Hope for MS sufferers as Scottish scientist nears breakthrough

An Edinburgh scientist is nearing a breakthrough that will revolutionize the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and change the lives of generations of future sufferers.

Edinburgh University's Professor Charles French-Constant, whose work has largely been funded with £2 million from the author JK Rowling, below, is working on a way of using stem cells to halt the deterioration of sufferers.

He is carrying out tests on mice and rats to try to find a way of using the cells to repair damage to the brain. Combined with the earliest possible detection of MS in patients, Prof French-Constant's work offers the best hope of eradicating its devastating effect on patients.

He recently appeared in a documentary made by journalist and MS sufferer Elizabeth Quigley, who sees his tests as a possible "cure", although sadly for future generations rather than herself. Prof French-Constant, head of the Edinburgh University Centre for Translational Research, is reluctant to talk so boldly, but is confident that progress can be made in combating the disease which affects about 10,000 Scots.

He said: "We need to identify targets – molecules that contribute to the repair process in the brain. We have identified one interesting new candidate and are progressing with that, as well as trying to identify others."Once we have a positive target we have to see if it is present in patients with MS, we can't assume that just because it's worked on rats and mice.

This means a treatment being available to patients in the UK is likely to be ten or 15 years away, although, for many people living with a history of MS in their family that will be a comforting thought.

Where MS comes from and what triggers it remains a mystery, but it is believed to be at least partly hereditary. It is sometimes known as the "Scottish disease" as this country has the highest concentration in the world. It can also be found abroad in areas which have a large Scottish community. Countries with similar latitude to Scotland also have high rates of MS, suggesting that temperature or sunlight could be a factor, and childhood illnesses are also common among sufferers who develop MS in later life.

Officially in for IM USA 2009

Well, I made it official today and I completed my registration for IM USA 2009 over the internet today. 363 days until we'll be in Lake Placid for the Ironman, hopefully a better day than this year's race. For a wrap up of the race click here.


Yesterday I did a 100 mile ride, 10 mile run brick work out. The ride was tough, I had a headache and just never seemed to get comfortable. Again I had a head wind to deal with on the way home. I had intended to go 112 miles, but when I got up to Beaverton the skies looked very dark and I thought I was really going to get it, so I decided to turn around a bit early and head for home. Once home I took a few minutes and then headed out for the run. The run went well and once I turned East, I finally had the wind at my back so I decided to take advantage of it and go a bit further than I had planned and get a 10 miler in. Later looking back at my log for the last two years, it was the longest brick I've ever completed, and it felt like it!

Today starts off two weeks of the highest volume training, I will try to get in a minimum of 20 hours each week for the next two weeks before the taper begins. The only thing that is bothering me is a mortons neuroma on the bottom of my right foot. It starts to hurt after three hours of so on the bike and really flares up on the run. It is a over use injury of a nerve bundle in that area of the foot and when it gets going, it feels like someone is sticking a hot poker into the bottom of your foot. I've been using Tylenol to keep it under control and I'm hoping that the taper will allow it to rest and heal up enough to not make an appearance in Louisville.

The weather is haeting up in Louisville, 95 degrees forecast for tomorrow!

Click Here for a Lake Placid Slide Show

I'm in for 2009 Lake Placid !!

Great Weekend But a Wet Race in Lake Placid

Just back from the weekend in Lake Placid. We arrived on Saturday around noon and after checking into our motel in Tupper Lake we headed for Lake Placid. Tupper Lake is about a 40 minute drive, but it was the only place left after I left it to late to get into someplace closer.

We scouted out the bike course and I rode a section on from Jay to Keene. It was hot and sunny and a bit steamy from some rain earlier in the day. It down hill all the way into Keene and after riding back up, I decided to do it again. Spent about 2 hours riding and got good look at that part of the course.

On Sunday morning we got up early and got back to the race site for the swim start, I’ve never seen a mass swim start at an Ironman and since I’m planning on doing this one next year, I thought it would be a good idea to see if it is as bad as everyone makes it out to be. The sky was over cast and it looked like rain. The swim start is fairly wide and it looked like people were lined up 10 to 15 deep and when the gun went off it looked pretty messy for the first few minutes. It seemed that a lot of people held back for a couple of minutes until the melee had passed. The swim is held in Mirror Lake and the conditions are perfect there. The lake was as smooth as a mirror, no waves, no currents, well marked and a 2 loop swim. This is the kind of swim that you will not be doing any off course swims.

That was as dry as those poor athletes were going to get that day. It started raining before most people had gotten on their bikes and it rained all day! Sometimes harder than other, but it was dreary and raining all day. I gotta hand it to anyone that took part in that, spectators included.

45 Days and Counting….So Much to Do!

Wow it is hard to believe that Louisville will be here in 45 days…or we’ll be in Louisville. It’s crunch time! The next 3 weeks will be heaviest training and this is the time to build strength and endurance for the Ironman. Lot’s to do on the bike in the next few weeks. Fine tuning of my position and lot’s of tweaking with everything else.

I’m starting now to formulate nutrition, hydration and pacing strategies for the race. I watched an interesting video cast from Endurance Nation yesterday where Patrick McCann talked about using your Garmin to follow a pace schedule for the marathon. Basically the first 3 to 6 miles are at a very easy pace, an all day long pace as he put it. Once the legs have adjusted to running, use the Garmin to pick up the pace to what he calls an easy pace, a pace that you can run comfortably at and use the Garmin to hold that pace through to the end. The thinking being that although the pace may seem too easy in miles 7 and 8, by mile 18 it will begin to get harder and harder to maintain that pace. That’s the time to use the Garmin to stay on track. If I do well, I’ll pass a lot of runners in the second half of the marathon. It is in the later stages of the marathon, where you see lot’s of people walking and if you can keep up a good pace, you’ll really move up.

Really looking forward to being in Lake Placid this weekend for Ironman USA. It will be great to get out on the bike course and do a loop to see what I’ll be in store for next year!

Ahhh….PEI!

What a great vacation! Thanks Grammie for letting us all invade your beautiful and peaceful Inn for too short a while. It was so great to be in PEI, if you’ve never been, go. It was great to see all our friends on the Island and I was sorry that we didn’t get to spend more time with them. The weather was absolutely amazing for PEI, sometimes with PEI, you take what you get, this time however the weather was outstanding, hot and sunny every day. We even had a humidex reading a few days, very unusual for PEI. It made for some great rides and some great runs. I didn’t swim, but I did get some great miles in on the road.

As I’m writing this, I’m fogged in! I was expecting a sunny morning when I got up, but it looks like we won’t see the sun until the afternoon. So I may need to push my long ride to Sunday. I need to get going on the bike and build up some strength. The countdown is now 50 days to IM Louisville! Yikes, that’s getting close. Basically 7 weeks to go, minus 3 weeks for taper and that leaves only 4 weeks of training time left. I’ve really got to make the best of it to beat my time from last year.

This weekend I’m off to Lake Placid to register for next year’s Ironman USA. I’ll take the bike and will ride one lap of the bike course on Saturday before watching the race on Sunday and then registering on Monday morning.

Happy Canada Day from PEI

We are in beautiful, sunny PEI for our annual vacation. Grammie has never looked better and the Inn is as warm and cozy as ever. It rained like crazy for the entire drive from Toronto, but the weather has been fabulous since we arrived. I was able to get a great run in yesterday; from New Glasgow up to Cavendish and back, lot's of hills! Today I got out on the bike for a 55k ride, a tune up before the real riding starts later this week. We attended the annual North Rustico Canada Day Parade today and will be going back over later for the fireworks.