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
 

An interview with me on the Veganblog of PETA in german

One more week to my Ironman-Distance Triathlon in Cologne. I got interviewed by PETA and you can read the interview here (german only): Interview Veganblog
This is the direct link to the webpage where you can donate money to PETA: Donation

Vacation in Czech Rep./ Slovenia/ Austria/ Italy part II
We were still hanging out at Flufffest. This morning my friends Max and Dom wanted to go running again, but I had 6 hours block training on my schedule, so I went cycling for 5.10h again to Kralovice and Plasy and then through the countryside towards Rokycany through several nice villages, along reservoirs and just afew cars passing by and almost no cyclists although the whole infrastructure is perfect since there are no traffic lights (more roundabouts, if even needed).
When I got back Max' girlfriend Lex gave a lecture on Sea Shepherd, because she spent half a year on a ship in Antarctica. It was breathtaking what she has presented. Here's a link to their website.
After eating much more good food there, watching a few bands and saying goodbye to the english dudes and Dominik I went to bed very tired. But not before Dominik and me agreed on doing an ultra run together next year
The next morning was our time to leave. We went towards Vienna. A nice town to stop by was Jihlave, where we went shopping. The townfortifications looked quite impressive:

Jihlava

 After this we got to Vienna to see Ritual, Verse, Soul Control and Anchor play.
Lseeping in Vienna and planning to visit Schloss Schönbrunn in the morning (the girls wanted to see the park, Micha and me wanted to go swimming). The damage for swimming was 10€ which was too much, so we have joined the girls and went through the park.

Schloss Schönbrunn

Ciy of Vienna

After visiting Vienna we went to Michis father in Spital am Pyhrn, went to the Gleinkersee and ran there. We have also celebrated the birthday of Michis father with his friends and ate soup and veggiestuff while they had a barbecue. We left the other morning and went to the chruch in the village which is pretty big considering the small size of the village.

Bones in the church of Spital am Pyhrn

My car and me at Michis fathers house

 After we left here for Slovenia and Italy I still needed to go swimming, so we stopped in a small city in Austria where I saw signs to a swimming pool. It wasn't the warmest day and I was the only there. The water was 18degrees at max and I had to do 2.4km. I kept freezing for more than an hour after the swim still.

swimming in one of the coldest pools ever

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

Spending time in the Sauerland/ Soymilk/cowsmilk

This Blog is amazing: beVegt. They have just compiled a list of vegan energy gels. Something I had always been looking for. They have investigated on their own. Glad to have it, thanks to Daniel and Kathrin!

So I have done my first two triathlons this season. The first one in Harsewinkel and second one in Altena which is close to the eldest youth hostel in germany (also in the world?) in an old castle. The course was really hard, especially the bike course. Just up and down basically. Anyways... I have placed 11th out of ca. 70, so it was a good race, I guess.

Burg Altena

Here are the results of my team.

This weekend was the final ceremony of my 4th graders. We spent two awesome days in my hometown Oberhausen incl. swimming at the Aquapark. I was able to look after my kids but still swim 3.3km. Early in the morning I went 1.4h cycling so I had my training done for that day. The next day early in the morning I went running with a few kids to a strawberry field to steal some breakfast and then pick up the ordered bread rolls. The sun started shining real hot and the day seemed to begin very nice. We went to the Gasometer, which now displays loads of pics of natural and cultural sights of the Unesco. My kids really got into the pics and I made a few walk up and down the 116 m on stairs a couple of times while I only did that once.
After getting back from there we went back to have a barbecue, which I never really like because of all the meat. I think next time I will try to make this a veggie happening...
Oh yeah... one of my presents was voucher for Decathlon, which I will use for a new Spalding basketball that my kids lost at our camping site yesterday.

After having talked about holidays, Dubrovnik and feeling the warmth of the sun I am looking forward to my upcoming summer holidays towards the Balkans. I cannot wait to get on this trip, but have to move in my new apartment first...

Soymilk/ Cowsmilk: In my school the kids can order milk. It is supposed to be supported by the state, but I think it is still pretty expensive. I was trying to bring an alternative by asking Alpro (before I knew they got sold to Dean foods) to supply my class with their soymilk and dairy alternatives. Even though they wanted to they were not allowed, while usual milk is always allowed, even monetarily supported. Although I do have more kids allergic to lactose (4) than to soy (1) in my class we can only order cowsmilk. A couple of weeks ago I was on a Basketball tournament witht he schools team we even had a person masked as a hapy cow in our school working out with all schoolkids for free. Supported by the dairy industry... conveying the image as if milk makes you healthy and cows give milk altruisticly. It is fucking hypocritical and after seeing pictures of this milk "showcase" I have told my head teacher that I will not support that shite next time. Most people (and teachers) don't think critically about that, but it shades the truth. Showing a happy cow giving milk is just a lie. And I cannot see why we should lie to our schoolkids only because most people don't have a problem with drinking milk. It is still a lie to say it is not cruel to produce it or even showing hapy cows jumping up and down. What a fucking lie!!!
German speaking folks should read this:
veganesauge which tells a little about other governmental instruments to support the dairy industry thorugh taxes.

