Christmas in Franschhoek

stats of the week: cycled 157km

At least my knee allows some hiking already and let me see how my regular beverage grows.

I follow a tight diet to feed my cartilage. Including red wine for dinner. Besides of hot spices for breakfast.

The view from Klapmutskop at the full moon christmas hike.

Franschhoek Pass. Our exercise cycle route right from the doorstep,
440 meters of altitude difference on 8 km of distance.

Cycling the Cape

stats of the week: cycled 70km

Road biking is increasingly popular in South Africa. Cape Town and Joburg not only host the world's biggest cycling events, now SA has its first pro team managed by German Rolf Aldag.

Biking on country roads feels dangerous. Car drivers are going fast and tend to overtake at little distance. If there is no hard shoulder it's no fun. However, the landscape makes up for the agony.

Hard times as a spectator

stats of the week: second week of forced rest

You might imagine that it is hard to be a spectator but otherwise it was good fun to support C. at the Sundowner 10Km in Cape Town. It was a fairly big event with approx. more than 2,000 runners, about nearly half of them women.

They're off! No chip time. For a European soul it was strange to see how many runners were late at the start. Even 15 minutes after the crowd was gone there were runners still setting off on their own. Luckily roads were still closed for them.

System is simple and easy. When registering you get a card on which you write down your name. This card you have to carry during the race and to the finish line.

After crossing the finish line you get another card showing your place in the field. Here were separate finishs for men and women!

Putting both of your cards together you place them on a board. Ready is the result list!

Female winner at km 9.

Runners are required to carry their age group on front and back (here "J") if they aim for age group prizes.

And how about my knee? Everything goes to schedule. Meanwhile I have started cycling already :-)

Fast cut, long recovery

stats of the week: rest. ice. compression. elevation.

It was a different opportunity to feel like a pro. Monday morning at 11am I felt I should consult a doc to examin my knee. Less than 24 hours later I found myself lieing on the operating table.

Surgery of the torn meniscus went smooth but now patience is my biggest challenge. Biking should be possible after 2 weeks, running after 2 months! Winter holidays are going to be very recreative.

Game over

stats of the week: run 15km, gym 5h
stats of the week before: run 32km, gym 5h

The underestimated minor knee problem turned out to become a major one. It feels like a damaged meniscus and running will not be possible for quite a number of weeks. I know several runners who had to retire from running due to meniscus problems. A constant fear once you have reached your sixties.

Therapy is cooling, diclofenac and rest, rest, rest. Should I post my weekly weight gain?

End-of-season running

stats of the week: run 43km, gym 3h

One should reckon season is over. But running season never is over. There are the local end-of-year races and the local rivals waiting. It's tough luck that I have developed a minor knee problem that restrains me from doing speed work. We'll see what is possible.

Slow, happy and soon back

stats of the week: run 23km, cycled 50km, gym 1h
stats of the week before: run 56km
result NYC marathon: 4:13:14 h

With only one longer run in the box I made a cautious attempt to run the New York City marathon. Plan was to finish around 4:15 h. So I took up a 6min/km pace. I was happy to keep up this speed without any problems until the ascent of the 5th avenue at km 36. At this point I had collected a buffer of two minutes that I lost during the final 4km when I had to walk shortly for 3 times. My finish time of 4:13:14 is an average pace of exactly 6:00min/km.

That's my nineth and slowest NYC marathon. Alas I have to face that I have never been as old as this time so I have to be satisfied with my performance. A pleasant experience is that my muscles and body coped with the burdon and I seem to be able to get back to normal exercise soon.