It's no secret that Peter Reid has struggled this year. He pulled out of Ironman Australia because he "felt exhausted and didn't have the strength and energy to finish". After this race he was so discouraged that he talked about retiring. However, after a restless night he realized that he loved Ironman racing too much to stop. He also thought that his problems might be more mental than physical. He went to Boston for a Reebok promotion and ran the marathon "to get back in touch with the fun of racing". Despite the enthusiasm he gained from his Boston experience, his physical condition continued to decay to the point where he was completely out of breath jogging up hills that he would normally fly up. 

Clearly his problems were physical. Test results indicated that his hemoglobin, white blood cell count, red blood cell count and hematocrit were extremely low.  Doctors suspected a serious problem and advised Peter to completely stop training and undergo a battery of tests. Peter spent three weeks either in a medical lab or resting at home waiting for the lab results. All tests were negative but Peter's blood and energy levels remained low. However, after six weeks Peter's blood test returned to normal levels. Doctors are somewhat at a loss to explain this sudden reversal but believe that Peter contacted a virus that his body was too weak from training to fight. The weeks completely off training allowed his body to restore itself, fight and beat the virus. 

"My energy levels are back and I am slowly easing back into training with some short training sessions." Peter recently reported. "My training revolves around my energy levels.  If I feel strong when I wake up, I train.  If I feel tired then I don't train.  It is going to be a slow process to come back but I am fired up and looking forward to race again soon. A big thanks to my sponsors and friends over the past two months who have supported me with great e-mails and phone conversations."

While Peter expects to be back to racing by early August, he's taking things a day at a time and eager to return to the start line mentally and physically ready to race.