Cologne 226 finished (Ironman-distance)

My first long distance triathlon (aka Ironman) is over! I have finished the 3.8km swimming, 180km cycling and 42km running in 10:22:59 hours.

I am happy about that. What I find strange is that I would love to go running, cycling or swimming just today (started writing this 2 days later). I am feeling very good despite the fact that I had lost 4.5kilos on this day. That is alot considering I had only weighted 68-69kilos.

Anyways... 2 kilos are back on already and I can't stop eating. Surprisingly I don't want to have icecream or any other shittier stuff. I am eating loads of pasta with red sauce (just had a plate of pasta and a pizza) and veggies and fruits all day long.

What also makes me very, very proud is the fact that my ironman race got PETA 520€ and hopefully made people think more positive about vegans, sports and power.

After the transition from bike to run I have taken my "Veggie Athletes"-vest, which also hads a PETA and Alles-Vegetarisch.de- Logo on front. People seemed to be curious.

The race: I got to the Fühlinger See at about 6.20 on sunday morning, went to my bike, checked in my transition2 bag (running equipm.) and tried to get ready (dressing, toilettime). I was happy about crapping 4 times before the race. I was also happy about solid crap again. The 3 days before I felt ill and my crap was not always solid (may sound strange, but liquid crap will make your body lose loads of minerals that are very important for races over 3 hours). Crap is a reliable indicator for health.

After checking in I met my friend Sebastian Ueckert, a fellow hardcore dude, who also wanted to achieve that goal of being an Ironman. My clubmates also came early that morning to see the swimstart and lend me a running watch. Thanks!

Somehow I was not very nervous anymore. We got to the starting line and I still had 3 minutes.

We started 5 minutes after the professionals, so no fireworks for us, but that didn't matter as I just wanted to swim. We had to swim up the whole regatta course then almost fully back. I got off the water after 1:08. I was glad! This was my first time transitioning at a long distance triathlon so I didn't want to be too quickly to forget anything and stayed calm. I got on the bike and after 20something KM I started talking to an elder ironman with much more experience. I needed to talk a little. It was cold (10-11 degrees Celsius) and my hands were freezing. He had gloves but I couldn't even take the gels I was offered at the food stall due to my hands unable to grasp. I also needed to wee so I asked him if I could do that while sitting on the bike. Then the motorbike overtook us and gave him a yellow card for blocking me. I wasn't blocked by him at all, because I didn't want to overtake. The street was big enough for other to overtake us, but anyways...

we had to speak to the referees and in the end it was alright. I don't know if this has to be that strict for hobby triathletes likes us, but whatever...

I did quite a big part of the 180km together with that dude. After a while another dude from Poland also cycled with us and it seemed as if he did not know about drafting, because he always sucked on us or basicly anybody else, so that I even thought I could do that too for a few meters. On some races you are allowed to do that, but generally in germany that is forbidden and you can get a penalty.

Sometimes I have seen my friend Seb and we tried to shout encouragement to the other.

The cycling course went from the very north of Cologne along the Fühlinger See to the city centre of Cologne, near the dome and to Köln-Deutz. In Deutz I placed my bike, took my running gear and started running. I was happy to see my supporters even following me a little and filming and taking pictures. The weather became real nice, around 23 degrees I guess. Ininitally I wanted not to eat much during the run but rather try to drink coke (I don't drink coke at home at all) as many of my experienced clubmates do it this way and even I cannot refrain from the fact that coke while running seems supportive. I also had pretzels, bananas, water melons, water and vegan energy gels from carboo 4 u. The first of the 3 14km laps was good, on the second I started becoming slower and around 20km I did not really want to continue running, my muscles became sore. At around 28-35km I got stitches on my right side so I had to slow down a little. After km 37 I needed to speed up again and so I did. My body felt alright and I overtook quite a few people on the last kms. The marathon took me 3:44h, which is alright and about what I have calculated but slower than I had hoped. 10:22:59 h in total is great for a first Ironman! I went to the chill out zone to relax and eat a bit but I wasn't as hungry as usual. From there I head to the massage and it was a good decision as I was first in line. 20 min of massage is like heaven after a race.

Next up we decided what and how to do next. Had to grab my bike, my bags, etc and that took a long time. Then we also had to find the bus shuttle that brought us near our cars (not too near though and I had waited for them to pick me up after 8 minutes of walking.

