tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87931197315085372172024-03-13T11:36:20.099-07:00Ausländer BlogScott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-40933851268780351882022-05-09T12:47:00.001-07:002022-05-09T12:47:42.563-07:00Fit by Thirty - (Five). -22kg in 12 weeks<p> I'm 35 in 12 weeks. I'm 122 kg and rising for the last weeks after a spell of losing weight. So I'm yo-yo dieting, but it always ends up higher like the staircase trick . Now I will at least try to do one of those yo-yo tricks where the yo-yo sticks to the ground!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqk-pTBLa8C5t11RwX9b9N0d0Hkwxh8cU183pTwnWhuaVPP51aeWcu_r6lBLW0AEql0P4GdFUJoDLkysSXjasVnwU6vOwvDB3LZj7jnzqzARZbr2BxYuZSH7gU8eadg1NSWiDyLe0snQDShGMrkBvM4zu7bEuLPaYUMz9XM46dlu6gYMYTNzdIinMHQ/s4080/PXL_20220509_090115999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqk-pTBLa8C5t11RwX9b9N0d0Hkwxh8cU183pTwnWhuaVPP51aeWcu_r6lBLW0AEql0P4GdFUJoDLkysSXjasVnwU6vOwvDB3LZj7jnzqzARZbr2BxYuZSH7gU8eadg1NSWiDyLe0snQDShGMrkBvM4zu7bEuLPaYUMz9XM46dlu6gYMYTNzdIinMHQ/s320/PXL_20220509_090115999.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyBLvL8rMhdulVv7x94bj7feGcVWVZ4fMoEyzz9H-B8rTWuYVHrIE--Ex01TWTv6F1YN6RzUvZRD2l7UnVOPFM-kirReDoRoIUSDdr1itPrFT_OO8nJ5o0v8Bj8QkOVfcTmujK6xd1Iun8UaE8l7FUZ_-DIUxBQpUEp2tejywG5Gx_hOd7yLY94Gz0KA/s4080/PXL_20220509_090132548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyBLvL8rMhdulVv7x94bj7feGcVWVZ4fMoEyzz9H-B8rTWuYVHrIE--Ex01TWTv6F1YN6RzUvZRD2l7UnVOPFM-kirReDoRoIUSDdr1itPrFT_OO8nJ5o0v8Bj8QkOVfcTmujK6xd1Iun8UaE8l7FUZ_-DIUxBQpUEp2tejywG5Gx_hOd7yLY94Gz0KA/s320/PXL_20220509_090132548.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><p>Now 22kg is probably too much. In fact is 170,000 calories of fat to burn (and/or not consume). It's 817 beers, 157 big Mac meals,. 700 scoops of chocolate ice cream (I had two today already). </p><p>It's also only 344 hours of walking, or 137 hours of straight kettlebell workouts, 250 cycling hours out of 2023 hours in the challenge. Yeah I'll be sleeping for 674 of them (in truth more like 500) but that leaves 1350 to act.</p><p>It's not crazy.</p><p>It's ambitious.</p><p>I'll fail, but be happy with half.</p><p>Well, it's out there. On the internet. Let's see how I do.</p><p><br /></p>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-329552967707239902020-08-16T13:39:00.001-07:002020-08-16T13:49:47.651-07:00Euro Velo - Donau - T minus one day. A 38 Km warmup<p>So I was in Passau two days early. The main plan is to cycle along the Donau to Vienna and maybe further to Bratislava and Budapest depending on Covid and if I still have the legs.</p><p>The sun was shining so I took the opportunity to take the bike for a spin without the extra weight of the paniers and followed the river Inn south to get an ice cream.</p><p>Next time I may just cycle along the Inn Velo route.</p><p><a href="https://www.strava.com/activities/3921970291">https://www.strava.com/activities/3921970291</a></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V5x9mlVpDyw/XzmYGSqeuXI/AAAAAAAA4o8/NxANwYi2VYcpk35XpMnrsylrNAkj5bMHQCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200816_135746162.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V5x9mlVpDyw/XzmYGSqeuXI/AAAAAAAA4o8/NxANwYi2VYcpk35XpMnrsylrNAkj5bMHQCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200816_135746162.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DCP8nVC0v8/XzmYGYfYH_I/AAAAAAAA4o8/urFLQxocKowXgrVdAn4t2qaMCaBA4nyTACPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200816_140916670.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_DCP8nVC0v8/XzmYGYfYH_I/AAAAAAAA4o8/urFLQxocKowXgrVdAn4t2qaMCaBA4nyTACPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200816_140916670.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m1dEf_3ScKY/XzmYGcucJXI/AAAAAAAA4o8/Dzd0xwBJ5wMoLL9wARDdjnQLkB2LurIVwCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200816_140353010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m1dEf_3ScKY/XzmYGcucJXI/AAAAAAAA4o8/Dzd0xwBJ5wMoLL9wARDdjnQLkB2LurIVwCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200816_140353010.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NfuOFmP8TeE/XzmYGV8K45I/AAAAAAAA4o8/hGyHQ5Pl71ADgjIsSPdm5Zxip91CJQ6QgCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200816_125738355.MP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NfuOFmP8TeE/XzmYGV8K45I/AAAAAAAA4o8/hGyHQ5Pl71ADgjIsSPdm5Zxip91CJQ6QgCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200816_125738355.MP.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4DJdv3bajU/XzmYGej6qhI/AAAAAAAA4o8/K-96H7rrQTQeTW4c6fLC7MqWaU4AY9JAQCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200816_123724577.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c4DJdv3bajU/XzmYGej6qhI/AAAAAAAA4o8/K-96H7rrQTQeTW4c6fLC7MqWaU4AY9JAQCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200816_123724577.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KqneijIoAUM/XzmYGfT3TOI/AAAAAAAA4o8/AiWPUwTJNHsyxGvLXCU8l5Iqe2gIttHxQCPcBGAsYHg/s7268/PXL_20200816_123752580.PANO.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1679" data-original-width="7268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KqneijIoAUM/XzmYGfT3TOI/AAAAAAAA4o8/AiWPUwTJNHsyxGvLXCU8l5Iqe2gIttHxQCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200816_123752580.PANO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0Passau, Germany48.5667364 13.431946620.256502563821158 -21.7243034 76.876970236178849 48.5881966tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-65297633100143795042020-08-16T13:06:00.002-07:002020-08-16T13:43:24.831-07:00Euro Velo - Donau - T minus 2 days<p> Do you ever get that nagging feeling that you need to do something today? It can't be just me.</p><p>I planned my summer cycle tour down to the day and hotels giving myself plenty of time to go where I need to in the day. On the 16th of August I will go to Passau and the next day start cycling along the Donau towards Vienna. </p><p>A week later a fellow touring cyclist told me that the Isar cycle route is also nice so I thought I would extend the trip by two days and cycle Munich to Passau and get the full Munich to Vienna cycle under my belt.</p><p>I hadn't organised those two days but they were stuck in my head to the point where I conflated the two start days.</p><p>Stupid me, I went to Passau two days early.</p><p>Lucky me, two days extra holiday!</p><p>Passau is lovely, even in the rain.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLOg1DhuW8s/XzmROAePl5I/AAAAAAAA4ow/BO3VAoKd0DwCXXueVWUYKim96ofswRtFwCPcBGAsYHg/s6416/PXL_20200815_131157957.PANO.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1665" data-original-width="6416" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KLOg1DhuW8s/XzmROAePl5I/AAAAAAAA4ow/BO3VAoKd0DwCXXueVWUYKim96ofswRtFwCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200815_131157957.PANO.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AMKorUs-VN0/XzmROChYuyI/AAAAAAAA4ow/a1eulR73f8QA61Arpdlr3I2NePJFJzY5gCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200815_131525705.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AMKorUs-VN0/XzmROChYuyI/AAAAAAAA4ow/a1eulR73f8QA61Arpdlr3I2NePJFJzY5gCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200815_131525705.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cO_gF08sfTQ/XzmRONZfgmI/AAAAAAAA4ow/69GxHeQm-NwuDuBV80nafYlz6fctnKx-wCPcBGAsYHg/s4032/PXL_20200815_131124921.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cO_gF08sfTQ/XzmRONZfgmI/AAAAAAAA4ow/69GxHeQm-NwuDuBV80nafYlz6fctnKx-wCPcBGAsYHg/s640/PXL_20200815_131124921.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0Passau, Germany48.5667364 13.431946620.256502563821158 -21.7243034 76.876970236178849 48.5881966tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-66343311770417405332012-05-01T14:54:00.002-07:002012-05-01T14:59:15.925-07:00Barcelona<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Barcelona is memorable to me for many reasons, first of all it was the location of my first marathon and second for one of the maddest weekends I've ever had!<br />
