Target 26.2 - First Timer Steve's Journey to Paris

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  • Steve loves bacon wrote (see)

    Um... we act for Sugar Hut and got them their late licence in 2011 image so you can blame the  vajazzle invasion on us!


    I opted for a tactical withdrawal not long after Coffee Bars and Tanning Salons outnumbered (proper) pubs in Brentwood high street.

    Does that mean you can also claim credit for getting Kevin Bacon to say Tots Amazeballs on TV?

  • Hi Steve, the Colchester half course goes along the high street, so vaguely passes the castle, but no, not in the park. I'm aiming for sub 1.57, but I think I can go faster. Did 5 miles today-put some race pace in, but that was 8:30, whereas a 1:57 needs an 8:56, so I have a pacing plan.



    Starting at 8:56 for the first 5 miles, then see if I can take it up to 8:45 for the next 5, then go mad for the last 3...
  • DS2DS2 ✭✭✭
    Angela - that sounds like a plan. If the Colchester park run succeeds I'll run it in the summer when I'm down that way at my caravan. Only 60 days to Halstead! Went to track tonight for first time this year. Did 9 miles with 6 x 800 all inside 3:13 so on track.



    Kandinsky - another Halstead entrant on here. Excellent!
  • PC -PC - ✭✭✭
    Hi Steve,



    It's easy to give advice, might not follow it myself. I presume you aware of the RW and Macmillan calculators however there are no parameters for experience, fueling, injury (you), stupidity (me) nor the weather.



    Whatever Sam suggests, she'll push you to the limit with the least risk possible. Don't worry, you're going to suffer image but with a good time.



    My half suggests 3h45, I plan to aim close to that which is very risky, borderline stupid. If I'm wrong then I'll could be walking home in 4h30. I'll probably change my mind 50 times before the day and a few more times before 8:45am.



    All this parkrun talk sounds fun. Your son wants to follow in your footsteps? He knows that they are very fast footsteps? Jack loves bacon! Will Jack be coming to Paris? My eldest is only 3, I would love her to watch me but waiting around is not fair. I dreamt of meeting her just before the finish and carrying her in my arms as I cross the line. Once after a LSR I carried her up the stairs which ended that dream.



    Hope the knee is feeling better. All the best
  • Hi Steve

    Knee feeling any better? In response to your question, I did recently get myself a Garmin 410 but am still in the process of leaving how to use it properly. Colchester half may now now not happen for me, slight knee niggles myself and this close to Brighton (one month today!) I think I may be better off with a few days rest but we'll see.

    Paul

  •  

    You seem postive so that is good!

    Just for infor really but have restaurant booked for Friday 5th April:

    Al  Caratello (5 rue Audran, 75018) a few minutes walk from hotel but remember not eating until probably 9.30pm  so will need to eat something at say 6pm and will not need  supper but will discuss these  details more over next few weeks. You are eating at 6.30pm on the Saturday night.

    Feel free to have a look at reviews:

     http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d788378-Reviews-Ristorante_Al_Caratello-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

    No specific menu organized so will have to choose from menu.

    Keepimage

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Stevo - hope the knee is recovering well. Had any more runs on it yet. Really hope it clears up for you before the big day. 

    Great training day 2 video by the way. Just unfortunate you couldn't do much of the running. 

    What's the latest rehab plan going into the final 3 weeks? And have you had that scan yet?

  • Hello all,

    Steve is in the midst of the chaos that is commonly known as moving house, which is why he hasn't been able to post for a little while. All that box lugging hasn't done his knee much good, which is still causing him jip, I'm afraid.

    It's more rest and ice on the agenda with a consultant's appointment on Tuesday to give a clearer picture of where we're at. Steve has said he would happily crawl to the finish line - he'd rather do it at any pace than not at all. But not, of course, if doing so would risk further damage. So we have to see what the consultant, along with physio Sarah, say on Tuesday. But if he has any way of getting to that finish line, on hands, knees or elbows, you can bet Steve will be doing it! Let's all keep sending positive vibes to that bloody knee image!

    Hope your training goes well this weekend, all.

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Sorry to hear that Sam.

    I have no doubt you'd do everything to get yourself to the finish line Steve. If it turns out the doctors won't let you then give me a call and I'll happily carry you round. Ok, so maybe I might need some help but there will be no shortage of volunteers!

    Really wish you the best of luck!

  • PC -PC - ✭✭✭
    Thanks Sam for the update. Steve's a great guy, it's been an amazing journey and I know it's not finished. If you can get Steve to the starting line then we all know he'll get to the finish.



