......It's not how you start...

.....it's how you finish.

Of course.

The Spring Bank Holiday weekend signals the start of summer in my mind. Unfortunately, I believe the weather forecast is not that good, but I'm not too bothered because we're heading up the A34 to a family get- together in Coventry. I used to work at Walsgrave Hospital over 20 years ago when I was a junior doctor. I'm glad I don't have to work in excess of 80 hours every week anymore, plus the extra pressure of constantly striving to pass postgrad exams. But I was in my mid 20's back then, and would have been at the peak of my physical powers. I could cope better with the stress of my job and the constant sleep deprivation, and had greater power of recovery. I would love to be able to magically turn the clock back and feel how fit and strong I used to be. Who knows?

On the flip side, there was no internet back then, and 'we' knew a whole lot less about sports physiology and nutrition. By 'we', I mean Joe Public. I suspect elite athletes like Seb Coe and Steve Ovett were extremely well informed, but the knowledge hadn't filtered down through the ranks. If I was attempting to do L'Etape back then, I would have probably made a hash of it, despite being physiologically fitter and stronger.

I don't want to harp on again about my rubbish attempt at the marathon in '83, but looking back my training regime was laughable. Carbo loading? Beer has a lot of carbohydrate in it, so I stuck to the pie, chips and beer diet. As for replacing the muscle glcogen stores during the race by drinking special energy-rich fluids, or even maintaining hydration by regularly taking water.... not a chance. No wonder I hit the 'wall'.

Now, I'm using all the legal resources available (obviously I'm not going to use EPO, steroids, growth hormone etc).

I've got special carbohydrate powder which I mix with water to make batches of fluid to go in my bottles. I try and drink a certain volume regularly during long rides.

I have energy bars which I munch regularly too, a little and often for solid nourishment. If I'm feeling really knackered, I have satchets of energy gel, easy to digest, which contain extra caffeine to put some tiger in my tank.

When I finish a hard training session, I take a drink designed to aid recovery. It contains a mix of whey protein and special carbohydrates. I hope it works, because it's not cheap.

I'm taking low dose multi-vitamins, extra iron and calcium, Vitamin C and fish-oil tablets.

I've made an effort to improve my diet, with extra fruit and vegetables, and cut down on biscuits, red meat and sugary rubbish.

There are loads of books and magazine articles which contain training regimes for all sorts of different sports. There are gyms in every mid-sized town so we should all be able to use running and rowing machines. We have training aids such as HRM's, and there are plenty of sports coaches, masseurs and well-organised courses and training camps to help if necessary.

The only thing that hasn't changed is the influence of the mind over the body. Endurance events can be won or lost in the brain of the participant. Lance Armstrong is famous for his exploits and he's churned out endless quotes. My favourite is.. 'Pain is temporary..quitting is forever.'

Suffice to say, I won't be quitting unless my hip or shoulder has dislocated or my head has jammed itself in the front sprocket...... which brings me to a joke about Kylie, Robbie and Elton. Maybe not.