monday 1 – bought tri-suit for the impending doom of the tegernsee triathlon then get back home for nice meal of baked pots and bacon, then getting ready to cycle to work the next day on racing bike

tuesday 2 – get up early and set off around 7, get lost a couple of times, both times heading east instead of north – once out towards ostbahnhof and twice outside of ismaning going past the bmw test track before stopping and asking a chap who kindly directed me so i wasn’t too late for work, arriving at my desk for about 9.30am

cycled back all the way, around 35km each way and again 2 hours, but i know the short cuts now and a lot of the time it is stopping at lights, to look at the map or doubling back on myself

eve mentions at tea that a milk tooth is coming out, waggling, but still 6 left
she was always late starting with teeth coming out – the first one didn’t start falling out until the 3rd class, whereas most others started coming out during the 1st class

sabs english oral exam went well with her classmate sabrina, she got a 1
eve’s french exam went ok, so neither of them have exams any more

wednesday 3 – still thinking about the triathlon and whether it will be ok for non wetsuits competitors:
“Neoprenpflicht: beim Audi Tegernsee Triathlon herrscht unterhalb einer Wassertemperatur von 16 Grad auf beiden Distanzen Neoprenpflicht.”

we watch a film “the daughter of my best friend” with Hugh Lawrie.

thursday 4 – from what sabs was saying, that she can do anything, anyhow and anywhere, it reminded of the song by the who so we listened to “anyway, anyhow, anywhere” as a song of rebellion and she was quietly amused that i was encouraging her to be so

friday 5 – went to stuttgart for day then back for 6.30pm for evening meal, ilda was staying over as we set off to schliersee tomorrow as part of eve’s birthday celebrations
waiting for an s-bahn train at hauptbahnhof and killing time, picked up a book by daniel graeber on “democracy” and then later searched on amazon and his most famous book it seems is one called “debt”, fascinating, resonates with me at the moment, in my current thinking that we have done everything wrong to heed off an impending economic catastrophe, with respect to the european countries in debt

saturday 6 – mad rush to set off and catch the 10:17 train amazingly then check into hotel and everything works out fine; we go to schliersee strandbad before going back to the hotel then katie nips down to the station to pick up sabs

sunday 7 – thoughts from the race:
for swimming – might be best to start on the right hand side and avoid the crush in the middle, also since i have a natural left-lean when swimming in open water – also i just could not get into a 3 stroke rythym – maybe now start going for a 4 or 5 stroke rhythm in training in order to increase lung function – i was only really able to get into a 2 stroke rythm and even that was only after getting 2/3rds round the course and avoiding the kicking and scrummaging of the other swimmers, it really was a dogfight out there until the final stretch, so going wide at the start would definitely help, simply to get into rythym early on!

bike went ok, interested in the time there, transtion 1 was a bit faster but still the usual problems with helmet and belt straps; really worth spending some time there.

running felt ok too

results were:
Overall Time: 01:37:40,3
Swim:0:19:52,2 (156)
T1:0:02:09,5 (128)
Bike:0:44:59,5 (192)
T2:0:01:24,0 (159)
Run:0:29:15,1 (158)
– compared to last year: slower on swim 2m, bit faster on T1 changeover (means potential for improvement of around 1m), faster on bike 3m, faster on run 1m; overall 2m faster.

then afterwards, sitting on the bench near the buffet after the race, met up with sergey titov, #330 who had done the olympic distance; a russian doctor who said that he thought marathons were too stressful for the heart and had moved down to triathlons to keep fit (re-activate the animal in him) after suffering from lethargy and general decisiveness. he is a surgeon and said that he thought that 40-50% of medicine/the work of a GP was business-oriented, not health-oriented; funnily enough there was a similar article in hoerzu.

we talked a while longer since he was same height as me and had had also varicose veins removed; he travels from russia to compete in various events around the world and mentioned the prettiest running race just outside hannover.
we went over to the buffet to get something more to eat and got collared by the MC on the mic and had to say a few words, fortunately he spent a bit more time with sergey.

cycle back over course to get back to schliersee and go into vital welt pool, which was quite ok with a decent slide and pools

catch the very full train back to munich, struggling to get the bike in, so many people out coming back home
there was cool-looking guy in a wheelchair, about nico’s age talking and preparing a girl for an economics exam and he’d been reading “schulden” by daniel graeber!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5000_Years
interestingly, debt has often precepitated revolutions and social/political changes, something again which resonates.

monday 8 – too much to get through so work from home/office
had a good laugh with saby about what martin posted on facebook:
STUDENT WHO OBTAINED 0% ON AN EXAM
I would have given him 100% for his wit!!!

