Holly Zimmermann

Vegetarisch, aber nicht vegan. Genug für vier. Kid friendly ;) Zutaten •          1/2 Hokkaido-Kürbis in dünne Halbmonde geschnitten •          1 kleine rote Zwiebel dünn in Ringe geschnitten •          1 Knoblauchzehe in dünne Scheiben geschnitten •          2 TL Olivenöl •          Salz und Pfeffer •          5 Blätter Grünkohl getrimmt •          7 Eier •          60 g Fetta zerbröckelt •          100 g geriebene Käse (Käsesorte nach Geschmack oder was im Kühlschrank liegt) •          Quiche-Kruste (siehe separates Rezept unten) Ofen auf 220˚C Ober- oder Unterhitze 200˚...

The opening sentence of the email read, “ It is official, you are invited to run the 2022 Snowman Race Bhutan.” The Tiger's Nest The Snowman Race was conceived to be the toughest footrace in the world, covering over 200 kilometers in the Himalayan mountains, traversing passes of over 5400 meters (17,000 feet) above sea level, and nightly temperatures well below freezing. It was initiated by His Majesty the King of Bhutan to raise worldwide awareness to the conservation of natural and cultural heritage, including climate change impacts, particularly on the inhabitants in fragile mountain ecosystems. What many people may not know is that Bhutan is only one of three nations world-wide that is carbon negative . This means that they absorb more carbon dioxide than they emit. Even so, the glaciers that feed its rivers, irrigate agricultural lands, and power its hydropower plants, are melting rapidly. Landslides and flash floods are no longer uncommon, leaving the Bhutanese highlanders c...

Lake Como Nirvana. The name alone is irresistible. From there it only gets better. Raid Nirvana is a 150-km adventure race (AR) located in and around Lake Como with it’s tranquil waters, picture-postcard villages, friendly locals and all of it cradled gently in a ring of majestic mountains. A more idyllic and spectacularly scenic location is hard to find.  The invitation to join a Swiss team came from Lucas, a friend I’d raced and trained with before, who I got along with well, and who had tons of AR experience dating back to his upbringing in Columbia. And despite having another race already on the calendar two weeks later, this one I couldn’t resist. Nirvana was calling. Race Plan The other two team members were new to me. Lucas had already raced before with Laure, a French woman, and the fourth, David, was a ‘last minute’ replacement for his training partner. David was young and strong but a newbie to both AR and ultra-endurance sports. He’d done some long-distance triathlons, a...

Adventure Racing World Championship, Galicia, Spain After competing at the Adventure Racing European and then the World Championships within a few weeks of each other in the Fall of 2021, covering nearly 800 km in total, I came home with a completely wrecked body, inside and out. I was thinner than I’d been since I was a teenager, my hair was falling out in handfuls, my teeth were over-sensitized, my feet were swollen and blistered, and several toenails were gone. To say that I was simply exhausted grossly underestimates my physical state, as the thought of even a recovery bike or jog was completely out of the question. Sleep. Healthy food. Supplements. Repeat. That was the plan. But when weeks went by and I was still feeling schlapp, I knew I needed to focus more seriously on my recovery. I got a blood test done and found that I had both Vitamin D and Ferritin deficiencies and my Omega 6:3 ratio was through the roof at (33.9:1). And as fate would have it, at that time I met a man ...

An old joke asks: “Who the heck wants to live to be 100?”  Answer: “A 99-year-old.”  I recently attended a funeral for a woman who died at age 101 years. She lived in the mountains and was active till the end, even skiing regularly until she was 95. The attendance at her burial was impressive, although all of her peers had long said goodbye to the world. She had clearly done something right in her life, and I wanted to know how to follow in her footsteps. So I did some digging.  Our lifespan is believed to be determined 10% by our genetics and the remaining 90% by environmental factors. If that is true, then there is a lot that we can be doing to extend not only our number of years, but the quality of life in those years.  Studies have been conducted in the world’s Blue Zones, namely, regions in the world where people not only live the longest, but are also the healthiest. The top five include: Loma Linda, California; Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Ri...

The runner's high, that feeling of euphoria that sometimes accompanies aerobic exercise, has often been attributed to the release of endorphins, but new research suggests that it might be due to endocannabinoids instead. Giving new meaning to the term ‘high’. We all know it. It’s that feeling like you could take on the world. You come home from your run in a better mood and with greater mental clarity. “It begins with this peace of mind and then a greater ease of movement, a sense of power and confidence, optimism and hope, and you will often hear runners describe feeling loving and connected to everyone and everything,” explains Kelly McGonigal, in her book The Joy of Movement. “So, what could possibly be going on in the body and the brain that would make you feel powerful, hopeful, faster, more confident and more loving?” For years it was believed that this feeling of bliss, sometimes referred to as the 'runner's high' was attributable to endorphins. But in 2021, Dr. ...