The plan for January was to trim back down to my pre-Christmas cruiser weight and ease my body into swimming, cycling and running for extended periods of time – something I knew I’d have to get used to.

With my blood stream and arteries tainted with the delights of the festive period the almighty task of an Ironman was somewhat daunting.  This, coupled with a few too many (overly confident) digs at the Russell team meant I needed to get my training started pronto. So, to accelerate my post‑Christmas rehab I decided to attack my Achilles heel head on – I vowed not touch a drop of alcohol for an entire month…

In fear of sounding like a recovering addict, weaning myself off was a challenge.  The first few days were a piece of cake, I didn’t want another drop after an extravagant NYE, but when the weekends rolled by and the birthdays cropped up, the lure of a pint was more and more enticing. I am pleased to say that I stayed strong and today is the final furlong. The ordeal has helped a great deal and is best shown by comparing my December to January training achievements:

Now I’ve dusted the cob webs away, I can plan my goals for February.

Two out of the four weekends I’m away from home so this means the remaining two weekends need to be dedicated to some serious training.  For the first of which I’ve enlisted a training partner, Josh ‘the bomber’ Harris, my tough mudder comrade and fellow endurance enthusiast.  The plan is to fit a mini triathlon in over the course of a weekend, details of which TBC but I hope to fit in a ride out to Box hill, a run around Richmond park and a dip in one of London’s Olympic size pools.

The second free weekend involves running in the Hampton court half marathon where I aim to beat my PB, but more importantly win a bet placed upon me by Owen Sharkie. This man has ventured outside of bookies for this one and put  a £20 wager, winner takes all. And when I say winner, I mean the looser donates £20 to the Headcase charity.

For future reference, betting in this way is encouraged. I will take endurance based bets of most kinds to win Headcase more money. Bets can be placed via email or twitter (brownandybrown@hotmail.com / @Brown_AndyBrown).

In the words of Chis Akabusi: