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
 

Win a "Veggie Athletes" Shirt or order one!

PETA2  has a feature about me. Post your comment there to win one of the "Veggie Athletes" shirts!
You can also order the shirts from Alles-Vegetarisch.de and get a discount there after your next race (in case you're wearing this shirt).
So yeah! It is on! Spread the word, do your best!


Training March 13th to 19th: a week to regenerate
13th: 3km prework swimming (incl. swimexercises)
14th: running for only 56 min, then sauna
15th: 1.07h cycling, then 13min running real fast
16th:3.4km swimming

17th: 2.06h cycling around noon. Later playing a show with H2O, Madball, Devil in me, Strength Approach, Deez Nuts but couldn't see all the bands myself, because my daughter wanted to attend a Casper show with me and it was really amazing! Thanks to Ben for letting us in, although it has been sold out.


18th: 1h mixed strengthening workout, then 70 min running incl. sprints, loads of stairs, some jumps, pretty fast
had a big brunch later this day. amazing weekend!

19th: 48 min cycling outside hile the sun shone, then 30 min on my fitnessbike and stretch Yoga.

Here's a short video that had been made on the Rebellion Show on March 17th with Toby H2O and Freddy Madball in order to support the HHF, the organisation I also try to help out a bit.

"Easy to make" recovery meal/ Training March 5th - 12th

Mixed salad, mexican veggies, hash-browns, tofu, wheat germs, sprouted quinoa seeds, nutritional yeast (as in the big jar), soaked in buckwheat (in the bowl to the left) and a bloody orange for dessert. Easy and fast to make, yet a nice recovery meal (actually I ate two portions of this and had 2 wholegrain breadrolls before)

Training this week:
5th: mixed exercises for power with swissball, weights, own body weight for 75 min, then sauna and in the evening 75 min running.
6th: 2,4km swimming from 6.45-7.45 incl. some sprints
7th: playing football with my friends for 90 minutes here
8th: 70 min running incl. 3 sprints, then rehearsal
9th: power yoga 17 min, 2,8km swimming, stretch yoga 17 min
10th: 90 min running incl. spirints, exercises and high intensive sprint intervalls, 19km in total
11th: 5h cycling (144 km), then climbing at the "Bergwerk" (Which means "mine", it used to be a coal mine) in Dortmund here

Again media coverage in german: Peta2 Interview/ Running and climbing in Soest

This interview (Peta2) is in german, sorry for non-german speaking folks!

Training Jan 26th - Feb 4rth
26th: I got really sick. I guess it was a cold, so I went climbing at the Neoliet Indoor Climbing Center in Mülheim, but just safeguarded my friends and daughter. I eventually went climbing one route and bouldered a little. Couldn't eat much during the day but did eat more in the evening.
27th:  Still having a bad cold. Better to relax, no sports! Ate loads of vitamins through bloody oranges and other fruits t get fit again.
28th: Seemed to have recovered, so I went for a nice 40 min run in the morning at 7 and went on my fitnessbike in the evening for about an hour.
29th: Swam 2.8km early in the morning and went off to Soest to my qualification for lead climbing. So climbed a lot and did own body weight exercises while watching the german football team lose against france.
1st: Went running for 50 min with another sports teacher in Soest early in the morning before climbing the whole day at the Big Wall Indoor Climbing Center in Ahlen. Went to the bar "Zwiebel" which also brews beer and spirits. I just had a alcoholfree beer with banana juice and fries. Not a special vegan place but certainly nice to visit as it is a very old half-timbered house and wooden inside.
2nd: 55 min of running incl. running exercises early in the morning around and then through Soest. Soest is really beautiful and I saw many antique buildings. I ran alongside and on the middle ages city wall for a few meters. Glad I did take this different route this time.
3rd: Had to help a friend getting rid of almost a whole forest in his garden so no time for sports. Just did 35 min of Yoga in the late evening.
4th: 85min of running incl. 3 sprints with my girlfriend accompanying me on a bike.

City Wall Soest

At the end of the qualification in front of the climbing wall in a school

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.

Super swimming goggle on discount tomorrow/ Training Jan 16th - 22nd (Barcelona weekend)

Tomorrow (Jan 31st) you gotta check sportshop-triathlon to getawesome approved by myself swimming goggles for cheap. This is how they look

and I can tell that they are high in quality and long lasting goggles.









