Teesche Podcast

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I believe that there are a few things that will help us lead a better life. One is to focus on having both a healthy mind and body. To achieve this, I try to read a good number of books and run several marathons each year.

Since I began writing blog posts in 2011, I have focused primarily on books and races as my main topics. More recently, I have converted some of these posts into narrated podcasts that can be easily enjoyed while running.

• Episode 74: Book – Chris Zehetleitner, Runhundred

  8th of December · 7 Minutes

  The oldest 100-mile foot race takes place annually in California and is called Western States Endurance Run. The author has been selected to run even though he felt majorly unprepared for it. This makes for a compelling story about suffering and meaning.

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• Episode 73: Book – David Epstein, Range

  7th of December · 33 Minutes

  Epstein shows us how people with a wide range of interests and curiosity who find a profession matching their skillsets perfectly will produce better results and move humankind forward by citing many studies and telling entertaining anecdotes.

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• Episode 72: Book – Michael Easter, The Comfort Crisis

  30th of November · 32 Minutes

  Former Men’s Health author goes on a month-long trip to remote Alaska in order to find out why all of the comforts of modern life are in fact making us miserable. He returns and consults a huge amount of experts and studies to make a tight case for it.

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• Episode 71: What’s It Like to Donate Blood?

  28th of November · 17 Minutes

  An irrational fear of needles puncturing my skin has previously held me back from doing this small service to humankind. Now I have overcome it and am here to tell the story! Maybe it will motivate you to give blood, too?

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• Episode 70: New York City Marathon 2023: The Marathon of Marathons in the City of Cities

  22nd of November · 63 Minutes

  When you talk about marathon running, everyone asks “have you done New York?” But why should you? And is it better than Boston? This episode answers it all.

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• Episode 69: Book – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

  9th of October · 6 Minutes

  Rarely does a book grab the attention of and inspire millions of people like this one has. Phrases like “Don’t panic!” or the frequent use of the number 42 are in the vocabulary of a certain large subset of humans. But what made the book successful?

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• Episode 68: Book – Walter Isaacson, Elon Musk

  9th of October · 24 Minutes

  One of the most accomplished, controversial, and interesting people who are currently alive on this planet. A biography written by one of the best biographers of the recent years. A recipe for success.

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• Episode 67: Erfurt & Kassel’s Double Marathon Weekend: A Runner’s Perspective

  9th of October · 29 Minutes

  It’s not often you get the chance to run two marathon races on two consecutive days. So when that happens, you need to grab it. But does the body agree to this seemingly stupid idea? Won’t the legs blow up and everything fall apart?

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• Episode 66: Book – Dr. Caroline Leaf, How to Help Your Child Clean Up Their Mental Mess

  21st of September · 27 Minutes

  This book feels like marketing for app subscriptions & Brain-ee dolls, yet offers unique parenting advice. What are those insights beyond 'spend more time with your kids'?

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• Episode 65: The Best Beginner’s GPS Sports Watch: COROS PACE 3 Review

  20th of September · 10 Minutes

  With the COROS PACE 3, the popular PACE 2 just got an update. What’s new, and is it worth getting it? How about comparable models from other brands, does it hold up?

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• Episode 64: Book – Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, The Courage to Be Disliked

  11th of September · 23 Minutes

  Authors Kishimi and Koga use the ancient Greek dialogue form to explain Austrian psychologist Alfred Adler’s ideas on ‘individual psychology’, bridging cultures and time. Some radical ideas question the way we think and bring ideas of empowerment forward.

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• Episode 63: 2nd Place at a Hilly Half Marathon: Blankeneser Heldenlauf DERBE Edition

  4th of September · 24 Minutes

  An incredible result at a tough race. Listen to how I prepared, what I’ve learned, and most of all, how the race played out. It has been nailbitingly exciting to go through all the ups and downs before ending on a spectacular high. Running rules!

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• Episode 62: Book – Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness

  31st of August · 28 Minutes

  A Harvard professor of psychology explains in a funny and entertaining way how much we get wrong when we imagine our future emotional states. You have to derive your own conclusions from this, but it raises a lot of awareness for our weird brains.

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• Episode 61: Book – Jack Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula

  29th of August · 20 Minutes

  One of the most well known books about running training. The author is a highly educated and successful running coach with a number-focused approach and lots of interesting and proven ideas to further the fitness levels of a huge variety of athletes.

