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Frozen and Foggy

Those who follow me on Instagram (@runningarchitect) have already seen a little preview of the coming post on Saturday. Here comes the story behind.

I have ben resting at the begining of last week and my legs felt very fresh but I was also feeling very lazy. The weather was not helping either, the world behind the glas looked very hostile. Nevertheless, we have planned an exciting new route which had to be explored. So I have put on some warmer clothes as it was about 20k in cold and outside was a thin layer of fresh powder waiting for us. Sipping on mom´s hot soup in the evening, I was already convinced that the trip turned out great. On our way, we have conquered the central point of Slovakia [1]. I have to say, it is one of my favourite places to go for a hike. The top of the hill is quite exposed, a crag. I am always excited when I get a chance to scramble for a bit. There was even a some kind of a great view waiting for us on the top of the hill. Although you could not see in the distance, the picture of forest disappearing right in front of your eyes was enchanting as well. I have completely lost the sence of wider space in that thick fog. There was only this very small, yet limitless world around me. Now and here. I admit, it can be frustrating if you are lost but even then you could embrace the possibility of this strange freedom, running into unknown. The best part was, the whole run was accelerated and it felt like flying through. You know, if you only see the tip of your nose, even a slow pace seems to be an unbelievably fast tempo. What is more, the trees were plastered with snow and frost and it looked like the frozen kingdom. You can check out few pictures in the gallery attached below.

All in all, I am very glad I have found the strenght to get off that couch! It is usually so that things we are not very enthusiastic about tend to turn out much better than we would have anticipated at the beginning. So, just put on some shoes and go explore.

 

You can download the GPX-file here.

[1] Hrb with its altiture 1.254,7 meters above sea level. Or at least, that is what Wikipedia says 🙂

 

GALLERY

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Dancing party on a treadmill

It has been crazy weather lately here! Once it is freezing cold like in Russian movie, the other day it is raining. I can deal with the cold, you just have to put on one more layer. On the other hand, there is no way to compensate for lack of sunshine. Therefore, I am glad to stay in and get on the treadmill – spinning bike. It is also a good option for a cross training during snowless winter if you are a runner, not that I am a serious one 🙂

Anyway, if you decide to step on a threadmill it is hard to get the work done and stay there for that one hour. I would say, even on a bad day I find finishing my long run outside easier than surviving one hour of spinning. Luckily, I can always count on my secret weapon – great playlist. I have a peculiar taste in music – anything rhythmic, funny, or singable would do. So about 80% of my playlist is from the last century. I can be also very loyal to one single song for quite some time if I truly adore it. My roomates used to distinguish months in a year by titles of songs I have been listening to at that time. However, living with my parents (its a recent and temporary thing – one last hooray before becoming a real person :), I do not get to put on my headphones and dance my way through the days as I used to when living alone. So, I have been using the threadmill workouts to make up for lost time. The moat recent favourite would be Keira Knightly – Tell me if you wanna go home [youtube link here]. At first, I did not like it much. Then, I have heard it for second and third time, by the fifth time, I was all over it.  I guess, it is a very good thing that we have the spinning bike at home – otherwise I would be getting plenty of weird looks. Some people say it is depressing to work out on treadmill alone but as for me, I cannot imagine a better company than my iPod. So, if you are thinking of starting your own private dance party, try it on the treadmill next time. Your time will fly by and you will be sorry your hour is already up!

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Instagram

Dear readers, I have recently joined Instagram. You can now follow me @runningarchitect [link] and enjoy the nice pictures from the first hand. Sometimes, I do not feel like uploading a full post and sometimes, there is simply nothing to say. So, I will just upload a nice picture or two on the Instagram instead. Please, enjoy!

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My review of 2015.

New Year is always a great opportunity to look back, close one chapter of a book, and then start fresh. Here goes my evaluation. (The purpose of this post is not to brag or impress you guys – even if I wanted to, the numbers are quite disappointing :-).) Thankfully, I did not have much troubles adding the numbers together as I have been uploading my sport activities on Strava.com. For your information, these do not include communting of any kind and no strolls.

CYCLING

It seems that I have biked 1.759 kilometers in 114 hours and 27 minutes while gaining 21.729 vertical meters. In other words, I have spent only about 2 hours a week sitting on my bike and have ridden poor 33.7km in average. It is very unsatisfying. Especially considering the fact that I have biked in 12 days from Germany to Slovakia which was about 900km. So it only leaves me with 850km of rides during the rest of the year and only 16.9km weekly. This means, I have only went on a proper ride once in a three weeks. However, I have include the winter time into this statistic and the fact that I have not ridden a bike since that great journey has not been embraced either. If I were to correct this statistic, I should only consider the period April – August (153 days). All in all, the weekly number would be somewhere around 39km during the cycling period. It is still only one ride a week, so I guess there is no way to make my cycling activities looking intense in any way. 😀

RUNNING

I have been running, hiking, and walking. Unfortunatelly, Strava.com included only those run kilometers into the following statistic. I have manage to run 496km in 75 hours and 36 minutes with overall altitude gain of 12.345m. The distance would cover on way from my hometown to Prag, and the altitude gain would cover conquering Mont Blanc for three times. Again, not very impressive. It is only about 9.5 km in a week – so it is againg only one training ina  week-time as my usual routes are about 8-11km.

