Looking for housing during Zell am See Ironman?

No, I am not a triathlete (I did survive one short race though, back in the nineties, at Konopiste castle) and I do not intend to become one. The reason is I cannot swim. Well, technically, I can but my swimming style and abilities are comparable to the desperate situation of a person who wants to become a writer while his only qualification is the elementary school graduation…Nevertheless, I like the atmosphere of racing and as the 70.3 Salzburg Ironman is getting closer and closer (September 1), this is my attempt for a commercial announcement: we have still some accommodation available in Piesendorf, a village about 6 km from Zell am See, a village that is actually on the road map of this year’s cycling leg of the Ironman race.

So whether you want to compete (mind you, the main race has been sold out already) or just come by to enrich the crowd, check our website Apartments Piesendorf.

Of course feel free to check it for skiing, hiking, biking or golfing holiday as well.

And yes, my regular readers can expect a friendly discount :-).

I ran 500 km in 4 months

That’s one small step for a real runner but a giant leap for me! No way I ever predicted anything like this for myself! The Janathon kick-off did its trick (cannot wait for Juneathon), then some of the (Czech) running blogs, the smell of the road, the air in my hair and here I was, all addicted to running and to my body, my own customized endorphin factory.

As the running mileage started increasing, all other activities, especially indoors, started to seem like a waste of time. I felt like there was no proper workout unless my T-shirt got all wet. And it always gets wet when running.

Little by little I started looking into the possibilities of longer runs. I ran distances longer than 10 km regularly and enjoyed the inner peace that usually came during longer runs immensely. I registered for the 1/2M and set up my personal (secret) goal to reach 1000 miles in 2012…

… And then my knee started hurting. We still don’t quite know what the cause is and if it is related to my previous injury at all but as I work together with my physiotherapist on getting back on track, I am forced to rediscover the beauty of other activities as well. So I humbly apologize to you, swimmers, golfers, bikers and hikers for being a fool and lifting ‘my running’ above your sports. For the coming weeks and months, I am joining all of you to retain my physical shape without impacting the knee too badly.

Ski, swim and bramboraky

I know this blog should be predominantly about running but there are so many other things in my life that take place, too. After several months without visiting my mother who lives in Prague (I don’t like driving in winter), last Thursday we hit the road again as mom offered us to cook bramboraky, the traditional Czech ‘potato pancakes’, the one meal we cannot resist :-).

After 9 hours on the German highway, the fabulous smell of fried rasped potatoes with garlic, herbs and pieces of chicken meat (my mom’s special variety of bramboraky) guided us home. We spent a nice Friday in Prague, walking around, visiting friends, enjoying the first spring days. And then on Saturday early morning we hit the road again, this time to Zell am See and Kaprun for some more skiing.

In Kaprun, a new huge spa was opened recently so we had to visit. We spent 3 lazy hours there (there goes my Saturday running…) during which we hardly managed to swim 500 metres (”Honey, lets swim a bit otherwise I have nothing to log these days”) and the only thing that came to mind after that was enjoying a nice glass of beer in the near pub.

On Sunday the guilt feeling (no running since Wednesday night) combined with blue sky made us get up early again. We could see the Kitzsteinhorn Glacier bathing in the morning sun and although nowadays I am really keen on running, so far NOTHING beats the feeling of fresh crispy snow under my feet and high snowy mountains around me. We allowed ourselves the luxury of half a day skiing knowing we still had 10 hours to drive home… and it was absolutely worth it.

Now on Monday evening I am logging and blogging and hopefully still finding time for some running. My body won’t be fooled by any other excercise.

P.S. Back from my evening run. Rule to remember: do NOT drink water after eating plums (or do not eat too many plums).

Getting wet

Friday evenings are usually dedicated to shopping, cleaning the house, ironing and other boring activities that other people usually do during the weekend. But you see, we like to keep our weekends free for more exciting activities… Besides, on Friday the gym is closed.

Tonight we improvised a bit: I joined V. to the local pool. As I am not much of a swimmer (well, I completed a triathlon once but swimming definitely did not contribute to my good result!), I was planning to sit in the hot steam room or hot tub (or both) watching her swim but before I knew, I was out there counting my lengths.

But you, good reader, you feel it coming: 45 minutes and 1 km later I was done. Nicely tired and happy that my body can cope with yet another physical activity.