Hi de hi, campers...

This weekend I'm boldly going where, well, I have never been before: my first ever training camp. TeamT2A is off on the Epic Jebel Hafeet cleansing camp and it promises to be emotional.

Jebel Hafeet is located near Al Ain - a couple of hours inland from Dubai. It is a mountain that rises, almost out of nowhere, between Al Ain and Oman. Our hotel (base camp) is near the top of the mountain. The road from bottom to top is often named the greatest driving road in the world - 13k long, with 21 switchbacks, it climbs 1,300m... that road will be our nemesis this weekend!

This camp is an annual one for T2A and, in the pst, has resulted in blood, sweat, tears and people falling asleep in their lunch. It's brutal and, with temperatures now rising well up into the 30s, that just adds an extra challenge.

In a way, I'm looking forward to it tho - I'm a poor climber and know that this will really help both my fitness and confidence. Also, with my IM Austria and Challenge Roth (a lot of the team are racing there one week after Austria) now around 3 months away, it's the perfect way to kick off our big IM blocks.

This morning, I packed the road bike, put the lightweight carbon Planet X 50 wheels on there, and made sure I had my most toothy of cassettes on those wheels. At 6ft and 82kg, I'm not a mountain goat and need all the help I can get!

I'm hoping to take lots of pics and blog about the experience for the next three evenings but, if I fail to do so, I'll wrap it all up with a Hafeet summary when we get back on Saturday. That is, of course, if I survive!!! 

Every day should be a triathlon

Triathletes love their state-of-the-art gimmickry and gadgetry, eh? And it’s amazing how commonplace it is to see cutting-edge technology drip down to triathlon, and just how quickly it gets there.

Today, NASA is revolutionising space exploration by using a radical new composite material; come October, Crowie’s seat post will be made from it. Special Forces have developed a brand new, secret sub-aquatic suit to get operatives moving smoother, quicker, quieter and more efficiently underwater; by Kona, it’ll be Blue Seventy’s latest offering. And somewhere out there a communications genius is developing an algorithm that’ll transform satellite positioning forever; Garmin will release it for $300 by summer.

But what I’ve wondered of late is just why these wonderful creations haven’t made their way into everyday life. How long do kids have to spend learning to tie their shoe laces – time they could spend doing more important things, like playing PS3, watching Harry Potter or rewatching NBC Ironman coverage over and over... surely, we’ve moved past this now. Why can’t we all just use e-laces and be done with it?

Elastic laces: easy

For the uninitiated, arm warmers are long tubes that cyclists (and, therefore, triathletes too) put on their arms to keep warm (now you can see how the name was derived, right?). Intended for those iffy British summer days, or early mornings that start cold and heat up as the day goes on, the usual question they prompt is ‘why don’t you just put a long sleeve top on underneath?’ Well, try taking a top off while cycling along at 40kph and you’ll find out. You can roll arm warmers up and down the arms as conditions change and, if the sun does come out for good, they tuck easily into your pocket. I love my arm warmers and, when heading out for a drink on a Friday afternoon to be met with ‘too cold for a t-shirt, too warm for a jumper’ conditions, have often considered wearing them.

Arm warmers: handy!

And let’s say I go for that drink and it’s time for my round... how many times have you struggled from the bar back to your table conducting some sort of Buckaroo balancing act with four pint glasses in the hands, shot glasses wedged between body and elbows and couple of bottles in the jean pockets? The solution? Three words: alco fuel belt!

Chris Lieto: pissed!

Or, better still, how about alco camelbaks? I can head to the bar, fill my camel pack with two litres of Peroni and whack that bad boy onto the back – hands completely free for doing important things like playing pool and taking girls numbers! Also, there need never be an “OY, MATE, did you spill my pint/drink my bottle?” argie-bargie moment ever again.

Camelbak: filled with lovely beer

The Giro Wine Helmet: commercial flop

All I’m saying is that life would be a bit better if we just treated it like a triathlon. The day’s dragging a bit? That’s fine – adopt an aero position! Finished my cuppa tea and am feeling a bit peckish? Easy – reach behind my chair and I’ll find some pre-prepared nutrition/hydration there. No time to stop en route to that meeting? High speed aid station – just stick your hand out the window and grab a drink. Or pee in your pants and chuck some water over it!

