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.