Trainings:
Jan 16th:  Did 55min on a treadmill incl. 3 sprints
Jan 17th: 2.5km swimming in the morning (7-8), in the evening running 1.15h
Jan 18th: 30 minutes workout for muscles, 55 min (power) indoor cycling, 15 min running (of which 10 pretty fast), 5 min rowing
Jan 19th: 2.8km swimming at the Hallenbad Oberhausen in the late evening (8-9)
Jan 20th: Arriving in Barcelona. Went to Maoz for a falafel at first. Later on we went to the Catbar, which is another all vegan restaurant. Attending the first day of the festival my band is flying over for. Running back into the city at night (after 12) at 10-2 degrees C. to meet up with the rest of the pack. Awesome 1.20h run (not the shortest way).
Jan 21st: Visiting Montserrat in the mountains near Barcelona. Going there by train, then up to the monastery by cable car. Beautyful and mysterious place. I think everyone should go there once in his lifetime! Awesome for hiking, climbing and even running, special for nature wildlife (my friends have seen wild pigs and eagles the day before). Me and my girlfriend just went hinking a little and on the way back to the cable car station I went a little faster than her to have time to do a few short uphill runs. These 5 short (20-50 seconds) runs made my muscles sore. Before goin to the venue I have introduced Orxata to my girlfriend which is a milk of tigernuts. Got it from the Valenciana or go here:

 You should def. try Orxata (catalan) or Horchata (spanish) con limona ... (something with lemonstuff).
Later this evening we got to the venue where we had to play the show. It was a nice venue with amazing people, awesome crowd reaction, good hangouts, nice other bands (Assac, Col-lapse, Truth through fight, Absurdo, etc.) and an intense aftershow party. Spanish people party hard!
Video to the coversong we played  This guy also has loads of videos of the festival.
Again in bed very late (4 o'clock), but up at 10 to get to the famous labyrinth in Horta with my friends Gabi and Lubia. Found out about a velodrome and swimming pool next to the park. On the agenda for my next visit to BCN in april. After this hitting the city to eat some delicious meal at Gopal and meet the others. Then off to the airport and germany again. It's a pity we missed Gelaaati this time. They offer great vegan choices of icecream (although I haven't found it on their website, but they do have quite a few, for instance ricemilk chocolate).

Labyrinth in Horta

Cable car towards to old monastery on Montserrat

Gopal

The black Madonna (La Moreneta) of Montserrat

Training Jan 8th- 15th

Jan 8th: Last day without work. I went on my bike early in the morning for a 2.8km swim training.
After that my girlfriend wanted to go to a flea market and so we did. Her on a bike and me running (and in running gear). Just 8km forth and back, but nice. Bought some sportswear there, like a windbreaker vest and some stuff for my uncle (bikeshirt, running shirt, running cap) for very reasonable prices. Also met a friend there who started running a little more than a year ago and had a good talk.

Jan 9th: First day of work after Christmas break. Took a day off and just did power and stretch Yoga for 45 min. Regenerate!

Jan 10th.: Pretty diverse training this day. Did 2.8km swimming from 7-8 in the morning. Ran with my class for an hour without stopping to approve for some sort of running badge/insignia. This was very slow but a nice thing to do. Had a rehearsal with the band and also did almost 20 minutes of working out there.

Jan 11th: Not very spectacular: 40 min. cycling, then 18 minutes running in the gym.

Jan 12th: Did 2h of indoorcycling at the gym. Nice but exhausting!

Jan 13th: 2.8km swimming at the SGZ Altenessen through little kids learning to swim and old people from an aquagymnastics course. Felt like running hurdles in water. At least the sauna was nice there. Did 35 min of workout at home in the evening.

Jan 14th: Did an early morning run of 50 minutes before picking up new tyres for my car. In the afternoon I went on my bike to the gym (9km), did 1.20h indoor cycling, did chestpresses and went 9km back home on the bike. Felt awesome!

Jan 15th: Went climbing at Neoliet in Mülheim again with my cousine, daughter and friend. My friend, who climbed a wall for his first time ever, climbed better than me....

In the evening I went on my fitnessbike for an hour.

