Christmas step forward

stats of the week: run 15 km, zwift cycled 21 km, gym 3 h

Not surprisingly I could not resist to run the local 5K christmas run. I managed to finish it without walking in between so it was a step forward. The pace of 5:39 min/K was okay so far but I reached my limits. So there are doubts I will find back to pre-surgery performance.  However, I will be happy if I am able to complete longish distances without knee problems in the oncoming weeks.

Photo: I was the only runner in my age group but 82-year-old fellow runner Siggi was forced to join my group so I felt a duty to let him cross the line first.

Further improvement

stats of the week: run 10 km, zwift cycled 54 km, gym 3 h
stats of the previous week: run 10 km, zwift cycled 42 km, gym 3 h

I developed the cautious jogging workouts to a switch of 100m of walking with 400m of running. I was surprised how I lost the feeling for pace. The short stretches of running turned out to be way too fast I had to notice after looking at the Garmin stats. 

As I am now able to run 5K within 31 minutes I decided to take part at the local Christmas Run next Sunday. Just to be part of the event and enjoy the day.

This one is very long ago:

A cautious start towards a comeback

stats of the week: Zwift cycled 53 km, walked 15 km, gym 1.5 h

Sessions with the physio continue and I added lymphatic drainages to elimate the last swelling inside the knee. It worked and now the joint feels better than ever since the surgery. So I tried some very easy jogging today, 300 meters of walking followed by 200 meters of running, this for 4K. It's a start at least and I hope to repeat this session every 3rd day and cautiously increase it.

I also switched to real workouts with Zwift. Not too strenous, I have not exceeded 120 Watt so far. 

New York watching, not running

stats of the week: cycled 112 km, walked quite a lot
stats of the previous week: walked even more
the weeks before: waiting for improvement

A year ago I planned to run my final New York City marathon this November. Now I am okay that I failed to get an entry. I am not able to run anyway. But I still enjoyed the big city in perfect weather for the whole of marathon weekend.

My favorite place in Manhattan is Washington Square.

Macy's display "give love" and what they mean is "give money".

From Miami South Beach I made it to the lighthouse of Key Biscaine by bike. A relaxing extension of the interair New York weekend.

The view from the causeway to Key Biscaine back to Miami City.

South Beach

The scene at Ocean Drive, Miami South beach.

The leading ladies at mile 14 in Queens.

Former European 10,000m champion Jan Fitschen of Germany, excited to see his interair group at mile 14. 

It was my 17th journey to the New York Marathon, thereof 12 I was happy to run myself. Now at the age 71, not just because of the new so called President, I have decided to call it a life and say Good Bye to the USA. 

Slight and slow improvement

stats of the week: cycled 109 km, walked 23 km, gym 4 h

Our final days in France saw us cycling still in the sunshine and we enjoyed the Gorge de la Nesque once again. Tourist season is over now. The local bar has closed for their yearly holidays, also our beloved Pizzeria at Vaison is closed. Nights are cold and heating the house is essential. Time to leave for Germany. 

Nearly 8 weeks since the knee operation and for the first time I tried some easy jogging. Every 400m of walking I let follow 100m of jogging for 5K. At least a start of a long way to a comeback.

Desperately waiting for improvement

stats of the week: cycled 120 km, walked 13 km, gym 1.5 h
stats of the previous week: cycled 82 km, walked 12 km, gym 3 h

Almost 7 weeks since the surgery and I am still not able to start easy jogging. Everybody tells me it is the age that let it last longer. Probably right. But it feels very long. And lets doubts come up if I will ever be back on the roads. On our 5-day-trip to Majorca I could only stand 2 easy bike tours and had to take 2 rest days.

Desperately I got back to take in diclo for 5 days. What helped to be free of pain at least and let me hope to improve the situation.

