24h swim - Bad Radkersburg

So this friend of mine convinced me to take part at a 24h swimming contest in Bad Radkersburg. No idea how he made me go along. Well I said yes so I had to go.
My plan was to swim about an hour, make 3km and then make a pause for 15min. Funny thing was that I actually was quite fit but swimming in a 50m pool gets to your head. It was quite dull and after 4 hours I had to get out. The pause was quite long but I just could not swim any more it was too boring. Physically everything was fine I was not exhausted, the monotonicity just got to me. Nothing happens in the water and try that one hour long. The only thing one had to do is to overtake the guys in a lane, the only change. If it was not for that I would have gone completely mad. Back in the water after another hour my right shoulder started to hurt like hell and I had to stop. That was it, I already had to stop after 12km. I thought the event was over for me. So I went to bed and slept for 9h. I got out and my friend already did 25km so I really wanted to get back in and try how my shoulders would do. It still hurt but changing my stroke style helped perfectly. Another 14km in about 6h. This day went much better and I started to enjoy it.
Sadly it ended but with my bad shoulder I was happy about getting out of the water.
I just was sad since I only made 26 km (522 laps, each 50m) with a pure swimming time of about 8h30min. Maybe next time? Not yet sure.

update: A picture of me and my friend Hannes after about 20h of the event... still having fun and yes he had no neo and still did 10km more than me.

Kosiak Löwe - chickened out

So I am way behind with writing, but not much to report. I just chickened out of the Kosiak Löwe. I already signed up for the race, which was a 13km bike ride uphill (mountain bike) and then about 3-5km uphill run. The run did not bother me but I am not much of a mountain biker. So the week before I tried it with a friend of mine and the first 8km were normal road and were no trouble. Then it got little bit off road but still no trouble. But the last 3km were horrible, they put rubble on the road and I had real trouble to keep a straight line and the handlebar under control. I got up with just falling off the bike twice, since I had clicks and did not get out of them fast enough. I think that is nothing for me.

Downhill the rubble part was even worse and my natural chickeness of biking did not help so I fell onto the rubble and grazed my leg. But the normal road downhill was great fun, the cars could not even keep up - it was super.
At the bottom I noticed that my leg was hurt worse than I thought and small stones were underneath my skin like splinter so I washed that out. Well for the kosiak it was not fun enough so I cancelled that race.

Save your Freedom

Normally I write about sports but it seems I will not get passed also writing something about politics. For the moment I try to keep away from any comments and just put up some links. Hopefully I will get around to write something on my own.

Lets start off with a video, which is in german. It is called "save your freedom".

Faakersee Triathlon

Finally, my first, and as it seems only, triathlon this year. Due to some bad planning of my Marathon I skipped some triathlon, which I regret. Well, now was the time to see what I learned on the bike.
The weather forecast was contradictory, some said it would rain other said it was going to be a sunny day. Never trusting the guys/girls doing the weather forecast I trusted my instinct and prepared for bad weather. I bought arm warmers, since I thought it was going to be cold after I got out of the water. The arm warmers helped Daniela ryf a lot in Hamburg so I thought I give it a try. All my stuff, shoes, helmet, glasses.. where put underneath a plastic bag just in case.
Into the water, I started way back and had to fight my way to the front which was hard work and caught up with the lead group. I did not believe it and it went well. All went good to 750m of swimming. Then I looked up and it rained, which is no problem in the water except for the sight. I looked up again to see the next buoy but it was too far away and the rain drops on the lake blurred the vision. As long as the guy in front of me knew where we were going everything was ok. Well nothing was ok, my goggles started to fill up with water and I could not see jack. Damn, if I empty them now I will lose the group. I flipped on my back and emptied them, as soon as I turned back again the goggles filled up again and I had real trouble concentrating, finding the right direction and keeping up. I just wanted to get out of here. For the next 600m I had to empty my goggles 5 times and I lost a lot of time. Furthermore, since my eyesight is not the best I nearly mised the swim finish line, if it had not been for the crowd who yelled to get me into the right direction. So out of the water, off with my goggles and the cap. I lost the goggles on the way, but who cares. The rain had stopped and due to the plastic bags helmet, glasses and sleeves were dry - onto the bike. It was quite lonely, two people passed me, but that was it. But since it was a 4 round race, the second round got crowed and even more with the next rounds. The slippery roads and 700 bike riders on a 10km stretch needed a lot of concentration, but all went well. Off the bike and into my running shoes. I started slowly but got up to a pace of 4:05, which was not too good.
Result was a great triathlon, it was super fun, even if the swimming part was a struggle. I had an overall time of 2:17:36 h (26:56 / 1:05:25 / 0:41:23 - 1.5km / 38.4km / 9.6km). As usual, I have to get better, especially my bike time needs some polishing. And here I am on my way home, happy about a great triathlon.

