Setting new goals!

My main race this, aka the one I have started training for in November will have to be canceled.
Not becuase of my fitness level, health or any other circumstances. It is due to the fact that I have been reading a book about vikings trying to find Attillas grave somewhere north of the black sea and pictures I have seen taken in the Kaukasus Region and Kasachstan. Those are some of the places most european people will never discover first hand. And then, two days later my friend called my and told me about his vague plan of cycling from here to Istanbul or even from Kasachstan to Istanbul to attend his friends birthday. I liked the idea of just cycling there... after the phonecall, my mind was fascinated by a trip like this. So 20 minutes later I called him back and told him I just have to cancel 2 Triathlons (and lose some money) but will def join, no matter which route to be taken.
So yesterday we have made our plans more precise, figured out two possible starting points (Astrakahn in Russia or Baku in Azerbaidjan), flight dates, etc.
Today we had done our first short training, cycled to the indoor climbing centre , climbed a few hours and cycled back again. I am so so looking forward to this trip!!!

 

This morning I also introduced my friend Marco into the world of alges with a green smoothie with Chlorella and Spirulina. Of course sweet fruits got in as well: Avacado, field salad, spinach, banana, chia seeds, gojiberries, linen seeds with dates, maca powder, agave syrup, sugar beet syrup.

I also like to add alges to soups or sauces:

I also like eating raw beetroot. Once the beetroot is mellow (after a few days) you can just skin it and cut it into pieces as finger food:

Lately I have also made pesto on my own. It is so quickly to be made and so delicious. Try it yourselves:

Pasta with selfmade pesto (spinach, pineseeds, walnuts, vegan cheese, salt, olive oil, flaxoil, herbs f.i. basil), alfalfa sprouts and yeast flakes.

I also did a raw tomato sauce which is also not hard to come by: Tomatoes (dried and fresh if wanted), salt, herbs in a blender. Blend it, ready!

Whenever I find time I also love to bake bread, being inspired by my favorite blog: bevegt.de
Here'smy quite healthy Ciabatta.

Well... just the dough: Buckwheat and wholegrain wheat flur, cashew nuts, lives, olive oil, seasalt, herbal salt, yeast, warm water

I went to my favorite city Barcelona in January to hang out with friends and see a hardcore festival.
Furthermore I finally went up running in the Collserolla mountains. Eventhough it was raining up there it was still a fantastic run!

 We went to this food place I have never checked out before called "Teresa Carles" and it was wonderful!!!
Check it out, espeically the salads and the small burgers!!!

The 2nd weekend of February had been special to me. On the 15th me and my daughter ran the OTVMeile. I placed another personal beston this course and wn my age group. My daughter also won her age group no 4.1km. Here's a link the the newspaper article.

On the 16th I had organised a slagheap run and a brunch. We were 6 people to run and 3 on bikes. It was a about 16km incl. to times up the slagheap. Everybody brought the food for the brunch before we started running, so it was all ready when we got back to our house:

I love this picture. haha!

I definitely want to organise this a few more times!!!


So next up for me: Bleilochlauf (probably 46km)

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

The end of 2012/ beginning 2013 post

I just got back from Barcelona on sunday night.
I love this city! There are many nicenice people, there are great vegan restaurants, there's a beach, there are tons of interesting museums, there is Montserrat and there are mountains not far away. Also my friend Gabi and his crew put on shows there, so I also went to "Can't keep us down" fest where I have seen Decisions (a new promising SXE band), Absurdo (one of the best HCPunk bands), Appraise (Gabis SXE band), Manliftingbanner (the old communist SXE band that got back together).


