July 15: For the first time in three years (yes, THREE), I saw myself making a beginning – so I got on to a cross trainer (elliptical trainer). Why three? Well, two of that was spent nursing an severely injured knee but finally the instinct to get outdoors kicked in.

Because I had Mt Ebrus in mind.

Day 1 in the gym was not as hard as I thought it would be – but I clocked 12 minutes at Level 5 ONLY. Happily though, there was none of the flaming or sore muscles the next day, instead I felt lighter, more supple. Not a bad start, I say!

Day 2, 3 and 4 were definitely better and inspiring. I was still on the cross trainer – not having moved on to different things – and I intended to stay on it for at least a month. Coupled with some swimming to help my body regain its fluidity.

I am surely going to be writing a lot about training on this magic machine for a while!