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• Episode 60: Book – Greg McKeown, Effortless

  3rd of August · 16 Minutes

  The ”Essentialism” follow-up called “Effortless” advocates working smarter, prioritizing, and recovering adequately. Reading, learning, teaching all have high returns. Removing decisions and taking the direct route towards our goals helps.

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• Episode 59: Book – Kevin Kelly, Excellent Advice for Living

  7th of July · 10 Minutes

  Kevin Kelly, the WIRED magazine co-founder and longtime executive editor, put his two most popular blog posts into a small book full of byte-sized advice, ranging from short and sweet to funny to helpful and thought-provoking.

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• Episode 58: Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120K Race Report: As Beautiful As It Is Difficult

  5th of July · 88 Minutes

  This 120 kilometer foot race through the Dolomite mountains in Italy took everything I had in me. Find out why.

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• Episode 57: Book – Robert M. Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

  20th of June · 21 Minutes

  A difficult one. Although it was hugely successful, I can’t find many positives about this self-indulgent autobiographical narration which shows no regard for the humans around the author. It made me want to learn more about classic philosophy, though.

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• Episode 56: The Case for Optimism: Taking Inspiration From John Linegar, MrBeast, and Nardwuar For the Future of Humankind

  20th of June · 20 Minutes

  What is optimism and why is it more crucial then ever today? This episode explores the big picture.

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• Episode 55: Book – Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus! Leviathan

  19th of June · 16 Minutes

  After lots of build-up in the first and second book, this one promises a showdown. But the Zombie Nazis appear to be hallucinations in the end. And the sea monster Leviathan doesn’t do much except fall in love with the protagonist’s AI. Not worth it.

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• Episode 54: Book – Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus! The Golden Apple

  1st of June · 17 Minutes

  As the second book of the trilogy, it doesn’t do much to further the storyline if you could even call it that. It reads like an LSD trip the authors had and that’s maybe even true. There are some slight hints at a sort of showdown coming up in next book.

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• Episode 53: Personal Running Coach: Is it Worth Starting Your Running Training with One?

  9th of May · 27 Minutes

  What to look for in a personal running coach, how to put training suggestions into context, compare the time-tested vs the modern approaches and have fun experimenting!

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• Episode 52: Book – Robert Shea & Robert Anton Wilson, Illuminatus! The Eye in the Pyramid

  3rd of May · 25 Minutes

  A highly confusing book. Combining politics, satire, science fiction, conspiracy theories, and a detective novel, you still never completely understand what’s going on. It is challenging your perception of reality and has rightfully become a cult classic.

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• Episode 51: What’s It like to Run the Boston Marathon?

  30th of April · 45 Minutes

  Listen to a runner’s detailed account of what it’s like to run the Boston Marathon: From the start line excitement to the Wellesley Scream Tunnel to the challenging Heartbreak Hills, and the finish line euphoria. Tips for runners included.

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• Episode 50: Book – Tim Urban – What’s Our Problem

  11th of April · 46 Minutes

  Author Tim Urban, who runs the popular comic blog “Wait But Why” has published a book about our current societal problems which took him six years to write, because the world changed so much during that time. An important read for everyone.

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• Episode 49: Book – Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto

  3rd of April · 11 Minutes

  Complex tasks increase the likelihood of critical mistakes. Checklists are the remedy. 'The Checklist Manifesto' chronicles the journey of introducing checklists into critical fields, like medicine, to reduce errors and enhance communication.

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• Episode 48: Book – Oliver Burkeman, Four Thousand Weeks

  24th of March · 28 Minutes

  This is a book that urges readers to be intentional about how they use their limited time on Earth, focusing on what truly matters to them and finding fulfillment in the time they have, rather than chasing endless productivity and success.

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• Episode 47: Book – Cal Newport, So Good They Can’t Ignore You

  21st of February · 18 Minutes

  Don't follow your passion, it often leads to disappointment. Instead, master a valuable skill for more control. Successful people have a mission based on experience and knowledge. Deliberate practice and skill development create more opportunities.

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• Episode 46: Book – Mark Manson, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

  20th of February · 27 Minutes

  It’s a concise book of the self-help category, full with little bits of advice on how to view and interpret our current individual situations within modern society. With its profanity, it drives home its many actionable points in an easy-going way.

