Sufferfest is so many ways....

Bad news of the Bigman's leg injury filtered through via text to Carnock first thing. It's bad timing but in some respects the Bigman is exceptionally fit and a few days rest, albeit enforced and painful, may not do much harm. I wish him a speedy recovery.

The text arrived as I was mid way through a breakfast spin set inspired by the sufferfest. I decided to plough on and make the most of the set but my thoughts were drawn to his plight.

I've been training in my home gym everyday and am beginning to feel the benefits of everything that I've done.

In an effort to finally get my weight sorted I've started counting my calories in and out on a daily basis - total was 500 more used than taken back which should equate to around a pound a week or slightly more if I push myself and reduce the intake slightly more. The main idea is to get a proper handle on the calorific value of the food groups that I tend to eat, portion control and finally get control of what I'm doing.

I spoke to the Bigman and he pointed out it's only 10 weeks to go and we want to be able to enjoy our South African experience and not just survive it. The weather has worked against us during the last few weeks at a time that we wanted to train hard on and off road. I checked the long range forecast and the snow and ice looks like continuing for the next 2 or 3 weeks. It's been a long cold winter.

I'll run in the morning and spin later in the day tomorrow. I'm aiming at 2 sessions per day with one days rest per week. With time marching on, as the Bigman says, we're going to have to make the sessions count and worthwhile. We're in for some hard work but I'm up for it and the Bigman is already very fit and operating at a good weight to height ratio.

The hard work will pay off.