in letting the service throw it away and me buying a new one. It is always better to not buy any product, even if I try to buy as conscious as possible (vegan/organic). But having less waste on this planet and less shower gel to be produced is def. most ecological, vegan and econimical.

So in case you find an abandoned shower gel, consider taking it with you before someone just throws it away.

This is a nice post run snack I found at the turkish cornershop: 

Nuts, figs and wafers! Delicous!

Anyways... the best food is still the one picked oneself:

My daughter and her friend after a badminton tournament

I went to the Ottonenlauf with fellow vegan runners. We were 9 to run or walk (because of injuries). 3 of us made it onto the prize giving for age group prices. We had stayed at the vegane Bergpension in Schulenberg in the Harz mountains. A nice, family friendly full on vegan motel. Very quiet surrounding, not far from a like to have a nice swim. I will come back. By the way: Katrin from Bevegt was there, too! Check out their amazing blog!!! Infos on the run have also been posted on veganrunners.de.

Just in case you're interested: My band had put out a new split 7" with Overlord from Belgium on Reality Records. My fellow vegan triathlete John Joseph sang a line to one of our songs.

 Here's two recipes for smoothies I wanted to share:

Green smoothie made of half an avocado, a banana, a kiwi, field salad, maca powder, wheat germs, hazelnut oil, ground almonds, agave syrup, weight gainer powder wheat(oat, soy, potatoe), ginger, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, mulberry syrup and apple juice.

red smoothie: water melon, strawberries, blueberries, field salad, avocado, banana, ground almonds, weight gainer powder, maca powder, wheat germs, apple juice, blood orange juice, peppermint, cinnamon, ginger, agave and mulberry syrup for sweetness

In Duisburg there is this nice veggie Restaurant called Lolu and I think you should check it out, while you're in this area! It is truely great!

Kaiserschmarrn with fruits and icecream

I had checked out Hiller in Hannover last weekend. Nice veggie restaurant! The next day I placed 20th out of 340 triathletes at the Maschsee Triathlon.
my pics

It's been a while since my last blogentry.

I just had a lot to do and haven't found much inspiring to me that I find inspirig to share.

Well... I regularly check out this blog www.bevegt.de and I think you should do, too.

I have just came across this interesting website:

www.greatveganathletes.com

Check it for yourselves, it is definitely worth a visit or two.

My band GETITDONE! had just put out a split 7" we have released on our own and a split CD (on Lunas Records from Istanbul) with Radical Noise from Turkey. This band is damn good and amazing dudes.

Check out their video here:

http://vimeo.com/49978697 

It has been edited by my friend Engin who will soon be living in Germany so let me know if you need professional videos for your band.

My friend Firat organized a pair of Fila Skeletoes for me for just 10€. 

 

These are barefoot running shoes similar to Vibram's fivefingers.

I got a few pairs of shoes that are very light racers, but this is the second time I have purchased barefoot alike shoes.

What can I say? I love running in these!!!

This pair costed only 10€ due to the german shoe shop Deichmann throwing these out of their roster.

Amazing shoe, your feet get wet, and it is a tight and flexible feeling, still I felt safe.

Lately I have made pizzadough on my own out of memory without a scale or anything.

I took these ingredients: 

wholegrain spelt flour, wheat flour, salt, agave nectar, oliveoil, 2 portions of yeast, wheat germs, soyflour, warm water

Knead the ingredients for a while until the dough is just fine. Then leave it in the bowl under a piece of cloth for like 30 min.

Then preheat the oven, form the dough and put the dough in the oven before putting the stuff you want to have on your pizza. So the dough becomes more solid.

Then put whatever you like on to and wait the few minutes until it is ready.

A few times I only added garlicoil and tomatoes on it and added salt and pepper later on. Delicious.

I have also baked this bread.

It is totally tasty, healthy and fits to sweet and salty spreads.

The dough can also be put in the freezer and used whenever needed.

Training Oct. 17th - November 17th:

17th: 34 min Yoga in the morning, 14,5 km running incl. 4x1km fast at ca. 3.50min/km, later 17 min stretchyoga

18th: 10 min mixed exercises to warm up, later on a few exercises with Thera bands but resting apart from this.

19th: 2x 20 min running, later 2.5km swimming incl. 5x100m fast

20th: 105km cycling incl. 2 flat tyres :-(

21st: 14km running incl. 5x1km at 3.50-3.40min/km around lakes in Duisburg, later stretch Yoga

22nd: Restday

23rd: 30 min strength and stability, 55min indoor cycling, 30 min strength and stability exercises

24th: 1.30h relaxed running

25th: 1h cycling on fitnessbike

26th: 1h cycling on fitnessbike

27th: 2.5km swimming, later 45 min running incl. 3 sprints

28th: 18 min Yoga, 12km running incl. 3x 10 squats, then sprints, 6x1km fast at ca. 3.40min/km