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• Episode 45: Book – Daniel Priestley, Scorecard Marketing

  3rd of February · 14 Minutes

  Learn how collecting data is crucial for sales success. Use an online Scorecard, a fun quiz, to gather information about interested customers non-intrusively. Target those customers in order to get cost-effective marketing results.

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• Episode 44: Book – Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being

  2nd of February · 20 Minutes

  With aesthetically pleasing outer form, the content is thinly spread out over 400 pages and superficial/obvious at times. It’s lacking humor, but there are valuable insights and it makes you think. The book is worth reading for creative individuals.

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• Episode 43: Book – Al Ries, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

  24th of January · 14 Minutes

  This book tried to find unchanging laws of marketing, but it has failed and possibly not even worked during the period of its publication in 1993. Many of the laws have been proven incorrect and certain examples like Microsoft’s certain doom are laughable

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• Episode 42: Book – Ryan Holiday, Trust Me, I’m Lying

  23rd of January · 16 Minutes

  Ryan Holiday explains how entities abuse the news cycle by inserting false info disguised as facts. He details it from personal knowledge as an online marketer.

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• Episode 41: What I Have Planned For 2023 (Including a Fall of 2022 Recap)

  13th of January · 28 Minutes

  The year is over, a new one lies ahead. Time to reflect, analyze, improve, set goals and plans in motion. It’s my favorite time of the year and a little breather in between all the daily action.

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• Episode 40: Book – Christopher McDougall & Eric Orton, Born to Run 2

  8th of January · 18 Minutes

  The author focuses on training methods for minimalist runners. It includes interesting info and anecdotes from the first book, but could have been a blog post.

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• Episode 39: Book – David Goggins, Never Finished

  23rd of December, 2022 · 18 Minutes

  David Goggins, widely considered the toughest person alive, delves into his psychology in his second book. He discusses his ultra running roots, including the Leadville 100 and Moab 240, and emphasizes humility and service.

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• Episode 38: Book – Napoleon Hill, Think And Grow Rich

  19th of December, 2022 · 27 Minutes

  This book from 1937 is partly historical document, partly a self-help business book. It revolves around building a positive mindset for achieving success, here defined simply as getting rich through values such as desire, persistence, and determination.

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• Episode 37: Book – Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

  25th of November, 2022 · 35 Minutes

  The business book to rule all business books: published in 1989, it popularized terms and phrases such as synergy, thinking win-win, being proactive, or paradigm shifts. The twist is that the focus is divided between business and family life.

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• Episode 36: Book – Ross Edgley, The World’s Fittest Book

  7th of November, 2022 · 14 Minutes

  Ross Edgley is looking like one of the fittest people on the planet and that’s not a mask. From world records to traveling the world to researching what the world has to offer, this guy explains physical fitness well.

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• Episode 35: Questioning Everything at Templiers 104k Endurance Trail Festival

  1st of November, 2022 · 33 Minutes

  When something you automatically do makes you wonder why exactly that is the case, it can be a strong signal to do some more thinking about it. Maybe you’re on the right track, maybe not. Only one way to find out: go ahead and try.

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• Episode 34: Book – David Kushner, Masters of Doom

  24th of October, 2022 · 6 Minutes

  John Romero and John Carmack created the video games Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake together. It made them millions and left a huge cultural footprint. The two and their small team were hugely driven and passionate.

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• Episode 33: Summer 2022, Reflection → Courage, Recap and Outlook

  18th of October, 2022 · 28 Minutes

  This episode details my journey through summer of 2022, including updates on all the goals I set for myself, the rituals and intents I had built, the side projects I started, the new habit tracking, and also a lookout for the upcoming quarter.

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• Episode 32: Book – Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens

  14th of October, 2022 · 47 Minutes

  This book tells you everything you need to know about humankind’s evolutionary success. It’s not pretty and will mess with your worldview, but in a good way. It’s time to get realistic and understand how we arrived at this point in order to improve.

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• Episode 31: Going into Round Two: Cologne Marathon Sub-3

  10th of October, 2022 · 21 Minutes

  One of the most difficult challenges for an amateur runner is to break three hours in a marathon race. I came close once and decided to try again. This is the story of my second attempt, this time at Cologne Marathon.