Bike path alongside Mediterranian Sea

Toulon Bay

Happily back in Mollans

Backdrops to limping

stats of the week: cycled 161 km, gym 3 h

While at least easy cycling is possible I am still limping after almost 5 weeks since the surgery. This is not the development I was hoping for. Some days show light improvement but are always followed by backdrops. First doubts appear if I will ever be able to run properly again. 

It is no good feeling to be back in Mollans in the Provence not be able to run. And cycling mountain passes is still forbidden after I experienced a significant backdrop after cycling 2 consecutive days.

However, we enjoy being in our small old village. Today was European open monument day and at the local expo we learnt that our little maison is more than 250 years old.

Comeback far away

stats of the week: cycled 30 km, indoor cycled 40 km, gym 3 h
stats of the previous week: indoor cycled 33 km, gym 2 h

Recovery is still very very slow with some backdrops in between. I still cannot walk without limping. Outlook seems to see a couple of months till a comeback. Half marathon Valencia is cancelled. Hopes are now to be back for December races.

Patience asked

stats of the week: none

Still struggling with problems after knee surgery. Cannot walk without limping, pain especially on stairs. After 14 days easy indoor cycling will be possible hopefully. 

Hopes to run the Valencia Half at end of October are gone. New target is to get fit in time for end of year events. Not happy with this development. 

More done than expected

stats of the week: cycled 70 km

Tuesday was day zero for me. The cutted meniscus has been repared as planned. But a lot more was to be done the doc told me after I woke up from the surgery. The patella cartilage had to be restored. Several loose bodies in joint had to be taken off. Finally - and most important - a membrane plica had to be cut. Probably this is the reason for the long lasting swelling I now have to struggle with.  

Obviously recovery will take longer than hoped. Nevertheless I still hope to come back to easy cycling within 3 weeks - we will see.

Paris for a lifetime

stats of the week: run 11 km, cycled 96 km
new stats of the previous week: cycled 123 km, walked in Paris 60 km

Like everyone else we were excited about the Olympics and the atmophere in Paris. It was an experience of a lifetime and we don't regret the really high costs of the trip. By the way: Last minute our hotel would have been available for half the price we paid one year in advance! We loved Paris and will return in January to visit more of the sights. However it was a very strenious 4-day-visit with a full program consisting of 3 visits of the stade de France and some more events.

Long time of silence

stats of the week: cycled 102 km, indoor cycled 22 km, walked in Paris: roughly 50 km
stats of the previous week: cycled 197 km, indoor cycled 20 km
stats of the week before: run 3 km, cycled 83 km
stats of the week before: run 13 km, cycled 42 km, gym 1.5 h

Some news after a long time of silence. The good news is that I am still able to do some cycling. Running is more or less impossibe and now is proved that the meniscus in the right knee is split and has to be repared. This will happen next Tuesday. It follows that the 4th stage of our German cycling tour is cancelled and moved to next year. 

However we had a good time in Mollans-sur-Ouvèze with good cycling including another visit to the top of Mont Ventoux. Obviously I had to cancel my participation at the Ventoux Half Marathon what was really a pity. 

Sadly we lost our holiday dog "Schnappi" as we were no longer allowed to run and hike with her. The reason is still nebulous to us. Emily told us the 9-year-old would be too old now to run too much. But Schnappi seemed to be as fit as ever. We still puzzle about having done anything wrong. We will do a last attempt at our next visit in September to get her back at least for a weekly stroll.

Instead we got "Nikita", a neighbourhood cat who visits us regularly and sometimes likes to stay overnight. Also human friends came for a visit and joint cycle tours. So 3 Provence months went by quickly and we left the village just before the festival weekend of Les Peintres dans la Rue. This was luck because we learnt that our road was closed for the fête and we had not been able to come to our house by car.  

After a week at home we left again for a holiday week with the family. This was followed by another journey. A dream came true. I always dreamed of visiting the Olympic Games. We had 4 gorgeous days in Paris what is another story.

