Insight IMD
BBQ smoking, growing chillies and running 100 km – what’s to know about Markus Bühler!
Markus Bühler is in charge of customer training at IMD. Customers can take his tailor-made training courses for free at the company headquarters in Brügg. "It's important for me that I can help our customers to get to know our software well enough that they can make changes to the programmes themselves."
What many customers don't realise is that by the time Markus gets to work in the morning he has already watered his chilli plants, jogged to work, and will be putting in another training session in the evening. His aim? To do the 100 km from Biel in ten hours on 13/14 June 2014!
- Markus Bühler, Head Customer Trainer, IMD
- With IMD since 1 August 2003
- Leisure activities: smoking meat, growing chillies and running 10
He knows his way round IMDVista software like nobody else!
Markus Bühler enjoys his job at IMD. He particularly likes the fact that no two days are alike. He always gets to grips with customers’ specific needs, and leads training sessions in a variety of languages. He has been at IMD a long time and has travelled the world as a service technician, setting up and adjusting camera systems. When he’s not actually involved in training sessions, he’s doing in-house system acceptance testing, system presetting or feasibility studies.
Hot chilli warning! If he asks you round, watch out!
He loves cooking and he’s a master of the art of barbecue. “Smoking and low temperature cooking require a lot of patience! When it works, it’s very fulfilling,” he says. A warning, however: take care with the chilli sauce. Last year, he used his little greenhouse and balcony to produce 18 varieties of chilli, which have since been turned into chilli sauces. “Some of the varieties are so hot they should have explosives certificates,” Markus warns his guests.
A 100 km run – not the most usual way to celebrate your 40th
Even as child, the 100 km run was something special for Markus. Perhaps because he could stay up a bit longer and was allowed to cheer on the runners in Aarberg at midnight. Even at the time, he said he would like to run the race himself. Now at age 40, he has fulfilled that wish! His time last year was 10 hours and 46 minutes: the result of consistent training, with the help of a coach, from November 2011 to June 2013.
Like to try it? – this is a typical week’s training plan:
Run 75 to 90 km, divided into stages of between 6 and 30 km, with a heart rate of 129 to 156; plus extra stretching and strength exercises. That comes to 7,500 km in 750 training hours between November 2011 and April 2014!
When asked what he personally gets out of his hobby, he says: “In between times I still really enjoy jogging, which I would never have thought 2 ½ years ago. Of course, I’ve also become a lot fitter and can completely switch off during training. I think that’s why I’m also a bit less stressed in my everyday life.”
This year’s aim: 100 km in 10 hours!
13/14 June 2014 is the big date! Good luck, Markus!
More information on the Bieler Lauftage [the Biel/Bienne Running Days] website: www.100km.ch