This fest took place on friday and saturday. People that know me also know that fests are in the evening, so there's loads of time for other stuff.
My friend Tete told me a couple of days ahead that there is going to be trailrun of 26,6 km (Cinc cim) not far away from BCN on sunday. So I thought this is going to be the perfect weekend 
A futbol match had been planned for saturday noon but naturally after going to Decathlon to get a trailrun backpack and getting to the meeting point with 25 min delay I was still one of the earliest.
We played some nice matches, me and some catalan/spanish HC kids. Eventhough I have warmed up a little I felt my adductores, which is a common thing if you don't play soccer often. After trying to catch a ball I felt I overbend my adductores. This time the right side. I had to quit playing directly, it hurt so much.
In the evening I didn't want to do the trailrun on sunday anymore. Due to miscommunication through broken and uncharged cellphones my friend was there to pick me up early in the morning. So after 4 hours of sleep (The fest and aftershowparty lasted quite long) I found myself in Tetes car, without breakfast, shower or anything but with a prepared new backpack with gels and bananawheat-bars. We went to the race and talked about the pros and cons of me taking part. Through the internet I found out that I got an irritation of the adductores on both sides but really hard on the right side.
The course of cinc cim was very hard, especially since I could not really move. I couldn't stretch my legs as usual so I had to run a lot slower. After 5 min I tought I would have to quite directly, but continued. Tete and me ran together most of the time, but later on we split.  was doing alright I knew  was gonna finish if I don't hurt myself anymore and so I did. The route, the nature was breathtaking. It has been my first trailrun so I was really astonished.

We are on the far right side of the pic. We came a little too late, had no inscription and gave a shit about the finish time.

The run was an amazing experience. Not only because of the beautiness of the mountains, but also because I have reached all my goals of 2012 (Long distance triathlon) so long trail runs are another thing I have always wanted to do. 
On saturday we ate at the Catbar, in sunday we had pizza with like 25 people before we took off towards Girona airport. BCN = love!

My teammates sometimes organize a little run in Oberhausen which is called FunRun and open for everyone.
Get there if you want to join us!
On the last FunRun I did more than just the run: Me and Rene ran to the meeting point, around the slagheap, up and down and back home. I did 29km, the special thing is I only wore barefeet shoes (Fila Skeletoes) and only had slight muscle soreness the other day.

Budget barefoot running shoe by Fila

 At my parttimejob in a gym I had asked my boss to add the point: "vegan diet" to my profile on the blackboard. Since he did one dude training there came up to me and sai he doens't fit it ok for me to be vega, because I seem like a cool guy and shouldn't be vegan, especially since vegans cannot wear cool leather jackets :-)

Anyways... I told him that I only got 3,2% bodyfat while he's got around 20% and wants to lose 5% more, so that was a punch in the face.

My band had played two amazing shows: One in Berlin, one in Coburg.

The whle band went to Berlin a day earlier to check out several places, such as the Veganz, the Kopps for brunch or the Vego and the Seerose as well as the Ramones Museum or the Altes Museum. I was lucky enough to meet very old friends, for dinner or the museum for the show and shopping. I ran alone, I did uphillrunning at the Carl Zeiss Sternwarte and swam in the Stadtbadbad Lankwitz. At the pool they had one lane for "fast" swimmers. Not too fast, but I was able to get my 2.8km done. The show at the Tiefgrund was nice! Bring it on! and Final Effort played as well and for a 1st show BIO were really good! We hung out at the bar before the show and the atmosphere was really good due to many friends of ours that came to the show. Actually two of our friends that used to live in our area set up the show, so it was very welcoming.

After brunching at Kopps, which is the restaurant of my friend Björn, on saturday we head down south towards Coburg, an old medieval city with an impressive castle.

Veste (Castle) Coburg (pic taken from Wikipedia)

We got there early enough to check out the venue and say hello to like 60 people that we knew already. It was something really special, since this was the first time in a long while I hung out in a backstageroom and knew so many people. Friends from east and south germany, even friends from Poland and America were there. The atmosphere was overwhelming and so was the food. A very good evening!

I got myself a blackroll orange and so far it feels good to use it. Will report more on this later, after having done a few xercises with it.