In fact, the tri suit is the greatest creation of all. One item. Three sports. We need a tri-life suit: good for work, casual events and special occasions. Maybe we should take up the suggestion of the mighty Cal Naughton Jr  (aka Mike Honcho, Shake, The Magic Man) and introduce the t-shirt tuxedo. It says I’m formal, but I’m ready to party!

What triathlon/sports items would you like to see make their way into normal everyday life?

Weekend race report – Aerofit 6

Just a quick post from me on what, I guess, must be considered a pretty successful weekend.

Friday was the last of the Aerofit sprint triathlon races and, as I’d only just returned to proper training and had very little biking and almost no high intensity session in the legs, I’d planned to give this one a miss. However, it was the last race of this series and the series is run by our team, so I felt like I should ‘represent’ and, when a slot opened up due to another team member being away, I jumped in a couple of days before.

The race went OK, if not spectacularly. The swim was a bit short (maybe 600m instead of the intended 750m) and a bit shallow, which mixed things up a bit and meant my lead coming out of the water was drastically cut. Still, I came out of T1 first and felt OK – a bit of a relief, to be honest, with how I felt last time still at the forefront of my mind.

Running along the beach before diving back in for the two lap swim.

Pulling a little Bob DeNiro face on my way back into the water.

Diving back in - the swim went around the buoy and not the bloody great tanker, unfortunately.

The winner, Olivier, came through early and very, very fast but I managed to hold off the rest of the field right the way to the end of the bike; even my team mate Ed, who's a hell of a bike rider, didn’t pass me on the bike, which was a little unexpected but I took as a good sign. I got off the 21.5k bike leg in 33 mins (averaging 39+ kph, which included the run in and out of transition) which was pretty decent. Probably as well as I’ve ridden before at this distance, even though I could tell that I was missing quite a bit of bike fitness and wasn't pushing as well as I'd have liked.

The run was a bit of a mess for a number of reasons (newish trainers, miscalculating my goal pace, pretty bad cramping in the last 2km etc) but I ran just over 20mins for the 5k which is in line with what I’ve done before. At the time, I was a bit disappointed with this as I thought my running had improved quite a bit, but now I realise there were a number of extenuating circumstances (lack of training, very little fast running and a lot of slow, long running over the past few weeks). I also realise I’d been expecting a bit too much from myself – I’m pretty sure I’ve never run done a sub 20min (i.e. 4min/km) run in this race before but had gone out gunning for 3.45s or something silly... I should have just been pacing myself to go sub 4s for the first time. Anyway, lesson learned.

Racing out of T2.

Heading out on to the run course.

Looking stronger than I felt.

 My finish time was around my PB (tho the swim was short) and was enough to earn me 3^rd place in the Open Men category – my second podium finish of the year and my first in this series. With the local race scene just about coming to a close, this was a nice way to end the season; especially as this particular race series was the first I ever took part in when I started triathlon a couple of years ago, when my goal was to simply make it into the top half of finishers... When I looked at the guys stood on the podium back then, I never even dreamed that I could be good enough to stand next to them. That I can is something of a victory in my eyes.

Olivier (1), Ed (2) and some other joker.

My first triathlon trophy!

NEXT...

I can't believe it's been 6 months since Ironman Wales - in some ways, it feels like it happened to me (that's the best way I can describe that course - it happened to me!) only yesterday; in other ways, thanks to a good racing season here in the UAE and mainly due to joining TeamT2A, it feels like it happened to a completely different athlete a long time ago.

Well, with six months to go to the next IM Wales and the following promo video coming out for he 2012 race (bringing back all sorts of memories - tho the hills and conditions don't look anywhere near as bad on here!) it seems like a good time to rule a line under one experience and look forward to others.

The next two weekends should be pretty fun ones: tomorrow is the final race of the local Aerofit sprint series in Ghantoot and, as I'm not quite back up to full speed, I'm going to vary my pacing a little to see how that affects my overall time.