My band has recorded new stuff for two split records. A vinyl 7" with Overlord from Belgium on Reality records and a split cd with the newly reunited biggest turkish hardcore band of all time: Radical Noise.
I am very happy with the results of the recordings. John Joseph of the Cro-Mags has also featured us on a few lines of a song. Watch out for that!

Training June 11th-
11th: stabilizing and power exercises
12th: swimming 2.8km
13th: 82min running (incl. 4times 2000km faster pace)
14th: Yoga to regenerate
15th: 60km cycling
16th: blocktraining 30 min swimming, spinning, boat rowing, running, cycling, running: a little mre than 2.5h and quite hig intensity
17th: a short but hard running training of 30 min. incl. 6 times 10 basic jumps and a sprint after each set, later 62 km cycling
18th: 72 min easy running
19th: 3.3km swimming, stablizing exercises and stretching in the evening
20th: 78 min running incl. exercises and 40 min at almost racepace
21st: 2.30h speed blocktraining: 8km cycling incl. 5 seconds at max pace every km, then running 2.8km: sprint of 100m followed by 200m easy running all the 2.8km. all this 4 serious and then 15min easy cycling.
22nd: 60km cycling, 2.3km swimming int he evening
23rd: just climbing with my buddies here

Unterer Elberskamp

24th: Did my 2nd Triathlon (olympic) in 2.16h something. Was a really hard one. Link is somwhere on top of this blog.

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!

Beach workout

I love working out on the beach as seen here in St. Christina (Lloret de Mar/ Costa Brava):
I did a 3 sets of a workout with my own body weight only plus some exercises with a Thera Band.
Before the first set and after each set I went swimming into the sea for around 10 minutes.
The whole workout lasted ca. 2 hours. Then I tried to chill a little, we took some photos up on the church above the beach and later I went back to Barcelona on my roadbike and due to the traffic I made it there earlier than my friends with my van. It was 70 km along the coast. My average speed was 34 km/h, because I happened to meet a fellow cyclist after two km and together we went down towards Barcelona. Sucha  great day! Later on we went having dinner with 20 of my friends from BCN, Russia, Norway, England and Germany. We have ordered vegan sushi and rice with veggies at some japanese take away in Gracia! It was amazing! Luckily some other dude couldn't eat his whole portion so I got some more stuff to reload carbohydrates and get some protein.

Training this week.

So it was my daughters birthday today. I only did a little less than an hour of pushups, situps, weight lifting, dips, jumps, etc.
Yesterday I went swimming in an indoor pool for 2.5 km.
On wednesday I went running for 13 km in 70 minutes includingly 3 short sprints.
On tuesday in the morning I did an hour of power workout. In  the evening I went running for 23 km in total. 15 minutes warming up, 75 minutes at estimated marathon pace, 15 minutes cooling down. Then Yoga before going to bed.
Monday: running for half an hour.
Sunday: 2h hours of cycling in the grapevinehills from Saulheim to Bad Kreuznach.
Saturday: 80 Minutes of running incl. some intervalls with my daughter on the bike along the Rhine in Mainz (Mogontiacum as the Romans used to call it).

Tomorrow I gotta run 110 minutes incl. 90 minute running at the marathon pace. So better get to bed now!
Hopefully my new running shoes will get here before I leave : http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B004ILMGOU/ref=s9_simh_gw_p309_d0_g309_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0D66V0FMCY7KXP394ZSV&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467128533&pf_rd_i=468294

Starting this blog

Why do I finally start writing a blog?
Because I think that communication can inspire. I might be able to spread my ideas and outlook on life to persons totally unknown. They might have a similar mindset or I might just show my totally different way I am living life.
I do live vegan for 15 years now and I am feeling stronger than ever before. I want you to feel and get healthy and strong, too. Everybody can get healthier and more vital with just a few improvements on life.
First off: Base your nutrition on plants, eat more foods raw, workout at least 3 times a week.
Plan the 3 workouts and write them down in your agenda!