On new years eve I ran a 10k race but before that I've let my pupils run 1.5k. Our school had second most finishers, so we even got paid some pricemoney which I have used for some sportsequipment for the runners and the school.

Me and my schoolteam of runners

This is the stuff I got for Christmas:

If you got goals for the next season, the next year or just the next few months. Check BeVegt. They have presented exercises for your bodys stability especially for running. I do most of these exercises myself.


Training: December 19th - Jan 17th
19th: 2,3km swimming, 50 min running (sprinttraining incl.4  50m sprints and 6 100m sprints), a few exercises on a playground
20th: pumping iron, 25 min PWC Test (Interval test which stops when reaching 150 beats heartrate), 20min running on treadmill incl. 3 sprints
21st: 2,3km swimming
22nd: 30 min easy running
23rd: 32 min running, then 69 min cycling incl. 4* 10sec at max speed
24th: 40 min running incl. 3 sprints
25th: 1h power and stability exercises
26th: 2020 stairs at the Halde Norddeutschland, ca. 70 min incl. warmup and cool down
27th: 2,4km swimming, 17min stretch Yoga
28th: 53 min running, 2,6km swimming
29th: 2,6km swimming, later indoor climbing, then 62 min easy cycling
30th: 7,8km running incl. 5 * 800-1000m intervals
31st: 10km race Silvesterlauf Herne
1st: 19km easy running
2nd: 2,4km swimming
3rd: Restday
4th: 2,8km swimming, 60 min running incl. 5 * 2 min uphill, played a show later on
5th: 35 min easy running uphill to the castle of Coburg, playing a show in Coburg
6th: 2h cycling on fitnessbike, 70 min running incl. 3 sprints
7th: Restday
8th: 40 min Yoga, 2,75k swimming
9th: 55 min easy running
10th: weightlifting, stability, 2,9 km swimming
11th: 75 min stair uphill running at the slagheap in Recklinghausen Hochlarmark
12th: Soccer in Barcelona, Irritated my adductores
13th: 26,6km trailrun in Corbrera de Llobregat
14th: Restday
15th: 60 min easy cycling
16th: 2km swimming
17th: 40 min stability and strength exercises, ropeskipping, rowing, 15 min running

The world is changing for the better...

Lately I have been thinking about this a lot because I can see a significant change towards a more conscious lifestyle in todays society.

In 1996 at the age of 16 I have made a conscious and consequent step towards a vegan lifestyle.

I remember being happy when seeing soymilk in a supermarket and not having to pay a lot for an undelicious soymilk from the health food store.

I ran around with a "Veganissimo 1" in my backpack all the time.

Just today I went to Netto (german discount grocery store). Nowadays I can get soymilk, fakemeat stuff and organic bananas there. But they also label many of their products "vegan", even the aceto balsamico I have bought. That is an incredible progression towards a more conscious society und unthinkable 10 years ago.

3 weeks ago I went running with these fine dudes that are running the blog "beVegt". The forest "Stadtpark in Frankfurt was our destination and we ran almost 22km. Really nice!

Daniel, me and Katrin

We had an incredible hangout, good talk, they prepared a delicious meal and I have tasted their energy bar http://www.bevegt.de/selbstgemachte-energieriegel/. Thanks to you for these hours spent!

There's two more things that I want to see happening soon:

A network of veggie/vegan handymen, financial advisors, etc. so that I can choose for veggies to do jobs for me. I don't want my money to support other people to buy more meat and exploit more animals or perhaps even buy guns to go hunting! So someone should get that sort of info network together, please! 

I would also love to see a petition asking for all the german chocolate producers to leave butterfat out of their bitter chocolates. Until around ten years ago I was able to eat all the christmas chocolate stuff, but nowadays it is hard to come by vegan christmas stuff.

Another question: What's up with filtering fruit juices? It can be made with gelatine. Need to find that out as well. Anyone's got a hint? I've just heard that Aldi Süd's apple juice is vegan. I am happy about hearing that since it is my fave apple juice.