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Most of the events cannot actually be put in a blog that my parents and family might read, so unfortunately I'll have to stick to the "family safe" stories.<br />
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I've already mentioned the <a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.de/2012/03/marathon-1-barcelona.html">marathon </a>and the (truly amazing) <a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.de/2012/04/sagrada-familia.html">Sagrada Familia</a>. So I think I'll start with the morning after the marathon, as you can imagine my legs were pretty sore and did not want to do much walking. So guess what we decided to do? Yeah, we went to the Nou Camp! What a place though, was well worth the agony of getting up and down the stairs!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and the Nou Camp "More than a Club"</td></tr>
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I enjoyed reading the history of the famous Barcelona club, but for one massive oversight, they didn't even mention the legend Sir Bobby Robson who managed for one season and won 3 trophies! Nonetheless it was a very impressive stadium, with such a trophy room as to be the envy of every club in Europe! (Especially my club, Newcastle who now haven't won a trophy in 43 years!)<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is a panorama shot I took of Barcelona's 6 trophies from the 08-09 season, with Erik and Jamie</td></tr>
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If you've done the Nou Camp tour yourself then you will know how many steps yo have to go up and down, and my knee was killing me! It was worth it though and I'm glad I did it, I don't know which is my favourite out of the Nou Camp and the Santiago Bernabeu, but my Spanish team is Real Madrid so I guess the Bernabeu.<br />
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The next stop was to go back to the hotel room and get changed to go out for a meal. Instead we found a Tapas place that I will never forget! Their offer was one beer and one Tapas stick for 3€, so Erik suggested we have one then go get changed to go out. We ended up having 7! That was Erik's idea too.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Erik and Jamie in our favourite tapas place</td></tr>
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It was only 7 PM, so we still had plenty of time to go to a restaurant, so we eventually made it back to the hotel. I was absolutely shattered though and a little bit drunk, so I decided to get a power nap, people in Barcelona don't go out till 10 anyway. The next thing I knew it was 4 AM. It was the best nights sleep I've ever had.<br />
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That day we went to the Sagrada Familia, an amazing place that warranted its own blog post (LINK).<br />
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After that Erik and I went to the seaside, there was a man made wharf that had a shopping centre on it, it had a bar/restaurant that served maß beer!<br />
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After two of those maß beers the madness began. It is definitely not a family friendly story, but we ended up walking up and down the famous La Rambla street looking for "buenos chicas". That was when my phone got stolen. What a crazy night.<br />
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We went out drinking with our marathon winners medals, so proud we had to show them off!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and Jamie snogging our medals</td></tr>
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I want to thank Erik especially for convincing me to run the marathon and give me an excuse to visit this amazing place, also thanks to Dave and Jamie for making it such a memorable trip!<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!</div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-72746386206715647272012-04-12T13:30:00.000-07:002012-04-12T13:33:34.809-07:00Sagrada Familia<h2 style="text-align: center;">
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The Sagrada Familia is probably the most amazing building I have ever seen. The scope of imagination it would take just to even plan one of the spires is absolutely mind boggling!<br />
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They originally thought that it would take a few hundred years to complete the church, but thanks to modern technology and construction techniques it is estimated to be completed around 2026, 100 years after the Architect Antoni Gaudi died. The guy managed to envisage this building, and build this scale model of it:<br />
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Now I am not a Christian, but being in and around this masterpiece gave me a new sense of belief about the power and creativity of man. Everyone should visit it and see what I mean. I will definitely come back to see it when it is finished.<br />
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One picture, or even a hundred could not describe all the unique details in the exterior or the extravagant beauty of the interior, but I had a go. Check out my album in the link below:<br />
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<a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/116611446148642353119/albums/5727824403845464801">https://plus.google.com/photos/116611446148642353119/albums/5727824403845464801</a><br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-23412479478653641112012-03-25T09:07:00.000-07:002012-03-25T09:07:00.478-07:00Marathon #1 (Barcelona)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So my first marathon has been successfully completed!<br />
<br />Today I ran the Barcelona Marathon in 5 hours 5 minutes. My knees and quads are in absolute agony right now, but the sense of achievement is astonishing. To be honest, considering how poor and interrupted my preparation was I am happy that I just managed to finish it. Next time I will aim to substantially improve my time and hopefully completely avoid having to walk.<br />
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I ran it with my friend Erik from <a href="http://eriksmarathon.blogspot.com/">eriksmarathon</a> and 2 of his friends. The first half marathon 3 of us basically stuck together, which was nice as we got to see the Nou Camp and the Sagrada Família together, but the pace we were running wasn't exactly ideal for my race strategy and I ended up dropping back just before the half was completed and couldn't catch up either.<br />
