8/24/2011

Must-Watch

Check it out! I like especially this video. Finally somebody makes it clear!

8/14/2011

In 4 Weeks to Ultrarunner

So, here I am, freshly baked ultratunner. Ok, this was a small ultrarun and I wasn't very fast but everybody has to start somewhere, right?

And at the end of the day I'm really glad that I was able to start at all because when boyfriend#1 wanted to drive me to the race at 5:30 in the morning the car wouldn't start and it was pouring down with rain!! I had only 30 mins left to get to the race! My only chance was then to take the bike and I was constantly cursing while pedaling as fast as I could. I was soaked to the skin when I finally was at the start and when I locked my bike I heard starter's gun.
I was the very last runner to start and everyone was looking at me!

But well, as bad as it started it didn't go on - fortunately, I found some nice people to chat very quickly and that helped a lot not to think about the 49k I still had to go. I also ran some time for myself but chatted very lengthy with a woman from Berlin which helped especially on the last 10k when our feet and muscles already hurt very much.
Also my Dad visited me (even before he got his breakfast) which I really enjoyed!

I also have to confess that I'm now kind of a fan of running loops though I first thought it would be stupid and boring. This way you had the opportunity to see all the other runners again and again and we smiled at each other and gave some encouraging words and became like a huge community! It is also a psychological trick to smile all the time. The body can't differentiate between a real smile and a fake smile. 

Luckily, boyfriend#1 found me at the finish when I just wanted to go home again (he wanted to go the last loop with me as it seemed, but went wrong somewhere). Well, I still had to cycle myself but it was still nice he was there. When I came home my doggy wanted a walk of course and so I went out with him as filthy as I was (remember: rain + soil = mud, and I had a lot of it on my legs and clothes) and people looked at me as if I were crazy (maybe also because I couldn't walk properly) so we kept it short. 

After eating a huge pot of lentils (protein) with tomato-sauce I went for another long walk with runningfriend#2 to tell her about the run (of course I also took the dog). But after that I was totally finished and just lay on the bed watching TV (which I rarely do).
At about 3:30 am I woke up and had the idea to go dancing a bit to celebrate my victory over the 50k with a little prosecco or so. So I took my clothes and put on a little make up was almost out the door when the pouring rain started. I took it for a sign and I went back to bed...

Well, maybe it was better like this - at least my muscles still hurt a lot - though I already did some regeneration sport (walk and bike) and also took chlorelle/spirulina + maca in my smoothie.

By the by: had some rice with tomatoes + a loooot of choci the evening before the run, muesli in the morning and lots of water, coke and sweetened tea, bananas and soaked nuts dunring the run. I felt like puking at 30k because my stomach couldn't handle all that food (remember: I always trained without food - so no good idea from this standpoint, too).

Today, I won't do much more: only cycle a bit, eat and rest. Next week I have kind of a rock climbing holiday. I'm really glad to have a day off in between.

Next goal: Magdeburg Marathon 2011!

P.S. Link to results and pictures following.
P.P.S. I am so impressed by those people who ran 100k. It is amazing. There were girls who run at an unbelievable pace and were still smiling at 70k! Of course also the men did well but somehow that wasn't so surprising to me... Though I want to do something similar some time in the not-so-far future I can't imagine how I can ever make that. We'll see.

8/08/2011

Torture!

What was my reason for running again? Can't remember - my feet hurt from running, my stomach hurts from eating too many lentils (need protein) and my eyes hurt because of the contacts but because my feet hurt I can't move to the bathroom to take them out and so I have been stuck on the bed for almost three hours. Well, at least I have water and choki - so that helps.
By the by - about the registration - everything is fine - you can even on competition day from 4-5:30am. Wow! But though I like to get up early I'll rather register on friday night. ✓


But after all I must confess I'm not quite sure what I'm doing here. I mean - I must be kind of insane to run that far. My feet hurt today already and it were only about 40k. Well. I told so many people, now I'll simply have to do it. I can lie the whole next day if I must. I only have to walk the dog three or four times. And I can also bike the dog so to say. Let's do it! 

8/07/2011

New Shoes

I always told you 'bout running in vibrams, right? Well, surprise! I found really nice Fila-Shoes. 