29th: 45 min easy running

30th: 1h strength exercises, 1h fitnessbike

31st: 8,5km running incl. 4x 1km fast at 3.40 min/km

Nov 1st: 15 min Yoga in the morning 30 min Yoga in the evening

2nd: 55 min swimming

3rd: "funrun" in Oberhausen. I only partook in 3 laps: 1* 2,6km (6.30min/km), 1* 2,6km (4.15min/km), 1* 2,6km (3.30min/km), went climbing in the evening

4th: 1,6km running to warm up, then 800m fast, 10km race at the st. martinilauf in Herne in 39.00

5th: Restday

6th: 30 min strength, 52 min inddor cycling, a few more strength exercises

7th: 50 min running incl. stairs, jumps, etc. with my Fila Skeletoes

8th: 1.20h cycling on fitnessbike, incl. Intervals

9th: 2.4km swimming

10th: 1h cycling and 25 min mixed exercises with kettlebell, swissball, rope and dumbbell

11th: 35 min running, later 15 min fitnessbike, then 32 km cycling very easy with my uncle

12th: 2.1km swimming

13th: Restday... too much work

14th: 35 min runnin, 70 min cycling on fitnessbike, 10 min strength exercises

15th: Restday... too much work again

16th: 1h cycling + 1 h swimming

17th: 2h cycling on fitnessbike

Büyük Sehir: Istanbul, smoothies and ernergy bars

Istanbul Hardcore: Radical Noise

For many many years I have hoped for my friend Emres band Radical Noise to get back together again and play a show in Istanbul, so that I can travel there and see it.

Well... this year they have finally put their efforts together again, played a show in their hometown Istanbul and recorded songs which they wanted to share with us on a split cd/7". Crazy project and sometimes stressy, but with all of our hands working together and our friend Ricardo from the band For the Glory (Portugal) helping out with the 7" layout we have put this into reality.

Cd Layout + 7" layout

Arrival in Istanbul

After having landed in Istanbul we took a bus from the Sabhian Gökce Airport to Istanbul-Kadiköy. Having waited a few minutes on the busstation in front of the ferry harbour we got picked up by Emre and Engin (one fo the very few turkish straight edge kids). We had breakfast (I had a lentil soup with bread) although it was not too easy to describe veganism to the waiters of the restaurant. After this refreshing meal and putting one 7" sample together it was about time to leave for Ankara by bus. It was a comfy bus with Wifi and TV screens on every seat. On our way there we did a stop at some tourist place and there we witnessed the wide variety of turkish sweets of which many are vegan. I think I have bought sweets for around 6 €. They usually make these sweets out of pekmez (syrup) of figs and then add wafers, nuts, etc. Delicious!

The first sample 7" we put together

Much of this is vegan!!! Yeah!

We arrived at Ankara bus station at around 4pm and got picked up by Erce from Ankaras HC legend Pogo's not Fight and drove to the venue. All people there were very kind to us. We hung out outside and put our 7"es together (inlays, 7", stamps) to be ready for sale that night.

We made a soundcheck and went out for food. Found a nice place which served "Gözleme" and made it without butter for us. I had a mixed salad and Gözleme with potatoes and then Gözleme with aubergine. Tasted amazing!!!

Gözleme without butter! Tasty as hell!

Getting back to the club and being welcomed by a fan who bought loads of stuff. Nice!

Autographs and pics with us were asked by some people so it seemed as if a foreign band was something really special. The hospitatliy of the people in Ankara was overwhelming and unique. Performance 2012 is the name of the club and it was their first concert. The owners do have a band themselves. We have played with Pogo's not fight and Since Yesterday. PNF were an old band that quit 14 years ago and got back together recently. They played a typical mix of HC styles from the nineties: Old school, but also cross over influences. Nice!!! People really enjoyed their set and I can see why! It was much fun! People were drinking alot and had a pogoparty to the max going on.

Then Since Yesterday: I knew their name... I just didn't know why. Later on one of them told me that I forwarded some booker contacts to them some months ago. Very nice people... borrowed us some equipment. Their musicstyle was modern hardcore, sometimes with their bassplayer as 2nd vocalist. Pretty good actually. Missed out on buying their CD but one of my bandmates left a copy in our merchbag so that is mine now! :-)

GID! and Ahmet

GID! on stage in Ankara

Awesome roadie: Engin

 Then it was time for us. Not as many people still as during PNF's set, but still we had our fun, some stagedives, people seemed to enjoy, we even had to play an encore of 2 songs without Conny playing bass (she filled in for our bassplayer and only practised with us once). Firat really grew into his role as frontmen, since he is the only one of us to speak turkish he had to speak the most during our set and really motivated the audience.

After the show we sold some merch that we had to sign and took loads of pics.

Anakara, we will come back!

top right: poster for our show

Right after the show we had to hurry up a bit to catch the last bus back to Istanbul. Some sketchy dudes sold tickets to us much cheaper than tthe tickets to get to Ankara. When the awaited bus didn't come our roadie Emre went back to check if we got screwed over. Luckily this wasn't the case and the bus appeared a few minutes later. 