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The last 10k was very tough, as my knees were burning, so I had to walk at least half of the time of that distance.Given that the most I had trained was 19 miles (31k) and that was intervals with walking and running I am pretty pleased with that I could complete it, and hope that the next one goes a lot smoother on the knees!<br />
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The pic at the top is the 4 of us at the finish line showing off our medals and our pecs, below is a closeup of the medal.<br />
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It was a good day so far, but now I need to leave and have a celebratory beer and stuff! :)<br />
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A full blog about Barcelona will appear soon.<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com3Barcelona, Spanien41.387917 2.169918741.292614 2.0119902 41.48322 2.3278472000000003tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-3866302297075529482012-03-19T01:49:00.002-07:002012-03-19T01:49:51.691-07:00Marathon Mini Series: A Mini UpdateHi All!<br />
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I am pleased to announce that I am quitting being a quitter; I'm going to run (or at least attempt) the Barcelona Marathon as originally planned!<br />
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I got my flight tickets yesterday, and will travel very early on Saturday morning and spend an afternoon in Barcelona and the next day explore the city in my favorite way, running!<br />
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I hope I can do it, but as my training was cut short due to the harsh winter conditions for running I'm not in as good a shape as I should be to tackle my first marathon. I hope to do it even if there is a bit of walking involved. I'm looking forward to sharing a beer with Erik, Dave and Jamie with our medals after the run!<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-27609524842733937952012-03-18T13:20:00.002-07:002012-03-18T13:21:47.668-07:00Today's office; (Vienna, AT)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A week after my trip to Bern came another work trip, and once again to a city that I hadn't been to before, Vienna!<br />
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I had one night there and the next day I had to work, so there was some time for exploring the city and having a Wienerschnitzel :D<br />
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I travelled to Vienna from Munich by train, which accomplished 2 things; I could get some work done on the train, and also see the amazing views of the Alpine mountains and lakes. Next time I go I'll take the train again, so I don't miss out on seeing these views!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the Chimsee from the train</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I love travelling over land :)</td></tr>
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My friend Birgit recommended a restaurant to have a Wienerschnitzel, so I went there as soon as I checked in. It was the Figlmüller in the centre of town, and you don't just get one schnitzel, you get two!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pair of schnitzels, a nice salad and my fifth or sixth beer of the day</td></tr>
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Then I just went to the hotel and got an early night, so I could be up early and finish the work faster. I was to meet an engineer at the T-Mobile office and work together. While we were working this engineer told me a few interesting facts about Vienna, for instance I asked him how why the water tasted so nice, and he informed me that Vienna's water is actually taken from the alpine streams, funnelled over 200 miles to the city. Seriously the tap water there is better than Evian bottled water!<br />
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After the work was done I had a couple of hours to kill before my train, so I had a walk around the city. It is such a nice place, and just one day doesn't do it justice, so I am going to go back at the earliest opportunity! I created a Google album of the pictures I took using my Sony Xperia S phone, the picture quality is awesome for a phone. I wonder if my company will sponsor this post? Anyway, <a href="https://plus.google.com/photos/116611446148642353119/albums/5720810954857680753">here </a>is the album if you want to check it out.<br />
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I'll go back at some point this year for a long weekend, or maybe do another cycle tour, like the Passau to Vienna along the fabulous Donau river. I'm excited already thinking about it!<br />
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Viel Spaß homies<br />
<span id="goog_1475906995"></span><span id="goog_1475906996"></span>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-12679617649477196052012-03-04T09:29:00.000-08:002012-03-04T09:29:47.352-08:00Today's Office (Bern, CH)It has been a while since I shared with you guys some of the cool places I go to work, largely because I have been stuck in the office for months! Well, my first Field Test trip abroad in a while happened to be to a city I had never been before, Bern!<br />
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Bern is the capital city of Switzerland, although only the fourth most populist city. It was here that I learned why the international country code of Switzerland is "CH". It stands for Confoederatio Helvetica, which is Latin for Swiss Confederation. There you go!<br />
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My visit to Bern was to go and work with the engineers at Swisscom on on of our Sony products, which turned out to be more problematic than I anticipated and even had to stay an extra night to ensure the work could be completed. O woe is me!<br />
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Actually I only had time to see the city centre once because the working was pretty intense, so I visited the Bern old town and had a walk around in the dark and went to a specialty Rösti restaurant. Rösti is, I guess, where we got our inspiration for hash browns... Grated and deep fried potato. But I have to say they do it better. The best hash brown I've ever had is not even in the same league as what I had at this restaurant:<br />
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The boiled pear was an interesting touch however, but it meant I did not have to order a desert.<br />
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Something I really wanted to see was the "Bear Pit", but I don't think that would be worth it unless there is someone with me that would understand the inevitable Anchorman quotes :-). The main reason I didn't go was that I was informed that the Bears would most likely be hiding inside the cave,so I thought I would save that for my next trip :)<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0Bern, Schweiz46.9479222 7.444608546.8612052 7.2866800000000005 47.0346392 7.602537tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-79213338054544476352012-02-26T09:00:00.000-08:002012-02-26T09:00:00.623-08:00Marathon Mini Series: Winter Training Is A Killer<div>