I just stumbled across them while shopping with my mum. They were so cheap that I simply couldn't resist (and mum did the rest) - only half the usual price. And moreover, are they not just so cute? They are called skele-toes. Though I don't like the name so much I do prefer the design to my vibrams at least (they're blue not pink).
So I used them already for walking and biking - not for running yet though. But soon! I just have to get used to them slowly - otherwise: who knows if I can run on saturday? 
Yes, its only 6 days left. ♥ Tomorrow will be the last long run (about 40k). Then you have to cross fingers that they'll let me take part because - I'm soooo stupid - I missed the registration! You think that can't be true? Yes, I did. 
I thought it would be such a small run that I could even register the day before the run. But - surprise again - you can't! :'( I wrote an email already and will also have to call them tomorrow. Maybe I can register personally. Their bureau only around the corner after all.

8/02/2011

Long Run and Biking Tour

Today I also did another long run - about 4 hours. The weather was perfect in the morning. A bit foggy and cool but supposed to become a nice, sunny day. When the outlook is like that I love to run! So I went for a quick walk with my doggy and was off.
This time I ate banana-muesli before I started and also took a bottle of cheap banana-apple-juice with me. Which was no good idea because it was just too sweet. Next time I'll try something else. Maybe a mixture with water but also a different juice. Any ideas? I don't like to take apple or orange juice for some reasons. Any good ideas?
Then I cheated myself again by telling me in the beginning that I wouldn't run all these kilometres anyway. In the end I did of course. But sometimes it's not very encouraging when you know from the beginning that you have almost four hours to run. So I told myself: "Maybe I can take this or that short cut or skip this or that part altogether." But time flew by, I also saw a fox like 5 metres away and he (or she?) allowed me to look at him/her for almost half a minute. Beautiful animal!
After my run I still hadn't enough (also the dog needed to go out) and so we went on a littler biking tour. I wanted to collect some mirabelles from trees I found on the run.
So we were away another two hours. After that I was really weary and so I slept a good three hours. Now I'm quite fit again for another small walk with the doggie.
Then I have a day 'off'. One 2-3 hour run on Thursday, some dancing on the weekend and a really long run (another 10k added) on monday and then I should be prepared...


P.S. Mirabelles are delicious!
Pic Source

Vegan Cheese

Cows (and also all the other farm animals) are treated poorly (as you may remember form last nights video) - and of course most people know. Still, they buy their meat cheep - and don't even honor it. The same goes for cheese. Germans love cheese and eat a lot of it. But most do not even realize where it comes from and how it is produced. 


The question I get the most is: "But why don't you drink milk or eat cheese? No animals die for milk!" 
My question is then: "What do you think will happen to the calves?" 
"Which calves?" 
"Well, a cow has to get a calf first before she can give milk of course!" 
"Really?..." ...


By the way: cheese is not even healthy. It comes from poorly treated animals and can't be healthy for that matter. It also contains a lot of saturated fat which is the bad fat that clots arteries.
Perhaps people need alternatives other than tofu. So boyfriend#1 gave me an idea. Did you know that there is nut cheese? It sounds delicious and it's not only vegan but also raw which makes it to a perfect alternative to normal cheese. We already wanted to by some but couldn't even get nut cheese in our Whole Food Store. I suppose I'll have to make it myself then...There are so many varieties that this will be fun! 

8/01/2011

So Sad

I just watched this and one or two other videos and now I'm really deeply sad. I mean I'm glad to be a vegan already but still there's so much suffering in this world and so many ignorant people who just don't care about a stupid cow.
Also: how can I even buy food for my dog ever again? 


7/29/2011

Long Run and Lazy Day

At the moment I have not too much to say. 
I finished the long run on Wednesday (again without taking water and this time also without food) and it was quite hard but okay though it was very warm. I had my muesli before and a big salad afterwards. I ran for 3,5 h very slowly and my feet hurt quite a bit afterwards.
Vibrams take some time to adapt again.










pic source

Maybe I have to run in 'normal' shoes at competition day. I don't know yet. Also my pace is still a bit of a problem. But maybe I can work at it during the next week. I'm not really rested anyway so that I could probably run faster.
Yesterday I didn't find the time to run because I had to work a bit for our website. I only cycled about 15k to see my parents and my aunt and went for a two-hour-walk with my best friend.
Today I ran about 2 hours slowly and will do the same tomorrow again.


I feel really wonderful and I'm very glad that I do the long runs again. ☀

7/27/2011

NIce Running Breakfast

Even if  I didn't run today, I had a very nice breakfast: A self-made muesli



I started with oats, then added some sesame seeds, some almonds, some sundflower seeds, some coco plus some roasted soy beans.




