Last weekned we headed to Vienna, Austria for the weekend. Other than the weather, it was a pretty good time. We got there Friday afternoon, so we ended up just seeing the main church in town. However, that night we went to watch a musical symphony. They played Mozart and Strass, and also had some people dancing on a tiny dance floor. The music was nice, but the dancers could have been left out.
Saturday morning I started my day with a 10 mile run along the Danube river. I didn’t have my heart rate monitor so I used my Timex GPS watch to tell me how far I was going and at what speed. I was quite surprised at my overall speed for not really pushing it hard. I ran the first 5 miles at a pace of 8:05/mile and the second 5 miles at a 8:23/mile pace. I expected something around a 9:00/mile pace, so I quite happy. That afternoon we ended up walking around town and also went to the Palace where the royalty of Vienna used to live. Nice place, but I must say it is not my thing. I prefer the art museums as opposed to seeing old desks that someone famous used to sit at. The cool thing about the area where the Royalty used to live is that it is not just one building. they basically have an entire section of the city with many different gardens, buildings, statues, etc…so it is quite impressive to see. That evening we went a little outside Vienna to a town called Grinzing, which is where they are supposed to have good wine and food. Well, the wine and food was OK, but we still had a good time.
Sunday morning I got up and had a 5 mile relaxing recovery run…something around a 9:00/mile pace. Since we didn’t feel like walking everywhere, we decided to take the city tour bus and let it show us everything. This bus was a lot better than the one in Munich, and it gave us a great overview of the city. Unfortunately it started to pour down rain in the afternoon so we couldn’t get off and get many pictures. We ended up heading back to Munich that evening.
All in all Vienna has some good potential as a city worth seeing. Unfortunately the rain hindered some our adventures, but it was still fun.

I would like to say that I have helped two small businesses get started here in Munich in the last 6 months, but now I don’t know if I like it. Back in November I went to a new haircut lady down our street when she had only been open for like a week. It ended up being one of the best haircuts I have ever gotten, and it was great b/c the store was just down the street and I could just stop in on my way home whenever I felt like it. The other business is for a chiropractor. I probably went to him about the same time, 1 week after he opened his own practice…heck, he even still had the old shops sign in the window.
Anyways, now being about 6 months later, both these two shops seem to be thriving, which means I am not nearly as important anymore. Instead of being able to stop in and get a haircut anytime I want, I now have to call and make an appointment, which totally kills the convenient factor and also forces me to learn how to say all this haircut stuff in Deutsch. Also, instead of having nice 30-45 minute chiropractic sessions where he takes time to test every little thing just for the fun of it, I now feel as if I’m slightly rushed in and out within 15 minutes. I guess that is price a customer has to pay when businesses become successful. Just to note, if I ever start a business that ends up being successful, I will not forget those who got me there.

This weekend I set two new personal training records for myself in swimming and biking. Unfortunately, I didn’t do any running, but I think the swim and bike was good enough. On Saturday afternoon I went to Olympia-schwimhalle and swam 3.6 km (2.25 miles). I didn’t do it without rests, but it was close. The Ironman distance requires 3.8km for the swim, so I was close and could have done it, but it was not part of my training plan. I swam a 400 meter easy warm-up. Then I did three 1000 meter pyramids. Basically, 50 meter swim, 5 second rest, 100 meter swim, 10 second rest, 200 meter swim, 20 second rest, 300 meter swim, 30 second rest, 200 meter swim, 20 second rest, 100 meter swim, 10 second rest, 50 meter swim…then repeat the whole thing after 15 seconds of rest. It worked out pretty well, and I definitely got tired, but my 3rd 1000 meter pyramid was only 1 minute slower than my first, so that was good. I finished the day off with a 200 meter cool down.
Sunday I went for what was to become a fairly long bike ride. I ended up biking 113 miles with some friends (4 of us), at an average speed of just over 18 mph. Unfortunately I was definitely the slowest of the group for most of the time, until my one friend started to bonk with about 20 miles to go…but that is understandable since he ran 24Km followed by a 60 mile bike ride the day before. We basically rode through the South of Munich until we got to the alps and turned back. The ride wasn’t what I would call extremely hilly, but a decent amount of rolling hills throughout. I guess at some point we got decently high since my top speed was around 40mph. I must say that my legs were definitely exhausted by the time I got home, and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have made it through a marathon afterwards. Then again, my race is 10 weeks away…so I’ve still got some time.

p.s. The bike in the Ironman is 112 miles, so it is good to know I can do it.