I started drafting this post a little while ago to try and explain the difficulties of training in cold winter conditions and how I overcame them. Unfortunately I don't have such a success story.<br />
At it's worst the temperature in Munich was -25 degrees and the surface was icy for over 6 weeks. In the end that proved too much for me, it got too dangerous for me to train during this time, so I made the sad decision to drop out of the Barcelona marathon. <br />
I'm disappointed in this because of all the effort that has gone into it, but at the time of writing I have only a month to train for this marathon and I realise it is out of my reach to train properly for.<br />
This doesn't mean I won't run a marathon though, I only have to delay it for another time.<br />
I did however get some really nice pics of running around Munich in the winter from before I gave up. Hopefully next year will be a warmer winter so I can train then. For those of you that are still training in winter, remember the saying <i>"</i><i>winter </i>miles, summer smiles!"<br />
Viel Spaß homies<br />
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<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-VHWOSBDxiVU/T0pje6-H12I/AAAAAAAABR4/xIQW0b0uzKI/DSC_0012.png" /></div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0Seidlstraße 24, 80335 München, Deutschland48.1448353 11.558006747.9753153 11.2421497 48.314355299999995 11.8738637tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-43102403459034599612012-01-22T09:53:00.000-08:002012-01-22T09:58:09.164-08:00Marathon Mini Series: Intervals<div><p>I decided to adopt a different training gestalt for my Marathon, this is basically because I thought I wouldn't be able to build up to running for 4 and a half hours in just the 9 weeks that were left when I started it.</p>
<p>What I'm doing now is increasing the amount of time I'm out for each workout (over 3 hours) and adding in a rest period. This gives my body some time to recover before the next 'work phase', and I can stay out longer and get my body acclimatized to being out for the amount of time I will need to.</p>
<p>I am working in blocks of 15 minutes, where 11 minutes is running and 4 is walking. Every week I will increase the workout by 15 minutes and also take 30 seconds off the rest time and add it to the running. By doing this I will (hopefully) at least be able to complete the marathon, even if it involves a bit of walking. Today I did 14 blocks of 15, and did 19.1 miles.</p>
<p>Intervals are also useful for other areas of running training. For instance, if you can already run the distanceyou're aiming for, but you want to improve your time, then you can do intervals of slow and fast rrunning. This will improve your stamina, and help you to run the distance faster. Another useful tip is for when you have to tackle a hilly run, you can do intervals of up and down hills, with some flats mixed in as well.</p>
<p>Viel Spaß homies!</p>
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What a year 2011 was! For me it was full of proud achievements and great friends (new and old). First and foremost the thing I'm most proud of is getting through what is probably the most stressful period of my life; the first 4 months of living in Munich.<br />
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Moving abroad is an incredibly large step and not one that should be taken lightly, or with any doubt in your ability to achieve what is necessary to stay. Of this, I think, I can speak from experience. When I moved I had neither the financial security to guarantee safety or the confidence in my ability to confidently assume my new position at Sony Ericsson. Throw in the requirement to pass a driving test in Germany within a very short time-frame or I would lose the job, and you have a melting pot of stress, anxiety and sleepless nights that even looking back on it now curdles my gut.<br />
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Well; all's well that ends well. For that my first mention is <span style="color: #cc0000;">Mara Börger</span>, my driving instructor, who was instrumental in me fulfilling this requirement. She's one of the only people that knew the stress I was under, and could tell when I was so uncharacteristically nervous when she picked me up for my test! I got a bit of good fortune that day, because unknown to me, we booked my test on her birthday. The examiner knew this and, as a present to her, made my test relatively short.<br />
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After this things were really looking up. I'd made a good impression at work, made a lot of friends and was enjoying literally every hour of my days. This is thanks in a large part to everyone's favourite "Stammtisch", Dienstag Drinks, organised by <span style="color: #cc0000;">Magda Dubiel</span> and <span style="color: #cc0000;">Erin Beaton</span>.<br />
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In addition to the new friends I've made, what made me happiest I think was that I hadn't lost my friends from England, I would see them when I went home and my closest friends have all visited me! So a special thanks go out to <span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://eriksmarathon.blogspot.com/">Erik Orrgarde</a> </span>and <span style="color: #cc0000;"><a href="http://stuffedduck.blogspot.com/">Sarah Nicholson</a> </span>for the most mental of all <a href="http://stuffedduck.blogspot.com/2011/03/relaxing-in-munchen-day-3.html">visits</a> and to <span style="color: #cc0000;">Holly Adams</span>, <span style="color: #cc0000;">Chris Morrison</span>, for being visiting TWICE! I guess <span style="color: #cc0000;">Mike Fearon</span> also deserves a special mention, but most of the <a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/oktoberfest-part-3-alone-and-confused.html">events</a> from that tip can't be told because we might go to jail!<br />
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So here are my favourite events:<br />
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<li><a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/tour-de-austria-forest.html">Very stupidly getting lost cycling up a mountain in Austria</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stuffedduck.blogspot.com/2011/03/party-time-in-munchen-day-2.html">Erik's bongo drumming in the crazy bongo club</a></li>
<li><a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/housewarming-party.html">My Bavarians & Barbarians housewarming party</a></li>
<li><a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/oktoberfest-day-1-bierleichen.html">Oktoberfest</a></li>
<li><a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/auslanders-first-surgery.html">Getting caught with my trousers down in a hospital ward...</a></li>
<li>Throwing rocks off a mountain with Aditi, Jamin and Erin</li>
<li>Prague with Magda and <span style="color: #cc0000;">Birgit Hillebrand</span></li>
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This picture has not made it on my blog yet, mostly because it happened before I started the blog. The guy on the left is Erik at the bongo club. The other guy desperately wanted his picture taken with us. Erik is like <i>WTF</i>...<br />
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Thanks to my GPS tracker I can tell you how far I've cycled and ran this year. I've ran 267 miles (the equivalent of running from Munich to Bern in Switzerland) and I've cycled 609 miles (in total like cycling from Munich back to London!)</div>