Then I also added fruit, like grapes here. Of course bananas, melon or any berrys go well, too. Then you add some soy milk, soy yoghurt, rice milk or anything you have and Voilá!


Bon Appetit!

P.S. That's what I'll be having tomorrow morning before the long run. Hmmm... I wish it was morning already!

7/25/2011

Lazy Day

Today was a regeneration day. So I did simply nothing. No, oft course that's not right. :) 
I biked about 25k and went for one long and two rather short walks (about 10k I suppose). My leg muscles feel already fine again though the hurt quite a bit yesterday (especially my feet). 
So I decided I'll do a short regeneration run tomorrow morning. It will be short and slow with my dog (who is not much of a runner) but that'll be alright. Wednesday will be hard again...

7/24/2011

30k finished

So, my second rather long run finished. It was a bit hard I must confess but this could also be due to the huge tour we did by bike yesterday...
Some impressions:





As you can see it was really beautiful. We have many lakes around town which I still need to discover... 


But about the run: When I started I wasn't even sure if I would make it shouldn't do the run on an other day. But as my time is running up I just ran without thinking what was yet to come. So I finished the 30km rather slowly but I did.

Before I started I had a big banana-strawberry-melon-smoothie which was delicious and fueled well. On the run I only had some banana-chips. I took them mainly to get the mood up though. If I run alone I'm often a bit lonely. I often watch other people, animals and nature but when the pain starts sweet stuff helps. If I really need fuel on the long runs (which will start on wednesday) I'll take dates. I didn't even need water - it wasn't very hot anyway.

The last third of the run was pretty hard though and my right foot had a big blister afterwards. I also had a headache all afternoon until I decided I would take a tablet though tablets are not good for regeneration. But otherwise I wouldn't have been able to do anything. 

So, I'll read some minutes and soon will fall asleep, I suppose. Nothing is better than a long run for a good sleep.

7/23/2011

Stefania Licari

I found a really amazing article about an Italian doctor with name Stefania. She is an ultrarunner and became vegan just because she felt it would be right for her. After over 20 years of 'bad' food.
She answers many questions about raw vegan food and also gives a lot of hints for runners. She is also very spiritual. If you are the least bit interested in sports and nutrition this article is a MUST!
pic source 


P.S. After yesterdays run I'm about to do a 40km-bike-trip with boyfriend#1. :)



7/22/2011

Thrive in 30

Thrive is a book for a athletes. But it is not only for athletes! Also for the everyday person, who just wants to get a bit healtier and slimer. I must warn you though! The autor is vegan. But not only this, he is also former ironman-athlete: Brendan Brazier. I must confess that I'm a huge fan now because I feel this guy really knows his stuff.
On the other hand I know a lot of people who really don't like reading that much - or spending money on books they might not really enjoy. Especially if it is a topic which they are not really interested in. Therefore, Brendan made up something really great! He's got a page where he gives all the information for free. And in videos. So you don't have to read. No excuses! Sign up here and get healthy!

First Run: Positive

So, my first rather long run today was okay. 22km and I feel okay (though not up to go out to Starbucks as boyfriend#1 suggested). 
Right after I came in I made a smoothie (plum, apple, melon, nectarine) as Brendan Brazier recommends. That felt ok. To the second half of the smoothie I added some hemp protein, which I actually didn't like very much. But on the run I just listend to some podcast-interview and he mentioned how incredible hemp works for athletes. 
But it was just as if my body didn't want it. So I left it standing in the fridge - maybe later. I also had a nice couscous-salad (I hope Brendon would approve) about one hour after the run.
And why all this: to get the fastest recovery as possible. Remember: Only 23 days to train. Let's see what sunday's run will bring.

7/21/2011

Bye bye, Rats!

I think, I didn't mention yet but running rat has no rats anymore. It's not because I don't want them anymore. Only commuting between Magdeburg and Leipzig doesn't work very well with rats. My last little boy found a very nice home at a friend of mine. Thank you, Caro!


However I've already decided that I want to go back to my hometown after I finished the job at Magdeburg. So maybe then I've got the time and space to have rats again.
Still, I'll stay the running rat!

