Pics Vegan Summer Day Leipzig/ Aftershow workout with Get It Done!/ Veganism in Mexico

It has been a long time since my last real halfmarathon. So I am gonna do one tomorrow:

Lauf um den Fühlinger See

So the Vegan Summer Day in Leipzig had been a real nice event. Just upon arrival we set up the backline for our concert and in the meantime me and Rene have been interviewed about sports and vegan nutrition. Then we played our set with Get It Done! and it felt really strange to see all these people so far away. But since my old band Black Friday'29 broke up I got used to playing shows with less people upfront. Still it feels strange when people only watch a show and don't partake a single bit.
Anyways... I have also been interviewed for a local radio show and finally met my friend Björn Moschinski again, who was supposed to do a cooking show later on. We will also both partake at the Veggiefest in Solingen on Oct. 5th.
While we were trying to sell a little merchandise after our gig, he just sold book after book or had to sign books. I had also watched Asthma la vista, which is a vegan Hiphop-Band and I really enjoyed their set. Sounded fresh, nice rhythms and no sexist bullshit attitude. Thanks to my daughter for playing so much Hiphop at home I finally get somewhat into that music.

Get It Done! on stage

Getting interviewed

Aftershow workout Magdeburg

Later I tried a vegan Döner and fajitas there. Both very good, but from differentcompanies and I cannot recall the names.

The day before Get It Done! had played Magdeburg. The show was not too special due to less people there, but the promoters were nice and we had our fun. We started off with playing table tennis halfnaked and then lifted weigths and chinned the bars. It was hilarious, but much fun!



In August I had spent two weeks in Mexico on Yucatan. On the first day I had met a fellow triathlete who I joined for a swimming session. Later on I met an english couple at the gym who both do triathlon. Of course I went running on the beach, cycled on the spinning bikes and swim either in one of the pools or the ocean. I was lucky I could continue training as my training plan demanded.
But we also took the time to go snorkeling, visiting pyramids and sacred maya places, Cancun city and Vegan Planet (surely on of the best vegan restaurants in the world!).

Me and some dudes from Israel that we met on one of our trips. This was taken on the top of the big pyramid of Coba.

Me and Britta snorkeling at the island of Cozumel.

Mexico is definitely worth a trip. Saw pyramids (in Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza), maya villages, the famous sinkholes called Cenotes, an alligator, coatis, capibaras, crabs, iguanos and so many animals. One night I ran the around the hotel site and met a bird-eating spider. It stayed on the street and so I tried to make her leave the street by stomping near it. The next day I couldn't open my right eye. Two weeks later we found out that the spider might have shot some hair towards my legs and I might have wiped these away with my hands and eventually touched my eyes. So well... the spider was not nice afterI tried to recue it, but the people there are nice and helpful.
BUT watch out! Most of the bread in Mexico is not vegan. Many pastas are not vegan, our hotel didn't have any plantbased milk and no vegan soup (the Walmart didn't have vegan soup either). So I stuck with salads and fruits for like 70% of my meals which did really good to my digestion. :-)

Vegan Summer Day Leipzig

I will be here veganes Strassenfest Leipzig on stage and playing with Get It Done!
My friend Björn Moschinski will also be there cooking something for you!

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

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

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

Wonderful weekend of July 5th to 7th:

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

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

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

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

Me before the swimstart at the UKT Herne

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

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

Hanging out at Splash! festival

This is how we had celebrated the open water season:

1st open water training with my team: Nordtriahtleten

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

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

Spring weekend in Berlin:

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

Powernap in front of Freckles

In front of Tanne B with our tandembike

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

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

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

Nuts, figs and wafers! Delicous!

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

My daughter and her friend after a badminton tournament

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kaiserschmarrn with fruits and icecream

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

Mallorca Training camp

So in March I went on a trainingcamp for the first time ever.