The following weekend, the team is heading to Al Ain and, more specifically, to Jebel Hafeet for a training camp on the side of a mountain. I've heard many tales from previous editions and it promises to be emotional up there! Looking forward to that and, in between, just getting a full and solid week of training in for the first time in almost two months since before I was ill.

Lots of blogging to come in the next few days and weeks... hope you'll enjoy.

Spot of luxury triathlon on Samui?

It’s interesting to see just how much the sport of triathlon is taking off and one sure-fire sign of that is the increasing number of offerings that are directed at triathletes. And why not? It’s a great market.

While the portrayal of all triathletes being mega-rich CEOs who can hardly walk through their double garage without falling over an entire fleet of barely-used bikes isn’t true, it probably is fair to say that 90% of triathletes are financially stable and, just as importantly, willing to invest time and money into what is, after all, more of a lifestyle than just a sport.

The latest example comes in the form of a temptingly extravagant offer from the brand new AKARYN Samui resort, which has just opened its doors to the general public. Rather than launching with a traditional Full Moon Party or romantic couples’ offer, the resort’s first offer is the not too snappily titled ‘Intuitive Luxury for Athletes Package’ which is aimed squarely at triathletes heading over to Thailand for the Samui Triathlon on 22 April. The hotel’s sister resort, akyra Chura Samui is also running a tri package.

So, what can you expect from these? Basically, everything from carb-loading athlete-specific dinners in the run-up to the event and an early, energy-heavy breakfast, to complimentary massages, free transfers and bike transfers to the nearby start line and transition areas and some post-race pampering.

Bit posh is that...

"My husband Stephane is an ironman and triathlete, so I understand how much preparation goes into these races and what a test of mind, body and spirit they are,” explains MD Anchalika Kijkanakorn (being a high-powered hotel MD, you’d kind of expect her to step up to the world of triathlon now, wouldn’t you?).

"We understand what athletes need and we will do everything we can to help them have the perfect race and set a personal best, no matter what their level.”

Sounds luxurious and fun and, even if the likes of Faris Al Sultan, Caroline Steffen, Cam Brown, Dirk Bockel, Belinda Granger and Kate Bevilaqua (who are all on the pro list for the 4k/123k/30k race) drop you as soon as the gun goes, at least you’ll have arrived at the start line feeling more relaxed than anyone else there. And that means you’ll be good to go when it comes to the after-party – one of the best parts of racing in Thailand!

But, let’s be honest, this package isn’t aimed at triathletes at all. In reality, it should be called the ‘Luxury Triathletes’ Spouses Package’. A race is far easier to sell to the other half when it comes with a high-end beach holiday attached!

THIS is a link to the hotel.

Prices for the full luxury long-weekend package start at $170 per room.

The ego has disbanded

A chain, they say, is only as strong as its weakest link. It’s a fair point. It does indeed take two to tango, and you certainly cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs. But such age-old words of wisdom do not always hold true. 

A journey of 1,000 miles doesn’t always begin with a single step – not if you’re on a bike or in a car at least. I’m pretty handy with the old vocab but I draw like a blind toddler – my pictures are in no way worth a thousand of my words. And anyone who holds the belief of ‘first come first served’ has clearly never been in any sort of queue in Dubai – ‘pushiest most arrogant knob, first served’ would be more appropriate here.

And – kerpow! – I’ve only gone and exploded another myth. You can, it seems, teach an old dog new tricks. As I’ve moaned on and on and on and on about of late – mainly coz it’s been the only thing really going on in Mattmundo (like Disney Land but I’m the star) – I was fairly ill, rundown and suffering from a spot of overtraining a few weeks ago; this inspired me to re-evaluate training, work and my general lifestyle and I decided to make some changes.

Now, it’d have been all very well to say I’d change things up and not fall into the same traps again but discover that, when the nonstop whirlwind that is life in Dubai swept me back up, no lessons had really been learnt.

