My Poor Immune System.

What have I done since Ironman. Not much. After a big race like that it's best to take at least 1 month if not 2 easy. That doesn't mean doing nothing. It means staying away from anything that resembles triathlon and not living by a training schedule. Cross training is great during this down time. It's a perfect time to get caught up with family and friends, learn how to surf or just finish reading the book that has been sitting on the shelf for the last 9 months.

I wish that was what my post race month looked like. Instead I was sick. Quite sick for about 6 weeks in total. I likely had a virus going into the race that blossomed fully within 2 days of finishing IM. That then turned into a couple of opportunistic secondary infections and the next thing you know, a month or so has gone by and you haven't been able to much of anything besides sleep and work, forget about exercise.

It's well documented in the research that hard effort races result in immune system suppression for 24 hours after the effort. Many professional racers will avoid public places and may even go as far as to wear a mask if they have to travel by plane in the 24 hours following a race.

I'm back training again to get ready for my next big adventure, the Texas Hill Country 600. But the last 6 weeks were rotten. What's my advice? Don't go to a Bunko party 2 weeks before a big race. If you do, take your hand sanitizer.

Happy training.