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What a fun year, thanks a lot to all those that made it special :) </div>
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Viel Spaß homies</div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-86527035259571451472011-12-23T04:19:00.001-08:002011-12-29T13:48:21.504-08:00Prague Part 1 - Holland Declares War against the Czech Republic!<div>
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Once again my wanderlust took control of me, and with the aid of some friends of mime who share this particular character trait we decided that Prague would be the next city we visit! My companions for the trip would be my friends Birgit and Magdalena in the above picture.<br />
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After some research into the travel choices I realised that it was not only cheaper to take the bus, but also faster than the train! No brainer really. What can go wrong? Well, as it turns out a lot (it wouldn't be one of my blogs if everything went right ;) ). The ticket said we would travel from Hauptbahnhof Arnulfstraße (main station on the street Arnulfstraße). I assumed this meant Munich's main bus station, which is on that street. Lesson 1, don't assume anything!<br />
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So when I got to the main bus station Magda was already there, and told me we go from platform 4. Great, I thought. Time for a drink then! Then Birgit joined the party, looking like she was going to war! Unfortunately I can't show you a picture yet, I guess she deleted them...<br />
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After poking some fun at her for her bag and attire we went down to where the buses depart, about 25 minutes before departure. Platform 4 had a train to Istanbul, probably not stopping in Prague then! I saw that there was one going to Poland via the Czech Republic departing the same time as ours. So I assumed that was the correct one. Remember lesson 1?<br />
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We waited and waited but the bus did not come, then 20 minutes after scheduled departure the sign changed to a different departure. Now we were at panic stations, and very angry with the Deutsche Bahn (with whom I booked the tickets). I asked Magda if she could talk on the phone to the DB service line to find out what happened. They said we had no idea (all 5 people and the machine!) and said we had to talk to someone at the DB service point in the main train station.<br />
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So we queued up, but that did not mean we had to stop partying! We had already started drinking some of the hot glüwein that Birgit brought. That was probably the most fun I've had in a queue. Well we eventually made it to the front and Magda talked to the guy (because my German is not good and hers is perfect). We discovered (as you might have guessed) that the bus didn't actually go from the main bus station but from a drop-off/taxi point. He did agree however that the ticket was misleading and did us the great favour (which he did not have to do) and signed and stamped the reverse of our tickets saying that we can take a train.<br />
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Excellent! We even got to travel with in the comfort of a train compartment. WIN! Until the ticket collector came and said that it wasn't valid. Well, actually she said it was like buying chips at McDonald's and claiming them at Burger King. Bugger, we had to pay, but the ticket girl said we could get the Deutsche Bahn to pay it back. That reminds me, I need to go and sort that out...<br />
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Well, as it happened it wasn't expensive ( less than 25 € pp ) and we got to travel in comfort, and we actually made it to Prague that night. We were all to knackered to party that night because we arrived after 12 and the girls had already slept on the train. Thankfully, we did have enough energy between us for a night cap at the hotel bar. Lovely Jonny Walker Black Label, and the same price as the Red :)<br />
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That makes day 1 of the trip, and a natural end to part 1 of this already lengthy blog. I promise more pictures for the next one!<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!<br />
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</div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0Prague, Czech Republic50.0878114 14.420459849.9248044 14.1046028 50.2508184 14.736316799999999tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-40795181647268850632011-11-29T10:47:00.000-08:002011-11-29T10:48:52.261-08:00Why Kettlebells Rock<div>
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Hello Readers!<br />
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This is an exciting exercise week for me (if such a thing is allowed!) because I have received my order for some new kettlebells. These are the exercise tool that, alongside ChiRunning, got me out of a major down point in my life. The situation was that I was quite overweight at around 16 stone (over 100Kg) and none of it was muscle.<br />
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My parents had membership to a posh gym, where they met Roger and Claire, who were personal trainers there. Due to a disagreement with the management there they left there and started their own studio gym, for just them to train (and punish!) willing candidates. I was one of these candidates.<br />
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Claire got straight to work on me, and discovered that the reason I got so many injuries while running was that my core stability muscles were very weak, and I was asking small muscle groups to do difficult tasks, which leads to injury. One example of this is shin splints; if you get shin splints then you are probably using the small muscle on the front of your shin to do part of the pushing forward when you run. This is an incredibly small muscle for that kind of task and so gets fatigued quickly and can no longer perform its primary function when you run, which is to aid in keeping your foot stable on the floor under the impact of your stride.<br />
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In order to fix this for me I was trained on how to use kettlebells, which helped me to become strong and flexible enough to be able to successfully change my running technique. Since then I actually have never actually had an injury from running, so it seems to have worked!<br />
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So how does it work?<br />
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This is the all important swing, if you play the video you can see how the swing uses all muscle groups in the legs. It increases strength, endurance and flexibility all in one. Also, you can see that the movement is aimed at driving your body forward, all important for running.
I have already noticed an improvement in my power and speed, having just ran a new distance personal best of 15 miles, and managed to keep it under 10 minutes per mile. The training is really starting to pay off!