    I'd be honoured to run with Steve, that should encourage him to get better. Although at 50% fit he'll still beat me. I'm not offering to carry him, I was hoping he would give me a piggy back, only the last 26 miles.
  • jenfjenf ✭✭✭

    Good luck at the consultants on Tuesday Steve. Hope you get some positive news.

  • Hi Steve,

    Hope the house move going OK- not what you need at this time!! Good luck for the Consultant on Tuesday- have you had the MRI yet?

     

  • Positive thought and loads of love for Tuesday.....Maybe we will get to run together after all!!!!.....image......x

  • Fingers crossed for Tuesday.

    Hope house move is going/went okay.

    Sending that knee lots of ice and rest!

  • Hi everyone,

    Thank you for all the kind words and support! image

    What with the move and everything, I don't have access to the internet at home until Thursday when it is getting installed, hence my lack of posts, but I wanted to leave a cheeky post from the computer at work to say thank you. I have been reading the posts on my phone and they really have helped cheer me up and keep me smiling.

    The move was hard work but overall it went ok... we're down to the last three thousand boxes to unpack so almost there! We had a bit of a nightmare with the sofa which just wouldn't fit through the front door and got most of the way down the path at the side of the house being getting completely wedged so the only solution was to hoist it up on to the roof (!) and pass it down into the back garden so that it could go in through the patio doors!

    I have my appointment with a consultant tomorrow - the letter says it could take up to three hours so it certainly sounds thorough!! I'll update you when I can with the outcome, and also respond properly to all your posts as soon as I can.

    I had a chat with Sam on the phone the other day and, as she said in her post, I'm determined to get round one way or another. I was thinking I could possibly buy a pair of those 'wheelies' shoes that kids were so into a little while back... then all I need to do is tie a bit of string to Alex and get towed round. That'd count, right?

    What with all the lifting and traipsing up and down stairs when moving, my knee really flared up over the weekend but it feels a lot, lot calmer today so I am going to try out a gentle run this evening and see what happens... fingers crossed everyone!

    Anyway, I'd better go before I get the sack! I have absolutely hated being injured and not being able to get out there and run but the support and kindness on here really has helped and it means a lot to me. I'm back to feeling positive and I know this evening's run won't be perfect but I have a feeling it is going to go alright and I will update you with how I get on!

  • Steve, fingers crossed all works out for you! Lets hope you get the good news you deserve tomorrow

  • Good luck tomorrow Steve, will be anxious to hear the outcome...

  •  

    Your move sounds pretty much like every move I've ever been involved with image

     Good luck for tomorrow.

     

     

  • How did you get on with tonights run Steve. Yes house move and all that lifting will definately aggravate your knee at least that's done now. Good to be seeing the consultant tomorrow when it's a bit sore so they can tell what's going on.

    Keep us posted......

  • PC -PC - ✭✭✭
    Hi Steve,



    Fingers crossed.



    Doesn't matter that you're not updating, you've been told to restimage . Also I think it's hard on you lot, your fan clubs pop up when it suits us. You have your intense training, have to report on here AND reply to us! Peronally it does bother me, you have more important things to do.



    I ran 32k in Paris yesterday, it was hard. It brought me back down to Earth, it made me question if a sub 4 was possible. I easily ran up the incline towards Bois de Boulogne but couldn't change to marathon pace. I now see the importance of acceleration strides and mixing up the paces. After Paris, I'm going to read back through the threads, another reason why people shouldn't clog them up.



    Hope the move went OK. I hate unpacking, it's the hardest part. I think you'll need loads of positive vibes to empty those boxes. I bet you have loads of books! All the best.
  • PC -PC - ✭✭✭
    Me again. I couldn't understand Malcs obsession with Shady. I thought he was mad concentrating on someone else's efforts. Now I believe, Malcs is using Shady as a mirror, there is a lot of good banter mixed up with some serious ideas. It's a partnership. I think it's normal to give support because it's two way. Everyone says about your shoelaces and I often think about the stick men, great help for me.



    I follow the Paris thread where there are sub 3 blokes over the moon because someone has just posted a 1h PB for a 10k. I thought running was a solitary sport, I was wrong.
  • Afternoon Bacon Steve!

    Hope the appointment went well with the consultant today. We've still got 3 weeks and at least you'll know what to do when you get the results of today. Chin up - I'm sure we can rig up some sort of pulley to Alex. He wouldn't find sub-3 with a chap on roller skates hanging on behind tough going, would he? He has got those magic orange trainers after all!

  • Evening Bacon!!

    Hope all went well today Buddy!

