You're the one for me, fatty

The last week has been a hazy blur. I didn't get to race in my first tri of the season because good old mother nature had other ideas (see the post on November 28 for the [lack of] race report). Then, my body decided to beat the crap out of me and basically just shutdown. It was a blue screen of what felt like death - or if you're a Mac user like me, that pretty spinning pinwheel is probably more accurate.

Monday, the day after said lack of race, I felt okay-ish. A little tired, a little sore and a little stupid. I put this down to it being the day after the race the day before. Except, walking to work that morning, I noticed two fingers and some of my left arm were numb and tingly. That night, I fell asleep on the couch at 7.30 and was in bed not long after. Weird.  Tuesday I had half my left hand playing tingly wingly and again was in bed before the sun. I had the headache from hell too, and a sore throat to boot.

By Wednesday morning, the numby tingly wingly had hit my other hand and some of my left foot. I wasn't too concerned, but I was very, very tired. I left work early and went to the doctor. After a thorough exam she proclaimed that yes I had a nasty virus, that I was overtired and on the verge of exhaustion from not having had a holiday in 18 months, and sent me off for a full round of fun at Draculas Castle (i.e. blood tests for everything under the sun)...including the lovely Eppstein Barr virus test, better known as glandular fever or to Americans, mono. Because there were two fasting tests required, I had all the tests done Thursday morning first thing. I fainted at the lab and had to get a cab home. Fun, fun, fun.

Friday I started harassing the lab for my results. After a very stressful day, I finally found out at 6.04pm that it wasn't glandular fever, or thyroid, or diabetes, or cancer, or crazy high cholesterol. I also wasn't anaemic or missing vitamin D. Well, grand. But WTF is going on with me?

Saturday I went back to the Doctor and was read the riot act. My fasting glucose was at the top end of the acceptable range, meaning that I'm basically pre-pre-diabetic; I was suffering from exhaustion and needed to sort out my weight, pronto. Being a fat triathlete is not good. I read myself the riot act and said, "that's it, I'm going to join Weight Watchers online TODAY. What's my weight?"

True to my word, I came home, got on the net and joined WW Online. I also got onto the website to register for my age group spot in the 2011 Dextro Energy ITU World Championship in Sydney.  It's an Olympic distance race in which I get to swim in Sydney Harbour, bike over the coathanger (Sydney Harbour Bridge) and run past the Opera House. Aces! It's on 10th April. That's just over four months away, so as soon as I can go back to training I'm doing so!

So, my plan is as follows:

• Work my way back down to the bottom of Athena Class (70kg). I should be no more than 69kg but I have stacks of muscle which I need for my big races next year. Stuff the BMI, I'm currently 34% muscle and don't want to lose any!
• Finish the Dextro in Sydney in under 3.5 hours. 1.5km swim in under 30 mins, the 40km bike in 1hr 30 mins and the run in under 1hr 15mins. The swim and the bike are definitely do-able in these timeframes and the run should be okay with this timeframe too.  I can't run more than 2km at present but have like 17 weeks to sort that out!
• Finish my PT certificate over Xmas / New Year and then book in for the work experience and practical assessment.
• Attend 3Fest, the Triathlon/Multisport Conference and Expo in late January.
• Coach myself.  I CAN do this.

It's bedtime folks, I am yawning my head off now and need some shut eye.

Ciao.