How to run a faster faster marathon ?

Do a tough mudder !

On the 4th of October 2014 i ran a tough mudder at punchardstown race course, Naas, Ireland. It was not about finishing times, but about making it through. Great fun, a lot of dirt and some cross country running to strengthen my ankles. I got shocked and almost got a panic attack. Next stop Frankfurt marathon on 26th of October 2014, flights are booked.

Can marathoners be good crossfitters ?

The first three months

I started my crossfit journey on the 1st of July 2014. Three months into it i can say that it did not harm my running performance, rather supported it. Overall the answer to the question "Can marathoners be good crossfitters ?" seems to be yes, but it takes time.

How to run a faster marathon ?

Do not run alone !

New personal best for half marathon in 1:30:54:

On 20.09.2014 i ran the Dublin race series half marathon in a new personal best of 1:30:54. After having dental treatment, a business trip to germany and the celebrations for my girlfriend's graduation i did not stick to my running plan and was pleasently surprised to hit that time. With one month left to the Frankfurt Marathon i am in distance of achieving my goal of a sub 3:00:00 marathon. Time to get back to plan and dig in for October. Fun fact: If i was a woman I would've been the 9th fastest in the race. Overall I was placed 504 out of 6000 and 178th in my own category.

Big thank you to senior runner Sean

I couldn't have done it without Sean and this is a story of how inspiring running can be. I am 28 and he is past his fifties and still running. All of his club supported him on his way and we ran side by side for the last three miles pushing each other to our new personal bests. In every race so far I found someone to help me on the last few miles and I definetly recommend that you find someone to do likewise for your races to hit that PB. Believe me, your instinct will show you who to pick if you are not with a club already.

Review of Game of thrones First Season

One of my colleagues had the first season of Game of Thrones on his desk just before Christmas. In the fashion of "who asks, receives" I politely inquired if the show was any good. The conversation ended with Game of Thrones series one being handed to me as a Christmas present. Maybe I should go into procurement rather than sales...

Game of thrones is based on the George R.R. Martin's fantasy novel series"A Song of Ice and Fire" of which "Game of thrones" is the first installment. Until now three seasons based on the novels have been produced with a forth undergoing production at the time of writing this review. The series was created by David Benioff and starrs Sean Bean (Ned Stark), Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen) and Kit Harrington (Jon Snow). The first season was mainly shot in Northern Ireland and Malta. HBO produces the show with a big budget and it has won several Emmy Awards. Together with Breaking Bad and it also is one of the currently most pirated TV Shows.

Robert Baratheon is King of the Seven Kingdoms after he took the throne in a bloody revolt together with his friend Ned Stark. Baratheon resides in the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, King's Landing, situated at the "Narrow Sea" which separates the continents Westeros and Essos. Westeros is mainly inspired by England during the War of the Roses in the 15th century while Essos has a more oriental feeling to it. After the "Hand of the King", the most important advisor of the king, dies under nebulous circumstances, Robert asks his friend Ned to act as his Hand from there on. Stark reluctantly leaves his homeland of Winterfell north of King's Landing, but remains honorable to his way of a soldier and obeys to his king's request. While Robert is making arrangements with Ned, his wife and her family, the Lannisters, plot to retake the throne. Meanwhile the Targaryens, who used to sit on the thrones in Westeros have been living in Essos observing and plotting to retake the throne. To succeed a marriage between Daenerys Targaryen and the leader of the Dothraki (a mongolian like horde of warriors) is aaranged to secure their support in battle. An ancient years the Targaryens have been the riders of dragons which have long disappeared. While Ned Stark leaves for King's Landing his bastards son Jon Snow is send northwards to become a "Man of the Nights watch", who are guarding the "Wall", which builds the border to the north and is completely made of Ice. From there season one unfolds on several plotlines between the different kingdoms, places and characters throughout the episodes.

Game of Thrones is specially known for its many characters and the interdependencies between these which makes the drama unfold. The critical response has been very positive throughout the whole production. Some instances criticize the series for its use of violence, nakedness and explicitness to create the Medieval fantasy world. 

I personally became directly addicted to Game of Thrones. For me it is like a combination of Sopranos, Tudors, Lord of the Rings, a medieval history lesson, East enders (or Lindenstraße for the German among you) all wrapped into one. Watch it and discuss it with your friends. Who is plotting against whom? Who will die next? What will happen to the bastard sons of such and such? Great entertainment. Don't miss it and please don't pirate it, as this piece of entertainment truly deserves to be honored by actual paying the due tribute to enter this fantasyland. 

Book Review: Antifragile

"History is a race between education and catastrophe."

"When dictatorship is a fact, revolution becomes a right."- Victor Hugo 

How to run a faster marathon ?

Do a personal best on 10 miles!

On 23rd of August i ran a personal best on 10 miles of 1:09:05:

Andrew Douglas finished first in 49:56 which makes me feel rather insignificant. It was a good run, but i ovcerpaced in the middle and almost puked, which relates to my common mistake of overpacing at the beginning of a long run.

With more emphasis on my weightlifting training most recently, the running falls a bit short, which i have to remedy. I am already off track by 4 minutes, as i wanted to finish the 10 Mile in 1:05:00 to be on track for an under three hours marathon time.