The second to last weekend I went running with my friends Kerstin and Sebastian, accompanied by my girlfriend. We went 20km around the 6-Seen-Platte which is the running mekka in Duisburg.

Last weekend we went mountainbiking with several cool dudes from my triathlon club plus one more friend of mine. It has been my first time on a MTB after 2 years since my bike got stolen. Awesome! I really love it and need to buy a decent MTB soon again. 

Some of the best dudes to go mountainbiking with!

On the next day 4 of us from the MTB tour did the 10km race of our club in Oberhausen Schmachtendorf. Sebastian placed first in our age group, I was second. 

Nordtriathleten after the race

Me and Seb. The 3rd guy was not there anymore, but that pic is real! :-)

Finally I was brave enough to get a "vegan" tattoo. I do have "No more" tattooed on my inner lip, which is from a veggie song by "Youth of Today", but up until a few months back I was not 100% sure if I will stay vegan for the rest of my life.

Now I do know! I have been vegan for the last 16 years of my life, which is half my life now and it has never been as easy to live vegan as it is now. So why should I ever take that decision back. It is the best choice in my life and feels totally natural, healthy and compassionate. It has also become so easy. So I went to my buddys at Lifetime Tattoos and got Frank to do this on me, after Andre has done a three other big tats on me.

After the tattoosession I went to Lolu, which is really close. It is a nice veggie restaurant with several vegan options and meals. They got great fresh tea as well. I can really recommend the hummus with bread and the seitan burger.

Before heading there I went to my favortite organic bakery in Duisburg: Schomaker. They got vegan nougatrings as well as other sweet things and delicious bread rolls with olives, etc.

You cannot go wrong there!

Training November 18th- December 18th:
18th: 2h running with Katrin and Daniel of BeVegt in Frankfurt
19th: mixed workout with kettlebell, ergobike, rope, own body weight
20th: 1h badminton with my daughter, 2.1km swimming with speed intervals
21st: 1h easy cycling on my fitnessbike
22nd: ropeskipping, treadmill, fitnessbike, TRX training, own body weight exercises at my new job
23rd: 10 min running to the swimming hall, then 2.1km swimming
24th: 1h running with Fila Skeletoes, 34 min Yoga (toning and stretch)
25th: 2 climbing, then 20.5km running
26th: Restday
27th: 2.3km swimming
28th: 35 min running in Fila Skeletoes, then 40 min easy cycling on fitnessbike
29th: 1h power and stability exercises +  ropeskipping and running on the treadmill
30th: 1h running incl. 3 sprints (with Fila Skeletoes again)
Dec. 1st: 3h mountainbiking with my teammates and friends, then 30 min badminton with my daughter
2nd: Nikolausrun (crossrun) of Sterkrade-Nord (my club): 10km in 39.03min
3rd: 34 min toning and stretch Yoga, then 15 min easy running with my daughter incl. sprints
4th: 2,4km swimming
5th: 42 min running incl. 3 sprints in the morning (fasting run)
6th: 1h power and stability, then 65 min treadmill incl. 4 sprints
7th: 34 min easy cycling on fitnessbike
8th: 3 spinning, 25 min running incl. 5x1min at 20 km/h, then a few exercises for power
9th: 11.2km running on snow and ice
10th: Just Yoga (toning and stretch)
11th: 70 min running incl. 3 sprints
12th: 1h cycling, ca. 40 min power and stablity, 70 min running incl. 10 sprints (first four moderate, 6-10 harder)
13th: 36 min running, 5 min rowing
14th: restday
15th: 29km running incl. several runs up the Schlackeberg (big big slagheap) 
16th: 64 min cycling incl. 2x 6 high intensive intervals
17th: 1h easy cycling (to compensate the weekends training)
18th: 45 min easy running incl. 3 sprints

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

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