Me and Firat sleeping during long busdrive

This bus was a little less comfy, but we tried to sleep and most of us slept well. Unluckily the same motorway we took yesterday had been closed due to roadworks, so the bus had to take smaller roads which made the trip an adventure of 10 hours (instead of 4.5) and almost made me puke. We arrived a little outside of Istanbul at a busstation from where we got a shuttle bus free of charge directly a street near our hostel. We checked in and then walked around in Istanbul, drank fresh juices, had a nice meal (if you leave out buttered stuff, many meals are vegan indeed) and chilled. 

I had a pomegranate/orange juice

A little later Firat and me ran down to the Galata bridge and back up to our hostel and we got ready for the show.

Emre was a little aggrieved because the Ankara show was a small show and he feared that the Istanbul show will not have as many people as calculated due to several other shows in the same night right around the corner. At the beginning there weren't as many people as expected, while the streets seemed to be full of "alternative" people. But in Istanbul they first hang out at clubs where the bear is cheap. In the end 250 people still showed up. This wasn't enough for us to cover our flights, but it was still our first time in Turkey and we had almost 250 people enjoying what we do.

Anyways... Something's Wrong (also an old band that just got back together after more than 10 years) were really good. Sounded a lot like Biohazard. They had a melodic/rapping singer and one shouter. I really enjoyed. Then we were next.

We did a little linecheck again and then started with our first song GetItDone! People really got into it. We even made some throwing away their shirts to Black Flags "Rise Above" which some of them commented with "now this german guy makes us dance halfnaked, but he won't get my ass!" haha. Our friend Engin who was one of 3 turkish straight edge kids at the show did stagedives although he had a broken foot. Nice!

After our set was over people wanted to shake hands, told us that we were great, etc... It felt reall special!!! This was also the first show Radical Noise played with new songs being ready on our split Cd. Osman who does Lunas recordings was their, too. Very friendly guy. If interested get your copy through my band or from Lunas Records!

GetItDone! on stage in Istanbul

Then Radical Noise was on. They started with new songs ("zaman gecer" from our split Cd for instance)and many people already new that material. But when they played their old songs people went nuts. I have really loved to finally see them playing their songs "Angry son", "Bazen", Salla Merkezi", etc. Their songs are in turkish or in english. Kerems voice is great, also live!

Right before they ended their set I went under the shower and at the same time Emre wanted GID! to join them on stage for a picture. On my way to the shower I saw Felix and Conny sleeping in the backstage already. The weekend has already been very tough. haha Only Firat was on stage. 

Radical Noise live!

I got back from te shower and RN played an encore. What a great evening!!! All these smiling faces, so many nice people, no attitudes, no fights, just positivity. I love the Istanbul HC scene.

After the show we shortly got back to our hostel (Hostel Liberta: was ok and pretty cheap!) and then Firat, Engin and me went out to look for Engins special places. Many many people were on the streets still. Peyote was a nice club, but we left after Engin didn't find his expected friends.

At 4 am the clubs shut down, so we had french fries on the most famous street of Instabul: "Istiklal Street" and walked back to our hostel. We slept around 5.30 hours, since we had to leave our room. Luckily they let us store our luggage in their so we took the chance to finally visit the city, drink cay and just enjoyed life. Emre showed us around, we had another cay at Kybele Garden near the Hagia Sofia. Then we split since Firat and me wanted to see the cystern of the roman basilica. It was an antigue water basin in the underground. Amazing! Totally worth the 5€ entry fee.

Down in the Basilica Cistern

A big potatoe called Kumpir is vegan when served without butter, ask for it!

Vegan choices in a usual restaurant

My friend Emre from Radical Noise and me

GID! in front of the Hagia Sofia

Some roman columns near the archeological museum

Park near Topkapi Saray. We ran down... fun!

Down from Topkapi Saray towards the water. Atatürk is everywhere!

Chilling at Hotel Kybele

Firat and me went up to Topkapi Saray afterwards. Not enough time to visit the garden or the museum, but we enjoyed the sun while lying on the gras in the area of the antigue greek akropolis and jogging through the park towards the water and the Galata bridge and then back towards the hostel to meet the others. They didn't want to store the luggage any longer, so we had to find a cafe/restaurant near. Found a nice bar just a few meters from the hostel. Even on sunday evenings the streets were busy. Not busy as we might kow. Really busy comprabble only to London or Barcelona just without a proper public transportation system.

Anyways... it was time to say goodbye. Emre, Sinan, Esma and Engin brought us to the busstation.

We drove back to the Sabhian Gökcen Airport and felt depresed already thinking about the temperature shock from 23 degrees at night in Istanbul to 7 degrees in Cologne.

I will miss these nice people I don't see often enough. I will miss the kindness of the turkish people as well as eating at least 10 fresh figs every day.

Turkey, I will come back soon!!!

