Last weeks start to training was a great big false start. This pretty consistently happens to me following a big race. I take a couple of weeks off then as soon as I get back to training I get struck down with an illness that puts me out of action for a week. I really thought I’d nipped it in the bud last Tuesday when I skipped the swim and then didn’t ride on Wednesday. However by Friday I felt really terrible and only headed to swimming because I was meeting someone after. I managed 50m of the main set before realising I shouldn’t be there. I got out. Unfortunately I was looking after my nephews that day with my mum and I now really feel for parents that have to look after kids when they really just want to curl up in bed. When Janes friend Katie arrived at 8pm to help out I just went straight to bed. Hot and cold all night … horrible. Unfortunately (again) I was leading a club ride the next morning so I got up and went to the meet point hoping to find a willing and able volunteer to take the ride. There was none so I rode slowly out to Box Hill in the drizzle, got the train back and immediately coiled up on the sofa in the film room.

Very frustrating. I spoke to our swim coach about it and asked if he knew of any research on it as it seemed pretty consistent with me. He said some research had been done on swim squads post major competitions and it found that it was not only the swimmers that came down with illnesses but also the coaching staff !

I’m desperately trying to keep level headed about this with Busselton so close. The best thing I can do right now is recover from this illness rather than try to train however it’s disheartening to feel fitness is slipping away. This is where ATL, CTL and TSB charts do me no favours. By the time I swim on Friday I’ll have gone nearly 2 weeks without swimming. I was going so well in the pool last week I just hope I feel somewhere close to that. I got my new inserts for my runners but as yet have not been able to get out and run them. As for cycling. I went out today it some HORRIBLE weather with Rachel – lucky that we agreed to meet as neither of us would have ridden otherwise. It did me good as I felt pretty good after it so am happy to get back in to the cycling. I think that will be a bit of a focus for the next few weeks as I’m pretty sure my happiness with my result at Busselton will be largely based on my bike split.