Q1. In which battle did Napoleon die? * his last battle
Q2. Where was the Declaration of Independence signed? * at the bottom of the page
Q3. River Ravi flows in which state? * liquid
Q4. What is the main reason for divorce? * marriage
Q5. What is the main reason for failure? * exams
Q6. What can you never eat for breakfast? * Lunch & dinner
Q7. What looks like half an apple? * The other half
Q8. If you throw a red stone into the blue sea what it will become? * It’ll become wet
Q9. How can a man go eight days without sleeping ? * No problem, he sleeps at night.
Q10. How can you lift an elephant with one hand? * You will never find an elephant that has only one hand.
Q11. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges in other hand, what would you have ? * Very large hands
Q12. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it? * No time at all, the wall is already built.
Q13. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it? *Any way you want, concrete floors are very hard to crack.

tuesday 9 – cycle both ways to the office to clock up 70km ready for the karlsfeld race in 10 days, will be tight on getting training done over the next few days

wednesday 10, frankfurt – saw a good saying on a young person’s motto in the eschborn office:

geh raus, verändere die welt und bleibe dir selbst treu

Nothing can happen if it’s not first a dream. If you have someone with a dream, if you have a motivated person with a goal and a vision, if you have someone who never gives up, who has great hope, anything can happen

– Jim Valvano

evening meal with team in the evening at mutter kraus, stick to apfelwein, very sour like cider

thursday 11 – difficult day to get through, compensated by relaxing train journey back listening to the classic and jazz channel playing:
george benson – inspiration: a tribute to nat king cole, delightfully smooth
andreas ottensamer – portraits, the clarinet album (katie would like this)
(dobrinka tabakova – string paths, quite dissonant but lovely quiet pieces)

friday 12 – worked at home until lunch then we take the s-bahn to the airport for the flight to manchester
we have a good run down to taunton, then just get a bit lost finding the B road which takes us to the white hart at wivelistone, to arrive for last drink at about 11.15pm noticing mathilda, nick and gill plus some others still chatting
http://whitehartwiveliscombe.co.uk/news.php

saturday 13 – tom and rosie’s wedding day!

sunday 14 – after breakfast took long drive back to manchester airport

monday 15, frankfurt – went up to eschborn on the first available train, which meant getting up at 4am for the 4.50am to frankfurt, was in the office before most of the other for the training course i was attending
staying over at mutter kraus with a meal in the evening at which markus attended, as well as rainer and mile

tuesday 16, frankfurt – took taxi into office with martin, a friend of rainer’s on the mav/betriebsrat
again in detailed ipsec course which was excellent, then took train to stuttgart from frankfurt airport, which mile drove me to

wednesday 17, stuttgart – went early to office for big meeting in the cisco office in stuttgart, then as soon as everything was done, took train back to munich
got back early enough to visit sabs school sommerfest with the big band playing and lots of stalls to go round and plenty to eat
met up with allan and christian at the augustiner biergarten on arnulfstr. it seemed to be smaller than how i imagined but very busy, crammed in fact and a struggle to see allan when i arrived

thursday 18 – completed b2run, 6.2km in 33:51s, pulse at end was 156bpm.

friday 19 – had apfelmus with sweetcorn, as did eve, she has some strange tastes!
she had sport today (more sport science), which was all about measurement and she told katie, she’d been measured at 165cm, weighing 42.8kg.

saturday 20 – just generally relaxing and lying around/watching the tour de france to try and prepare for the race tomorrow

sunday 21 – the big karlsfeld triathlon day!
got up at 5.45 before the alarm(s) after a reasonably good night’s sleep and wrote out a strategy to crack 1 hour 30 minutes:
swim – 10m
t1 – 3m
cycle – 50m
t2 – 2m
run – 25m

set off at 6.45 and caught the 6.54 BOB train (just) which was just as well since the 6.57 sounded to have been delayed by 20 minutes
met up with paul as arranged at donnersbergerbrücke to catch the 7.13 s-bahn to karlsfeld and we cycled up to the event, then a quick change and all set for the off, luckily 8.50, we were quite pushing it for time
event went as planned amazingly, my times were:
swim – 0:09:30 (70)
t1 – 2:32
cycle – 0:49:13 (210)
t2 – 2:43
run – 0:24:57 (155)
total – 1:28:57

for 161th out of 300 finishers.