At the airport I found these bars stored in my trolley. Hm!

I can really recommend these for sporty people. Alles-vegetarisch.de has these. 

top: used during my Ironman: super!, 2nd: ok! 3rd: Used during longer runs, cool! bottom: chocolate and nuts: nice snack

Training fell shorter these days in Istanbul. Just one run with Firat, with a tough uphill section and that was it, almost.... apart from the shows we played.

This morning I did a nice green smoothie:

1 avocado, 1 kiwi, 1 banana, 1 mango, ground almonds, chia seeds, flax oil, mulberry syrup (dut pekmezi), mixed grain sprouts, alfalfa sprouts, peppermint, ginger

Training sept 24th-16th october

24th: Restday

25th: Restday

26th: 40 min running on treadmill incl. 3*4 min fast, 3 min easy, 3min fast, 3 min easy, 1 min fast, then a few pullups

27th: 1h cycling on fitnessbike easy mode

28th: 50 min swimming incl. endurance strength (swimming with paddles 50m, then 6 pushups, swimming 50 m without paddles/ 900m like that)

29th: Climbing at Neoliet, later 26km cycling 

30th: Climbing at Neoliet

1st: 32 min easy running incl. 3 sprints

2nd: 10 min Yoga in the morning, 6,5km running incl.  7*1min fast, later 18 min Yoga

3rd: 10km race in Herne through the woods in 39.22 min, warmed up with my kids who ran the race earlier on

4th: 2 h indoor cycling, 10 min pumping iron

5th: swimming with my triaclub incl. 10* 50min with paddles followed by 5 pushups, 50 m without paddles

6th: mixed exercises (ropeskipping, kettlebell, swissball)

7th: 3km cycling, 15km running with my clubmates, 3km cycling

8th: boxing training with my bro Firat

9th: 1h swimming in the morning (from 7-8)

10th: running to the Gasometer, running up the 116 m, then chilling for a few seconds and running back home

11th: 10 min of exercises in the morning, then 35 min running, later 2*17 min cycling

12th: Restday: show in Ankara

13th: ran a few minutes in Istanbul and played a show later on

14th: only jogged and walked a bit from Topkapi Saray towards our hostel in Istanbul

15th: 1.10h easy cycling on fitnessbike

16th: 1h swimming in the morning (7-8), later 30 min power and stability exercises, then 55min indoor cycling

Veggie Athlete Jasmin/ my band in Turkey/ new vegan Cafe/

My training partner Jasmin ran the last half marathon before the Cologne Marathon in October!

Congrats on the result!!! Yeah!

Since the sports season is more or less over I can rest a little or enjoy finer things in life again.

Yesterday I went to see my friends Deathb4Dishonor play in Cologne and I also put up a merchbooth for the HardcoreHelpFoundation

So my band is about to play 2 Shows in Istanbul due to my friend Emre and his reunited band Radical Noise. I have always dreamed about flying to Istanbul and seeing them pla but now I am honored to even play with them. I cannot wait!!!

Show in Istanbul

Show in Ankara

Together with a few friends I hung out in Wuppertal and got introduced to Falafely. As the name implies it is a falafelplace that has vegan options. Nice and tasty. Check it out while you're in Wuppertal.

I am also very happy about having eaten the catering from Seasons in Gelsenkirchen-Buer. It is an organic, wholefoods cafe/restaurant. I just need to check out the cafe itself, since I have only eaten their food at a festival I have played with my band. Needless to say I am always happy when I find out about vegan spots in my area.

My girlfriend went to a veggie-fare in Düsseldorf where my friend Björn did a cookery show.

She was kind enough to bring me a vegan organic bar. After having tried this I ordered some other bars of that brand and all of them were amazing!!! Found it very easy to eat "active greens" bar while on my bike during my long distance triathlon.

The box of 18 "chocolaty choc chip" was gone after 3 days. So,so delicious!!!

I figured out it would be too expensive to eat too much of these every day so I have tried to make soe chocolate energy balls on my own and the result was tasteful, vitalizing and healthy:

Dried dates, spelt whole flour, wheat germs, mulberry sirup, agave nectar, dried bananas, flax seeds, cacao powder, chia seeds, ground almonds, soymik, peanut butter, maca powder: The energy ball is in the middle!

Finally new "Veggie Athletes" shirts are in the making. Due to several circumstances it had taken very long, but they will soon appear in the "Alles-vegetarisch.de" shop again.

You can also buy the organic foodbars there!

Training Sept. 10th- 23rd

10th: Restday

11th: indoor cycling 53min + power and stability exercises

12th: 36 min yoga

13th: 50 min running

14th: 40 min power and stability, 20 min VO2max (5min warmup, 3x30/30, 2x60/60, 3x30/30, 5 min cooldown) training on fitnessbike

15th: 3h easy running ca. 29km in Cologne

16th: power and stability excersises, rope skipping, yoga, running a few min with my daughter

17th: 40 min running

18th: 1h cycling on fitnessbike

19th: 2x 29,5km cycling to Herne and back later

20th: running ??? no entry... hm.