Seb, me, Ironmario, Tobi in Petra waiting for coffee and bread, 
on top: Timmi, me and Seb on Sant Salvador

Me and my buddy Seb were happy about having found a nice hotel with 25m pool, spa and a reasonable price. Shortly after we got there we found out it is one of THE Triathlon hotels on Mallorca. Hotel ferrer janeiro

So many freaks everywhere: Pro-Triathletes, Triathletes that booked a full training camp with trainer, etc, county elite teams... 95% of the customers there were aspiring triathletes.

On the first day we only ran, because we got there in the afternoon.

Due to my full agenda on the days before I couldn't really sleep much so I slept 10 hours. We got up around 8 and out of the hotel at 8:15 and were some of the last to leave the hotel for training. haha Freaks!

Anyways... we had a good time, missed the veggie restaurant in Inca 2 times, because of their opening times, had seen 3 veggie restaurants in Palma de Mallorca, cycled 850 km in 7 days on the bike, met nice people, spent hours and hours in the spa and ate probably more than double what "normal" people eat, but still all vegan, much raw and these 9 days felt soo soo great!
We did on guided tour, which was offered from the hotel, with the pro-triathlete Tine Holst. She was supernice to us, showed us new routes and gave us hints for races. She also works a few hours as physiotherapist and since my knee started to hurt, I had an appointment with her, which gave me quite some insight and made me continue training with far less pain. She's one positive, very nice person. You should definitely try to meet her, once you're in Ca'n Picafort!

Did I say we also went to Petra, which is the cyclists "Mekka" on Mallorca. I could have easily lived without the experience of hanging out there, but the pa amb olives (bread with olives, for us a vegan version with tomatoes on the bread) was really good. I will most definitely come back next year!!!
Ah yeah.... before I forget: We ate at Temple Natura in Palma. We really liked the mune del dia and they had enough vegan stuff for us. 

So this was the starter plate of the 1st evening

 

This was our second trip towards puig major

Off day in Palma, Cathedral in the back.

The other side of the cathedral site, towards the sea.

Our second to last trip with high elevation climbs. This is Sa Calobra! THE elevation climb on Mallorca!

Me and the Iron Mind Crew ran the Bleilochlauf in Kloster/ Schleiz in Thuringia. It is one of the most beautiful runs I ran and was my first real run, my impulse for starting to train 4.5 years ago, so it is special to me. Jan-Albert, Rene and me went there in one car. We got there late friday night and went into the ship, where we usually stay to meet up with Dominik and Thomas and sleep. Jan-Albert came from the north of the Netherlands to win the race and he did. 1:34h was his finish time. Congratulations!!!

Vegan Power placing 1st! Jan-Albert Venema, Team Iron Mind

I was slower than last year and not really satisfied but still placed 8th out of more than 100 and the run was nice as always. 
 

I had also asked my friend Freddy to put up a show in the evening after the run, which he did. Unluckily my own band had to cancel, so I just helped running the show in the evening. "Final Prayer", "Dogchains" and "Reality Returns" were on the bill as well as "Light it up" who replaced us. Awesome lineup, good atmosphere together with awesome dudes and great food it made a perfect day in Schleiz! I wish a weekend can always be like this. Iron Mind Army!

This weekend we will play 2 shows:

Dinslaken May 10th

Arnhem May 12th

Finally I do own a new bike:

I love to ride this rocket!

Climbing in a former industrial complex: Landschaftspark Nord in Duisburg

Pic taken on my way back home from Herne on my last 30+ run before the Marathon. This is Nordsternpark Gelsenkirchen.

Both these sites on the pics above belong to the Route der Industriekultur (Route of industrial culture)

Check this out if you speak german:
Milch und Kalzium

My daughters Confirmation in her christian believe (not mine!!! haha) took place at the end of april and therefore we had to find a vegan catering service. Luckily Papa Lufu took these duties and prepared several pizzas, african rice meals, pasta, desserts, bread, spreads, a soup, etc. This awesome stuff together with our selfmade cakes and salads made up a wonderful and satisfying meal. I can only recommend "Delicious" for catering but also as a restaurant. Check it out! Organic, vegetarian and 90% vegan.

