Time to taper

stats of the week: run 25km, cycled 254km, gym 2h

I put in some more hills on the bike to get ready for the cycling season's highlight. Unfortunately one of my feet preferred to show it was enough now. It started to hurt the next morning after Sunday's usual run. Program now is to rest for nearly whole of the week.

Friday will see me doing the yearly climb of the Zugspitze, Germany's highest mountain that is half Austrian. However, way down is by cable car.

Sunday is the big day. My biggest clycling challenge awaits. The race of the races. Organisers advertise: "I have a dream." My dream is to get to the finish line.

Mud in the woods

stats of the week: run 40km, cycled 194km, gym 2h

After 3 months of concentrating on cycling I felt the need to get back to proper running and entered one of my most loved little race events. It has a history of 40 years that ended now due to the lack of volunteers and participants.

So I ran the 20K through local woods one last time and was surprised to be 46 seconds faster than 2 years ago. I beat the aging process, hooray!

It was a wet and muddy day. I enjoyed it. Very much.

Going South to the local hills

stats of the week: run 18km, cycled 332km

Choosing your cycling route in my area you always have the option to ride flat to the North or hilly to the South. I always go South. And so did the organizers of the 5th "Sauerland Extreme". Taking part in this tough event meant my longest cycling tour ever - 254km including 4,000 meters of altitude difference. It took me 12 hours thereof 10:53 h of sitting on the bike! Surprisingly sitting was no problem but feet and shoulder still hurt the next day. I found the many short steep climbs much harder than going up a proper mountain for hours. First impression is: I don't have to repeat this ...

More London

stats of the week: run 24km, cycled 233km, gym 1h

London's weather made up for the wet day last year and we had glorious sunshine at this year's London Ride 100. No excuse to slow down. Target was to ride the 100 miles sub 5:30h. Way was to go the distance without any stop. Success! Half way I still doubted to make it but the final 25 miles I was able to accelerate and finished after 5:11h. The organisers keep telling that it is not a race so there is no ranking. More than 25,000 cyclists made it to the mall thereof 5,000 women!

Anyway, it was a great day out with good fun and a cold beer by interAir in Green Park. Compared to oncoming challenges it was a time to enjoy.

Request for rest

stats of the week: run 30km, cycled 272km, gym 3h

You might note that this was a rather tough week as it was following the long hill race last weekend. You're right. My body asks for a couple of recovery days now. A Tour de France cyclist was quoted: "I ate 'pain' for breakfast." This reminds me of how I got up this morning.

Good days follow bad days

stats of the week: run 51km, cycled 240km

Holidays can get somewhat strenuous if you have your bike and your running shoes with you. This week we tried the original route of the notorious Ötztaler Bike Marathon - alas we divided it into 3 days and it was still a challenge with its more than 5,000 meters of altitude difference. I still have no idea how to do it within one day! I don't want to have a another bad day ending with the need of a salt infusion.

However, running the Eiger Ultra Trail I had an unexpected good day. 51 km including 3,000 altitude meters up and down turned out to be pure enjoyment. Perfect weather conditions made it a successful day and let me finish after 8:56 hours placed 6th of all men over 60.

To be honest I thought about never coming back to Switzerland due to the unbelievable high price level. If there weren't some very alluring events taking place in this beautiful country...

Physical limits in the Alps

stats of the week: run 28km/1,500mad, cycled 26km/950mad
stats of the week before: run 18km, cycled 323km/6,700mad

The alpine bike race Maratona dles Dolomites turned out to become a test of my physical limits. Not only it wasn't one of my best days but the temperature of nearly 40°c added to this. At the fork point after 76km I made the wrong decision and chose the long distance. Feeling that I had a problem I allowed myself more and long stops at the feeding stations and mid route. So I made it to the finish line but only to find myself cared for at the medical tent.

However, the salt infusion put me back on my feet and I was able to get on to some hill runs. Seems necessary to prepare for next Saturday.