After Christmas days: getting back into training

I still had the Donauwelle here and ate pieces of this every morning for breakfast until the 28th.
On the 27th I wanted to go running, but it turned out we went to the gym, where I did 30 min of exercises for strength and then 30 minutes running in neoprene socks on a treadmill. I felt a blister after 17 min already, but wanted to finish 30 min of running. After the 30 min I went rowing for 10 minutes and then 20 minutes really fast on a fitness bike. So 1h cardio in total and very diverse. My feet hurt a little.
The other day my training buddy wanted to run ca. 20 km, but I didn't know if I was ready to go due to the blisters.
I was afraid of not being able to run so I went swimming first and did 3.6km at the Aquapark in Oberhausen around noon.
At 16.00h met up with my budy to run, but I only did ca. 13km, but went to the meeting point by bike again. I was pretty tired in the evening. Day in total: 8km cycling, 13 km running, 3.6km swimming. Needed to do Yoga in the evening and used this DVD which I got for Christmas:

29th December: Still pretty tired from lasts days workout. Wanted to go the gym again after helping a friend moving (loads of stairs up and down). Did one hour of Iron System workout there for the first time. During training my muscles felt sore a couple of times.

After Iron System I went to the Cycling course for one hour.
On the next morning my alarm clock woke me up at 6.17h in the morning. I was lying in bed unsure if I should get up that early to go swimming. At 6.33h I sat on my bike on my way to the pool. I swam 2.4km, shopped a few things afterwards and got home to have breakfast.
A guy came to tune our new purchased piano.
At 15.00h we met at the climbing gym "Neoliet" in Mülheim. It was my daughters first time climbing and she did very well. I still have to fight with 6+ routes. 5- I have done a couple so far. My daughter did a couple of 3 and 3+ routes.Luckily they even have vegan climbing shoes for rent there.

My daughter climbing up and me safeguarding

Felt my leg muscles in the evening and also shoulder and back muscles the other morning.
Had to wake up early again to meet with my students for the "Herner Silvesterlauf" at the Gysenbergpark. Since we are the current titleholder of primary schools with most kids finishing the race we had to go there again. We also wanted to win the donation for the winner again. Kids had fun, one of my students places first in his agegroup, the parents liked it and we placed 2nd and still got some money for our school. Good day! We didn't want to stay there too long due to my daughter feeling bad, so I only did the 5km run. My first ever 5km run. Placed 6th and first in my agegroup. Time: 18:53. Was alright, considering my muscles were already sore, when I ran with the kids before my run. Total muscle soreness this evening!!! Loads of stretching to be done!

Training around X-mas

On wednesday I went to the gym to lift weights whilst standing on a balance board and did exercises with my own body weight and a swissball.

Not my socks! But this is some kind of balance board.

After that I did two hours of indoor cycling.
I was pretty exhausted on thursday after this and due to X-mas preparations and feeling tired I rested that day.

On friday the 23rd I went running for 50 min. incl. 5 sprints and some running exercises plus 3 times 800 m. in my 10k racepace. In the evening I went to my triathlon clubs swimming pool, but I confused training times and could only swim for 25 minutes.

Saturday= Christmas eve, the day on which most X-mas rituals take place in this part of Germany. We went to my girlfriends parents. Before that we had to go shopping for some final presents, so I went running to the shopping with my daughter on the bike. Just around 30 minutes, but alright for a christmas eves run. Did some minutes of exercises after getting home.
Then off to Brittas parents and to the feast. Ate some very delicious traditional german "Rouladen" made of soyprotein, "Knödel" and "Rotkohl".

Rouladen, Knödel, Rotkohl

Had a pea soup as starter and some creamy whip with oranges as dessert. Amazing! I was very full and me and my daughter had to go running for 5 minutes to level out. Presents: I got this book which translates to "Long distance triathlon once in a lifetime".

 

 So I guess my family has coped with my decision.
On the first day of Christmas we went to my parents. I just did 1.30h on my fitnessbike before we went there. Got some money there that I definitely need for some triathlon gear or the application for my long distance once. While on my bike my daughter supported me with Christmas music on her new piano. Awesome!
Dec 26th we had invited my bandmates as well as a few friends to have brunch with us. Me and Firat went running before that. We went to the "Gesundheitspark Quellenbusch" and did a barefeet run there. There is some sort of route which is not really taken care of in wintertime, but it was an experience.
After that we got to the feast, prepared a little more and started eating. All was vegan. My girlfriends "Donauwelle" (translates with "wave of Danube" is a very creamy cherry-chocolate sort of cake).