 

 

MONTHLY REVIEW

Putting things into a monthly perspective and including all kind of excercise looks more interesting – at least to me. It covers rides, fast and slow runs, and hikes as well.

monthly time

This graphic clearly shows that September was the most active month for me – yeah, the famous ride home from Germany. On the other hand, the least active month seems to be June. It is quite surprising as it is summer time in Europe, days are the longest, and it is also quiet at school. My guess would be, I was moving out from my old apartment at the end of June so I was rather busy packing boxes.

The average number for time spent training (excluding months June and September from the statistics) would be 19.4 hours in a month. It is only 4.6 hours of training, weekly. My optimal training plan would imply 8-10 hours in a week, so I have completed only 50% of my plan in 2015.  If I were to consider only the months I have been attempting to train actively, the second half of the year 2015, I have manage to cover 28.5 hours in a month, so basically 6.6 hours in a  week. It is better than the yearly average, yet still not fullfilling my plan (meeting only 70-80%).

monthly distance

monthly vertical distance

Looking at the overall distance I have scraped last year, the results are similiar. I have been skipping trainings in June and was very active in September. The vertical distance I have covered was clearly influenced by the my current location – it was quite impossible to avoid altitude when being in Slovakia. On the other hand, I was having hard time putting in vertical meters moving around Cottbus which is the flattest place in Germany, in my opinion.

 

ALL IN ALL

I could honestly say, I have had period when I was consciously training and then times of skipping training this year as well. At the beginning of the year, I was at my laziest which is very surprising. It is usually that time of the year when the most people are starting their new chapters. Apparently, not me.  I am an exception. January is too depressing for me to start something exciting – days are too short, the weather is too cold, and the schoolwork starts to pile up on my desk. For what is worth, I have already started a new chapter this summer and will be happy with keeping the things the way they are right now, maybe improving thing or two. I have been living these past months in a belief, I am training a lot and could easily overtrain myself. Ehm, looking back, it is obviously not that case at all. I might have had the feeling, I am doing a lot – especially compared to the months before. Unfortunatelly, that was a very subjective observation. The numbers are tough and it is a little bit of let down for me. On the bright side, the coming year has twelve months – plenty of time for improvement, so let’s make them count!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2016!

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Above everything, literally.

Christmas is probably the busiest time of year even in Slovakia and once can get sucked into that rush very easily. Crowds of people are streaming to supermarkets for last minute grocery shopping and the malls are bursting at the seams as well. All in all, it is very hectic and I have the feeling I have not seen the worst yet – there are still two more days to go. I usually love Christmas time – especially delicious food, seeing my my family, and plenty of days off. However, the haste knocks me out badly. So I have been glad we have proceeded in the outdoorsy adventures we have started this weekend. To make the most out of it, we have hiked in Velka Fatra – for more details on the route, check out the attached GPX-file attached below. Climbing out of the foggy valley was not without great effort and enormous amount of sweat, my legs were burning, but when we emerged above the fog ee have entered a completely different world, a very peaceful one. All my troubles have stayed down there in the thick milk. There was no signs of the rush going on deep down. Well, another great day and I am so beautifly tired, I might be going to bed at 9pm tonight!

GPX-file

GALLERY

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Weekend of Inversion

I have spent last week moping around and blamed the foggy weather for my lack of motivation. I kept telling myself that I have used up all my sunny days this autumn, so I should not be so spoiled and train even on foggy or rainy days. Well, it is not as exciting to report on those activities as it feels like work, not fun. Nevertheless, this weekend we have climbed out of the foggy valley and were pleased to find glorious weather in the higher altitude. It felt so surreal. There was a completely different world up there – sunny, full of light and warm. On the other hand, my shoes did not survive the heavy melting snow and I have end up with wet feet but as long as they were not cold, I did not mind at all. Nevertheless, I have been able to refill the motivation bucket and shoot some nice pictures on my way. I have even got sunkissed and have noticed some freckles in the mirror :-). Such a lovely weekend.

GALLERY

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Daytrip to Krakow

Living in central Europe, everything is pretty close to you – there are several major cities worth visiting, only few hours of drive away. Despite this fact, I have visited Krakow for the very first time this weekend.

I have read several very general articles about Krakow and have realised, one day will not be nearly enough. However, I have decided to stick to the idea of a daytrip and focused on visiting only the downtown area. It is after all a very nice place and if you wear the right kind of shoes, you will manage it just fine. When I was listing the places I wanted to see, I have looked for architecture from different eras. The main square, Rynek Glowny, has a rather historical character and is listed as a UNESCO site. So it is a must-see-place and be warned, you will meet there the whole army of tourists. Then, this huge crowd marches along the Florian Street and mainly the Grodzka Street – down to the Wawel Castle. Going to Krakow and not visiting these places would be a crime, so I took a look as well. I have been sort of looking forward the St. Marys Basillica and the view from the top of its tower, yet it is open only in summertime. What a shame. On the other hand, the church from inside is nothling like you would expected from a gothic cathedral – very glittery and colourful at the same time. If you like to know more about medieval time in Krakow, there is an exciting Underground Museum, where you can walk through catacombs and excavation sites underneath the Rynek. As the time was short and it was not so high on my list, I did not go.