I am glad I got friends that supported me on that special day. I know that some people got inspired to do more sports on their own and hopefully many people thought critically about the shit they consume and the bullshit patterns of dietary in their heads.

It was a nice run, a nice day, with even nicer persons and a nice meal at Jade Imbiss in Düsseldorf after the race.

Today is day two after the race and I do feel really good again. Found this interesting article yesterday:

http://www.vegetarismus.ch/pdf/Wirnitzer_Handout_TR%20Kongress_2008.pdf

Friends of mine that got into sports before veganism said that it seems true for them. I don't know as I am vegan for 16 years now, which means long before I have started endurance training, but well... if there's only 50% truth to it then everyone should consider a vegan diet even for a better workout efficiency.

There's a new vegan catering company in the Ruhrpott run by real compassionate people.

Check it here!

Training August 20th to September
20th: 59 km cycling to Herne and back
21st: Stability and power Workout + Ropeskipping
22nd: 3.3km swimming
23rd: 25min running, 40min swimming, 26min running incl. 3 sprints
24th: 22km running in 1.41h incl. 73min almost half-marathon pace
25th: 111km cycling in 3.30h
26th: 45min running, 36 min yoga toning and stretch
27th: 1.5h cycling on ergobike
28th: Restday!
29th: 30km to Herne (morning), 42 min running (noon) incl. 2x10min halfmarathon pace, 30km back home
30th: 2.4km swimming
31st: Restday
1st: Srpint Triathlon in Cologne (First day of Cologne Tria Weekend) in 1:26h
2nd: Long Distance Triathlon in Cologne (second day/ PETA Donation run) in 10:22:59h
3rd: Restday
4th: Restday
5th: easy 1.3km swimming
6th: easy 45 min cycling on ergobike, then sauna
7th: ca. 1km lake swimming
8th: 20km cycling incl. 3 sprints, 3km running incl. 3 times fast for 1min
9th: Olympic Triathlon in Xanten in 2:22h
 

Vote for the best german vegan cookbook/Training Jan 23rd- 31st

There's loads of good vegan cookbooks around lately. You are able to chose the best german one here.
The one from the Oxfanzine is a cookbook (called Ox-Kochbuch) me and my girlfriend have contributed a few recipes.
"Vegan guerilla" is a cookbook by a fellow blogger.
Another one is called "Vegan-lecker, lecker"and compiled by a fellow triathlete Marc Pierschel who also runs "Roots of compassion".
And then there's also the book written by my friend Björn Moschinski called "Vegan kochen für alle".

So well... I have plenty of reasons for this book or another. Decide for yourself!


Jan 23rd: Went indoor cycling for one hour and lifted weights, did some exercises for 30 min.
Jan 24th: It was really cold, so I have decided to sit on my fitnessbike for 1.10h
Jan 25th: Went swimming 2.5km, due to bike problems I had to run home after spreading flyers for my show with 10kg extraweight on my shoulders. 25 min running
Jan 26th: Went on a 14km run with my buddy
Jan 27th: Did some serious weightlifting and exercises for 1.20h in the gym in the afternoon and went swimming in the evening with my triathlon club.
Jan 28th: Ran almost 14km incl. 8 sprints of about 70 meters. Total 65 min.
Jan 29th: Ran ca. 12km with my friend Jasmin in Cologne along the Rhine, afterwards 1km swimming in the new swimming pool which also has an ice skating lane above the pools.
Jan 30th: Regeneration: Just some power and stretch yoga. Relax!
Jan 31st: 2.5km of swimming int he morning. 12km of running in the evening and then 30 min workout at home.

Video and gear

Check this vid, which has been shot on the second half of the marathon in Cologne.
Adidas tanktop, decathlons (cheapest) kalenji pant, "Zoot" compression calf guards, Nike+ Lunar Rejuvenate Presto, XSocks "Speed Metal". A good combination. I felt very comfortable with that gear.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvUmDr6omKM

Cologne Marathon

Before the Marathon: 
I finished my 2nd Marathon ever. 
Cologne was a real good one, since such a crowd is really helpful, when they scream your name.
Me and Jasmin met at her parents place and went by car and tram to the Marathon start. I registered my bag and went to the start... had to go to the toilet for 3 more times... haha. Better now then during the race!