Donauwelle

I made baguettes with tomatoes and herbalgarlic oil. We also had a chickpeas spread, fruits, potatoeballs, beans, my daughter baked wafers, a friend brought "Mett" (which usually is raw mince used as a spread for bread), another self baked baguette with pepper. It was a real feast!

Mett

Weekend training and watching my favorite movie again

Since I couldn't convince myself to leave home for swimming on friday I went on my bike on saturday morning to go swimming. I did 2km following a training schedule for offseason training. The new pool in the center of Oberhausen is nice, due to a fast swimmers lane. 

The usually divide the pool into lanes, which makes it easier for swimmers with ambitions.

After that me and Britta had to leave to donate blood to check if we fit to donate bone marrow for a little girl from Bochum called Greta. Our incorporated association "The Hardcore Help Foundation" had donated 50€ for everyone who let the DKMS (organisation that checks the blood compatability) check their blood.

Team HHF: Anett, Patric, Phyllis, me, Britta, Rico  Pic by Toni BDHW

My little one couldn't join us due to a Badminton game she had to play.
From Bochum we went on to Wuppertal to meet friends and have dinner. Initially me and my bro Firat wanted to go running , but then we waited for the food and somehow we just ate and were too full to run afterwards. So we started watching my favorite movie "Night on Earth" by Jim Jarmusch which I hadn't seen for the last 6 years, so watching it was great amusement!

On sunday I was very tired still due to less sleeping last night, so I did not do much apart from 1.15h cycling (Ergobike and outside) plus 1h of weight lifting at my gym.

Gasometer OB

Monday: Did a 1.10h, nice 14km run along the Rhein-Herne-Kanal in Oberhausen towards Duisburg passing the stadium of Rot Weiß Oberhausen and the Gasometer. I might only stretch now. Good night!

Wednesday to friday

On wednesday I went to my gym to go indoor cycling. Nothing spectacular, just around 2 hours of indoor cycling. The powercycling II course, the second one this evening, wasn't this hard this time.
On thursday I felt as if I would need to take a break from sports for just one day as I was really tired. For lunch I ate at the YMCA in Herne and they kept a salad dressingfree, so I could make my own vegan dressing. Luckily I had sprouted quinoa and wheat with me due to showing it my students earlier the day, so I could use this to supplement my salad. In the evening I had to go back to Herne and went swimming at the Südpool, but only for 40 minutes. It's been more than a week since I went swimming last time, so it was quite hard.

sprouted quinoa

sprouted wheat

Today (friday) I was tired again, due to hanging out at Michi's place until latenight. Wasn't sure about running or swimming, so in the end I went running for 42 minutes towards the Revierpark Gysenberg and did a few short uphill runs there. After getting home I have done a mixed workout with my new purchases: Kettlebell and swissball. Squats on a swissball is really hard and takes advantage of every muscle in your legs. And then I also did some Theraband, barbell and own weight exercises.

Swissball exercises for bootie, legs and belly muscles

My kettlebell

Sunday to Wednesday

On Sunday I sat on my fitnessbike and did some cardio-strength exercises with my new kettlebell, therabands and barbell as well as bodyweight for almost 2 hours. In the evening my GF wanted to go running, so we went for like 3-4 km, but also walked parts of it.
On Monday I just went to my gym to ride a spinning bike with spinning exercises for 1.20h but on my own.
On Tuesday I wanted to go swimming in the morning, but I have skipped that so I only went running for an hour, did some sprints and went fast towards the end as I had to pick up my daughter from training in time.
I usually do stretching in the evening before going to bed. There was a time when I have stretched after every workout, but now I only do after harder trainings i.e. when I can feel my muscles.

Much pasta and running up the hill

In the evening when I came back from Soest, I needed to do something different again, so I have lifted some weights after warming up on my fitnessbike. In the end I sat on the bike for more than an hour and did a ca. 40 min workout.
I wanted to check whether my climbing skills really improved so I went climbing to the neoliet in Mülheim/Ruhr.
I did my first two 5+ climbing routes there and felt very happy. Me and my daughter made some pasta. We took some readymade, but tasteful veggie bolognese

Rossmann Organic Veggie Bolognese

from "Rossmann", added melting vegan cheese from "Cheezly", field salad, wheat germs and nutritional yeast flakes. Yummy!

