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.