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This is the <a href="http://bodyology.co.uk/">website </a>for their studio, located in Bracknell, England. Drop them a line if you're interested in learning the techniques.<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!</div>
</div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-33607229948639155172011-11-23T13:13:00.000-08:002011-11-23T13:13:28.844-08:00Marathon Mini Series: Updated Training PlanSo the change to my training plan has come about because of 2 things; the speedier progress up to the half marathon than I predicted, and the arrival of my new kettlebells!<br />
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My next post will explain why kettlebell training is excellent for runners, but bear with me until then. The working week starts on Monday, but the running week starts on Sunday, so I'll start there:<br />
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<u>Sunday</u><br />
On Sundays is when I will do my<b> long runs</b>. The goal is for every time to increase my maximum running distance by 1 mile, but it is also OK to consider it a recovery run every now and then if my body is fatigued, and save that longer one for the next week. Hopefully this tactic will help me stave off injuries, especially in the critical last 6 weeks of the training.<br />
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<u>Monday</u><br />
Will always be a <b>rest day</b>.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u><br />
Kettlebell <b>VO2 Max</b> training. Is really good for improving how efficiently oxygen can be delivered to the working muscles, making you a more efficient runner.<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u><br />
This will be for <b>medium runs</b>, usually about half of the distance of the previous long run, but about 30 sec/mile faster. This is to hopefully make me able to run the race at a faster pace.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u><br />
Kettlebell <b>strength training</b>, will build core, lower and upper body strength. It's helpful to give me an extra training day but without adding running miles and reducing the change of impact injuries.<br />
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<u>Friday</u><br />
Fridays are for a short <b>recovery run</b> to expel some of that built up lactic acid to put me in top condition for the long run on Sunday<br />
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<u>Saturday</u><br />
A well earned <b>rest day</b>, but if I have plans for Sunday then I can swap the long run to Saturday<br />
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16 weeks of following most of this program and then 2 weeks tone down and recovery should put me in tip-top condition for race day. I can't wait now, I'm even looking forward to the long run on Sunday, planning for 15 miles :)<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-68353676785529769372011-11-20T12:29:00.001-08:002011-11-21T13:18:31.986-08:00Marathon Mini Series: 50% down, 80% to goBefore I start, no I haven't forgotten how to do maths!<br />
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So yesterday I ran 14 miles, which was my furthest ever run, and my fastest ever half marathon. The half marathon time was 2:13:57, which was faster than my only other half marathon by over 10 minutes! I think this time will get faster as I get more miles in my legs.<br />
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That is 50% of the distance that I need to run in one go, but I believe I have only put in about 20% of the effort so far in order to reach my goal. The rest of the 80% is made up of the next 18 weeks in which I will be running about 400 miles, that's a long way to go! Even just writing that figure is daunting, considering only 26 are actually required for the run.<br />
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That said however, I only need to add 12 miles to my long run and have 18 weeks to do so, that puts a kind of better slant on it right?<br />
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I'm still enjoying the runs, no injuries, so it seems I am making regular and uneventful progress. Not exactly good for writing a blog about it :)<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-4050484758178533152011-11-14T01:16:00.001-08:002011-11-14T06:40:55.183-08:00Marathon Mini Series: 6-week sitrepSo far I have mostly been posting about my plans and very little on the progress that I have actually made, so here is an update.<br />
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6 weeks is a long time when it comes to training plans and quite a lot has happened, but thankfully it was largely uneventful progress. There was one week where I was set back with a sprained ankle, which meant I had to skip one long run. Believe it or not the ankle sprain was not when I was out on a run, or playing football or anything like that, it was running for the bus! So another run-in with a bus got me injured. What am I like eh?<br />
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In total I have ran 95.5 miles in these 6 weeks, with the longest one of these being yesterday, a 12 miler completed in 1:57:56. I am very pleased because I managed to keep up a good pace the entire run and also have enough energy for a fast finish. Take a look at the split times (time to complete each mile):<br />
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The last 3 miles were my fastest ones, this demonstrates a big change in my running gestalt, where previously I would run to fast too early and not be able to make it through the difficult endurance periods. Now even for long distances I can moderate my energy expenditure better and pay attention to what my heart rate is telling me for a much better long distance running style.<br />
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In this time my motivation and determination have not wavered, and every week after my long run I get more and more confident that I can complete the marathon next March.<br />
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My message to my readers is that our bodies limitations are only set by your mind, which you yourself have complete control over. If you have a target or a goal for something believe in yourself and anything is possible.<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-84597441840855992922011-11-11T07:59:00.001-08:002011-11-11T15:06:32.655-08:00Stupid Sexy Flanders<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Do any of you remember the episode of The Simpsons where Homer and Flanders go skiing together? Flanders turns up in skin-tight ski gear and tells Homer that "It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all" and Homer later imagines him saying that in a thought bubble shaking his arse.
This sketch often comes to mind when I'm out running in Munich (and no I'm not coming out!)<br />
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I was taken by surprise by the number of runners wearing skin-tight ruining clothes. Especially compared to places I have ran in England and to a lesser extent America. Perhaps the Germans (or continental Europeans) like more showing off their glutes!
As I'm feeling more and more absorbed into the culture and I'm training for a marathon this winter I thought I'd get in on that spandex action! So on my run today I was rocking the spandex 3/4 length trousers, and let me tell you, it does feel like you're wearing nothing at all!<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-15835569889129345432011-11-06T12:50:00.000-08:002011-11-06T12:50:27.466-08:00Marathon Mini Series: Chi RunningI think it is safe to say that this challenge would have been impossible if I had not discovered Chi Running.<br />
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Running used to be a kind of therapy for me, until I got injured, bringing back all of the stress that I left with every single stride on the pavements and trails. These injuries eventually got so common that I gave up. They were not always the same injuries either; knee pain, back pain, shin splints, ankle pain. The list goes on.<br />
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How then, can I now even consider running a marathon? The answer came from a book I saw in a smoothie shop in San Francisco called "Chi Running". I saw it on the same day I went for a run and got shin splints after just 2 miles and was a little down in the dumps. I would have got anything that could help, as it turned out I found the perfect thing to fix my problem!<br />
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So Chi Running is both a running technique and a running philosophy, both aimed at reducing your rate of injury from running and also gradually increasing the distance.<br />
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There are 10 components to the "Chi Running" principle:<br />
<ul>
<li><i>Flexibility</i>: Does not extend just to the muscles, but also the tendons, ligaments and joints. You move a lot more efficiently if your body is flexible, and it makes it easier for you to modify your technique if you get injuries</li>
<li><i>Posture</i>: When running you need a good posture. If you're slouching too far forward you will use more energy holding yourself up. It also can restrict blood to your brain and other organs</li>
<li><i>Good Leg Motion</i>: Overstriding in your running pace is one of the main causes of knee, hamstring and ankle injuries. When you land your feet just under your body it greatly decreases the force of the impact on your ankle</li>
<li><i>Cadence</i>: Most people have too slow a cadence, a faster cadence helps to reduce the amount of time your foot spends on the ground. When your foot is on the ground when running it is enduring a 2-4G worth of pressure. The idea is to reduce this time by increasing your cadence. The ideal is 85 to 90 steps per minute</li>
<li><i>Body Sensing</i>: This is a kind of self-analysis of your body after a run, and note everything down. If you notice some pain in your ankle or knee after a run then you can take steps to improve for your next run, and increase your recovery days if necessary</li>
<li><i>Mental Focus</i>: This kind of goes without saying, but it is more than the focus you need to get through a long run, it takes a lot of mental focus to make an effective change. You need to re-educate your muscles and control them, this is the mental focus you need to change. Eventually your muscles will initiate your change naturally, and the battle is won</li>
<li><i>Coordination between halves</i>: You should use roughly use 50% of your energy in your top half, most of this in your core so you keep a strong posture and a good twist in your top half. Good technique is when your top half and bottom half are working together instead of against each other</li>
<li><i>Good Breathing</i>: Runners should use Belly Breathing instead of chest breathing, as chest breathing does not engage the most of the bottom (larger) half of the lungs, for that you need to expand your diaphragm. When you are fatigued, you will probably notice that your breathing is very fast and you don't actually take much air in, over time that will really reduce your capacity for running. Concentrate on expanding your diaphragm, especially when you're fatigued</li>
<li><i>Knee and Elbow Bends</i>: It sounds counter-productive, but the more you bend your knee and elbow the less energy you will use. When they are bent they swing much easier, thus losing less energy in your stride.</li>
<li><i>Staying Relaxed</i>: When you are relaxed you are less likely to strain a muscle, try to keep your muscles relaxed when running. This can be easily achieved with a smile, or a good song :)</li>
</ul>
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So if you have any kind of problems with injuries when running check out this site, it helped me a lot. <a href="http://www.chirunning.com/">http://www.chirunning.com/</a></div>
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Viel Spaß homies!</div>
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</ul>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-23455816109514419272011-11-02T15:20:00.000-07:002011-11-02T15:20:49.234-07:00Oktoberfest Part 3 - Alone and ConfusedThe third part of Oktoberfest was by far the craziest. My best mate Mike came to visit for Oktoberfest, having just broken up with his girlfriend he was well up for a lads party week, and trust me, it didn't disappoint!