Happily, however, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

First and foremost, I’ve taken my time getting back into training and only now, 10 days after my first session back, am I properly cracking on with my full programme. Last Friday, for example, a few of my team mates, our coach and I had a power-endurance morning: three back-to-back mini triathlons of 600m swim, 13k bike, 2.5k run. Between each was a short rest of around 5-7 minutes. We were due to do three of these, back-to-back, and I was feeling better than I expected after two tris... but I still let the others go on with the third while I headed out on the bike for an easy spin. This is a bit of a revelation for me – I think I could have pushed on and done the third mini tri; but, given how few session I’d done in the weeks before and that I was still finishing a course of antibiotics, I also could definitely not tell how it would affect me. Therefore, I stopped.

It was the right decision.

Feeling good after that session, I could have dived straight back in the following week. But I didn’t. It was still early days. Sunday was my rest day on my programme, while I had a friend in town on business on Monday. In the past, I’d have got up super-early to fit a session in before work, or tried to squeeze an hour’s run in between work and meeting my friend for dinner. Instead, I accepted that I had a busy day in work, embraced a second day off from training and had a great evening of catching up, a huge bowl of moules-frites and a few tasty Belgian beers.

By the end of the week, I was feeling the benefit.

Now, I’m back into full training, conscious that Ironman Austria is only just over three months away, but rather than feeling like I’ve missed out on a few weeks and a load of sessions, I’m actually more confident than ever that I’ll perform well in Austria. And if I could sum up how and why I’ve been able to make these changes and think longer-term instead of chasing shorter, harder goals and ever-increasing volume, I’d put it down to one thing: I’ve toned down the ego.

Triathlon is an endurance sport that requires patience. And that’s every bit as true of training as it is of racing. Now I know that, it's time to put the virtues of patience and maturity into action - not entirely instead of enthusiasm and determination, but as well as.

Abu Dhabi vid and a tedious English language lesson

There are two reasons I'm posting this: firstly, in case you've not already seen it, this is a cracking little video of this year's Abu Dhabi International Triathlon, featuring pros and age groupers, and capturing the spirit of the event. Secondly, I just really like the word 'featurette'. 

Although - if you'll allow me to straighten my 'Grammar Nazi' hat for a second - the -ette suffix is generally added to a word to imply 'smallness'; think kitchenette, cigarette, pipette. Alternatively, we borrow the French use which means adding -ette to a word makes it feminine: bachelorette, suffragette...

Not sure what the point of this grammar lesson is (this is what happens when I write a blog post in my five minutes off from editing a guide book), other than to point out that this video's official name 'mini-featurette' either makes it a 'tiny, tiny feature' or a 'small feminine feature', neither of which seems to be true. So, feel free to take this lesson in suffixes away with you, or just ignore it and whisper under you're breath "That Matt... what a twattette!"

Enjoy!

Abu Dhabi International Triathlon – a spectator’s review

At almost 6am, I found myself tucking into a second cup of coffee, and then a third – or maybe it was a fourth – Danish pastry from the breakfast buffet at the Rotana Khalidiyah Palace, the official race hotel. I didn’t have to carefully monitor what I was putting into my belly; there were no nerves and there was little rush. For the first time, I was at a major race and wasn’t taking part. Neither was Leanda Cave, I guessed, as she tucked into more fruit and yoghurt at a time when other pros would be getting into their wetsuits! Turns out Leanda had pulled out the day before due to illness. Shame for the race, but nice to know it happens to the pros too.

Breakfast finished, I met up with my friend Chloe and a couple of her friends who I’d agreed to give a lift the couple of kilometres up the road to the transition and start area. I dropped them off, found a convenient parking space and then dived into the electric atmosphere. The race start had been delayed by 30 minutes already, which meant a bit of hanging around for some, but it was great to see all the guys from the team getting amped up and ready for the race. Knowing that I was way too ill to race meant I was actually able to enjoy the whole thing without frustration or envy.

I spent a little while walking down the fence closest to the pro bike racking, checking out some awesome bike porn as well as seeing how pro triathletes like Faris, Lieto, Llanos, Fettell, Bockel, Henning, Swallow, Rollison, Steffen, The Joycinator etc all prepped for their race. It was interesting how some continually checked their bikes, saddle, nutrition, hydration etc, while others laid back on their bags and closed their eyes. Just like at the Age Grouper level, everyone has their own approach.