Next race for me: Vivawest Marathon May 12th

Training March 22nd- May 9th

22nd: Played a show in Saalfeld and therefore did not much apart from ropeskipping and the show
23rd: Landed on Mallorca, ran 15,5k incl. intervals, then some minutes on spinbike, then training power
24th: 8k running, 135 cycling, then coupling run 15 min
25th: 1k swimming, 166k cycling incl. 4 of the hardest elevation climbs (puig major, Coll de soller, etc.) , only spa afterwards
26th: 10k running, some weightlifting, 102km cycling at 29km/h, kneeproblems, 6,5km coupling run (fast), 1,4k swimming
27th: 20 min power and stability training, 130k cycling with Tine Holst, 12k coupling run at (5min/k, then 4.20 min/k)
28th: 2.7k swimming and then off to Palma... Palma... Palma de Mallorca!
29th: 2,4k swimming, 145k cycling up to Sant Salvador with Timmi (our new teammember), just 10 min coupling run, then physiotherapy appointment with Tine
30th: 2,6k swimming incl. 3*400m faster and 4*100 with progressing speed, 135k cycling (Sa Calobra)
31st: 18k running (incl. 10*1k from 3.55 to 3.40 pace), 96 k cycling incl. 1.6k elevation climbs, then power and stability
April 1st:  58 min running, power and stability    in Total: 85k running, 880k cycling and 8,7k swimming

2nd: Yogastretch and stretching
3rd: 1.4h cycling on fitnessbike
4th: 2.7k swimming
5th: 2.8k swimming
6th: 1.4 cycling on my TTbike for the first time, then played a show in Aachen
7th: Olympic Triathlon in Voerde in 1:58
8th: Yogastretch
9th: 100 min running incl. 7*1k at 4:00 pace
10th: 2.8k swimming, later 65 min running easy, then played a show in Essen
11th: Power and stability
12th: 2.8k swimming
13th: 19k running at marathonpace, moshing at a show in Duisburg, later 19k back home slower

14th: 35k cycling with my GF (meaning really slow), then 35 back home at faster pace
15th: 2.5h cycling
16th: running and cycling, but easy. ca 40k cycling, 4k running
17th: 2.8k swimming
18th: Power and stability, then swimming
19th: Restday
20th: Bleilochlauf: 24k run with elevation climbs!!! in 1:41:47
21st: 5 min running with Jan-Albert so show him the Schalke Arena, haha, some stretching
22nd: 2.10h cycling
23rd: 57 min cycling on fitnessbike incl. HIIT
24th: 30 cycling to Herne in the morning, 32k running back from Herne in the afternoon
25th: Power and stability and rowing
26th: 2.6k swimming
27th: 1h cycling on fitnessbike
28th: 1:05 h cycling, 40 min coupling run incl. some exercises (stairhopping, pushups, etc.)
29th: 1h cycling on fitnessbike
30th: cycling, 6.5k running incl. 4*1k at 3.20 pace, cycling, then 30 min cycling on fitnessbike
May 1st: Climbing, 57k cycling, 20 min coupling run
2nd: 1h power and stability, rpeskipping, rowing, 30 min progressive run
3rd: 30k cycling in the morning, 30k back in the afternoon, 2.7k swimming in the evening
4th: 64 min running incl. 3*4HIIT, 1h cycling in the evening at 30.6km/h
5th: 115 km cycling at RTF Velbert with 1700m of elevation climbs, eating at Delicious afterwards
6th: 2.6k swimming
7th: 90 min running incl. intervals, but my body couldn't really... took a break, kept on running slower, stretch Yoga
8th: 2.7k swimming
9th: Yoga in the morning, 35min running

Again it has been quite a while since my last entry here.
Anyways... I got some news:

I have a new personal best time on 10k running. On Feb. 16th I ran 10.1k in 38.35min, stopped 10k at ca. 38.10min. My two teambuddies got in just before me. Here are two pics of the OTVMeile in my hometown Oberhausen.

2nd is my teambuddy Seb, 3rd is me!

My boss at my part-time job wants to help me setting up a bike. So I got my new bike parts: frame, steering, wheels. Now almost everything is ready.