The first few kilometeres went slowly, due to the high number of runners. I have estimated 3:10-3:13h. I knew I could do the 3:10h, but would have had to do more 30Km + runs in training. I did the halfmarathon in 1:32h (pic above taken by Britta at 21,5km), so I thought I should make it in 3:10h, but after Km 30 my body slowly rejected the pace.
In the end I finished in 3:12:51 h, which is cool considering my lack of long joggs in training and the short specialized marathon training period of 2.5 weeks.

But this was the first run without blisters. My muscles weren't too sore in the end. Only the upper leg muscles. I wore compression calf guards by "Zoot" and my socks "Speed Metal" by X-Socks kept my feet fresh and vital. The shoes I ran my fastest 10km race with also proved to be the best marathon shoes I got. These are a sneakers version of the Nike Lunar Racer, but cheaper. Nike Lunar Rejuvenate Presto is the name and I have never seen those at usual running shops, but sneaker shops sometimes got these. They are truely amazing! I can only write this again... they proved to be fast at 10km, but they also proved to endure a marathon.

Food: I put a few Aptonia fruit jellys from Decathlon in my mouth behind my cheeks and didn't eat them but let them slowly disappear. That way the body gets the sugar constantly through the saliva that gets resorbed easier than through food in the stomach. I chewed a salt tablet, took two sachets of "High5 Energy Gel", ate some slices of banana and half an "Oat Energy banana bread" supplied by my sponsor "Alles-Vegetarisch.de" http://www.alles-vegetarisch.de/Suesswaren-Riegel-Davina-ENERGY-OAT-SNACK-Banana-Bread--70g-,art-1326.Oh I also had a maca tablet during and right before the race.
After the race I ate as much vegan stuff as provided. They had loads of raisin and nut mixes, apple water, laugengebäck, bread, bananas and apples. I think I stayed there for like half an hour to eat and drink.

After the run: 
Jasmins mother was kind enough to provide us with some proteins and carbohydrates through delicious potatoes and vegetables after the run. I was invited to my friend Kouider for dinner in Dortmund. So I drove there, got some north african starter (mixed vegetables with bread), a very nice salad, canneloni with spinach and more vegetables as second and prickly pears and figs as dessert. Thanks to people who are not even vegetarian themselves but are open minded enough to make dinner comfortable for vegans and even eat vegetarian on that day! I love you!
Didn't want to drive back home due to feeling worn out, so I slept at my friends place.
Got up in the morning around ten and we ate the remains of the dinner from the evening before. Then I went back home, picked up my daughter and we went waterskiing. No other sports to be done today!
I will see what tomorrow brings... either cycling or swimming. Good night!

I will post a pic of all my gear within the next few days!

Seize life, enjoy the sun

So this week is going to have loads of hours of sunshine (down here in the west of germany).
Just move your ass out and enjoy the last warm and sunny days of the year! Workout outside, get a tan and get fit!
This weekend was awesome! Didn't do much on friday but gave my body a little rest. Had a nice breakfast with 3 girls on saturday morning before I went off to run 115 min incl. 90 minutes at estimated Marathon pace (ca. 3.10h for the 42 km). 26 km in total. Then my daughter had a Badminton game 40km away so I figured I could go there by bike. Due to being invited to a party afterwards and having to unload my van, I came to the conclusion of not cycling the whole distance but a shorter part of it. Without the exact adress I haven't matched the badminton gym. So I missed my daughter first two games she won, but watched the rest of it and her team winning. After that I wrote back to the place where I left my van. It turned out to be 51km cycling. So running and cycling this day was cool. Enough kilometres and nice weather. Then off to a birthday party, partying til 4, driving down towards Cologne to sleep there. I cannot drive well at nights so I had to sleep somewhere in Wutal in the van and went further in the morning. Got to cologne around 9, slept a little, had breakfast (Thanks, Britta for the scrambled Tofu!), slept some more and went to the fleamarket at "Feuerwache". Bought an "Echo and the Bunnymen" LP and a Joy Division double LP. Then I met up with my trainingpartner Jasmin to train for the Marathon. We went running along the beautiful Rhine with sunshine and nice talks for almost 2 hours including a little stop to dive into the Rhine! Jasmin fed me the "Vega"-Shake (http://myvega.com/) by Brendan Brazier and some other good stuff (Thanks, Jasmin!) and then I went back to get fed some pasta at my friends place. Damn... I will miss summer so hard!