21st: 1.10h power and stabilty, then sauna

22nd: 3.10h easy cycling (90 km)

23rd: daughter birthday: just safeguarding the kids that climbed, nothing else. stayed awake far too long the day before and needed recovery. But you know what? Season is over, I can do whatever I wanna do! No more too much planning for my training.

Interview with Daniel Roth (beVegt.de)/ Berlin

Readers of this blog here might know by now that I also follow the blog beVegt. Both the editors are really into running, so I came across a few questions I wanted to send to Daniel, as he is also very fast and might just inspire other vegans or just sports interested people.
Interview in English here, german version can be read on the bottom of this blog.

1. Hello Daniel, please introduce yourself! (name, passion, blog, etc.).

Hey Björn, I'm 29 years old, from Mainz, and currently live in Frankfurt - a city which I like very much. Since 2000 I'm an avid and by now also quite ambitious runner. My favorite distances are the half-marathon and the marathon, and now and then I also run an ultra-marathon. In 2011 I finished my very first ultratrail run, covering a distance of 67k, and in July I am facing my biggest challenge yet: the K78 Swiss Alpine Marathon in Davos.

Running has definitely become a passion of mine and is a high priority for me, roughly on a par with nutrition. I’m a vegan since August 2010 and on my blog "beVegt" I report on my experiences from these two areas.

2. How did you and girlfriend Kathrin get the idea of creating the blog beVegt?

Actually, to tell you how we started beVegt I have to tell you how I've become a vegan in the first place. I was searching a review for a hydration pack and Google sent me to Matt Frazier's blog "No Meat Athlete". I was intrigued by what I read there - I particularly remember an essay titled "Milk - it does a (baby cow's) body good" which stuck in my head and made me think about the whereabouts of the things we eat for the first time. The essay stated that man is the only mammal still drinking milk as an adult - and not even its own but the milk of other mammals.

I was curious and decided to go meat-free for only one month, just to give it a try and see how I felt. I also started to do some research on meat consumption and food production in general - read books, watched movies, discussed with other veggies on facebook and blogs. Before long, I realized that in order to be consistent I also had to eliminate eggs, milk and cheese from my diet. And that I did, together with my girlfriend Katrin, and since then we have never looked back.

After we had lived vegan for a year and really liked our new lifestyle and the feeling of freedom and integrity it gave us, we wanted to share our experiences with others. Being an athlete on a vegan diet is possible, no matter if you are a beginner or a veteran. Unfortunately, if you only speak German you won’t find much information on this topic on the internet. With our blog “beVegt” we want to change that. We love what Matt Frazier does on “No Meat Athlete” so our approach is somewhat similar - we are not pushy at all but try to show our readers that you can lead an active, healthy and fulfilling life without animal products.

3. I have read on your blog that your move to veganism has also bettered your running. In how far did it change?

I really feel that I need much less time for recovery after a hard workout or a race. In early June I ran the “Brüder Grimm Lauf” - a 82k stage race with some steep climbs and downhill sections from Hanau to Steinau. Both Katrin and I ranked better from stage to stage and in the later stages we were faster than some runners who would most likely have beaten us at shorter distances.

However, I am cautious when it comes to attributing athletic improvement to a vegan diet. It is a bit of a hype in the veggie scene right now: "Eat plants and you will be super-strong". But there are so many other variables influencing athletic performance - training and sleep to name just two - and we mustn’t forget that almost all world-class athletes are not vegan. That said, you might as well argue the other way round: Haile Gebrselassie and Usain Bolt eat meat, so meat increases athletic performance. I think that we have to be very careful with this. I am an ethical vegan, I don’t consume animal products because I don’t want other creatures to suffer for my pleasures. The fact that my plant-based diet does in no way hamper my ambitions as an athlete is rather a nice bonus.

4. What are your current personal best times, and how were your best times before going vegan?

My current marathon personal best is 2:59:49 (previously 3:01:25), my half-marathon personal best is 1:21:53 (previously 1:24:19). At first glance this doesn’t look like a huge improvement, but I'm now working a full time job - in my pre-vegan life as a student I had considerably more time to train and relax than I have now. From this perspective I’m very pleased with my progress and this fall I want to increase my mileage again and try to become even faster. Right now I’m dreaming of a sub-2:50-marathon. I'm sure I can do this and will probably give it a try at the Boston Marathon in 2013.

5. Do you have special tips for before, during or after a run? What is your favorite recipe?

Some time ago Katrin wrote an article on sports nutrition for beVegt adressing exactly those questions: how and what should you eat before, during and after a workout or race. I think when it comes to sports nutrition the most important thing is to take in a good amount of carbs, protein and fluid in the first half hour after you have finished your workout. In those 30 minutes the body can absorb these nutrients better than at any other time. Many athletes neglect post-workout nutrition and will take a shower before they think of eating and filling up their depleted body, but it is absolutely essential for quick recovery!