  • Hi Steve, I'm running Paris as my first marathon too. Just before Christmas, one week into training, I fractured my tibia skiing and have been on the road to recovery since. I tore the ACL in that knee before so was relieved it wasn't completely torn. I know how frustrating it is not running, I think that not training is harder than all the early get ups, long runs in the rain etc there's nothing worse than not running when everyone else is reporting their progress and worse still the days are ticking by.



    After weeks off running, tonnes of physio and anti-gravity training I thought I was okay but after my 20M I got that pain which you just can't run through, the absolutely excruciating one. I had another almost ten days off running, back to cross-training,but the last few days its been okay again, so weird. Hope today went okay, know I don't have the pressure of being in the Asics team but still desperate to run Paris the best I can and know you'll make it to both the start and the finish line.

    Best of luck

    Lucy
  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭
    PC91 wrote (see)
    I couldn't understand Malcs obsession with Shady. I thought he was mad concentrating on someone else's efforts. Now I believe, Malcs is using Shady as a mirror, there is a lot of good banter mixed up with some serious ideas. 

    Whoa - hold the boat! What's this about obsesssion? Ok, so I do have a room of my house dedicated to the man. Yes, there are posters on the wall and yes I regularly dress up in identical compression gear. And ok, occasionally I do follow him around hiding in the shadows but obsession, really? image

  • MalcsMalcs ✭✭✭

    Lucy - anti gravity training?!! Are you an astronaut? 

    Steveo - we're all hoping you had good news!

    PC91 - joking aside now, you're absolutely spot on. I only discovered the true value of the forums as part of the Asics comp. As well as providing some great help and advice they are a tremendous support mechanism. Runners supporting runners. Something that family and friends can't really do unless they are runners themselves because, let's face it, you need to be to understand what's really going through our heads.

  • Hi guys,

    Another cheeky update from work... Luckily my boss tends to look very bored when I talk about running so it's unlikely he'll be following this thread... Famous last wordsimage

    So I went to see the consultant yesterday - it was a bit of a trek as all the local clinics I could have gone to didn't have any appointments for weeks so I went a bit further afield to try and speed the process up!

    I find the whole process slightly ridiculous - Sarah checked me out at the training day and thought that it was likely I have torn the cartilage in my knee... therefore I would benefit from an MRI scan - however, physiotherapists can't refer (surely they should be able to, given that this is their area of expertise!) and so I had to go and see the GP.

    The GP examined me basically from scratch and eventually formed the opinion... that I had probably torn the cartilage in my knee and that I would therefore benefit from an MRI scan. So he referred me to a specialist consultant.

    So I went to the Assessment Centre where, and you may start to notice a theme here, the consultant examined me himself and concluded, brace yourself, that I had probably torn the cartilage in my knee and that I would therefore benefit from an MRI scan.

    Sarah told me that two weeks ago! There's our hard-earned taxes at work...

    As it happens, the consultant I saw was great - he was very funny and really seemed to know what he was talking about. He was Japanese and his name was Dr Kin Kong. I kid you not.

    Basically, he thinks the scan will be done before the end of March and I have a follow-up appointment on 15th April to discuss the results and work out the next steps.

    Obviously this is post-marathon! We discussed what I should/shouldn't do and he was of the opinion that I should just be guided by symptoms - if I am able to run then I can run, if it is too painful/swollen to run then I shouldn't run. Simple really!

    I am paraphrasing here, but he as good as said: "you've knackered the knee anyway, so see how you get on in Paris and I'll fix it for you afterwards".

    So good news on that front image

    He did say, longer-term, that I may experience issues with the knee. He said that if it is what/where he suspects then it is likely that they will need to remove some of the cartilage. From what he was saying, this means that my knee will wear out quicker than otherwise... although he was very pessimistic with it all! He said knees start wearing out from 50+ and mine will, if the surgery went ahead, wear out from 40+! He recommended changing over to swimming in a few years image

    But I'm sure all that was just worst-case scenario stuff and I have trouble looking ahead to the end of the week, let alone a decade or more away so I'll cross those bridges as when I get there (yes, on crutches if necessary haha).

    The main thing I took away from it was that running this marathon won't do any long-term, irreparable damage so I'm good to go on that front.

    One thing that has been bothering me for the last few days, though, is that all of this happened before I had got my medical certificate signed by my GP to clear me to run in Paris... I'm wondering whether this might now turn out to be a bit of an issue for me. Would a GP clear me to run given that I've just been referred for a suspected tear in the cartilage in my knee??

    We'll see...

    Anyway, not long until I have internet at home so I can hopefully get back up to speed on the thread.

    I have absolutely no idea what to do training-wise now - I have managed a couple of short runs and been ok(ish) but I feel like I really should give a long run a go on Sunday maybe, just to see how it reacts... O

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