Knee update

I went to the orthopaedic clinic on Wednesday. Didn't see the surgeon but was given a good going over by the knee specialist physio. He also works with the local football team, my boyhood heroes, http://www.gmfc.net/

He pulled and hauled my leg in many directions and said my knee seems stable enough. Therefore surgery was not indicated, even to have a little look around! I made a point of developing my legs folowing the big injury 9 years ago, and my big thighs seems to have helped! However, he does think i have a patella-femoral tracking issue. This will require some training of the VMO muscle. More exercise from the physio to target this area.

The pain and general feeling of weakness has continued to ease off but i still have no answers to what could have set off the feeling of an acute injury. I suspect a mixture of not allowing myself adequate rest after the Paris marathon, trying to play football and taking to the hills too quickly in the weeks after Paris.

A lesson has been learned!!!(perhaps).

I've done very little running during the past couple of weeks. The past two Sundays have each had me out for about 20 miles in the hills behind Greenock, Inverkip and Wemyss Bay. I walked the first effort and took just under 5 hours 40 but stopped a few times for, ahem, comfort breaks and some photography. Last Sunday I covered the same route and due to feeling ok i put in a few trots along the way. I covered the distance in about 4hours 20 and started with a backpack of about 10kg. This included 3litres of drinks, grub and 6kg of weights off my dumbbells.

A 1500m recovery swim on Monday then nothing other than the physio exercises until yesterday. Did an easy 4 miles running without much problem and will attempt 10miles easy pace today.

Hopefully a corner has been turned.

The dates are in or is it out?!!!

The next Marathon Des Sables will be taking place 27 March - 6 April 2009.

Thankfully I've rested the past 3 days and my knee is now feeling somewhat better. The training plan really needs to be finalised soon.

I've got physio at the end of the week and will hopefully have a better idea of what ails me then. I may now reconsider my keenness to have the bone butchers open me up.

A long walk will be undertaken tomorrow with an aim to up the ante in the next wee while.

Set back

Just a grumble post! You may proceed immediately to the last line.

I ruptured my cruciate ligament playing football 9 years ago. The first question i got asked at hospital was, at what level do you participate in sport? I knew then i would not be getting sent to the USA for a nice reconstruction. Instead it was physio all the way and it took about 2 years to feel anywhere near normal again. This may have been due to returning to footie too quickly and too often. Anyway, i chucked the football completely 3-4 years ago and my knee has been swell since then. It is now swell another way!

The footballers were short staffed about 3 weeks ago and invited me back, just to play in goal. Unfortunately i decided the standard had slipped incredibly and ventured outfield for the last 15mins. This went fine with absolutely no probs but later in the week my knee starts to give me a bit of grief. I still ran and cycled but had a bit of a dullness in the knee. It has not improved and i have now called a halt to running meantime. My intention was to continue with the cycling because that's what made up most of my physio rehab.

I went out for a nice 45km ride yesterday which was spoiled at the halfway point by me noticing the front wheel has a terrible wobble. I am now reluctant to use this beautiful steed until it is repaired. Unfortunately, yet again, i can't get to the shop anytime soon.

Back to the kneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I have had occasional short term aches over the years but this feels like a fresh injury. I went to the docs yesterday and am being reffered to the bone guy. This could be a lengthy wait but i work in the hospital and am practising my terribly pathetic creature look with a view to weaseling an earlier appointment. This and free micropore tape are among the limited benefits of being an NHS employee.

To cut a long story short.

Knee is wonky.I am rather cheesed off.
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Paris marathon recovery

3hrs 46min 11secs. On the whole i was pleased with this(my 2nd fastest marathon time). I still believe i've got sub 3:30 in me though. This may be put to the test with an autumn marathon. It may not!


I went through the 20 mile mark in Paris in 2:43ish and thought i had a good chance of getting near to 3:30. Unfortunately, my legs had a different plan. While training i had tried to condition myself to believe 4 miles from home was a time to up the pace. It had been working, until marathon day. I just felt like there was no more to give. From early on it felt like my stomach was struggling with the energy food even though it was the same stuff as used in training. Mile 25 was the lowest point with the developing mantra being, fuck doing this in the desert everyday for a week! I so wanted to stop but kept plodding away because i have stopped in the past and it was not a good idea.


Happily, these thoughts disappeared as quick as they arrived after crossing the finish line.


What went wrong? I had been feeling unwell and a bit run down in the week or so prior to the race. It was like man flu, only worse. I do feel this was only a minor contributor though, as was the fueling. The main problem had been not losing enough beef at the start of the training programme. This lesson has now been learned(i hope).


My legs were sore that night and tackling stairs was difficult until the Wednesday. I've done 3 short bike rides and 1 run since the race. Getting about not too bad but still lacking any real power to blast(relatively speaking) up hills. I'll give myself another week of fairly gentle activity before deciding where i'm at and what i'll be doing.


I've had a few beers through the past week(including loads on Saturday) and may have a few more this week. I might even try another day of excess. It was rather good fun, I think!

You have to start somewhere!

I'm going to try and remember to keep this up to date during the next year. The blog shall be complete when I return from Morocco sometime in April 2009, hopefully alive and having completed the Marathon des Sable.

I don't have any great training plan sorted for the year ahead(yet) but plan to build on my endurance training of the past couple of years. I've now done 4 full marathons, a half ironman distance and full Ironman Triathlon, plus loads of shorter events since 2004. I still seem to be improving despite the advancing years, although I am finding it increasingly difficult to stop my belly advancing during the lull between events. This is probably because I can be rather greedy with the ale and pies.

I am now approaching the end of week 1 in my 3 week taper for the Paris marathon on 6th April. The peak was achieved last Sunday during a 22 mile run. I seem to have my race day strategies for pacing, hydrating and taking on calories sorted. This will be formally tested on the day. Why didn't I try to lose some more weight 3 months ago?! Refer to the final sentence of the last paragraph.

Looking back I have covered almost 600 miles running plus some cycling and cross training since starting my 18 week programme at the beginning of last December. It's now all about getting the head ready for the on the day pain (and staying away from bad food). When I come back from Paris there will be a couple of weeks belly building before embarking on the final leg of my journey to the Sahara.

I'll try keeping this up to date to monitor my own progress while reporting highs, lows and near misses. The latter usually involves a dead heat sprint between my buttocks and my bowel at the toilet seat finish line! The blog will also allow anyone else to see what is involved in my training regime before they feel suitably motivated to generously sponsor me, when I come round with the sheet. As usual, I'll be collecting for The Cystic Fibrosis Trust with a view to contributing to their cure finding research. Hopefully my son Ross will be near the front of the queue for this when it is realised.

Have a look at http://www.cftrust.org.uk/ for more info.

This years MdS sets off on 27th March. Have a look at http://www.saharamarathon.co.uk/ to view the torture involved.

This week sees a total of 34 running miles, next week= 26miles and then 9 miles the following week prior to race day.