Still I wanted to train my endurance this day, so I've cycled on my ergobike for 1.20 h but very calmly, putting my laptop on the handle bar.

This sunday morning I went 25 min. on my bike to meet some triathlon teammates who wanted to run up a hill. The wind was very very strong and something flew in my eye. Due to wearing contact lenses I had to stop and cleanse my eye. So in the end I missed my teammates by a few minutes and tried to run after them but I wasn't familiar with the route to the hill they wanted to run up. So I took at least one wrong turn and had to run the Schlackeberg (how we call this slag heap) up on my own. It was still a billiant thing to do. The earth under your feet, the wind pushes your body, you can feel all natures energies.
Got back to my bike ca. 1.55h after I left it at the meeting point. The cars of my teammates weren't there anymore, so I had trained longer! Yeah! haha
Had to cycle back, since my little one wanted to go Ice-skating with me.
For lunch I took last days remaining pasta, added spiced oliveoil, redpepper, tofu, field salad, vegan cheese (cheezly), sundried tomatoes, wheat germs and (nutritional) yeast flakes, to make up a healthy and tasty meal to recover. Dessert was a kaki.

Amazing!
Might have to do some stretch yoga this evening....
My daughters friend called us, couldn't make it, so we just stayed home. Time to chill is good!

Climbing course in Soest, not much time, but still running!

On sunday me and Micha went 66km on our roadbikes. It took us north out of Oberhausen, through Kirchhellen and back through Hünxe and Dinslaken. We went slowly since Micha was ill the days before and I really need this part of the year giving my body some rest. It was very nice, the weather was really good and we met a lot of fellow cyclists.
On the next day I went running on my most familiar running track next to the Rhein-Herne-Kanal in Oberhausen.
It was an hour in total. Within this hour of running I did high intensive intervalls: 20 seconds running fast, 10 seconds slowly, 20 seconds fast, 10 slowly. 6 times fast and then later on again 4 times fast. Britta accompanied me on the bike. Thanks!
On Tuesday I had to do the first day for a qualification for safe indoor climbing. The guide is a famous climber and you can also book climbing courses through this association DAV HSK. It was great fun and luckily I met a fellow triathlete with whom I ran this evening and the next evening through the beautiful city of Soest, which has a lot of interesting history. Whilst running you can visible see a lot of the medieval remains of this formerly quite important city such as town fortifications, towers, old churches and cobblestone streets. Nice! I also do think that this is special for running: You can do it anywhere, almost anytime (we did at late evenings) and still discover beauty (like landscapes, old buildings, parks, trees, water) within less than an hour while doing something very good to your body and do no harm to nature. Running bears insights non running /walking people will usually not discover. Little things like creeks or just nice smelling blossoms in a forest. It makes you more aware of the places we live in or nature in its own self. And if you got company you can still have deep or just nice conversation and exchange experiences that don't exceptionally belong to the sportsworld.

So well... Now I have a certification to look after someone climbing and bettered myself at indoor climbing.
I have fulfilled one more goal this year. Next year I am gonna try to do outdoor climbing in real mountains and if time lets me train long and hard enough, I am gonna do an IRONMAN for the first time! Gotta keep up informing about my training when it starts to densify in december/january.

We ran along the wall (the green cycle around the city) a couple of times.

Football! Finally again!

After 4 weeks I went playing football again! This place we play is similar to these "Soccer world" places. I like that artificial turf!
Well... we play for 1.5h and I ran loads and loads and the next day I could feel most of my muscles again, but yeah, football makes much more fun that running crazy intervalls and looking at your watch all the time.

On the following day I did 40 min of calm cycling on my fitnessbike plus 40 min of exercises with bodyweight, Therabands but I don't do stuff like this:

and a ball.
These 40 + 40 minutes made my muscles sore again on the next day. Not as hard as the days before, but I felt it. So I just went running for 30 minutes and since the newly tattooed skin had healed, I also wanted to swim a little, so I went swimming for 30 minutes ath Südpool in Herne.

Before I went back to school to learn spanish.

On saturday I've done a lot: First 3 hours of spanish class, then 40 min swimming, then Hardcore Help Foundation meeting, then 2. tattoo session at lifetime-tattoo.
After that me and my tattooartist Andre went to eat falafel in Oberhausen. Actually there are two good falafel places in Oberhausen on one street (Friedrich-Karl-Straße) near the station.

