Got started

Training stats
Mo 26/02 Easy Jog, 5K, 30min

You won't believe it: Today I could not resist and took up running again! I managed to jog for 30 mins without a single stop, carrying my cast along the local lake. The knee did not complain so far! Therefore I am brave enough to pull my 8-week-schedule off the drawer and publish it here: XLS-file. The decisive days will come end of next week when the workouts are planned to exceed 10K.

I admit I have to survive this little operation tomorrow morning.

Do you need your arms to run?

If you had bet on me you'll have lost your money.


Ask a Surgeon if an operation is necessary I guess the chance he says yes is rather high. He did. The procedure will take place next Tuesday and I will have to stay in hospital for a couple of days. As you see I already have got my personal plaster. I was really shocked at first but now I wonder how light it is and that I can do more activities than I expected. E.g. I was able to drive home with my car. I presume the motor insurance will not be amused but the handling was no problem.

At first I totally cancelled my ambitions for the London Marathon. Now I begin to think about taking up my training at end of next week - with the plaster around my right arm. Okay, I promise not to force anything but so far I refuse to give up.

Look up some examples, this German Guy and some reports in English.

Holiday Horror

Sunbathing on La Gomera, combined with some easy training building up to be fit to run again - this was the proposal. Everything started according to plans - the weather was perfect, warm and sunny, a decent hotel, and during the first days we did some enjoyable hillwalks. The best was that my knee did not complain when descending steeply for several hundreds of height meters.

So I felt ready to do the next step and booked a mountain bike to have a nice day out in the island's hills. You might reckon what happened next. The streak of bad luck turned back on me. After reaching the mountain ridge by shuttle taxi I took the easy track up to Gomera's hightest peak - Garajonay, 1487m - enjoyed the view and ascended my bike to drive down again. The path was not very steep and I didn't drive really fast - speed certainly less than 20 mph. Then I spotted this little hollow across the track in front of me. Still I was not feeling threated by a potential danger. The accident took place so suddenly that I was not able to realise what happened. The next moment I could think again I was lying on the ground seeing my own bike flying just onto my body. I guess my decisive fault was that I draw the front brake by too much power what left me no other chance than leaving the bike head first after crashing the handle bar with my chest.

The first attempt to stand up failed because I couldn't get enough breath. I already saw myself being transported to a local hospital. After the main shock was absorbed I managed to get up and noticed the pain in the right half of my chest and my right elbow and saw a couple of small bleeding wounds on my right hand. A bit of stretching and placing plasters let me get on my bike again and completing the tour I had planned. What meant I did another 50K up and down the island's hills.


To shorten this crime story: For the rest of the holiday I was not able to move without pain, esp. the nights were dreadful. Returning home I paid my best known doc - the orthopaedist - a visit. He immediately reckoned that the elbow was broken and - after checking the x-rays - he proved to be right. Tomorrow I will see a surgeon who will advise if it has to be operated.

8 weeks to go to the London Marathon ... Do you bet on me?

Blog Silence for a Fortnight

Folks, I will be off for some days of sun bathing on the Canary Islands next Sunday. As usual I take my notebook with me but I am not sure if I will be able to post during the coming two weeks.

Received my Cortisone injection today without any complications - it is too early to report any impacts now. The knee still crunches and clicks with every bending.

Hope to build up my holiday activities from easy hill walking at first, followed by some mountain biking and finally a couple of easy jogs.

I thought about my prospects of taking part in the London Marathon 2007 (you reckon, I am doing this constantly). It is particularly difficult because I asked for sponsoring money this time - and I really would love to run together with B as we did in New York last year. There will probably be a choice of 3 options:
1. to withdraw.
2. to start the race and run alongside B as long as I can and try to walk to the finish.
3. to start as in (2.), then take the tube and run the final couple of miles together with B.

Of course option 3 would mean cheating. But would it really matter if my name was found in the results somewhere in the middle of the pack? Otherwise I definitely cannot let down my sponsors. E.g. Sabine paid one pound per kilometer. Tube kilometers? Perhaps I can offer to run a different race ... What do you think about these options?

However, there is still some hope left that I will be able to run the whole distance. Little hope.

News of the Knee

training stats
we 02/07: gym 2 hrs, indoor biking 60 min

Saw the orthopaedist on Monday and heard some interesting news. He discovered a small bruise behind the kneecap and suggested to treat it with a single Cortisone injection. After this the cartilage treatment by Hyaluronic Acid injections will be continued as I expected.

There is some hope now that with the bruise cleared my main problem will be cured. However, the back pain was the predominant problem on Monday and I asked to treat it first. This was successful and made me pay a cautious visit to the gym today. I have to admit I have put on some weight meanwhile. The waistbelt never lies.

Waiting Room

training stats
tu 01/30 - su 02/04 rest

11 weeks to go until race day and there is still no running at all. The doc turned out to be too optimistic about the disappearance of the back pain. The injection was successful as far as it enabled me to move again but the back is still hurting all day. So running was out of question although the knee seemed to get better.

Got my magnetic resonance images done on Thursday and the comment of the photographing doctor was somewhat frustrating. She told me about degenerated joints and getting older in general and that I should think about running less or giving it up completely. She didn't give the impression of being highly motivated to help me. I will talk to my orthopaedist tomorrow and my guess is that I will get a couple of more cartilage injections. My hope still is to be fit again when returning from the hill walking holiday on Gomera which will end on Feb 21.

There is some hope that my streak of bad luck has finished now. Friday night I was very lucky to escape a horrible car accident narrowly. An overtaking car came towards me by very high speed - after applying the brakes with all the power I had I managed to move my sliding car onto the pavement at the very last second. It was like looking death in the eye and after it I felt like reborn.