"I told you so" by John Harrison

John Harrison is a very wise chap who knows what he's talking about. He tried to train through a chest infection once and ended up in hospital with Pneumonia. He gave me advice and warned me before PD but did I listen - of course not! Here's his latest input on the subject - post hospitalisation.

"Hi Simon.

If your going to be ill you may as well make it a good one, and you certainly seem to have done that. So sorry to hear that you have now found yourself in hospital, I was shocked when Ian told me.

I was probably less shocked when he told me that despite being in a hospital bed you were planning a 350k cycle race at the end of the month.

Mate. However a determined individual you are, you have to know when to stay down and take advantage of the count. No fighter gets up after a count of 2, even if he feels ready. He waits till 8, then he's definitely ready to go again and has the best chance of success.

As a person that has had pneumonia I can tell you that you dont want to be doing any phys until January 1st 2008.

I know how frustrating that must seem. Earlier this year I was benching 140k and then I tore my deltoid. I could'nt bench my own hand after that. Frustrated? Massivley, but I now accept I'm not going to be benching 140k for a while.

The best way to overcome something is to accept it. Get that date of Jan 1st in your head, dont do anything before it and you'll be back super ironman next year. Do anything before that and you'll be lucky if you can still kick a ball around with your kids.

We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. Anyway, thats the serious stuff done....

....Take good care of yourself mate and remember, if you start to think about exercise, lie down 'til the thought goes away.

Best wishes to Shilpa, Sid and Seb.

JH."