Kärtnen Läuft - Carinthia Runs

This was my first half marathon an since I was so disappointed with my marathon I needed a proper time. Worse than 1:30h was not an option, but not too easy. The day before it rained so it was nice and cold, the perfect weather for me, so no excuse there. I was in a good mood an confident, warmed up a little and then went to the start. With about 3200 starters it was cramped. In between all these runners the usual question arose: "why am I doing this again" and as usual there was no answer, that just came later. Well lets get going, which was not easy since it was so full. I needed about 2km to get out of the masses of runners. And then I saw the official 1:30h runner he stayed about 200m ahead of me and I could not get him. I was hungry and still not warm enough, damn. With about a 4:20min pace I was just too slow. But then came the first food station and I got a banana. I squeezed it into my mouth and like a hamster kept it in my cheeks pouches. Slowly I could then eat it which was not quite easy due to the heavy breathing. So the hunger was cured, after 5km I was finally warm and so I could finally start running. I picked up the pace and got to the 1:30h runner. Everything was going well so I stayed at about 4:07min but then I noticed there is still some energy left and only 3km to go. So I went for it. I had troubles with my watch, but it had to be a pace under 4min and it was going great. Why did I not start earlier with this speed. Well with a nice sprint I got to the finish line at 1:28:04h which is ok, but I knew I could do better.

My New Bike

Finally, I got a proper picture of my new bike. The bike is just great and makes bike riding much more fun. My old bike started to flutter at about 45km/h which was quite dangerous. With a bad surface even earlier. There was something wrong with the weight distribution. Once I had a big backpack on my back, at about 14kg which made the bike much easier to ride.
Well that is all history and I can enjoy my Sione bike.

Marathon Fürth, nearly DNF

The Fürth-Marathon was already a couple of weeks ago but I just could not write this article. It took some time until I could write this down. I just did not achieved my goal and failed by far....
Well lets start with the beginning. I was confident, I was in good shape, everything was going well and Jonas, a friend of mine even accompanied me on the bike, which was great.
So what happened. After already 1km my stomach told me that he is not joining the run. Well since I was running on my feet I said, well this is not going to be fun but I will manage. At about 10km my thighs stop working, they just cramped up and they were stiff. After 10km!!! this was not good this meant pain, no way I can get a good time. Just running with my lower legs I at least made it to 20-25km but then the legs just stopped all together and pain was all I could feel. Something was wrong, very bad. This was not how I planned it. Jonas who accompanied me on the bike helped me by supporting my willpower which was real close to giving up. My brain even stopped working. I tried to figure out the speed I was running but I just could not remember the time when I last passed the last km-mark - my brain was totally fried.
There was no chance in getting a good time, this was just to know my limits. The body stopped, can I still manage this. Well it went on and as last time, at about 35km the guy with the hammer came, and he hit hard. But now there was no way I would give up, I just kept running.
At the last meters a guy wanted to sprint against me and finish before me. This was not tolerable, I had to give everything and I did. I could not bend my knees anymore so I kept the legs stiff and sprinted over the finish line as if I had casts on the legs.... later I found out that the guy was no marathon runner, he did the relay.

Well I finished 31st with 3:10:05h, little more than 1min less than my last marathon. I was devastated. I had real troubles physically and mentally for quite some time. Only after 1 week I could walk properly again and after 3weeks my head started to get over the big loss.

Big thanks to my fans Ines, Pilz, Kathi and Gunnar from Erlangen. My parents who drove the long way from Prague.
And especially Jonas who came along from Klagenfurt, big thanks I owe you!

Well this just means... this was not the last marathon.

My first Aquathlon

So the next competition I can call "my first". 750m swim and 3.3km run. It was one week before my marathon, but a short distance should not hurt. Wetsuit was allowed but it seemed I was one of a few to put one on. Most of the others started without one, which was weired since it was a cold day and the water was not much warmer. Well nothing special happened, since I had quite some trouble with stitches. In the end I could at least put in a nice sprint.

I came in third in my class, which was not astonishing since only 4 in my class started. Most of the others were not older than 22 and all much better than me - this was not too good for my ego.

A Gap In The Space-Time Continuum

Opening googleearth or googlemaps will reveal at position 46°37'41.5'' North longitude and 14°05'37'' East latitude a gap in the space-time continuum. A short piece of road from the Kärtner-Bundesstraße 83 is misplaced. This is the road along north shore of the Wörthersee. Following the road will reveal at least one more gap.