And my favorite recipe? I like simple dishes from the Indian and Asian cuisine, with rice or quinoa as a basis, plus a lot of vegetables and spices like curry or garam masala. An all-time favorite in our kitchen is "A Grain A Green And A Bean" - This formula combines all the essential nutrients and leaves much room for creativity. As the name suggests, it consists of a whole grain such as rice, quinoa, bulgur, a green leafy vegetable like spinach, kale or broccoli and a legume such as beans or lentils. Complex carbohydrates, protein, iron, calcium - it gives you everything you need as an athlete and you can season it to taste.

6. What does a perfect day look like for you and what is your perfect vacation?

For me, a day cannot be perfect without a nice and decent workout giving me the possibility to relax and feel my body. Add to that a visit to our local whole foods market, preparing a delicious vegan meal with fresh ingredients and enjoying it in the shade on our balcony ... I do not need much more to be happy.

When I’m on vacation I like to be in nature - of which we unfortunately don’t have too much here in the Rhine-Main area. On this year’s summer vacation we will go to the Alps for hiking and then to Davos in Switzerland to run the Swiss Alpine Marathon. A pretty perfect holiday if you ask me ...

7. What goals do you want to pursue in life sportswise but also for your life in general?

As to my goals as an athlete, I would really like to go on setting new personal bests in road races for a few years, yet on the other hand I also want to become a decent ultramarathon runner. A major goal of mine is the North Face Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc - an ultratrail run around the Mont Blanc massif for a total of 168k and almost 10,000 meters of vertical climb. I learned about the ultratrail for the first time when I circled Mont Blanc via mountain bike 6 years ago - since then I have wanted to finish this race at least once in my lifetime.

Apart from running, I try to be content with little and to leave as small a footprint as possible through my lifestyle. And of course I am happy whenever I can motivate people to start running or to pay more attention to the things they put on their plates.

Thanks Daniel for the inspiring words!!!


The last weekend was spent in Berlin.
Berlin, as Germanys capital, might also be the uncrowned Veggie-capital-city.
My band had been booked for a show with H2O.

We were lucky enough to have a friend who plays in Final Prayer to put us on the bill. Thanks Flo! So some of us took the opportunity to visit Berlin little earlier. We checked some vegan spots, I have done a triathlon and hung out with my friend Björn Moschinski and his girlfriend Sandra.
So yeah... we got there on saturday evening and went to Björns restaurant "Kopps" in Berlin-Mitte.

We also went to Sfizy and found it was delicious and cheap considering the huge pizzas we have gotten.

This pic was taken on sunday after I have done the olympic triathlon in Storkow, which was only 60km out of Berlin.

We also went to Coretex-Records on monday where this nice photo had been taken!

by: laurdemanos.blogspot.com

Oh well... we will also play this show on August 4th and it is gonna be a blast!

right before the next Triathlon of the season in Sassenberg.

German version of the interview with Daniel Roth:

        1. Hallo Daniel, stell dich mal bitte vor (Name, evtl. Beruf, Passion, Blog, etc.).

Hallo Björn, ich bin 29 Jahre alt, gebürtiger Mainzer, lebe seit einem Jahr in Frankfurt und fühle mich immer wohler hier. Seit mittlerweile 12 Jahren bin ich begeisterter Läufer und betreibe das Ganze seit einigen Jahren auch recht ambitioniert. Meine Lieblingsdistanzen sind Halbmarathon und Marathon und inzwischen probiere ich mich auch hin und wieder mal an einem Ultramarathon. In 2011 habe ich meinen ersten Trail-Ultra über 67 Kilometer gefinished und im Juli steht meine bisher größte Herausforderung an: der K78 Swiss Alpine Marathon in Davos.

Laufen ist definitiv zu einer Passion geworden und steht ganz weit oben auf meiner Prioritätenliste, etwa gleichauf mit dem Thema Ernährung, das mich seit knapp 2 Jahren sehr stark beschäftigt. Seit August 2010 lebe ich vegan und auf meinem Blog “beVegt - vegetarisch / vegan leben und laufen” berichte ich über meine Erfahrungen aus diesen beiden Bereichen.

2. Wie bist du und deine Freundin Katrin auf die Idee gekommen den Blog beVegt zu schreiben?

Da muss ich eigentlich etwas weiter ausholen und erzählen, wie ich überhaupt zum Veganismus gekommen bin. Ich hatte damals nach einem Review für einen Trinkrucksack gesucht und bin so auf Matt Fraziers Blog “No Meat Athlete” gestoßen. Irgendwie hat mich fasziniert was dort zu lesen war - ganz besonders ist mir ein Artikel mit dem Titel “Milk - it does a (baby cow’s) body good” in Erinnerung geblieben, der mich sehr zum Nachdenken gebracht hat. Er handelte davon, dass der Mensch das einzige Säugetier ist, das auch im Erwachsenenalter noch Milch trinkt - noch dazu die Milch anderer Säugetiere.

