Illness and new opportunities

Bit of an update on a few fronts, some good, some not unfortunately.

 

The first is that I have decided to bring a coach on board. The Stadium Tri Club High Performance Squad that I set up in September last year has grown quicker than I’d anticipated and as a result I haven’t had the time to plan my training as effectively as I would have liked. I met up with Andrew Budge from Trysport earlier this week to put together a program for me. For the non West Australians, Andrew has decades of experience coaching triathlon and also been my bike fitter since I got into the sport in 2005.

I’m generally excited about the future. The training will be slightly different and I’m looking forward to evolving as an athlete and learning more.

 

The return to training itself forms the second part of this update.

The gastro I had which forced me out of Cairns 70.3 has lead to continued illness. I have had two lots of antibiotics so far and although the virus is no longer present, I still am being affected. Blood tests have revealed a low white blood cell count. My GP has said I could be out for up to two months, but as it has been 4 weeks already, I'm hopeful of returning to training in the next week or two.

 

This is frustrating! I hate that I feel like I’m continually making excuses lately. I realise that being hit by a car and illness are out of my control, but that doesn't seem to matter when updating sponsors and supporters that a backing me. Missing a year between Busselton 70.3 2012 and 2013 was the motivation for a winter season – to give back to my sponsors and my supporters. But the reality is that my winter season is over.

The advice I’ve been given is to start from scratch once I’m healthy again. There is little point travelling up to the Philippines if I’m not at my best. So the plan now will be to focus on the Busselton Ironman in December.

Here's hoping for 6 months of uninterrupted training!

Mike