Back from London

London is a very veganfriendly city and England is a veganfriendly country. The labels of the vegetarian society or the vegan label of the big groceries really make life easier there. You can also eat out vegan in every part of the city. Even restaurants as the Eritrean Mosob label their food as Vegan.
And now I am back in Germany. I mean it is not Gran Canaria or even worse: France (worst country for vegans in the world probably), but it is getting back to normal. Looking back to the beginning of my vegan life 15 years ago, it has changed for the better over here, too.

Back to training:
I arrived at 9.30 at the Airport in Weeze, dropped my daughter off at home and made my way to the St. Martini City Lauf, a 10km run in Herne, where I work and many of my students also wanted to run. When I got there their run was over but some of them placed almost on top. Then I got the chance to still register for the race and so I did with just a ew hours of sleep, but ok prepared. I ran a 38.55min, but Mikatiming says different. I got the same netto as brutto time, so they made a mistake. My watch told me the time I posted above, so I go with this! It was not exactely what I was aiming for but considering I only had 3*1h sleep on the floor of an airport, it was decent. This is a pic of me running this race.

The other day I only did an hour of cycling at home on my fitnessbike.
On tuesday morning I went swimming at the Aquapark in Oberhausen. This pool usually is really expensive, but quite cheap when you enter before 8 am. Then you can oly use the 25m lane pool, but that is the only thing I go for anyways... In the evening I also went to my gym to lift some weights.

London Part II

On the third day Michi and me ran on the canal again. Really beautiful with these little boats along our track.
We did 8km and I did a 3*1km at faster pace.
Later on we went along the river Thames and to  Tate: Modern/ Contemporary Art Museum.

I was really impressed by the works of Beuys and this photo here:
We ended our trip at the Loving Hut in Camden Town. I find these restaurants strange and so did Michi, Kati and Elara. The food was good, but customers and waiters acted "strange". Be sure to watch the TV broacast but don't let it suck your brain out!

Freaky person at Occupy London

On the next day I started off with some soft exercises with Thera bands and then we went into town again and witnessed the "Occupy London" campaign and the tents around St. Pauls Cathedral. These activist have real important messages to spread, but some people there were quite entertaining and I doubt that these entertaining people change the minds of the bosses.
Again I have stolen these pics from my friend Michi. In the evening I went on the fitnessbike for 1 hour while watching "Back to the future II".
On the next day my daughter and me wanted to take the coach up to Sheffield. Before meeting some of my best friends up north we also wanted to go swimming. But well... we missed the first coach and got to Sheffield very late plus the coach left us outside Meadow Hall which was further away from the swimming pool then I expected. So we skipped swimming and tried to get to my friends Ians place, which was a pain in the arse, since in Sheffield you pay for each travel with a different bus company. So in the end we had to pay three tickets. Could have better called for a taxi. So yeah... this day I wanted to give my body a little rest to be best prepared for the 10k race on sunday. We had late evening chips (very healthy) and I went to see my friends band Inherit and Abolition. Got home not too late, but went to bed directly to be fit for a morning run.

Next morning: Couldn't run too early so we had breakfast before since my friends Ian left to shop for some food. Awesome breakfast with Crumpets and homemade marmalade, plus soymilk and juices.

Crumpet with melted margarine

Yummy!!! The margarine melts in these little holes after the crumpet came out of the toaster.
Anyways... back to sports: There was a little reservoir nearby and a little hill, so I ran up the hill twice at full pace and did another 2 sprints.In total it was just 28 minutes, but enough considering next days race. A little later, my daughter and me got picked up by my other friend Max and he prepared a feast for us. Shepherds Pie (a traditional yorkshire recipe, some veggies, strawberry crumble... delicious!!! Of course verything was vegan as I was surrounded by vegans on this trip again. Amazing!!!)
By the way... If you're into HC, Max put out the best HC related zine ever: Back on the bins

My favorite fanzine edited by my friend Max

If you're into HC and you don't want to read the same Interview questions from last years and second to last years zines and got some special humor then do pick this up! Best zine read I had in years and years.Rumors have it I have slightly contributed to it without knowing or intending.
After Max has offered to drop us off at the airport, I have convinced Max to drive back to London this afternoon. So we got to London in the early evening, talked to our friends at the house for ages (in case Max hasn't seen most of them for quite a while) and waited to Kati and Michi to come home. When they got there we hurried up to get to an Eritrean restaurant calles Mosob. It was very veggie/vegan friendly and family run. Check it out when you're in London. The waiteresses are also very nice and try to let you get an impression of the eritrerian culture by showing a book or some food related ceremonies if wanted.