Mich hat das neugierig gemacht und ich beschloss dann, einmal einen Monat lang kein Fleisch zu essen, sozusagen als zeitlich befristetes Selbstexperiment. Ich habe mich in dieser Zeit sehr intensiv mit den Hintergründen des Fleischkonsums und der Lebensmittelproduktion allgemein beschäftigt und einige Bücher zum Thema gelesen. Schon nach kurzer Zeit war mir klar, dass ich, um konsequent zu sein, auch Eier, Milch und Käse aus meiner Ernährung streichen müsste. Das habe ich dann gemeinsam mit meiner Freundin getan und es seitdem nie bereut.

Um zu deiner Frage zurückzukommen: Nachdem wir ein Jahr lang vegan gelebt hatten und es uns damit sehr gut ging wollten wir unsere Erfahrungen mit anderen teilen. Mit veganer Ernährung ist Sport auf jedem Leistungsniveau möglich - leider gibt das deutschsprachige Internet zu diesem Thema aber noch nicht viel her. Mit unserem Blog wollen wir das ändern und wir orientieren uns dabei ganz bewusst am Stil von “No Meat Athlete” - wir missionieren nicht, sondern leben einfach vor, dass ein aktives, auch kulinarisch erfülltes Leben ohne den Konsum tierischer Produkte möglich ist.

3. Du hast in deinem Blog geschrieben, dass der Schritt zum Veganismus auch eine deutliche Leistungsverbesserung mit sich brachte. Wie hat sich das genau geäußert?

Ich habe tatsächlich das Gefühl, nach harten Trainingseinheiten oder Wettkämpfen weniger Regenerationszeit zu benötigen und schneller wieder Gas geben zu können als früher. Ganz besonders habe ich das erst Anfang Juni beim Brüder-Grimm-Lauf von Hanau nach Steinau erlebt. Dieser Lauf führt in 5 Etappen über insgesamt 82 Kilometer mit teilweise sehr steilen Anstiegen und Downhill-Passagen, auf denen vor allem die Oberschenkelmuskulatur ziemlich in Mitleidenschaft gezogen wird. Sowohl Katrin als auch ich haben uns von Etappe zu Etappe im Gesamtklassement weiter nach vorne geschoben und konnten auf den späteren Etappen noch einige Läufer hinter uns lassen, die uns auf kürzeren Distanzen vermutlich geschlagen hätten.

Ich bin aber generell vorsichtig wenn es darum geht, sportliche Leistungsverbesserungen auf die vegane Ernährung zurückzuführen. Das ist im Moment so ein bisschen ein Hype in der Veggie-Szene: “Iss Pflanzen und du wirst super-leistungsfähig”. Es spielen dabei noch so viele andere Faktoren eine Rolle - Training und Schlaf, um nur zwei zu nennen - und gleichzeitig sind ja so gut wie alle Weltklasse-Athleten nicht vegan. Da könnte man genausogut andersherum argumentieren: Haile Gebrselassie und Usain Bolt essen Fleisch, also steigert Fleisch die Leistungsfähigkeit. Ich denke, dass wir da vorsichtig sein müssen. Ich bin ein ethischer Veganer: Ich konsumiere keine tierischen Produkte, weil ich nicht will, dass andere Lebewesen für die Befriedigung meiner Luxus-Bedürfnisse leiden müssen. Dass mich die vegane Ernährung nicht daran hindert, ambitioniert zu laufen, oder mir vielleicht sogar dabei hilft, ist einfach ein sehr schöner Nebeneffekt.

4. Was sind deine aktuellen Bestzeiten und was waren sie vor dem Veganismus?

Meine aktuelle Marathon-Bestzeit liegt bei 2:59:49 (früher 3:01:25), meine Halbmarathon-Bestzeit bei 1:21:53 (früher 1:24:19). Das sieht erstmal nicht nach einem großen Unterschied aus, allerdings bin ich inzwischen Vollzeit berufstätig - in meiner vor-veganen Zeit hatte ich als Student deutlich mehr Zeit um zu trainieren und einfach mal die Füße hochzulegen. Unter diesem Gesichtspunkt sind das schon ordentliche Verbesserungen und ich möchte auch ab Herbst die Umfänge nochmal steigern um noch schneller zu werden. Mittelfristig träume ich davon, einen Marathon in unter 2:50 zu laufen. Ich bin mir sicher dass ich das schaffen kann und werde vielleicht beim Boston Marathon 2013 einen ersten Versuch starten.