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• Episode 30: Book – Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

  1st of October, 2022 · 19 Minutes

  Written in 1936, this is the comprehensive guide to learning to behave in a way that makes other people respond more positively towards you. Yes, some people will make us angry, but showing that anger makes it worse, always. Bad title, great message.

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• Episode 29: Book – Derek Sivers, How to Live

  5th of September, 2022 · 17 Minutes

  This book is filled to the rim with smart ideas. There is a lot of deep inspiration for your own way of living and prioritizing things in these short chapters.

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• Episode 28: Book – Derek Sivers, Anything You Want

  24th of August, 2022 · 8 Minutes

  What is the common purpose of every company every founded? Provide people with some kind of value. Give them what they want or need. If that should change, the company must, too. You company is a playground, it can be made into anything you want it to be.

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• Episode 27: New York City: Manhattan Perimeter Ultramarathon

  17th of August, 2022 · 24 Minutes

  I went to New York City and one of the things I did while there was to run the whole perimeter of Manhattan. 55 kilometers or 34 miles in the sun showed me a lot of different things most tourists probably won’t get to see of the city.

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• Episode 26: Book – Richard P. Feynman, “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!”

  26th of July, 2022 · 8 Minutes

  Nobel Prize winning physicist Feynman has lived are highly interesting and entertaining life. He saw opportunities for exploration and improvement and also just mischief everywhere and used them.

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• Episode 25: Fastest Known Time for Peter Huggett on Fehmarnumrundung

  21st of July, 2022 · 22 Minutes

  At age 75, just recently, my beloved father-in-law died. I ran a 75 kilometer ultra marathon to remember him and say goodbye.

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• Episode 24: Spring is Over, Summer is Here: Season Recap and Outlook

  12th of July, 2022 · 23 Minutes

  A lot has happened, sometimes to the point of overwhelm. But I’m working on it and here’s what I have learned regarding keeping all these habits, challenges, rituals, intents, goals, and of course, the Theme of the Season.

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• Episode 23: Book – Nicolas Cole, The Art and Business of Online Writing

  7th of July, 2022 · 22 Minutes

  How to write articles which people want to click and then read until the end? There’s a science to it and Nicolas Cole has it figured out. The question is, should you always follow that advice?

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• Episode 22: Quantified Teesche – An Expedition into the World of Tracking a Life

  29th of June, 2022 · 19 Minutes

  How would you go about that and what can you learn from tracking your life? I dive into what’s currently possible and what might be interesting to do in the future.

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• Episode 21: Book – James Clear, Atomic Habits

  15th of June, 2022 · 22 Minutes

  Who doesn’t secretly want to be healthy, strong, disciplined, and therefore happy? James Clear explains the human behavioral science behind it very clearly!

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• Episode 20: Book – Ed Winters, This is Vegan Propaganda

  29th of May, 2022 · 41 Minutes

  Are you curious about the role nutrition plays in the whole of society? The consequences of our actions on our health, ethics, the climate crisis? There’s a simple solution to it, and Ed Winters explains it all.

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• Episode 19: For the Record: Training for and Trying a Sub-3 Hour Marathon

  17th of May, 2022 · 66 Minutes

  Some people think that running is just the same every time. That’s not true, there’s lot of variation possibilities to it, for example, you can do speed training and go for a Sub-3 hour marathon. What that’s like, I’ll tell you in this episode.

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• Episode 18: Grüner Ring 200: Organizing and Supporting a 200 Kilometer Running Race

  16th of May, 2022 · 35 Minutes

  It’s a humongous task to run for 200 kilometers straight. But organizing an event of this sort also requires quite some effort. Here you can find out how something like this can go down and what’s it like to witness it first hand.

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• Episode 17: Book – Ward Farnsworth, The Practicing Stoic

  13th of May, 2022 · 26 Minutes

  A practical philosophy which has stood the test of time for well over 2000 years now, is Stoicism. In this book, all it’s helpful pieces of wisdom are neatly sorted by topic and explained in an easy way.

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• Episode 16: Book – Eric Jorgenson, The Almanack of Naval Ravikant

  12th of May, 2022 · 16 Minutes

  A collection of the words of advice and wisdom which successful investor Naval Ravikant has put out into the world. There are a few gems in here!