Nice cycling, bad running

stats of the week: run 22 km, cycled 72 km, gym 3 h
stats of the previous week: run 7 km, cycled 260 km

"Les boucles de Verdon" was a perfectly organised cycle event in an exceptionally beautiful landscape. Participants were really high level. The world's best ever female cyclist, Jeannie Longo, now 65 years old, finished as 3rd woman along the petit parcours, 98 km with 1350 m of ascent, and she was 90 min faster than me. At least, 10% of the 300 riders were still behind me.  

The sad news is that I caught a serious meniscus problem when I started my hill running training. Escaping from a close thunderstorm I stormed down the steep hill. It was obviously too much for my old knee. Therefore I have to cancel the half marathon at the Traversée des Dentelles what is a really pity. I will try to accompany C. at the 5K but I doubt this will help me overcome the problem.

A bit of cycling in between

stats of the week: run 14 km, cycled 150 km, gym 3 h
stats of the previous week: run 22 km, cycled 137 km, gym 1.5 h

For a short while focus is now on cycling to prepare for a Gran Fondo at the famous gorge of Verdon. Unfortunately the weather is quite changable this spring and we even got wet on a tour around Mt Ventoux. During a short run I got caught by a heavy thunderstorm and had to hurry home while lightning and thunder was close around me. I will remember this forever.

A few days on Majorca helped with some sunshine:

The quiet route up to Col de Murs in the Luberon:

 

Number 25 in the box

stats of the week: run 7 km, hiked 14 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: run 58 km
London Marathon result: 4:35:19

London made a successful weekend having finished my 25th consecutive London Marathon. I would have wished to be 6 min faster but so what? Finally the main target could only be to finish the jubilee race. And it was a great day with perfect conditions and the best ever crowds along the capital's streets.

In the evening my colleagues surprised me with a chocolate cake and 25 candles what sent me close to happy tear drops. After 20 years of work with interAir it was a wonderful London weekend that I will remember forever. Many thanks also to all the friendly interAir clients who finished their own marathon and made my day taking part at the celebration party on Sunday evening.

Photo: Like me David Weir finished his 25th London Marathon in a row. Alas! he made it to the podium 22 times.

Waving to the interAir fan group on Tower Bridge.

Not downgrading

stats of  the week: run 13 km, cycled 97 km, hiked 7 km
stats of the previous week: run 34 km, gym 3 h (Berlin half 2:03:40)

The Berlin Half didn't show the result I hoped for. And I think it's not just the heat and Sahara sand I can blame. Legs felt tired from the first step on. It was a race with great atmosphere but I was not able to enjoy it. Already after 17 km I had to walk short parts. A bad day in good weather.

I am not sure about the lesson for London. Was it just a bad day or do I suffer from too many races during spring? I refuse to downgrade my target of a 4:30 finish on the mall. We'll see.

Time to taper

stats of the week: run 57 km, gym 3 h, walked 16 km
stats of the week before: run 32 km, gym 1.5 h

The week's mileage was bigger than scheduled due to several reasons. The result is that I feel exhausted and doubt that I will be able to repeat the speed of my last half marathon. I urgently have to taper now to recover for next Sunday and the Berlin half marathon. I don't have a special time target but I would be disappointed not to finish sub 2 hours.

Oscar to hide

stats of the week: run 53 km, gym 1 h
stats of the previous week: run 52 km, gym 3 h
stats of the week before: run 37 km, gym 3 h

Training followed roughly the schedule and culminated in running the race on the island of Sylt, a 34.5 km distance along nearly the complete length of the isle. Proudly I received the kitschiest cup ever for my 2nd place in the age group. It will stay on the mantlepiece for a week before I will hide it on the guests' loo.

Now it's time for a week of recovery before preparing for Berlin Half Marathon which this year uncomfortably takes place only 2 weeks before London.

I am quite with my mileage so far. It is rather rare that I can follow the plan.

Another Oscar on the mantlepiece

stats of the week: run 26 km, gym 3 h

The hamstring strain disappeared just in time to get ready for the final half marathon of the winter series. I could stick to my pace plan for a sub 2h finish until 17 km when it turned to a strenuous fight between legs and thoughts. On the final stretch I had to walk shortly twice but still managed to clock 1:58:53.