5. Hast du spezielle Ernährungstipps für vor, während oder nach dem Sport? Gibt es ein Lieblingsrezept?

Katrin hat vor einiger Zeit einen Beitrag über Sporternährung für beVegt geschrieben, in dem genau diese Fragen beantwortet werden: wie und was sollte man vor, während und nach dem Training bzw. Wettkampf essen. Das allerwichtigste ist meines Erachtens, dass man die erste halbe Stunde nach dem Training keinen Fehler macht, und das heißt: noch vor dem Duschen Kohlenhydrate, Eiweiß und Flüssigkeit zu sich nehmen. In diesem Zeitfenster kann der Körper diese Nährstoffe am besten aufnehmen und die entleerten Speicher wieder auffüllen. Viele Sportler vernachlässigen das, aber es ist die absolute Geheimwaffe für eine schnelle Regeneration!

Und ein Lieblingsrezept? Ich mag einfache Gerichte aus der indischen und asiatischen Küche, mit Reis oder Quinoa als Grundlage, dazu eine Menge Gemüse und Gewürze wie Curry oder Garam Masala. Ein Dauerbrenner in unserer Küche ist “A Grain, A Green and a Bean” - diese Formel vereint alle wichtigen Nährstoffe und lässt viel Raum für Kreativität. Wie der Name schon sagt besteht es aus einem Vollkorn wie z.B. Reis, Quinoa, Bulgur, einem grünen Blattgemüse wie Spinat, Grünkohl oder Brokkoli und einer Hülsenfrucht wie z.B. Bohnen oder Linsen. Komplexe Kohlenhydrate, Eiweiß, Eisen, Calzium - da ist alles drin was der Sportlerkörper braucht und man kann es nach Belieben würzen.

6. Wie sieht ein perfekter Tag für dich aus? Und was ist für dich perfekter Urlaub?

Zu einem perfekten Tag gehört für mich natürlich eine schöne Trainingseinheit, bei der ich abschalten und meinen Körper spüren kann. Ein Einkauf im Bio-Supermarkt und dann mit frischen Zutaten ein leckeres veganes Essen mit Dessert zubereiten, das wir dann im Schatten auf unserem Balkon genießen... viel mehr brauche ich eigentlich nicht.

Im Urlaub fahre ich am liebsten in die Natur - davon haben wir hier im Rhein-Main-Gebiet ja leider nicht so viel. Bald steht unser Sommerurlaub an, dann gehts in die Alpen zum Wandern und am letzten Wochenende steht dann der Swiss Alpine Marathon an. Ein ziemlich perfekter Urlaub würde ich sagen...

7. Welche Ziele verfolgst du noch im Leben, sowohl sportlich, als auch allgemein für dein Leben?

In sportlicher Hinsicht würde ich mich gerne in Straßenrennen noch verbessern und auf der anderen Seite auch ein guter Ultramarathonläufer werden. Ein großes sportliches Ziel ist der North Face Ultratrail du Montblanc - ein Nonstoplauf um das Montblancmassiv über insgesamt 168 Kilometer und fast 10.000 Höhenmeter. Ich habe den Montblanc vor 6 Jahren mit dem Mountainbike umrundet und damals hat dieser Lauf dort gerade stattgefunden - seitdem habe ich den Wunsch, dort einmal zu finishen.

Ansonsten versuche ich, mit wenig zufrieden sein und mit meiner Lebensweise einen möglichst kleinen Fußabdruck zu hinterlassen. Ich freue mich natürlich auch immer, wenn ich jemanden dazu motivieren kann, mit dem Laufen anzufangen. Und wenn es Katrin und mir auch in Zukunft mit beVegt gelingt, Berührungsängste mit der veganen Ernährung abzubauen und unsere Leser für dieses wichtige Thema zu sensibilisieren, dann wäre das eigentlich alles was ich mir wünsche.

Training June 25th- July 10th:
25th: One day rest after the triathlon
26th: 55min running, toning and stretch yoga in the evening
27th: 3.3km swimming, running in the evening
28th: 111min running, incl. 3 sprints
29th: 1.43h cycling to Herne, 3.3km swimming in the evening
30th: exercises for strength and stability, walking up the Gasometer in Oberhausen, a few exercises again in the evening
1st: almost  5.5h blocktraining: 4.40h cycling plus 45min running
2nd: 2h cycling incl. 4 times 8 min faster
3rd: 60km cycling
4th: 50km cycling, later 2.4km swimming
5th: 30km cycling
6th: a few exercises for strength and stability with a kettlebell, some lakeswimming, later 2.2km swimtraining

7th: 20 min yoga, 30 min running
8th: olympic triathlon in Storkow (1.5km swimming, 41km cycling, 10km running) in 2.17h
9th: 1.40 cycling, strength and stability exercises all at the Flugplatz Tempelhof in Berlin
10th: 2.4km swimming right next to Berlins olympic pool. Later excersises for strnegth with Thera bands
11th: 1.45h running
12th: 65 min running incl. 3 sprints
13th: 3.9km swimming
14th: 3 min running incl. stairs, 3 sprints and more weight, then moving and therefore lifting stuff
15th: 64 min running incl. 3 sprints
16th: 3.9km swimming
17th: 1.40 min cycling on fitnessbike
18th: 4.1km swimming    couldn't do more than one training a day due to moving into a new apartment