Its only 'Man PNEUMONIA' - Get on with it !

When I hit the publish button for my blog last time I was sitting up in bed in my daughters apartment in Toronto having arrived there the previous day...or was it night...when will they come up for a cure for jet lag?

The memory of the surprised look on Niamh's face when we stood outside her apartment door is one that will never fade. Nor will the sense of pride that Mary and I have for her and Stephen for the life that they are building for themselves there.

Toronto - what a great city to visit. The highlights, apart from spending time with family that is, the CN Tower (we didn't go up - Mary took one look and just said NO WAY!); Niagra Falls; The Island; and of course the experience of running in a new city - sure you'd have to!

Any low lights? - Thankfully only One - I got sick! I knew there was some little problem as I got off the flight - you know that tickly, annoying cough you get which sometimes disappears and then other times leads to a full blown cold - I put it down to being the former and put it to the back of my mind - Mary paying no attention to my whinging helped with that! I did toy with the idea of not running. Does that question come up for you like it does for me every time I'm sick? Should I run or not? In this case my 'training devil' put up a more convincing argument - you'll run this off John! You couldn't pass up the opportunity to run in a new city!

So I ran Friday...all good. I put up a good 10K on Sunday - I was feeling strong....my training devil was right after all! When I got up Monday I felt a little bit ropey and I thought I might have to pay the doc a visit when I get home after all - we were to be leaving next day anyway. On Tuesday I awoke with a very sore chest and within a couple of hours of getting up I was feeling really weak and tired. I lay down for a bit of a rest and the next thing I know I'm shaking uncontrollably, I literally had no control of my body. I was burning up and I knew I was going to have to see someone quickly. Luckily, Keiran, Niamh's flat mate, had 'just in case' given me some directions to a local clinic. About 20 minutes later I found myself sitting in front of a doc who was telling me I was a very sick man (think it was only then when Mary stopped calling it 'Man Flu') and that I shouldn't fly home today.....you have PNEUMONIA after all! As nice as it would have been to spend more time with Niamh it just wasn't an option and I asked the doc what was possible. He gave me an antibiotic which he described as a 'Bullet' and while I don't remember much of the trip home it certainly hit the target. The side effects of 'The Bullet'....lets not go there right now! Niamh, Stephen, Danika and Kieran - Thanks for making our Canadian adventure such a special one.

Mary, Stephen & Niamh - Niagra here we come!

View of Toronto coming back from 'The Island'

Our Niagra Adventure

Keiran, Danika, Stephen, Niamh , Mary and Me

           

I hate being sick - I lost two weeks of training, the most frustrating part of which is the backward steps you take in your level of fitness which you have to spend the next two weeks building back up. Anyway what can you do. You have your bit of a moan about it and then you pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go at it again.

With a couple of colleagues at work I had signed up to be the swimmer on a relay team that was entered for the Corporate Challenge section of TriGrandPrix, Kilkenny so I earmarked this as the first bit of exercise that I would attempt post dose. I was apprehensive about it as, apart from anything else, I hadn't been doing a whole lot of swim training and my two team mates were really up for it and I didn't want to let them down.We were also raising a few bob for Barretstown Gang Camp which is such a good cause.

http://www.barretstown.org/

I've never done Kilkenny as a solo and it's been a couple of years since my last relay swim but I wasn't expecting any surprises - I got two! There was no current, the Nore was like a mill pond - I'd be getting no help there then! I was also sure that the organisers had gotten the start point of the swim wrong...it was much further up river than I'd remembered. Unfortunately they hadn't got it wrong - I'd be swimming a full 750m this year.

Neither surprise dampened the buzz that I got on the day. The atmosphere of the whole event, which was as fantastically run as ever, was a reminder of what keeps me coming back for more triathlon. I also loved seeing the enjoyment that my two colleagues got from taking part and the pride in Carol's dad in particular when he seen her coming back after her storming bike performance. I got out out of the water in 15 minutes odd and Carol and Shaun played a blinder to help us finish 4th of out of the 9 teams taking part! - Thanks Carol and Shaun

Shaun, Me and Carol - Great Day!

Since then I've been back training in earnest. 6 Days a week: 1 x 1km Swim; 1 x 50km Bike; 1 x 10+km Run and 2 x 8km runs. I'm starting to really feel good again and improving all the time - On today's 10km I managed to break 6 mins per km for the first time in a while(5.46 to be precise).

I've also done a bit of event planning at least till the end of October:

• 24 August - Frank Duffy 10 Mile
• 7th September - Tri an Mhi Sprint Triathlon
• 6th of October - Athlone 3/4 Marathon
• 20th of October - Clane 10K
• 28th of October - Dublin City Triathlon - Goal time 3 hrs, 59mins, 59 secs !

That'll all keep me focused!

For anyone who is interested in a bit of motivational reading I've just finished a great book. It's called 'Can't Swim, Can't Ride, Can't Run - From CommonMan to IRONMAN'  by Andy Holgate. If you are in that 'Will I/Won't I' frame of mind about taking part in Triathlon, IRONMAN, Marathon running or even just going for a walk it will really get you going . Available as an E-Book from Kindle ! Thanks Andy for the inspiration.

Oh and I bought new trainers!  had to tell Mary they had engines to make me go faster to justify the purchase  - and they are not top of the range?

'Gel is Asics name for engine....isn't it?!' 

Anyway folks that's about it for this month. In the coming month I hope to add a 'RED BUTTON' to my blog (if its good enough for Sky and BBC.....) where I will add some mid month 'special features'.
In my next 11th post I'll definitely have more news on which organisation that I'll be fundraising for and, If I'm lucky enough to beat the registration rush, which IRONMAN I'll be doing in 2014.

Again please feel free to share, retweet, comment or anything else you feel like with this - I hope you enjoy the read.

Till the 11th take care

John