I only got the frameset of this picture

Our team Nordtriathleten (or better just Robert) organized another Funrun. It was a trailrun on a track near Oberhausen (Rotbach). We were 12 people, of which some are just new to the team. We did almost 8km on the track and ran a little hill (like 200m) up 3 times. 

Nordtriathleten and guests during Funrun (Trailrun)

I will soon do my first training holiday on Mallorca. I cannot wait. Only one more week, YES! This is the hotel where we're going to stay: Ferrer Janeiro

My daughter is going to get confirmed in her protestant belief in April and we'll probably have a friend catering for us. This is the link to his startup catering service: Eat without meat

I was a little worried about my bodyfat index. I have never had more than 3,4% bodyfat, then 3,2% last week. Probably need to find another way to measure it. Found on the web that 3.something is ok as long as you feel good. Since I have not been serioulsy ill within the last 3 years, I might just be ok with it. I still feel very good! Need to check my blood again, though.

On Facebook I have come across the portrait of a person, who I really look up to:

WernerHofstetter   but I also hope to be inspiring a little myself.

My friend Tete (fellow vegan ultrarunner) from Barcelona and me have a portrait in a small book project called: "Sweet and low" by our common friend Patrycia.

I have also answered and Interview on parenting and HClifestyle, which will soon be online. I will let you know!

Training Febr. 17th- March 21st:

17th: 95 min running through woods, then 90 min cycling (indoor)

18th: Restday

19th: Toning Yoga, 1.20h cycling on fitnessbike

20th: 2.6km swimming

21st: Rowing, Power, 35 min running incl. 3 sprints and progressing pace

22nd: 2.5km swimming

23rd: 52 min running with weigths incl. 3 sprints

24th: Restday

25th: 54 min running, incl. 4 sprints

26th: 60 min running, 80 min cycling 

27th: 2.3km swimming, 70 min cycling in the evening (strength endurance)

28th: Power and stability

1st: 67 min running incl. 5*400m fast (3.20pace), then played a show

2nd: 93 min running through Hamburg along the "Alster", later Show

3rd:  120 cycling on spinbike, 12 min running with my daughter

4th: 3.2km swimming

5th: 65 min running

6th: 2.7km swimming, 17 min Yoga Stretch, 88 min running incl. 3 sprints

7th: 12 min rowing, 30 min power and stability

8th: 2.2km swimming,

9th: 1.10 h trailrun with my teambuddies (Funrun) incl. hillrepeats, later 1.20h cycling

10th: 70 min cycling, later 78 min running

11th: Restday

12th: 63 min running

13th: 2.7km swimming, 10 min toning Yoga, later indoor climbing

14th: 36 min running, 6 min rowing, power and stability

15th: 2.2km swimming

16th: Restday

17th: 1h running incl. 3 sprints, 90 min cycling

18th: 93 min running in barefoot shoes

19th: 35 km easy cycling, Yoga (Toning and Stretch)

20th: 35 min swimming, 85 min cycling

21st: 1.4km swimming, later power and stability, rowing ropeskipping and 40min run (progressive)

Stair running, heart diseases, next races + shows

 “Don't always walk on the smooth roads, walk ways
that no one has travelled before, so as to leave
behind traces and not only dust…”  Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


Hey!
Lately I have tried to integrate stair running in my training plan. After having done a stair run at the Halde Norddeutschland with my training buddy Robert I really got inspired. Fridays is a good day for me to run stairs on the Halde Hohe Mark in Recklinghausen. The view from the top of this slagheap is amazing: You can see the whole Ruhrarea, incl. the Schalkearena and the Signal Iduna Park, the Gasometer and so much more. But as much as it is a nice spot it can be a very high intensive training.
Last sunday we met up with a few fellow triathletes to go running there. My program after the warmup was to run the first 3 flights of stairs and back down to the start, then 5 and back, then 7, then 9, then 11, until the whole way up. One complete way up consists of 595 stairs and 100m height.
It is exhausting but also a very pleasant change from the daily routine of just running the same old route.
The day before I went 15km running in barefeet shoes on snow and trailtracks I have always wished to run when driving past in my car. It feels very good to skip the daily routine and set different stimuli.

