Tough Watts

stats of the week: run 13 km, indoor cycled  5 h/155 km, tm walked 12 km, hiked 8 km

Got more involved into Zwift cycling after I joined my first group rides what is much more entertaining than following workouts. My free month is nearly over now but I already decided to subscribe for the lockdown winter months. I find it quite tough to exceed 130 W average for duration of one hour. Counting my current weight 130 W means 2 W/kg what doesn't sound that much.

On Tuesday I was happy to complete a proper run of 8 km by a pace of 5:36 min/k. But things ended up with much more meniscus pain after the next only short jog. Feel forced now to stop running for a week. Luckily cycling doesn't cause any problems. Alas, I am back to Diclofenac for a while.

Lonesome winter coming

stats of the week: run 20 km, indoor cycled 2h45min, tm walked 14 km, hiked 10 km

Although I miss the longer jogs I begin to feel satiesfied with this kind of varied training. Weather get too bad now for more montain biking. You still see tough guys riding the woods but that's nothing for me. I ordered a training guide for indoor cycling and start getting used to Zwift sessions.

Corona is still strong in our area despite a "light" lockdown. It is a lonesome time and life has changed a lot for me. Without the sports I can luckily do it would be really depressing. It is going to be a long winter.

TV zwifting

stats of the week: run 18 km, cycled 88 km, indoor cycled 45 min, tm walked 12 km, hiked 13 km
stats of the previous week: run 16 km, indoor cycled 3:15 h, tm walked 14 km

The knee problem continues and I stick to weekly 3 short runs of 6 km max. At least I started to finish my  jogs by a fast final kilometer of sub 5 min/km. I am happy that I am still capable to do this pace.

As winter temperatures come in I zwift quite freqently. I use a free month I got with the purchase of my new hometrainer. Zwift is a fairly popular software for indoor cycling but I find it less entertaining than expected. I still go over to watching TV while zwifting what means there are two screens in front of my bike.

Got my second London medal this year. It is a pretty impressive one known that I had to run only 10 km to receive it.

New experience in the well known woods

stats of the week: run 16 km, cycled 57 km, hiked 14 km, tm walked 14 km
stats of the previous week: run 11 km, cycled 59 km, indoor cycled 66 min, hiked 15 km, tm walked 10 km

Two more active and varied weeks of training. My mountain bike had not been used for many many years. It was a prize I won at a Christmas lottery. The first 3 times I rode it I had 3 accidents without other people being involved. I just couldn't handle the brakes and was out of their depth. After this experience I let the bike rest in the basement. Until now. After 3 rides I am still free of downfalls and I really enjoy cycling through our hilly autumn woods.

During our sort of lockdown I have to force myself to get out every day. My weekly contacts I can count by my 10 fingers. It is a lonesome time and feels like a quarantine for months.

Staying active despite knee problem

stats of the week: run 10 km, indoor cycled 2.30 h, hiked 22 km, tm walked 10 km
stats of the previous week: run 10 km, indoor cycled 45 min, hiked 18 km, tm walked 14 km

Happy to have received my London Marathon finisher package:

Completed 2 virtual races of 5 and 10 km as a pacemaker for C what the knee fairly tolerated. But it still feels like I will have to wait several weeks to recover fully if ever. I will concede another 4 weeks before consulting the orthopaedist. Alas, I know what he will do: ambulant surgery of the meniscus.

Despairingly I bought a new indoor bike trainer to stay fit during the cold months. I also reactivated my mountain bike that I havn't been using for many years. It is still waiting in the cellar.

The stats show rather active weeks but I miss proper running a lot. However, I try to cope with the situation.

A view of a retiree's home office:

Low level load

stats of the week: run 5 km, hiked 32 km, treadmill walked 14 km
stats of the previous week: cycled 54 km, hiked 19 km, treadmill walked 14 km

I miss the gym a lot. I never enjoyed doing the gym exercises but my body needs them what I can feel meanwhile. Since March I havn't been to the gym and now have even terminated my contract after 22 years of exercising. I should continue at home but find it too difficult to motivate myself.

The knee takes its toll for the unavoidable London Marathon and I have to be cautious building up more load. Hiking seems to be fine up to 10 km, running is tolerated for 5 km every few days. Could be worse.

Walking on the treadmill is a new habit in the morning before breakfast just to wake up my heartrate.

The hike around the hills of Rüggeberg was the week's highlight:

Done: My 21st London Marathon

stats of the week: run 53 km, cycled 77 km
London Marathon result: 4:39:11

Thanks to a perfect support with numerous food stations and two great companions I was able to finish my 21st London Marathon in a proper time. Walking breaks every 5 km enabled me to get to the finish line in good shape. Surprisingly I could run the last 4 km at pace of well sub 6 min/km. Compared to my ardous long training runs this performance shows the importance of suffcient food and drink. 

This photo was taken after 35 km:

A special experience was the reliability of the official London Marathon App. To make sure that we completed the whole distance we continued till my Polar GPS watch clocked 42.6 km. Then we walked to the car park. Where I noticed that my app had only summed up 26.07 miles. So I had to start again to finish my official marathon and finally got an official time of 4:45:38. Even worse for one of my companions: The app counted just 23 miles and did'nt confirm the finish. Hopefully this will be corrected by sending the GPX file.