With three distances and many waves of starters, T2A team members went their separate ways as they indulged in their own personal preparation routines but Ben and I headed down to the swim to watch as the pros set off. As the klaxon sounded, it was a perfect morning with pancake flat water and little breeze. It was amazing just how easily even the lead swimmers looked to be stroking, even though I knew full well that I’d have needed a clean bill of health, a good pair of feet to stick to and no bike or run to follow just to stay with that main pack.

The girls headed off just a few minutes later. Ben and I chatted about the Aussie guy who was doing the MC-ing down on the beach (turns out he did the same job as well as the pre and post race parties at Ben’s Ironman Busselton and my Ironman Wales – cushiest job ever?) and then the guys came through for a run down the beach after the first lap of the swim. Aussie super swimmer Clayton Fettell was crushing it, with a big main pack containing all the main contenders (except Lieto who was quite a bit back, suffering, it appeared, from not having a wetsuit). Then the women came through and it was a similar story, Jodie Swallow caining it and a big pack following.

After watching the guys come out of the water, I wished a few of the T2A guys well as they prepped for their race and I headed around the other side of the transition zone to watch the girls come out of T1. This involved a long run with the bike out of the transition zone and along a  carpeted area, a u-turn after which they were free to mount, and then another tight u-turn and pass over a timing mat before heading out along the Corniche for the first section of the bike leg. 

Easy to say in retrospect but, coming out of the second u-turn, all of the girls stood up on to the pedals to generate some power to get up to speed and I noticed just how strong Nikki Butterfield – distinctive dressed all in red with a red aero helmet and on a bright Red Specialized Shiv – looked. Although a little back on the main pack, her background as a pro cyclist could make her a force to contend with on the 200km bike, I thought. Little did I know...

Unfortunately, after joining forces with Sarah, Ed’s girlfriend, to cheer a load of friends and team mates out of the swim, I soon had to head back to the hotel as my smorgasbord or infections and viruses had me needing a lie down.

After a small nap, I started checking for updates on Twitter and it seemed we had a belter on our hands in both male and female races. So, my friend Rach (who was visiting from the UK but, being a normal person and not a tri geek, didn’t get up at the crack of dawn to watch the race start) and I headed down to the transition and finish area where the atmosphere was fantastic.

I saw several friends and team mates finish or come out after collecting their bikes, and all had tales to tell about great performances or, in Swiss Marc’s case, a fantastic performance after coming off his bike just a few kilometres into the ride after someone threw a water bottle into his path! Getting up to do another 90kms or so after that shows some determination.

We saw the male pros hit the 10k turnaround point in the run, with Faris’ loping stride looking sure to carry him to victory although you could see that Rasmus was running light and fast. The girls came in and Nikki Butterfield flew in and back out of T2 looking great, with Angela Naeth closest behind.

Watching on the big screen, we then saw Rasmus close on and Faris and overtake him with just a few kilometres to go – that was the 1, 2 with Eneko Llanos (surely one of the most underrated and nicest pros out there) securing third place. We then went over again to watch the girls turn around at the halfway stage of the run. Surprisingly, to me at least not knowing much about her, Nikky looked fantastic with an easy, fast stride. Angela Naeth and Caroline Steffen looked great too but weren’t closing. Mel Rollison, who I’d been looking forward to watching run, was moving fast but was clearly suffering – as a 70.3er, the 200km ride was a giant undertaking for her and, it turned out, a bit of an injury had prevented her from running much in training. Just as surprising as Nikky Butterfield running so well was seeing just how fantastically Rachael Joyce ran – she was moving visibly faster than anyone out there.

It finished that way and I think I paid particular attention to (and enjoyed) the women’s race as the field was arguably more stacked and, without any Chrissie there, this year’s IM World Champs in Kona could be an absolute humdinger. Any one of those girls could take it on the day, although there’s clearly a lot of racing to be done between now and then.

So, how was my watching experience? Actually, extremely enjoyable. It was far less frustrating than I expected, but really motivated me to get back out there. It also helped me to realign and reset some of my goals: the smaller races, I realised, no longer mattered. I'm far enough into my 'triathlon career' now to not sweat every smaller race - there'll be plenty more to come. Instead, the focus is clearly on two or three bigger races throughout the year and, if that means skipping smaller races to remain fit, healthy and rested, then so be it.

