"An exercise in naive optimism"

Or, to paraphrase, my imagined training plan.

• Day to day tweaks (stuff to blend into my daily routine)
  - 10kg of ballast in my rucksack.
  - 20-30 floors of stairs every day with ankle weights to simulate heavy boots.
• General
  - Swimming. Good for the lungs.
  - Running. Good for the legs and the lungs.
• Specifics
  - Climbing. Not specific to a trekking peak strictly speaking but awesome for strength, flexibility and balance. Plus good practice at handling ropes.
  - Hiking. Near where I live is St Catherine's hill - an Iron Age hillfort. 180ft from top to bottom and featuring a handy series of routes up and down.

And because I'm goal oriented and fully aware of the likelihood of my efforts waning without shorter term goals here are some of the things on the horizon in conveniently chronological order:

• July: JP Morgan Corporate Challenge
  3.5 miles around Battersea Park.
• October: Great South Run
  10 miles around Portsmouth.
• November: Hell Run
  10-12 miles through swampland.
• January: Vertical Rush
  42 floors (plus the Mezzanine) of Tower 42.
• April: Mera Peak
  Big icy rock.

So, there it is. A picturesque tableau of wishful thinking and foolishly recorded targets. If Pete and Andy are game then hopefully I'll be able to wedge a TrailPlus Challenge in there somewhere as well.