For years, Nice had been a quiet wish. After countless business trips, I wanted to see it differently — not from hotel windows, but through the slow rhythm of days spent by the sea, with my family. Arrival The journey was long — a flight at 6 p.m., the shuffle of bags, and a tired child. But then, stepping out into the open air, everything softened. The light felt warmer here, gentler. The sea shone like metal and glass. Nice…
Rediscovering the Joy of Running: The Daywalker Challenge 2024 started as an uninspired year for me in sports. Compared to past seasons filled with full Ironman Triathlons, extreme half-distance challenges, and even the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, this year felt stagnant. Burned out and disconnected, I struggled to find joy in training, focusing instead on rediscovering the simple pleasures of running and cycling. Then came an unexpected opportunity: a friend announced a new ultra-running event, the „Daywalker Challenge.“ Its concept…
It is November, the typical month to get back into structured training, making plans and setting goals. With races filling up quickly the most important milestones of a season are usually decided upon during the season, but now is the time to define the path and set some goals. After consulting with friends the basic outline of my 2022 season is already set. It’ll start, maybe, with a mountain bike marathon (119 km, 3000m elevation) that has been rescheduled several…
If you’ve followed this blog for while you’ve probably noticed two things about my swims: I’ve never considered it my strength, but I am doing relatively well. Like most triathletes I’ve had a difficult relationship with swimming from the beginning. I’ve never really swum. I learned to not drown as a kid, I’ve spent endless hours at the lake or public pools in my youth. But I’ve never swum properly. My first triathlon-swim will sound reminiscent of many novice‘ triathletes…
It is Monday after the race. Sitting at my breakfast table, still stoked about the greatest race of my triathlon life so far. It was an emotional week, crowned by myself surpassing all my athletic expectations. But let’s start at the beginning. Going to Muscat in 2009 10 years ago I spent a semester abroad at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat. Until then I’ve never been on an airplane or travelled outside the German speaking world. The decision to go…
The Time Has Come And here I am sitting on my couch, thinking what went wrong. And what went right. I’ve completed 4 months of dedicated training with the explicit goal of racing my best 70.3 yet, knocking on the door of my age groups top ten in an international field and have some hope at a 70.3 worlds qualification. I’ve worked harder than ever before, more than ever before. The proverbial hay os now in the proverbial barn. So…
For this season I’ve worked more and harder than ever before. I am so proud of all the work I put in that I talked about it several times. To push above my recent plateau I recognized that things needed to change. Among the changes I did were a lack of scheduled rest days, assuming life would force these upon me anyway, a change in diet, being very conscious of my weight, and a rise in volume for running and…
With the holidays around the corner my build comes to an end. After 9 weeks of working harder, more structured and more frequently than ever it is time to recap. Might also be the time to reconsider goals and ambitions. As a reminder, my goals are stated below. I want to beat my club mates and ultimately get near a slot for 70.3 world champs. I know that I’ll probably rely on a rolldown, but top 10 should give me…
After the terribly botched marathon in April I was brave enough to sign up for another long one in autumn. The Harz Gebirgslauf leads athletes from thr valey up to the top of Mt Brocken in northern Germany. It is regarded as one of the hardest marathons around here with 1200 meters climbing. To my surprise it is also one of the oldest trail marathons going into its 42nd year. We signed up together with 6 guys. I’ve always considered…
After finishing my latest race I found myself wondering. What am I doing? What’s my purpose? What’s the point of putting myself and my family through all these endless hours of training? Yes, to some extend I do bike and run and swim because I enjoy and doing it. But definitely not all of it. It takes a greater mission to get up at 5am on Sundays for a long run. And then I thought about why I do triathlon,…