The other side

So today I planned a long run. But were should I run to? It was going to be a very hot day so I thought it was a good idea to make short stops at my flat to refill on water and maybe get a bite to eat. This would have meant to run back and forth to the Wörthersee which would have been a little boring. Kathrin, a friend of mine, offered to join me by bike and carry beverage and my energy bars. Well this made it much more interesting and I could satisfy an ambitious of mine to finally make it to the other side of the Wörthersee, to Velden. It was great and I felt great, back and forth with a nice 4:53min pace.
The view along the shore was beautiful - Lake and Mountains what does one want more? The top of the mountain was still covered in snow making it even more impressive. And afterwards I just relaxed at the beach and cooled down in the icy water.

Big thanks to Kathrin for the support!

Special Guest in Erlangen

Due to my work I am back in Erlangen for two weeks. Since I am still a member of TV48 Erlangen I went to my old swim training. I was standing at the pool and who was there, Faris Al-Sultan. I could not believe it, I was training with him. After a hard day it really ended in a nice surprise.
Well to be precise he swam in the next lane with my training colleagues who are in the faster group, but lets not split hairs ;).

Duathlon Moosburg

My first Duathlon I attended and so I thought it would be a good idea to start easy. Just take part and take it as a training. Full throttle would not be possible since I did a 18km run the night before. My Colleague Jonas did see this differently and I assured him that we stay together the whole time. I would pull him on the run and he will help me on the bike. Oh yeah, it was the first time for me to ride in someones slip stream, which was aloud in this race.
Well, we started running and it was hard. Jonas put in quite a pace but I kept up and still had some energy left, but not much. Well I got onto the bike and drove off not waiting for Jonas because I knew he would catch up and he takes his time with 1+min in the transition zone - I think he had to adjust his bra. Well as I said he caught up at about 3km with a pack of others. He shouted at me to get along and I did. My muscles ached and so we lost the pack but soon cling on to a new group of 2 which was very fast. We had an average speed of 37km/h which was tremendous for me. It was great fun. But to be honest I had not enough energy to lead for a while. Jonas was fit and did a great job upfront.
As we came off the bike I knew that was the maximum, my muscle just did not respond anymore. Jonas described my running style as: "running like a wounded duck" (ger.: "wie eine angeschossene Ente"). After about 1.5km it got better and we got back some speed and finished.

It was great running with a training colleague. The only thing that bothered me is, that I suck on the bike and Jonas did all the work. But still is was one great event!
My time: 27:01 / 59:25 / 15:13 with 7km / 37km / 3.5km (run/bike/run). Officially the bike track should have been 30km.

3 Weeks nothing

Right after the 8h week training I got sick - which I thought as impossible. Even though I was able to work, sport was out of the question. I could not do anything, it was horrible. I recently started running again and hoped I will get back into motion. Yesterday I did a 3.2km swim, which was great since I really thought I could start all over again.

Well, I am back on my feet and can not wait to get to my full training... starting NOW!

8h Training

Finally, I did 8h of training last week. It is a great feeling to finally get the training more or less right again. Due to loose chippings I am still not going out for a bike ride, so 8h is a nice time for me. Well, still nothing to those who do up to 15h or those insane guys with up to 30h.
It is a good start for the marathon I signed on. I am running in Fürth again and going for it!
I still have trouble organising the training right since my swim training is on Tuesday and Thursday. Monday would be much better. Furthermore, on Sunday I do not have enough time to do my long runs. To be honest I get out of bed to late and the afternoon is already packed with dancing lessons and a cup of coffee ;).
Well time management is also a quality you learn if you start making your training plans. There is always something bringing the plan into disorder and it always is a challenge to get it back into balance.

Countryside

Looking through my photos I found this picture of me and Klagenfurt in the background. It was a lovely ride through the countryside of Carinthia. I saw this nice road going uphill and it seem to go on for ever. But the reward was worth it. It was this view on a beautiful autumn day.
Going uphill was quite hard but being such a chicken I found it harder to get down again ;). Well I kind of got the hang of it and what seemed ages to get up the hill was taking me about 5min to get down and two sets of breaks. Funny thing is that Klagenfurt seems to be at hands reach but from Klagenfurt the tip of the mountain seems to be miles away.

I can not wait to get up there again.

Carnival in Klagenfurt

Well since my hairdresser gave me the idea to dress up for the carnival I needed to find some geniuses who would go along. Well buying the guys beer did the trick in persuasion. Some stuff from the back of the cupboard did the trick and there we are. It could not get any more embarrassing - but it was worth it and the guys agree.


Yeah I know, one needs hair to go to a Hairdresser :).

The Beauty of Austria

Actually I wanted to get the year 2008 together before I start putting up the first current post, but this morning was so beautiful that I had to capture it and put it online. Normally Klagenfurt is quite foggy in the winter but now and then the sky is clear and a great view on the alps appears. This is why I had no trouble signing myself in for the job.

