Recently it had been three months since my last bout of proper exercise, riding through the Alps with Kev, so I figured enough time had elapsed and I should get my shit together and get back on the bike. Literally. I was back to my habitual weight of 89kg as I’d stacked on a couple of kilos enjoying the culinary delights of Europe, so, since the morning’s were still cold enough to discourage me from getting out of bed to train, I figured I’d do a couple of weeks of a ketogenic diet to shed some quick fat.

Three weeks and almost 4kg lighter, the weather had improved a bit so exercise began in earnest. While waiting for the weather to improve, I’d entered the Alpine Classic at the end of January, a 200km jaunt over the Australian Alps, so that’s now my main target. I’d also committed to doing the Double Gong with Marc, which consists of the usual Gong Ride from Sydney to Woollongong and then turning around and riding back. That’s a total of roughly 180km, with one or two short hills to liven things up. That’s on Nov. 7th, so it’s a slightly more immediate concern.

I’ve also just noticed that this year’s Canberra Half Ironman is the 10th and final running of the event, and since this was the event which defeated me in 2008 as I went in badly underprepared, so I’d like to give it another go this year. However, not having run in a year, and not having swum in two are my main concerns, so I think I’ll wait another month and see how things are going before deciding whether to enter or not.

Still, plenty of events on the horizon, so lots of training to do.

Last week: 5h47, 116km, 85.5kg