He came quite late in the evening, which was quite lucky because the guys from <a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/oktoberfest-part-2-uni-reunion.html">part 2</a> had left the day before and my apartment was a mess! I took the opportunity to clean up and also replace the bandage on my broken hand.<br />
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He got in at around 9, so we only had time to get some takeaway and some booze and an early (ish) night to get ready for Oktoberfest in the morning!<br />
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Mike did not really know what to expect for Oktoberfest, he thought it would be more like a fair, with fabric tents instead of lots of structures that look actually permanent but still get taken down after the festival. He was surprised to see the the tents were like buildings and that there was a full blown amusement park. The first thing you see is the huge Ferris Wheel in the middle of the field. Because of how big it was we decided to make that out meeting point in case we got separated. That is important for later.<br />
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The first morning we were in the Hofbräu-Festzelt, with the 6-6.5% Hofbräu Oktoberfest beer. Similar to my previous Oktoberfest posts, we drank them quite quick, clearly I didn't learn from the time I broke my finger...<br />
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Sometime during our third maß we met some fun characters, including <i>"The Future!"</i>. Here are the videos of some of them downing their maß:<br />
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It's not included in the video, but <i>"The Future"</i> puked up all that beer only a few seconds after, and the WHOLE Festzelt was laughing. Incredible scenes.<br />
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We also met some quite sexy ladies, although stupidly only got one picture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mike doesn't even remember this part - explains what happened later</td></tr>
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A little while later it all went blank, neither of us have any idea how it happened, but we got separated. When I realised I went to the meeting point, the Ferris Wheel, can't miss it, right?<br />
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There I waited for around an hour, constantly calling Mike's number. One of the messages I wrote went like:<br />
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"Mike you **** answer your ****ing phone! Now I look like a dick because I can't hang up"</blockquote>
No idea.<br />
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This is a text that Mike sent me that night:<br />
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Notice the timestamp on the text.19:14, by this point Mike was lost for about 2 hours! Means we were pissed out of our minds by 5 in the afternoon! We don't know what happened, but there are several theories, but I'm pretty sure he got kicked out of the tent and went to and left the meeting point earlier than when I got there. Either that or he passed out and got there after I waited there for an hour...<br />
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He found my place eventually, the buzzer woke me up because I was being an amazing friend and having a nap... He explained that someone drove him home after he got in a little kerfuffle with a jealous German. Then we went for Chinese food, Mike kept on telling the waitress that he spoke German. The only words he said to her in German were "Guten Tag", and said in a funny way, like he was Dutch... I couldn't stop laughing.<br />
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With the first of our adventures finished I decided we would have a tourist day, and wander around Munich's landmarks. This is Mike getting to first base with a large stone lion...<br />
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The next day was another Oktoberfest day, and after 4 maß of beer we were joined by my friends Adi and Kai. After not too long Mike was drunk again:<br />
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After a couple more I caught up with him in drunkenness, and thought it would be a good idea that we go to another bar to sample a different Oktoberfest beer. Try and paint a mental map, this bar is exactly half way home and less than 10 minutes from home. I thought, what could go wrong?<br />
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I was left alone and confused again.<br />
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Somehow we got separated again, and this time he lost his phone, so we had no hope. At that point there is a gap in both our memories, but he eventually made it back. Once again I proved how good a friend I am and was woken up when he rang the buzzer...<br />
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Comments and Questions welcome, not that I can answer many! Read Mike's blog at <a href="http://mindoflavidius.blogspot.com/">Mind of Lavidius</a><br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-59750443805655341892011-10-17T11:13:00.000-07:002011-11-03T01:09:46.630-07:00Oktoberfest Part 2 - Uni Reunion!Part 2 of Oktoberfest took place (just) after I had the operation on my broken finger, which was a direct result of the first part of Oktoberfest, I was excited to go back!<br />
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As it happened the day after I had the operation my 4 housemates from 3rd year of Uni (and one friend that I never lived with) came together to Munich for a reunion, the first for about 18 months. It was a chance to show them Munich and also to experience Oktoberfest, which I hadn't done myself much either!<br />
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So, introductions then.<br />
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The guy sitting down on the left is Dickie, he didn't live with us in Lincoln but we know him through Matt, standing just behind him. In the middle of the shot is the Ginger, wait, I mean Chris. The handsome guy to Chris' left is me. Left of me is Holly and in front of here is Sarah. So that's the gang! Spaß was had!<br />
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We started by going to the Augustiner Keller Biergarten, where they all had their first look at a maß:<br />
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The Keller doesn't have it's own blog post, but it has a really nice beer garden and also a really cool beer hall and even a basement restaurant, one will be written in due course.<br />
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The guys sampled such Bavarian delights as Schweinshaxe, Hendl, Knödl and Currywurst, Brezen etc. The first 2 litres of beer went down quickly, we were all amazed how quickly Sarah would drink her litres! Next we walked across town to my favourite spot to show my friends, the Hofbräuhaus for the Hofbräu Oktoberfest beer, sausages and Brotzeit (kind of like a picnic). I don't really know how many beers we had in total there but we were all pretty drunk and still had to get up early to go to Oktoberfest early in the morning!<br />
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When we got to Oktoberfest I wanted to show the guys the atmosphere in the tent, really lively with the music playing and people standing up and downing the whole maß! Unfortunately the tents we tried were full, so we decided to drink outside in the beer garden of the "Himmel Der Bayern" (Heaven of Bavaria) of the Hacker brewery. I think it was so hot that all the beer we drank we sweated out! Here's me and Chris, I'm showing off my thumbs up skills with wearing a cast.<br />