There are several benefits from stair running:
stairrunning engl    treppenlauf deutsch
If you're eager you can also compete here: Treppenmarathon

Last week I have also done a 15km trail run with barefeet shoes on snow. I ran tracks I never ran before, some would have not been easy to run on if it wasn't for the snow. It felt great!!! So good when you're leaving your routine behind and search for new ways, explore new tracks, see new parts of the surrounding einvironment. You know this moment, when you see a hill and you know you want to run up there. It was just a very small hill that I have seen, but that was one destination I was heading for. I love to make new experiences, because that makes me think I am not old, because I will still grow. Of course I won't grow in height, but mentally, I can grow stronger physically and yeah... still experience new things, discover new goals in life. I hope for everyone to have this feeling at some point no matter how old you are.

Someone posted an interesting diagram on heart dieseases and its relation to (un)refined food consumption in different countries. Have a look!


I still try to eat 30-50 rawfood a day. Many fruits are the basis of my diet until the afternoon. Had banana, apple and pears + müsli today already. I have bought the Sunwarrior raw protein, so after training my proteins derive from raw food resources.

No, I don't get sponsored, I just think it is really really good.

Sunwarrior is very expensive, but judge for yourself if you think it is worth the money. I certainly do. Also try out the different tastes. I got natural and the taste is not overwhleming, but you can always mix it with chocflavoured milkalternatives and then it tastes pretty good!


The next races I am going to partake are:

Feb. 16th. OTVMeile in my hometown Oberhausen. My team Nordtriathleten is setting for the team championship.
OK... haven't managed to finish this blog entry ealrier, so it is over by now and I finished the 10.1km in 38.35min, which is my new PB! Yeah!
April 20th: Bleilochlauf in Kloster (Schleiz) probably combined with a show of my band Getitdone! on the evening after the show. 24km hilly running and a show in the evening! Psyched!

My band will also play in Hamburg on March 2nd, so get there!

Training Jan 18th- Feb 16th
18th: 2,2km swimming
19th: 70 min cycling
20th: 85 min cycling, 1h power and stability
21st: Restday
22nd: 73 min easy running incl. 3 sprints, then 90 min cycling on indoor trainer
23rd: 90 min easy cycling on fitnessbike
24th: 75 min cycling on fitnessbike
25th: 73 min running on a slagheap (stairruns), later 1,9km swimming
26th: 1.30 h cross country sking on Halde Hoheward with my girlfriend
27th: feeling sick, but had to go to a swimming course to better my technique
28th: sick, resting
29th: sick, resting
30th: 1.10 h cycling, a very short run of a few mins and a few exercises
31st: 1h cycling on fitnessbike, then 35 min toning and stretch yoga
Feb 1st: 1,8km swimming (still ill, couldn't do more)
2nd: 1.05h running and stability exercises
3rd: 2h cycling inl. 3*5min with hard resistance, then power and stability exercises
4th: short cycling warmup, then 33 min running incl. running exercises and 5 sprints
5th: 1h running incl. 3 sprints
6th: 2,65km swimming, then 18 min stretchYoga
7th: 45 min power+ stability exercises, later 70 min cycling on fitnessbike incl. hill intervals
8th: 3km swimming
9th: 1.50 cycling, 80 min trailrun incl. 3 sprints with barefeet shoes
10th: stairrun at Halde Hoheward, later power and stability exercises
11th: only a few power and stability exercises
12th: 2,8km swimming
13th: 2,6km swimming,  later exercises for coordination and 18 200m intervals with 200m slowjogs in between (after warmup of course and cool down at the end)
14th: 20 min cycling, 15 min running, 10 min rowing and some power and stability exercises
15th: 2,6km swimminf, 38 min running
16th: 10,1km race in 38.35 (new PB), a few minutes on fitnessbike later on

The end of 2012/ beginning 2013 post

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


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

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

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

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

Budget barefoot running shoe by Fila

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

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

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

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

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

Veste (Castle) Coburg (pic taken from Wikipedia)

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

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

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

Me and my schoolteam of runners

This is the stuff I got for Christmas:

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


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