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• Episode 15: Book – Rou Reynolds, A Treatise on Possibility

  11th of May, 2022 · 25 Minutes

  We have maneuvered ourselves into a socioeconomic cul-de-sac and are facing lots of existential problems. Human behavior needs to change for us to make it through the next few hundred years, and Rou Reynolds explains it well.

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• Episode 14: New Quarter, Theme, Goals, Intents! (Spring 2022)

  10th of May, 2022 · 26 Minutes

  The first quarter of 2022 is history. I had made a bunch of plans for it, so it’s time for a review, and an outlook about what’s coming in this next quarter.

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• Episode 13: Book – Hans Rosling, Factfulness

  9th of May, 2022 · 22 Minutes

  The world is not as bad as we think and it’s improving in many regards. Rosling helps us understand our own biases in order to make our worldview more facts-based and therefore improve our decision making.

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• Episode 12: Book – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

  5th of May, 2022 · 12 Minutes

  A psychiatrist who has spend three years in the Nazi concentration camps of Auschwitz and Dachau as a Jewish prisoner writes about the mental state and the meaning of life derived from the suffering

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• Episode 11: Book – Mike Monteiro, Ruined by Design

  2nd of May, 2022 · 11 Minutes

  The type of work used to create this modern world is called design. Everything which is broken is because of bad and unethical design decisions. We’re all responsible and this book helps us realize that we need to step up and be the change.

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• Episode 10: Educational Project: How to Become a Better Manager

  29th of April, 2022 · 28 Minutes

  Learning how to become a better manager is an exercise in trial and error for most people. But there are shortcuts, for example the brilliant book “The Making of a Manager” by Julie Zhou. I tried to make it more accessible and documented the process.

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• Episode 9: Book – Morgan Housel, The Psychology of Money

  28th of April, 2022 · 15 Minutes

  It doesn’t have to be super tough to reach wealth and happiness in life. Morgan Housel gives us a lot of guidance on how to behave in order to feel and be content with our financial situation.

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• Episode 8: Book – Patrick Lange, Becoming Ironman

  27th of April, 2022 · 4 Minutes

  One of the best triathletes in the world has written an autobiography. After watching his career from the outside, it’s quite interesting to learn how it felt from the inside, meaning from his own perspective.

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• Episode 7: Book – Jared Beasley, In Search of Al Howie

  27th of April, 2022 · 3 Minutes

  Al Howie was a truly exceptional human being in many regards. His stand-out ability was long distance running and he defied what most people would think is humanly possible. But his life was tragic.

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• Episode 6: Book – Robert B. Cialdini, Influence

  26th of April, 2022 · 20 Minutes

  A book which offers a lot of knowledge about how we make our day-to-day decisions. It’s helpful to understand and always remember its seven core principles: Reciprocity, Liking, Social Proof, Authority, Scarcity, Commitment/Consistency, and Unity.

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• Episode 5: Announcement – New Book Out, The Story of my EU Marathon Runs

  25th of April, 2022 · 3 Minutes

  That’s right, I wrote a book! It’s about the 28.5 official marathon races I did in all capital cities of the European Union. And you can read it for free, or buy it.

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• Episode 4: Book – Matze Hielscher, Die Schule meines Lebens

  25th of April, 2022 · 17 Minutes

  One of the most successful German podcast hosts, Matze Hielscher, has compiled the knowledge and wisdom his many guests have shared with him over the years. Why not profit from that?

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• Episode 3: Book – Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life

  22nd of April, 2022 · 20 Minutes

  Your money or your life? It doesn’t have to be either or, if you play it wisely and listen to what Vicki Robin can teach you. This is a book summary containing her most impactful truth-bombs.

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• Episode 2: My Intentions For 2022

  20th of April, 2022 · 18 Minutes

  What to do with the time given to us? For the last few years, I have been making and then even following concrete plans. These are my plans for 2022, especially the first quarter of it.

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• Episode 1: Review of 2021

  20th of April, 2022 · 30 Minutes

  What an unusual year. For me it contained lots of highs and lows, and in this episode I'm going through all of them with a special emphasis of all the marathons I ran.

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• Episode 0: Teesche Podcast Trailer

  11th of April, 2022 · 2 Minutes

  I’ve started a podcast for everyone who wants to read my blog posts but can’t find the time for it. It’s about cultivating a healthy mind in a healthy body. Enjoy!

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