Jumping into a crit without any major pedalling exercise in the last couple of weeks was hurting. Agonising fun. These road cyclists are sick people. At least I think they take some substance against illness. Maybe.

And so this gentleman by the road was speaking: „You are in the wrong town. You need to go to Schmiedefeld am Rennsteig.“ Unexpectedly there was a bit of a confusion going on. I ended up in the wrong town. Disaster.

Lucky enough the “correct” Schmiedefeld was just about 55k down the road from the “wrong” Schmiedefeld. As the gun was about to sound in two hours from now, it was necessary to get my best possible Walter Röhrl approach on the road. The windy and twisty roads across the magnificent Free State of Thuringia woodland did not pay me any help as I was pressing the pedal to reach the “correct” Schmiedefeld on time.

As I was parking the car beside the race registration I was already warmed up and pumped. Still enough time to get organised and to get a suitable warm-up in. The battle before the race was won.

And so the gun sounded and what happened then was first class advanced jogging. After a short road section through the town the route got straight at the renowned Rennsteig trail. This place has some running to offer. What a great area. As we got on the first trails I was already amazed. I needed to focus on the underground as the road was hovering between some sweet single trails and groovy forest paths – really diverse and spectacular running. Spiced up with some nasty vertical as well as some proper downhill parts this was just a fun area to run in.

The finishing stretch up the Schneekopf peak made me hurt. Hurt a lot. Once at the peak the views unquestionably paid off for everything and made this day even more pleasant. We hang out on the summit and enjoyed the sun and the views over the Rennsteig area. Again. What a great region that is. Just made for mountain-biking and off-road jogging. Paired with such a blameless organization and friendliness it is a no-brainer to come back to Thuringia for more.

Oh well. I ended up in 17th place. Pleased with the outcome but still some improvements to make. Next on the list is the Dolomites Skyrace in Canazei. Bring it on!

Strava

Tune of the day: Classified – Inner Ninja (Feat. David Myles)

As we need to document the Transalpine Run in style, the kind folks at Grofa gave Hendrik and me the chance to use the new GoPro Hero3 to capture the race and the build-up.

I was just playing around with the tiny 5 Megapixel HD cam the last days and I’m pretty amazed by the lightness, the quality and the new touch display. There will be some grand shots in the pipeline with this baby I guess. Capturing the runs will be a hell lot of fun.

I’ll try my best to be a hero – Thanks!

Also make sure to check the Brooks Transalpine Blog!

Some transformations in the last few weeks do ask for a little wrap up.

My casual traveling extravaganza has come to an end and I’m back in the business world. After more then a year off work I was looking forward to new perspectives and challenges. They came faster then I thought and so I’m back in Germany with a exciting new job and field of work.

This way! (Patagonia Run, Argentina 2012)

As this blog is clearly not about me working I head straight to the running side of things. Back to work-life also means that I’m back to an organized day. The last few months without work I felt I was going nowhere with my training. The racing outcome didn’t really pay into play and just showed my state of training. I felt it hard to motivate myself and to get a structured training in place. I did loads of sessions but nothing long or hard. It was just pure blur.

Lucky enough that has changed. Since I got back to work also my training improved notably. It seems that I need this little amount of time that a full working day offers me to kick my ass. I know precisely how much time I have on hand and I need to use it wisely. In addition to my newfound running stimulus I also started to get back on the track. Checking back into the training logs I always felt strong when I was hitting regular workouts on the track. Even now with mostly uphill running I can see an improvement in my form. I need the direct response of a track session for my body but mostly for my mind.

As it is official now, I will be competing in the Transalpine Run with Hendrik from the 31st of August until the 7th September. Brooks thankfully gave us the chance to represent the company at this iconic stage race through the alps. It pretty much is the climax of my 2013 season. Brooks also set up a lovely blog on their official website. Check it out HERE. Hendrik and I will be blogging there regular in german. We also have some great equipment lined up which we going to present there in the next few weeks. Eventful days after a busy working days. Love it!

Schneekopflauf – Classic German mountain race in the picturesque Thuringian forest area in the east of Germany. Organized by the same guys that set up the celebrated Rennsteiglauf, one of the oldest races in Germany and probably one of the oldest ultra trail races.

Dolomites Skyrace – Heading down to striking Canazei I will be facing my second skyrace this year. This course has everything it needs to be a honest and hard race.

Sierre-Zinal – I’m so glad I get the chance to show up in Zinal for this classic mountain race. Since years I read all the stories and follow the race closely. Now I will be toeing the start line. This is going to be a cracker. A tough one, though.

Matterhorn Ultraks – Haven’t decided a hundred percent on that but I’m pretty keen on having a go at this one. Sounds like some proper mountain running but I need to listen to the legs as it is a bit close to the Transalpine.

There are so many good running blogs around these days. Sometimes I ask myself if I favour the blogging circle of this running thing or the actual activity. Well, I guess it is anywhere in between.

I just spend a lot of time to read the one of a kind JUMPING THE GUN, set up by my good friend and running geek hailing from Baile Átha Cliath, Ireland – Feidhlim Kelly.

Together with the PODCAST this is a must bookmark.

Nicely!

This short-film is fluctuating around the social network sphere since a couple of days.

I cannot even memorize the last time I was posting a clip but this one needs to be seen.This peace made by the kikazaru producciones amigos just rounds up my Zegama-Aizkorri Maratón spamming on this part of the interweb – in style!

To sum up a beautiful piece of youtubeism I just quote Emilie: “The spirit here is wonderful!”

Impresionantes imágenes!