Wörthersee Triathlon 2008

So there I was waiting for the triathlon to start, little nervous again but I tried to stay calm, as the pictures shows. It was at the shore of my new swimming pool, the Wörthersee.
After waiting quite a long time, I was much to early there, we all got into the water. A shot was fired and I started crawling like mad. This time we were quite close together and arms were flinging everywhere. A kick here and a slap there, I had to get out of this madness so I swam and overtook one after the other. I got together with some guys swimming the same speed and I went for it. It was hard, I was tired and had no energy at all and quite early I had to fight the urge to slow down. Well after about 1km I already saw the fishing house were the transition zone was. I aimed for it... but what is this, why was there a granny and grandpa knitting on the porch. Oh, s$#! wrong fishing house. I had to turn a little and aim for the right house.
I got out, my stomach hurt, the same story as in Erlangen. I took a energy gel which took away the hunger and so I got on the bike. 2 Rounds with quite a hard hill to start with. Well as useual I was bloody slow, hands on the brakes and well.... just shameful.
But then I changed to running and had to give the best. My legs were hurting but I had to give everything. I took it to easy in Erlangen and I knew there is enough energy left.
A great triathlon, it was great fun.

76th place in 02:08:41h (00:22:36 / 01:08:02 / 00:35:19). It should have been 1.5km/40km/1okm but it was all much shorter, I would guess 1.4km/36km/9km.

My New Home - Klagenfurt

In the last week of August I moved to Klagenfurt with one difficulty, I had 3 days to move in my new flat and get ready for the Wörthersee Triathlon 2008. Yes, I got hooked and had to sign up. From morning to night I worked to get my new home ready. It was a hell of a job and no time for swimming, running or bike riding. I really missed it. The day before the triathlon I got out to get my documents for the race and took at the bike course.

Since I needed a new club I also spoke to the HSV guys if I could join them. They were very nice and they good organised, I could not wait to attend there training.

Erlanger Triathlon

The next challenge was up ahead, the Triathlon in Erlangen. It was my first one and I had no idea about the transition zones, well actually I had no idea at all. When I got all documents for the competition, chip, numbers etc. I sat done with my colleagues from the club and they gave me the answers I needed. Of course they made fun of me, being a mere newbie but they helped me a lot and giving them something to laugh about just made it easier and made me take it a little less serious.

The day arrived, I had to get up quite early and get all my gear together. I checked in the transition zone and waited for the start of the race. I felt like it took ages. Then we all got into the water and bang, my first triathlon started. It was wild, arms flinging everywhere. I just had to get out here, so I swam. And quite soon we were a small group following the first and best group and everything got calmer. When I got out of the water I had a cramp but luckily there was a guy helping the swimmers out which help me to relieve the leg and it took away the cramp. In the first picture I am just getting out of the water. I was astonished when I saw how big the gap to the rest of the swimmers was. But in all fairness the last swimming group was already some of the swimmers doing the half distance Triathlon (swimming 2km) and what one does not see is the swimmers in front, the first group, which were long gone.
Well I got into to the transition zone. In the picture I am getting my cap off as I trained hard the last days :). Got off the suit and got on the bike. Well this is not quite my best discipline as you can see in the next picture. Hands on the brake and not in the aerodynamic position, it seems like I never got over 20km/h. I got overtaken by quite a lot of people, which was quite frustrating and scary. Because what I heard was a kind of wushing sound, which kept getting nearer and nearer. I never heard it and did not know were it came from. Then I saw the wheels of the guy overtaking me. They were carbon fiber discs, which cost about the same as my whole bike.
I was so relaxed from the bike ride I tried to overtake those who passed me on the bike and so I did. My first triathlon and me on the finish line.

All in all I got in 33rd place in 02:23:18h (00:25:29 / 01:12:46 / 00:45:03). It should have been 1.5km/40km/1okm but it was all longer due to some technical difficulties, since the half distance also had to be included into the same route.

Klagenfurt

Actually, I already new that I was going to move to Klagenfurt. But now everything became real. A few weeks after I started to work for the LSE my boss told me he would be going to Klagenfurt and I could along, if I wished. This was an opportunity I was longing for and I took the chance.
In July I got myself a nice flat and was ready leave Erlangen in August.

Post Marathon

The next day I was in a great mood. No muscle aches, no injuries, nothing. Nevertheless, despite my optimism I took it easy the next week and had to fight the urge signing up for the next opportunity to line up at the next starting line. Well there was only one thing that was itching me, the triathlon in Erlangen. After a week or so, I just had to sign up.