We got home quite late (after I ate for like 2 persons) and went to the airport directly, Max dropped us off around 2 o' clock and me and my daughter slept for like 2*1 hour. So many others sleeping at Stansted airport. haha. They should build these little sleeping holes there. I'd rent one. At 7.25 it was time to say "Goodbye, England!"

Back from BCN!

Saturday morning, 6.30 the plane took off.

Firat, Joan, Me, Nasim, Matze

The whole marriage party on the square in front of the city hall of Cervera

Montserrat

Brought me to Girona, which is a nice city, but most of the times I just take the bus from the airport to Barcelona. I got there around 10ish and met up with Canan and Firat to eat breakfast. Since I have eaten my wolewheat bread at the airport I only ate some dates, bought at the market boqueria, but on the evening, when it was dirtcheap, as Firat told me. Well, we went running towards platja Nova Mar Bella, stopped at muscle beach one, muscle beach two and then went to the place where you can pick up your gear for the Garmin Barcelona Triathlonchttp://www.garminbarcelonatriathlon.com/. I haven't signed up this year but wanted to check out whether I could still get a slot. No es possible! No worries... we just went back to muscle beach, dove in the waves - extraordinary high waves this day - and went back to Firats and Canans apartment in El Born to get to my friend Gabriels place right before the bus left to take us out to Cervera (an old catalan village on a hill, fortified by city walls). We even drove past Montserrat, where I definitely need to go next time!  There Lubia and Gabi said yes and bonded their relationship for life. Many pics have been taken as the ones above.
Then we went back to BCN for the party... and yeah... it was a party! The food was also amazing and brought to us by Gopal, a full on vegi deli https://www.facebook.com/julekeralagopal.bcn . Once you get to BCN, you gotta get there to eat most definitely! They do even have a few special catalan  recipes and transfer them into a vegan version. I couldn't move, because of eating to much. I was a bad guest that evening, but the food was just too good. We left the party shortly after one am.
The other day was the last day of my little trip, so yeah... tried to make the most out of it. After getting up and eating a little, me and firat ran to muscle beach again, swam a little, had a proper meal witht he leftovers from last nights catering and ran back, in time for me to catch the train to the airport.
I left BCN at 23 degrees celsius and landed in Germany at like 10 degrees... Shit!!!
It is always nice to get back home, but not when I get home from BCN.
The weather was nice today, but I have missed the right time to get outside as I was still pretty tired from the weekend, so I gotta get running now! Bye!
ah... we also took a pic after coming back from muscle beach: Yeah!

Starting the week

After the saturday and sunday runs/cycling I didn't do much on monday but 40 minutes of toning and stretch Yoga. Finally I could lift my whole body on my two hands in 2 different positions again! Yeah!


Since my Vitamin B12 level was very low last month my doctor advised me to inject B12 and then supplement it more regularly as nugget or liquid. I would suggest anyone who lives vegan for some more years to check your B12 level and supplement if necessary. Higher Iron and B12 levels are helpful for endurance sports, so to increase power you need to do something about it. In the evening I had to do the procedure of injecting myself again and it is not a problem at all anymore, opposingly to the first time I ever did it myself. I had to lay down in bed for a few minutes and kept on sweating. haha!?!

Today I swam 2.3km in the morning from 7 to 7.50 before heading to school. Sports in the morning is pretty refreshing. Too bad I am only able to do it once a week.
Bought some different tasty vegan icecream at Kaufland. If you live in Germany, check Kaufland!
I might be going to do a run for about an hour in a few minutes. 15 min warm up, 15 min marathon pace, 15-30min cooling down. Good night!
If you are german and need to read a little before sleeping:
 http://www.netzathleten.de/Sportmagazin/Ratgeber-Ernaehrung/Glutamat-ein-umstrittener-Geschmacksverstaerker/4940776201922060456/head?referrer=7805159522205610979

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!