We’ve all heard how serious a “Man Flu” can be. It’s the new pandemic for 2010. Far more serious than a common cold. Only seems to affect the males of the species. The females seem to have an immunity which allows them to go on with normal duties, cooking, cleaning, caring for others, without the devastating symptoms suffered by the males.

A strong healthy male can be struck down overnight, rendering him a sniffling, shivering, mess. Totally unable to do any of his normal daily chores like cutting down forests, killing animals for food, and fighting off intruders. If this pandemic had struck in the last century, the human race may not have made it this far. 

I’ve been training very well. My power figures this year are 20% higher for the same workouts I completed last year. My body weight is 3kgs less and I’m running very easily. I was looking forward to the Capricorn Half Ironman last Sunday. Yeppoon is an eight hour drive north from Brisbane. Sandy and I look forward to the trip each year, we talk, argue, talk again, it’s all good.

When I arrived in Yeppoon, I was more tired than I expected to be. I thought I’d been carrying a bit more fatigue into the weekend, I’d run about 50km in the week before. I had no intention of tapering for Yeppoon, Hawaii is only eight weeks away. I had won my category by an hour the year before, so I wasn’t too worried about being a bit tired.

We trained on the course on Saturday morning. A short swim, bike and run, all easy just testing equipment and doing enough of a workout to stimulate the body to store glycogen for the race on Sunday. I felt great, good legs, just a little bit of a sniffle. I though it was the sea water making my nose run.

As the day wore on, we did all the things we normally do. Making up drinks for race day, checking bikes and numbering gear. My sniffle got a bit worse, a few more sneezes. I went to bed with a bit of a question mark over my head. Through the night I knew it would be unwise to start the race. Doing it at half throttle was not an option, if I stand on the start line, I’m going to race it.

My overall plan for my Hawaii preparation was to have a physical and mental freshen up, right after Yeppoon. It looks like my body is demanding a break. A real easy week now will set me up for a final six week build into Kona. We’re already up to Wednesday and all I’ve done is walk the dogs.

As my symptoms gradually wind down, I’ll start out with a reverse taper. Building up the time of each workout slowly. It’ll be all aerobic training. I’ll see how I am tomorrow, to see whether I swim and cycle. I’d rather have one more day off and not have a relapse. I’m confident in my ability to hold strength and skills in each sport for a week or two.

I’ve had a great run of health, I can’t remember being sick in the last couple of years. I reckon my body is just asking for a rest. I’d be crazy to ignore it.