Still i managed to shave off 10 minutes from my last years time, which is not too bad.

Can marathoners be good crossfitters ?

My first Linda

Crossfit experience so far

I started with crossfit on the 12 of July 2014 and track my progress with beyondthewhiteboard.com software. Crossfit helped me mainly to  lower my time to recovery for now in terms of real life results. Furthermore it widened my horizon to learn about different movements apart from running. 

Review of the second season of Game of thrones (SPOILER ALERT)

I admit to it. I am a Game of Thrones addict. After devouring season one of Game of Thrones together with my girlfriend I found Season 2 under the Christmas tree (awesome present that's why I love her). And I am not alone with my addiction. First thing my girlfriend wanted to spent her Jervys voucher on was Season 3 of Game of Thrones. We went just to be informed that it won't be released until later this year. The fact that I am writing a review on the 4th of January about a season with ten episodes which was given to me on Christmas day just shows how desperate we are. 

Season 2 of Game of thrones was released by HBO in mid of 2012 and covers the content of the second book "A Clash of Kings" from the novel series "A song of Ice and Fire" written by George R.R. Martin. David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are the main contributors behind the scenes of the second season while Bryan Cogman also wrote two episodes. Vanessa Taylor and George R.R. Martin also showed their allegiance to the cause by writing one episode each. It will be interesting how the dynamic between the show and the unfinished novel series will pan out in the long run.
Stannis Baratheon, brother of the former king Robert Baratheon is played by Stephen Dillane and is one of the most important new characters in season 2. Melisandre, a manipulative witch who advises Stannis, is also introduced and played by Carice van Houten. For the Irish community it is nice to see that Liam Cunningham (The Guard, The wind that shakes the barley) makes an appearance as Davos Seaworth, the trusted right hand man of Stannis. The second season replaces Malta by the town of Dubrovnik in Croatia for the scenes in King's Landing, the capital where the King of the seven Kingdoms resides. For the icy landscapes behind the wall HBO opted for the Vatnajökull glacier in Iceland. In addition the production was also extended to further shooting locations in Northern Ireland.

After Ned Starks (the former advisor of the deceased King Robert Baratheon) decapitation by King Geoffrey, the illegitimate son of the Lannister siblings Jamie & Cersei who is thought to be Robert's heir, Ned's son Robert declares himself King of the North and wages war against King's landing. Robert's aim out of season one is at first to rescue his father and his sisters who are in King's Landing which after the violent death is reduced to the latter. Meanwhile Stannis Baratheon, who was informed that Ned Stark challenged Geoffrey as the rightful king due to his parent's conduct of incest, claims to be the rightful king and plans to attack King's Landing from the sea. Tyrion Lannister, brother of Jamie & Cersei, gets a more central role in the second season as hand of the king and major organizer of the defense of King's Landing.

While the events in King's Landing unfold Jon Snow, the bastard son of Ned Stark, makes his first experiences in the field north of the Wall as a man of the night's watch. Soon he will get separated from his group and a new set of characters will be introduced to the plot.

Meanwhile after the death of her husband Khal Drogo Daenerys Targaryen has to make it through the deserts of Essos with her remaining people. After hatching her dragons are too young to defend her or hunt for food and she has to search for shelter in the city of Quarth, which comes at a price.

HBO put great effort into promoting the second season which in combination with the established fan base from the first season translated into more views in compared to season 1 . Generally the response of the critics (for those who care about such things) was good with some remarks about the intense use of violence and sex scenes throughout the series (which is old coffee as same was said about the first season). 

The second season of Game of Thrones shows for me personally again how vital it is for television series & movies to have a great background story / writers working for it ( to name a few good examples : The Lord of the rings, The help, A beautiful mind or Breaking Bad). The twists and turns in the character development never cease to impress me and keep the story interesting. Peter Dinklage does a brilliant job at keeping the whole second season together due to his marvelous performance as Tyrion Lannister. I might be overreaching in my use of adjectives here, but as said before, I'm completely hooked. At the end of the second season (set you didn't read the book) you will get an idea why the novel series is called "A song of Ice and Fire". I am repeating my pledge, please don't pirate this series. Everybody involved deserves their due respect in form of revenue out of DVD's, book sales or advertisement (we can debate the Hollywood money machinery, but at least this is not a rip off like the last Indiana Jones movie...

 Injury free training:

Can I hurt myself lifting weights ?

Yes, you can severely hurt yourself lifting weights so be smart about it:

 What usually happens, when people hurt themselves lifting is that the excercises are being done with bad form, with too much weight or without a spotter. Injuries in weightlifting can be very severe, especially when the pounds are being lifted overhead. Always remember that Newton's laws will catch up on you if you lack the strength and the barbell will make its way to the ground either way. The heavier the weight, the more likely it will travel to the ground ignoring your skin and bones. Be wise, train reasonably.

Your risk of injury is a function of the repetitions you do and weight you lift:

The more repetitions you do with heavier weight, the more likely it gets you get injured. Having said that always reach your maximum weight on any given excercise from below. Do a proper warm up and make that one rep max the highlight of the day. Also get a spotter, because if you already know that you only can lift this weight once, it is not unlikely that you will miss that rep and need someone to help you out. In lack of a spotter, set up a power rack accordingly so that the might of the weight does not come crushing down upon you.