Beside all the historical monuments, I wanted to see something more peacefull and new as well. Surprisingly, the majority of tourists does not leave the axis Florian St – Rynek Gl. – Grodzky St – Wawel. So, you have to literally take few steps aside and behind second corner, you will find yourself among casual people of Krakow. When looking for some new architectural projects, I have found two nice additions inside of the downtown district from the beginning of this millenium – both of them designed by Ingarden & Ewy Architects. So they have a similiar handwriting and are rare examples of modern additions into an historical urban pattern.

The first one, Malopolska Garden of Arts [1], is located in a grid between first and second ring and it about 10min walk from Rynek through a very exciting neighbourhood (no irony here – some historical facades, some modern add-ons, and some greenery as well). The building itself is a large ‘L’ and has two entrances from two sides of a block – one wing houses a library, the other accomodates a cultural center with a garden. Underneath the library, there is a nice cafe as well – and they have delicious cakes there :). If you are entering from the garden site, it is a labyrinth but be brave! It is a very quiet place with no signs of tourists what so ever – mostly young people chilling on beanbags, candle-light, soft music, etc.

The second project, Tourist Info Pavillion [2], can be found directly on the Grodzky Street. It is very simple and narrow volume – really just a pavillion. However, the is very grandiose space on the inside and as it is so much larger than it appears from outside. I  have been very surprised.  The facade looked rather strange from the street – especially if you are just a random tourist passing by. The three peculiar windows are acctually very nice stained-glass.

You should check out the gallery attached below for some impressions. I have took a lot of pictures, yet I cannot upload all of them, so here goes just a short preview of what to expect.

[1] Further information about Małopolski Ogród Sztuki at archdaily.com or are the official site.[2] More about the Pavillion here.

 

 

GALLERY

 

 

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Translocating heritage (5th year)

TASK

explore possible translocation of suspension bridge (1893)

LOCATION

Germany, Wetter (Ruhr)

ACCENTS

analysis, documentation and written assessment of historical structure, design of intervention, preliminary calculations

PROJECT PARTNERS

Nicole Sakrejz, Jennifer Stapel

IDEA

Proposing a translocation of an industrial landmark to reinforce the identification process of community with the heritage itself. The suspension bridge has been examinded thoroughly during the site visit in order to digitalise the technical drawings and understand its particularity.

Design on the new site is taking under consideration the original layout of the bridge construction. New additions are planned with caution and should enhance the essamble, not compete with it.

GALLERY

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Random veggies.

I rarely plan what to cook. I sometimes find an inspirational picture on pinterest and recreate my own version of it. On other days, when my fridge is empty, I walk into a store and passing by shelves, my cart begins to fill and walking out of store, I have a precise vision in my head what is going to happen next. So it happend last week, and here goes the result.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 aubergine (eggplant)
  • 1 leek
  • some pure peanuts (not salted, preferably those in shell)
  • few dried tomatos in oil
  • 1 – 2 mozzarella(s)
  • olive oil (or you can use the oil from the tomatoes if its tasty)
  • fresh cherry tomatoes
  • salt, black (or white) peper

If you do not find aubergine in your fridge, you can replace it with broccoli as well. Also, the fresh tomatoes can be replaced with carrots – or if you like, you can put as tomatoes as carrots in. Your choice.

RECIPE (20-30min)

I would start with peeling off the peanuts and crushing (breaking) them into smaler bits but do not make a powder out of it! It is also not advisable to try to chop them – they tend to fly across the whole kitchen. Very messy. As next, chop the leek into slices 1-2mm thick (it does not have to be so precise, just so you get an idea) and crumble few of them up into pan. I do not like onion because I usually cry when chopping it so I preffer to use leek instead. However, ir you are an onion-lover, go ahead. Also, cut the dried tomatoes in oil into smaller bits, throw into pan and pour oil in as well. Then start the fire – I usually cook on gas cooker, so do not be shocked by the expression. 🙂

Then, you can chop the aubergine (eggplant) into stripes or brocolli (if you are doing the other version). You want to recognise these pieces later, so do not make them to small, otherwise they shrink and cook into paste. If you are going for carrots instead of tomatoes, they should get into pan along with the aubergine/brocolli. Then let it cook for a while – let the veggies burn a bit, do not cook them on water or in steam. Finally, add some salt, pepper, and the brave ones can go with garlic as well. If you want more complex taste, add paesto rosso instead of oil at the beginning.

To finish it off, chop the cherry tomatoes into circles (or just into a half – depend on the size of your cherry tomatoes) and add mozzarella cut into smaller cubes. It is important not to cook it after you add mozzarella – cooled off melted mozzarella is like a chewing gum, so do not overheat it by cooking.

You can eat it with rice or cook some pasta (maybe?). I would recommend overbaked bread with olive oil and some salt. You do not need an oven for it – just throw it onto a pan!  Whatever works for you.

Bon appetite.

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