Run This Town – Brussels
Brussels has become one of my favorite cities in Europe. The classic architecture is beautiful, historic pubs and restaurants take you back to the belle époque. The European quarter adds a certain vibe of true European-ness. I’ve always embraced the European spirit, but especially when I hang out here in the middle of the politic and bureaucratic Europe I can’t help but to feel glad it still works somehow. I don’t understand the appeal of re-nationalizing European politics, I really…
Base Is Almost Over – What Now?
It has been quite a while since I reported on my status. Maybe it is time to check in again more often, at least for future reference. I was reading through posts from a year ago and am very happy and contend with my journey so far. 12 months ago I was still transforming into the endurance athletes mindset, struggling with making space for my workouts. Today, I don’t question it anymore, neither my ability to hang in there nor…
Run This Town – Bucharest
Usually when I go on a trip I scout my routes in advance. Running in an unknown environment, especially when you’re only there for a day or two takes some preparation to make sure you get a workout in between meetings, conferences, networking dinners and your flight back home. Here is what I like to do. I start with Strava’s global heatmap, which gives an indication of areas that are good for running, and those that aren’t. Big public parks,…
A new series coming up – Go run this town!
I’m still aimlessly meandering around. I have yet to decide on my next big project for the 2019 season. Until then I sort of wanna work out for fun, but in practice I hardly work out at all. Terribly stressful work and plenty of overtime provide ample excuses for hitting the beer fridge instead of my running shoes. Anyway, I hope that writing more about good memories of running help me get going again. And to make it a bit…
In Between Seasons – Improving my Running
After my last post on cycling I spent a lot of time thinking about my running. Not the kind of focused thinking for a relatively short while, with quick conclusions. More the kind of thinking that lingers in the back of your head for weeks. Sometimes it pops into your consciousness, with a new idea or new way to interpret data, but mostly it is running in the background. Eventually, I arrived at three truths: I can improve my form…
In Between Seasons – Improving My Biking
For a while now I’ve been feeling kinda stuck between seasons. My 2018 racing season is pretty much over, but it’ll be quite a while before I can properly kick off the next season. I haven’t decided on my race schedule and ambitions for 2019 yet, but unless I’ll do another ridiculously expensive overseas race early (which is unlikely!) I won’t be racing again before early May. Which also means that I need not bother with a fully structured plan…
Check In – The Final Week
Holy stokes, we’re almost there! I am already deep into my tapering, but ramped into it a bit too quickly. On a business trip last week to Portugal for three days I didn’t have time or the pool to go swimming and neither did I have the chance to ride. So while I managed to move my bike and run workouts around during the week, the swim suffered. Only one session, open water without wetsuit. It felt okay though and…
Porto
I’ve been a fan of Portugal and its people since my first visit to Lisbon two years ago. So when I got the chance to present a paper I wrote at a conference in Porto I didn’t think twice. I had three days and two nights to spend, but as always most of it was busy with work. I still managed to take a few walks across town, trying to soak it all in and even a run to the…
Check In – Final 2
The big day is getting closer every day now! I know that’s kinda obvious but it is beginning to feel much more serious now, humbling and a bit scary. It has been a wild ride so far. I clocked another maximum effort week, collecting more than 700 TSS and as many as the week before. Just like I planned and I feel like that is also close to the maximum of what I can realistically recover with work and family…