Although it was fun, motivating and inspiring, next time I'm at a big race, I hope to be racing.

Reliving Wadi Bih

Falling a little behind on my blog posting over the past week or so due to recovering from illness, getting back to work to find a small mountain of chores awaiting me and having a friend from the UK visiting. Hopefully have a handle on things again now, however, and you can expect to see some more digi-morsels of my brain dirge spewed up on to this blog soon enough.

In the meantime, there's something I wanted to share with you. As you know from this post, I recently took part in the legendary Wadi Bih Run as part of the Nike Middle East team. 

Anyway, here's a rather good video of my team's exploits, anchored wonderfully by Dubai One's Layne Redman. It gives a great taste of the day, the team spirit and the challenge itself.

A nasty case of the ‘sensibles’

Last weekend was the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon – easily the biggest race of its kind here in Middle Earth and one of the biggest races in the calendar for pro long coursers (prize money of US$50,000 for the winners). The illness and overtraining meant that my goals for the race had shifted considerably.

Last year, I did the ‘short’ distance race (the ‘long’ here is 300m swim, 200km bike, 20km run – a sort of ‘easier’ Ironman with less emphasis on the run and more on the bike reflecting the race’s early position in the European/US racing calendar; the short is half that; the sprint a quarter) and clocked 4:17. Given how far I’ve come in the past year, my aim was sub 4 hours.

Then the whole overtraining and illness thing hit – for a little while, it was a case of shaking it off in time to race and doing the best I could. As it became obvious that I was a little more ill than I’d thought, ADIT was no longer a ‘race’ but a glorified training session, where I’d look to hold my Ironman pace on the bike and run and see what that meant in terms of heart rate, perceived effort, nutrition etc...

Towards the end of last week, however, even this approach was becoming less and less likely. The day before the race, I was forced back to the doctors as, if anything, I seemed to be getting worse. This time, the doctor didn’t fob me off and actually put me through a series of blood tests, swab and mucus samples, and X rays. The result explained an awful lot... rather than ‘a bit of that flu that’s going around’ (the previous doc’s groundbreaking and thorough diagnosis), it turned out that, yes, there was a flu virus present, but more pressingly I had acute bronchitis, sinusitis and probably a spot of pneumonia too. I walked away feeling, bizarrely in light of the diagnosis, far happier as this explained a lot. The sinusitis, in particular, explained several other complaints I’d had over the past few months.

As well as this sense of joy that, now I knew what had laid me out for the best part of three weeks, we could start to tackle it, I walked away with enough drugs to cater for a Libertines reunion tour – two syrups, antibiotics, antihistamines, a couple of painkillers, Vitamin C caps, some form of ‘mucal unblocker’ (this, I hasten to add, is not the medical term used!)...the list goes on. And this was just the immediate prescription; once these had done their work, there’d be more nasal sprays, pills and syrups to come.

And, so, I made the sensible but only decision at this point – my ADIT was over. Knowing that I was actually quite ill rather than just having a bit of a cold actually made this far easier to take. With hotels etc already booked, I decided to still head over to Abu Dhabi, however, to carry out the necessary media duties. With plenty of meds and some well-planned napping, I managed to do this and enjoyed the event.

My full race report on ADIT (as a spectator rather than a racer) is to come in the next few days  but for now I can tell you just what a great day it was and just how clarifying and motivating it is to be on the other side for a big race like this. From feeling sluggish, unmotivated and flat just a week or so earlier, my mood had done a full 180 degree turnaround. Now I was determined to get better (although without rushing that), train sensibly and target the big events and the big sessions, rather than sweating all the smaller training sets and races in between. The time off, and experience as a spectator, helped me to see just what’s important and why.

As my enforced period as a prescription junkie almost comes to an end and the possibility of some light training rears its pretty little coquettish head, I feel good and focused – but rather than on training as much and as hard as I can, my focus is now on training smart and making sure I also have plenty of down time for relaxation and all the other areas of my life.