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I can't really remember what we did the rest if the day, I guess more beer was involved, which is known to cause gaps in your memory. See <a href="http://auslanderblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/auslanders-first-surgery.html">here</a> for a perfect example!<br />
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The next day we were back at Oktoberfest, and this time made it into a tent. We went for the Augustiner fish tent (can't remember the name), but it had some great fish! Matt was the only one to get some, but it was basically a whole fish weighing about 350g (but costing €20!). Here he is giving the fish a kiss.<br />
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And here's all of us in the tent :)<br />
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It was really good to see the guys again, I thought it would be difficult with me having moved to Germany, but the guys were so cool to come visit me here! I hope for many more reunions next year :). I'm definitely going to book a table for 10 for next year's Oktoberfest! Any takers for a spot?<br />
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Viel Spaß homies</div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-57441743264843061832011-10-14T09:22:00.000-07:002011-10-16T07:06:31.724-07:00Marathon Mini Series: Training PlanI'm under no illusions that my marathon training will be difficult, one of the most difficult challenges I've ever taken. It will require a lot of time and training during the winter, which in Munich will require a lot of motivation. From last week when I decided to run it I have 25 weeks in order to train up to the 26.2 miles, so this is the training program I have designed:<br />
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The important column is the one on the far right, my long Sunday runs. They need to build up steadily but not so fast that I overtrain and burn out. I will build up to 22 or 23 miles 3 weeks before the race, and then go down so I have plenty of recovery time and I am in top condition for the race.<br />
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Tuesdays and Fridays will be my recovery runs. As strange as it sounds you need to run to recover so you can do more running... These are done at a slow pace (60-65% max heart rate) and allow waste products from previous running sessions to be flushed out, meaning you are in better condition than you would be without it. I have noted that I will increase the length of these recovery runs slightly, but I may just keep it at 3 miles, or even a set time limit. We'll see. As this is my first marathon I will be taking the advice of regular marathon runners and trainers.<br />
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Thursday I have slightly longer runs planned, which depending on how I feel I may make these faster than I would normally run the Sunday run, or if I need another recovery then I'll make it an easy run.<br />
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Cross training is intended to me something other than running, but still improves fitness and increases your general running performance. For me this is of course, Kettlebells! You'd be amazed how much swinging a heavy metal ball between your legs improves your performance as a runner.<br />
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The number of miles I need to run is staggering, I've just added all runs from each day and EVEN BEFORE THE MARATHON I will be running 651 miles! Eek.<br />
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Well as I'm writing this I feel the need for a recovery run, and would you know it's Friday! Off I go then :)<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!<br />
<br />Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-43084726909323701622011-10-13T13:33:00.000-07:002011-10-13T13:35:14.088-07:00Marathon Mini Series: Diet plan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nutrition is just as important as the actual training, maybe even more so. I haven't been able to get a decent diet plan going since moving to Germany, but I'm determined to this time for the sake of the marathon.<br />
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A lot of runners go for the "carb loading" approach, where over 60% of their calorie intake are complex carbohydrates, such as whole wheat pasta, bread, pulses and lots of fruit and vegetables. In most ways I will emulate this approach, as in general it is a healthy approach. The reason for this is that it increases the store of glycogen in the muscles, which is premium grade fuel for endurance training, and proven to make the difference on my long runs.<br />
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A general rule of thumb is that runners burn 100 calories per mile, but for me right now it is up over 150 calories per mile! That will reduce over the course of the training as I lose some weight and increase my efficiency.<br />
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I have set up a folder in Google Docs for some example recipes <a href="https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0ByZKi_LFwuwzYmUzMGU4OWQtNDU1YS00MTViLThhMjctYzVlNDI4OTFmNzU5&hl=en_US">here</a>. If you have any ideas drop them in the comments (preferably with URLs :) )<br />
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Viel Spaß homies!Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-65411107313023870112011-10-07T12:27:00.000-07:002011-10-07T17:15:46.412-07:00Marathon Mini Series: Why?I had just finished writing a blog called "My post-Oktoberfest, one handed workout plan", it was full of a good mix of workouts I can do for the next 5 weeks or so that I can't use my left hand much. I was psyched to start up training again after the debauchery of Oktoberfest. I was just about to publish it when my friend <a href="http://eriksmarathon.blogspot.com/">Erik Orrgarde</a> signed up for the Barcelona marathon.<br />
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He asked if I wanted to join, I immediately said no, because it was crazy. But I got thinking, how crazy is it? Regular follower of the blog will know that it is on my 20's bucket list to do a marathon, so it needs to be done at some point, why wait? Well, there are many reasons why not to run it, and only one reason to do it. That reason can't even be explained. I don't even understand it, but it's there. Other runners will understand, if someone can put it into words post it in the comments!</div>
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So Erik convinced me to do the Barcelona marathon, which is in 6 months from now (Sunday 25th March). I'll be starting a mini-series of the blog so if you wish you can keep up with my progress. Wish me luck!</div>
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Viel Spaß homies!</div>
Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8793119731508537217.post-20392649845942575472011-10-01T15:08:00.000-07:002011-10-04T07:57:59.948-07:00Quick Maß counter update (edited)<div><p>To be honest I don't really know how many maß of beer I had during the Oktoberfest period, but considering I hosted a reunion with my university friends and my best mate came down and we got paralytic (literally) twice I am saying I had 20 litres. Although in reality it is probably more. So the new score is 42 Maß! --></p>
<p>Update: I went once more to the Oktoberfest and had another 4 maß, much fun!</p>
<p>Viel Spaß homies!</p>
</div>Scott Robsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04013171912761645578noreply@blogger.com0