Try to keep the focus!!

I went under the knife over the weekend to correct a stomach/bowel problem and have come out the other side with a hurdle to overcome...mentally.

After spending the entire weekend on my back due to having a pain in my ass.....literally, when it was time to "check out" of my pool side room (view of the car park) I had to ask when I could commence training again. This is where my first big mental test comes into it.

Due to the entry point of my operation, riding a bike will not be possible for at least 7-10 days. This is variable due to how much pain I have when sitting on the saddle. Also the length of time that I can ride for will be monitored as i go. For now the forthcoming weekend on the mag trainer for 30min looks like the option.

For the run, I have the same situation, not that I will have to sit down, but due to my bowels not having fluent motion at the moment and the doctor informing me that I have to try have "easy movements". So having an emergency stop in a public toilet is not an option that I want to encounter at the moment, as if things are not right.....could be very uncomfortable/embarrassing for me.

Now for the swim, this answer really surprised me. 2 FULL WEEKS off training, WTF???!?!?

I thought originally that I could hit the water sooner that the other 2 due to the fact that I would a lot less chance of having discomfort whilst swimming. However I failed to look at the fact of infection!! The doctor told me that a public pool, with such a high percentage of urine in the water, increased the chance of infection if I swam too soon.

So, not only did the operation give me a pain in the ass, it has made me realise that Yeppoon will only be a training race as I will not be in any kind of shape to race fully fit. Having the flu recently and now this means that I will have had 20 days off training during the month of July. Not the ideal preparation leading in.

I have to go into the race with the big picture in my mind that this is ONLY a lead up race for WA Ironman in December and the result is not as important to races later in the year.

The other thought is what to do in the 2 weeks that I will be able to train just prior to Yeppoon with traditionally having 1 week taper.

Do I have 1 really hard week with a week taper, or do I put in 2 medium sized weeks so that I don't put to much pressure on the body to close?

The answers to these 2 questions are not ones that I possess, so I have 2 weeks to find out the answer which will best suit my situation.

The only advantage of not being able to train this week is that I get to sit up and watch the Tour and watch to concluding stages live without having to have "red eye" syndrome every morning. This is probably the only thing that will stop me from going insane this week.

Anyway, I will be able to test my mental toughness this week and I will be able to see where I am at from here.

For now.....

X-Man