in contrast to tegernsee, the weather has been so warm, that for karlsfeld the temperature was above 21 deg, at 21.5, so there was a neoprene ban, everyone in swimming costumes!
in the space of 2 weeks, we went from almost only neoprene/wetsuits at tegernsee, to no wetsuits at karlsfeld (to compare, the temperature in tegernsee was 20 degrees, but peaking during the day above 21 degrees).

improvements/notes for next time:
really have to kick on the swim both for propulsion/body position and to keep out of the way of people scrambling behind
got nearly burnt alive, should have taken suncream!
xenofit bar was quite good 10 minutes before the race start, did not feel any lack of energy
other tips:
http://www.triathlon-spezial.de/triathlonwettkampfleitfaden

took s-bahn train back to hackerbrücke with paul and irish girl, louise, friend of paul’s who’d also done the event, then quick shower and out of the flat to get to eve’s ballet
frau jasmin sanft whose ballet school it is explained the progression from white to black tutus and through the different coloured ribbons which they use, like karate, to indicate level of expertise (pink, red and black being the highest)
polka – waltz – minuet (which was Eve’s dance, noticed her pink ribbon, ilda is red and danced 3 pieces, which annoyed eve, but she really conveyed the enjoyment in her one dance)

after eve’s ballet, we go to alistair and jenny’s for the jubilate singing group b-b-q

monday 22 – legs and joints, particularly the tendons behind the knees very sore from the sport yesterday
went into the office and for lunch, had a decent beef roulade in my new nutritional plan of stocking up with protein after sport exertions to regenerate/repair/build muscle tissue
meeting up with friends is good for us because they acknowledge and confirm who we are
went to work in US t-short, ute roughly translated this as verblassenes glänz
guy on s-bahn reading: die schönheit in des selbes, looks vaguely buddhist in its concepts

cycled over to hopfengarten when i got back and there met katie, eve and hannah, we stay about an hour, was nice to watch eve and hannah playing and on the swimgs

tuesday 23 – working at home, getting ready for the

wednesday 24 – painful when i swallow and feeling low in energy, so went to doctors and she said i had picked up a bacterial infection in the throat, got antibiotics to clear up

thursday 25 – feeling slightly better, since had a good night’s sleep

“The world suffers a lot, not because of the violence of bad people, but because of the silence of good people.”

friday 26 – worked at home since still recovering

saturday 27 – visited julia and klaus in the evening for b-b-q, eve concerned as i had drunk quite a bit – for one thing it was 36 degrees

sunday 28 – taking sunday school class, story of sower, went quite well in parts when i acted out the story, often too little talking is enough
assisted sabs a little with her video project which she had to complete

monday 29 – went to office, preparing for training to be held later in the week which I’m running

tuesday 30 – travel up to Düsseldorf and go into office to setup and prepare for training

wednesday 31 – 1st day training course on IPv6 to about 10 people all in german, went quite well, getting better at presenting and socialising in such environments, doesn’t come naturally and have to work at it, but getting a lot more comfortable with it than previously

reading this month – in stern from 4.7.2013 about “Gemeinsam Glücklich sein .. wie schafft das eine Familie nur?”
Durch viele Vertrauen zum Beispiel – und auch Raum fuer Eigensinn.

Ein kleiner Leitfaden für ein gutes Zusammenleben:
1) Schutz. Kraft geben – Vertrauen ist der Anfang von allem. Geborgenheit finden. Bedingungslos. Immer
2) Zuversicht. Problem lösen – was Einzelne nicht schultern können, trägt die Gemsinschaft leichter. Positive Erfahrungen … schenken Hoffnungen auch für größere Herausforderungen.
3) Fairness. Jeden ernst nehmen – jeder hat den gleichen Anspruch, mit seinem Bedürfnissen … egal ob Erwachsenen oder Kind.
4) Freiheit. Erkunden lassen – Familien sind … sichere Häfen, von denen aus die Welt erlebt und erobert werden kann. Schiefgeht … ist die Familie jener Rückzugsort, der Trost und Kraft schenken sollte – für nächstes Abenteuer.
5) Flexibilität. Neues denken – besser auf unerwartetes Reagieren. Müssen neue Wege gefunden werden … sind alle gefragt – und alle sollten angstfrei antworten dürfen. Trotzdem braucht es Rituale, Regeln, Lob und Tadel.