Ultramarathon coming up

Probably I mentioned once or twice that my big, big goal is, to run an ultramarathon before I'm 30. Well, I still have three years to train but I guess I could also already try this year. 
I must confess that I really didn't train that much during the past year but I still feel quite fit. 
My motivation just wasn't really well due to the new job and maybe also because my little running partner Joschi is not very fond of running at all. He runs after balls, frisbees and stuff but rather not after me. At least not for more than 30 minutes. That's so booooring!
But now I actually feel that I could still make it. Tomorrow I'll do a two-hour (about 22km)-run to get the feeling again, on Sunday a three-hour-run (about 30km) and on Wednesday a four-hour-run (if I can still walk - so let's see how far I'll get). 
If all these runs go well I'll register for the ultramarathon on 13th of August. Yes, that's right. August. Not far away at all. But I really feel that if you ran a marathon before it is not too hard to do it again. Maybe not as fast but you will still get to the finish line somehow. So I suppose I'll also finish the other 8km after that.
Oh, I didn't mention: of course it is only a 'small' ultra for the start. Only 50km and right here in my hometown. If that's not my chance then I don't know. Maybe next year I've enough passion to run 100km. I also have to go on a trip to the mountains the next day. Guess what we'll do there. Right, we'll climb them. Yeah. Though I'll probably won't climb anything except of my bed.
So well, keep your fingers crossed. Let's see what the next two weeks will bring. :)

4/05/2011

Two Months Vegan

Now I'm living almost two months as a vegan. 
As I'm also quite active, some problems developed. I often feel tired and exhausted (may also be due to 3-hour-runs but I did never feel like that last year with the same training). 
Luckily, I think I discovered the solution: I didn't eat enough protein to heal my muscles after the long runs. Great! Finally I've got the permission to devour as much soy stuff as I want!! Soy yoghurt, tofu, soy sausages, soy sauce.. hmmm! 
No, of course it is important to use different protein sources. So I eat as much leafy greens as I can; mixed with even more beans of all kinds (and many, many, many soy sausages and soy yoghurt -MIAM!). So let's see where this will take me - I hope right to the ultramarathon.
Very soon I'll have about two weeks off (Easter Holidays), then the big training starts! I plan to run the first really long run; at least 40km. Of course there will be also many smaller ones. Plus a lot of work for my job AND many translations for my new page.

3/17/2011

Running Rat Goes Vegan

I simply felt it was time to change something. I wanted to vegan for a very long time already. But I always thought it must be awfully difficult and I would never make it to swear off cheese, which was my only vice (apart form the chocolate of course).  
And after reading a lot about veganism and its benefits recently I decided, I want to try it for 30 days. A 30-day trial is to circumvent oneself. You tell yourself that it will only be 30 days and if you don't like it you can always go back to your former life style. This way it is very easy to adopt new habits because it is not like 'oh my, now I'll never be able to eat cheese/smoke a cigarette/drink alcohol ... again!'
I was 10-15 days in the trial when I was sure I want to stay vegan. The benefits about which I read were:
-  you have a lot more energy,
- you feel alert, you lose weight (maybe), 
- you have more endurance and 
- need less sleep. 


As I plan to run the first ultra marathon in August 2011 and still have to pass some exams before I finally am really a teacher I thought this might be something for me.
Unfortunately I didn't lose any weight (this was so clear), but I do have more energy. And today I had a revelation: after not running for quite some time (you know: lots of work etc.) I ran 3 hours without any physical tiredness or pain just like that.
And it was really easy: I substituted cheese with tofu, vegan spreads and fruit mash; yoghurt with soy yoghurt, cappuccino with caro + rice milk. The only problem I had was that I had to re-read all the lists of ingredients on products I usually buy to be sure that they don't contain any dairy. I already was kind of vegetarian before I went vegan. Though I was never really strict about this because I never liked meat or sausage. I suppose this is also the reason why I didn't lose weight. I didn't change very much.
I also still eat my chocolate and other sweets like chocolate, banana chips or self-made cookies. Boyfriend#1 calls me a pudding vegan sometimes. ;)


Unfortunately the part about less sleeping didn't occur with me but after all I usually get up before 5 am at the moment so it should be quite natural to be tired by 8/9 pm.
By the by: I also gave up coffee. And I really do feel wonderful. 
The only thing I still miss is SUMMER!!


Here also the German links for those who care:

2/04/2011

Are we born to run?

The answer is simple: Yes, we are! Incredible TED talk by Christopher McDougall, the author od Born to Run. It summarizes the book perfectly. 
For all people who rather watch short films than read extensive books. 
Though I'd still recommend the book. It's also incredibly entertaining. ;)