Thanks to my lead of 9 minutes after the second race I had no problems to secure my 3rd place and happily received another running Oscar.

A sprint in between

stats of the week: run 38 km, gym 4 h

I could not resist to fill in a 5 K race between the longer races the week before and after. The event at Herten-Bertlich is a must to take part and I was rewarded by my second "Oscar" for the age group victory. However, I have to pay for it with a hamstring strain and I now can only hope to get fit again until next Sunday for the half marathon which is the final of the series.

Photo: 2 happy veterans showing their trophies

Running logically

stats of the week: run 48 km, gym 3 h

The 2nd race of the winter run series was another good day. And I discovered a mathematical logic. For 10 K I finished 12 min (52 min) behind my personal 10 K best (40 min) which I set 34 years ago. For 15 K I finished 18 min (1:20) behind my personal 15 K best (1:02) which I set 24 years ago. 

Following this I should be able to finish the oncoming half marathon at 1:58 which is 25-26 min slower than my personal HM best that I set 33 years ago (1:32). This makes an average pace of 1:36min/k what sounds fairly realistic. We'll see in 2 weeks.

Challenges approaching

stats of the week: run 34 km, gym 2.5 h

Despite some light problems with the left thigh muscle I was able to fulfil my weekly target of 30 km. I hesitate to set up a training plan leading to London. Almost every time I tried to follow a plan it didn't work due to injury or illness. I'm sort of superstitious in this case.

It's now time to increase the distance. Next race on next Sunday will go for 15 km followed by a half marathon a fortnight later. "A half is always possible" ever was my principle. Nowadays in my seventies it is a challenge.

Spring dreams

stats of the week: run 35 km, cycled 60 km, gym 1.5h

The fortnight on Lanzarote finally made a successful training camp with a good mixture of flat running and hilly cycling. After 2 days of rest I earned the reward at the local 10 K race which was the first race of a series of three, with 15K and a half marathon to follow. I clocked 52:24 min what is not really fast but fast enough for me. Especially as I felt good during the race and just the final dash to the finish line got me to my limits. Last kilometer was my fastest and second half was faster than first what always is a good sign.

My racing plans for spring are fairly challenging. 7 races culminating with the London Marathon, of course. First focus is on the Syltlauf where I finished 3rd in my age group last time. That was 2019. A dream would come true if I can repeat this.

Final days on Lanzarote

stats of the week: run 20 km, cycled 244 km, walked 10 km

Lanzarote welcomes us with warm weather but strong winds. As usual on the island my average speed is quite slow due to the wind and sometimes bad roads. And my distances are rather short with less than 60 km. Anyway, my focus is not on cycling for the following months, so I don't mind. It is just for fun now.

We had extended our stay to 15 days but meanwhile I would prefer to be at home to take part at the demonstrations in Germany against growing facism in my country. I have ever thought of German people that there are still at least 20 per cent following Nazis' ideas. It is confirmed now.

The village of Famara is built on sand.

The island of La Graciosa looks caribbean.

The newly tarmacced road to Guatiza makes a perfect stretch for cyclists.

Sunshine to start the new year

stats of the week: run 31 km, cyceld 116 km
stats of the previous week: run 30 km, gym 3 h
stats of the week before: run 40 km, gym 1.5 h

The 10K New Year's Eve race was a disappointment. I had to struggle right from the beginning and was still slower than at the previous races. Maybe it was just a bit too much. Only positive thing was that I was able to add the 5K with C so it made a 15K and my longest workout since New York.

The new year starts once more with a bit of sunshine. Lanzarote is our favourite Canarian Island to do some bike rides in the hills and jogs along the promenade. Unfortunately C caught Covid after a few days, symptoms are heavy and she has to lie down all day to revover hopefully before the holiday will be over. I still hope I can fend the virus.