Marathon du Medoc

Marathon all finished up.

5 and 1/2 hours
I did the first 21k in about 2hrs 20. Then slowed down to enjoy the festivities for the rest.

I hit all but one of the 23 wine tastings.
Did an 8k recovery walk the next day and drank some more wine.

Wk 23
jog (10 min), swim (10 min)
3.5k run (22 min)
Aqua biking (30 min)
6k run (30 min)

wk 24/25
run (35 min)
bike (1hr)
kayak (1hr15)
run (40 min)
bike (1hr15)
run (50 min)
run (1hr40)

Drinks
Reds: Blasted Church, Vancouver Island. Biggest suprise, velvety and morish.
Calafornian Zinfandel,
Grouse Mountain, Okanagan Valley, Vielles Vignes Cabernet Sauvignan.
See ya Later, Okanagan, Pinot Noir
Chat en oeuf, Ventoux blend, not bad at all.
whites
Mip Niq, Okanagan, very clear, native made
Okanagan Geuwertraminer
Many micro brews, best ones were Herman's black lager and an Ale from Victoria.


Not at all that well prepared for the marathon. There will have to be a lot of walking since I do not want to re-injur myself. I should be able to stay ahead of the 6 hour sweepers with about 18k of jogging.

The road to recovery

Week 22

x ski machine (25 min)
bike 12.5k (30 min)
water jog (30 min), swim (15 min)
swim (10 min)
swim (10 min)

Drinking:
L'Hortus Pic St Loup La Bergerie and La Grande Cuvée. Reds
Banyuls sweet red, reserve vignerone
Neuport white port
Champaigne
Rosés Buzet and Colliore
Pic Poule white
Langluvin whiskey

Apparantly the swelling has gone away in my back though I still feel a little occasional discomfort there. The flexiblity in my hip joint is almost where it should be. Dr. says it is too soon to say if I can run a marathon and the real culprits are my hamstrings, (too short), causing everything else to get pulled out of wack. I will have to do special stretches everyday plus after each sports activity. One thing I was not doing right in my streches was that I did not keep my opposite leg perfectly straight. Both knees should be in a locked position when you stretch your hamstrings.
When one is stretching their hamstrings it apears

Alternate route

So without running I am going to have to get really serious about the cross training.

Wk 21
5.5k run (35 min)
bike 10k (22 min), swim 1k (18min)
Sea swim (20 min)
Sea swim (2 times 5 min)

This week I have started with a x country ski machine and I am going to try to keep mixing it up.

Drinking
Mas de coume red from colliore, very strong and the first non sweet wine I have had from that region.
Duro red from Portugal
Cotes de mont ventoux rosé

Way off course.

That's it 14 days no running, doctor's orders. It was exactly like when you take your car to the mechanic because of one problem and they shake their head and point out a bunch of other stuff that you never even thought of and make you feel like a careless driver.
My lower back pain apparantly has more to do with a hip that is way out of wack and a blockage in the dorsal area of my spine and I may be developing arthritis in my hip and two discs in my spine. So I can't jog or do any sports involving running untill my next check up and if there are still problems I will have to get an x-ray. In the mean time I can swim and take Celebrex 200 and Chondrosulf 400 and keep on stretching.

I don't know if you can prepare for a marathon doing only swimming and biking and maybe some water jogging at a key stage in the preparation but we shall see. If I can still participate in the marathon the goal will be to participate and finish if possible and not run the whole thing but walk for part of it.

slowly slowly

Wk)20

3.5k (27 min)
3k (20 min)
8k (1hr)

Drinks
Terrasses de Larzac red, Bourgogne white, Carolus amber beer from Belguim

These times and distances are less than what I was doing in week 1. This can't be a good sign. Inspite of the obvious need for me to ramp up the volume of kilometers that I am running I am trying to take it nice and slow and not push myself too hard so that I don't have any serious problems with my back.

oh no

Things have been going badly in preparationville. Pain in the lower back and upper ass has drastically cut into my running in what should be the meat of my training weeks.

Wk 18
3k jog, 500 m swim, 13k kayak

Wk 19
3.4k jog, 500m swim
6k jog, 500m swim

Wine wise things have been off to the races. In the course of the last two weeks I have consumed about a dozen glasses of port. Some Vino Verdé white and Duro Red. Numerous Rosés and some St. Joseph Burgundy.
In red wines I have tried Peche Rome from Languadoc (very disapointing). Cheverny, Charrentes, Brouilly, St. Nicolas de Bourguielle and more Bordeaux. The Bourguielle was my personal favorite.