Sometimes, enforced absence makes the heart grow fonder; but it can also make the mind grow smarter. 

Overtraining Part 2

So, where did we get to?

Well, once I'd established I was overtrained (not to mention pretty ill, too), there were two questions: how long had I been in this slump, and what did I need to do to recover? The two are inextricably linked as recovery depends very much on how long you've been overtrained for.

Triathletes are achievers. We may look for free time here and there – bike fits to aero helmets – but we also understand that the road to improvement goes through the towns of Dedication, Hard Work and Consistency (which, come to think of it, sound like the sort of towns that Westerns are set in).

This is, in many walks of life and training, good; but it means that when a triathlete suffers a bad result (as I did this weekend due to overtraining/illness), it's easy for them to do the maths and decide that they must need to train more. Why not? It seems logical. However, by doing so, we're just digging deeper and deeper. So, if you can't dig yourself out of a hole, what do you do? Just stop digging.

Looking back, I raced an Olympic distance race in the first week of Feb and did well, feeling good. I trained well that week, and did the Wadi Bih run the following weekend. Again, I felt OK, but to make up for the lack of normal Friday training that week, I put an uncharacteristically big day in the next day. I then started feeling run down and ill (stomach bug and flu-like symptoms) during that week but perked up enough to start the RAK Half Marathon, which I struggled with and, looking back, felt flat at. So, that's where I think the problem occurred which means I'd only been overtrained for a couple of weeks – good news.

That generally means around a week or so of total rest, a couple of days of active recovery (gentle runs/walks and spins on the bike that aren't hard enough to engender a 'training effect') then beginning to train again with shorter, harder sessions initially, adding time and distance gradually.

There are other things you can try to ease the OT syndrome too – staying well hydrated, proper nutrition and massages will all help you along the road back. For me, however, there's a slight difference – I'm not just overtrained, I'm ill too. So, armed with my newly-discovered 'sensible approach to triathlon', I made recovery my first priority and decided I wouldn't jump on to a bike, dive into a pool and don a pair of running shoes until I'd totally kicked this flu's ass.

But recovery isn't enough – I also want to put in some precautions to stop me making this mistake again. So, I've decided on some new rules. Key to these are understanding the theory of 'overcompensation' or exactly what happens when we train. I may be preaching to the choir here, but this has really helped me to get my head around the importance of rest and recovery. Put simply, training doesn't make us fitter – recovering from training does.

If I do a 5 hour bike ride and put my body under the stress of doing such a ride, that, in and of itself, doesn't make me fitter. In fact, it makes me less fit as it breaks down muscle etc... What makes me fitter is my body saying “Sweet effing Nora that hurt – I'm going to recover and, when doing so, I'm going to recover even stronger than I was before so that kind of stress never happens to me again.” Therefore, rest without recovery is just breaking down the body time after time.

So, the new rules state that, on my programme, I add recovery aids just as though they're training – whether that's 'protein shake and ice bath', 'wear compression shorts and socks today' or 'rest is essential this morning', it now features on my March programme.

My next rule is that, as someone who usually loves and embraces training sessions, if I feel down and unenthusiastic about two sessions in a row, I take a step back and take a day or two off – a bit of hard work and discomfort is always to be expected when you're training for triathlons and Ironman but my enthusiasm levels, I'm learning, are a remarkably accurate indicator of health and wellbeing.

As are my lymph glands. Annoyingly sensitive, they swell at the first sign of infection or virus. And when they do, in future I'll take note.

The final one I'm going to call my 12 hour rule. This only applies to big training days during the week but training and my working day should never exceed 12 hours. This is fine – my big midweek brick is usually a three hour session after a 9 hour working day. However, if that working day becomes 10 or 11 hours, then the session has to be missed, shortened or swapped up for another day accordingly.

So, there's my guide to overtraining – hope it's of use to some but really hope it's never of use to most. More than anything, the message I've taken from the past week or so is to be sensible rather than obsessive – we do this sport for fun, self-improvement, to socialise and for general enjoyment. Not to pay the rent of put kids through school. In the grand scheme of things, a week off just doesn't matter.