Good advice came this week from an old friend who very much ‘does’ this sort of thing. He advised me that there was very little I or anyone could do about Altitude Sickness, as if it was going to hit me then it was going to hit me. However I could help myself about being as de-stressed as possible. Stress is an enemy on the mountain, and he should know, as he has been leading expeditions to the four corners of the earth since 1992. I was quite jealous when he told me of some of the places he had been to. Thank you to you – you know who you are.

I have in the meantime been fairly good this week, at least as far as training is concerned. As I write this it is Saturday, and I have been to the gym five times, today included. And I will be there in the morning at my 9.30am Body Pump class too. That’ll be me a hopeless quivering wreck for the remainder of Sunday then. Still, after next weekend there will only be a further two weekends left until I go – and that is a very very scary thought indeed.

I also did a Fitness Test today at the gym.It was the “Cooper Test” which shows your VO2 levels. It is done on a stationary bike and it is eventually pretty brutal. It gets tougher and tougher until you cannot keep the pedals moving between the 60-80bpm range. I took a screenshot of it when I finished below. I am at a VO2 level of 45, which apparently puts me in the top 10% of people for my age – I was chuffed!

Oh and I also should say that I did this at the end of my other workout, so I had already done about an hour on the bike, treadmill and cross trainer. I am up to level 10, 40% incline for 10 minutes at 65bpm if that means anything to anyone. I am going to up it, I can do better than that, and am starting to actually enjoy it. The only thing I hate is the treadmill. If it didn’t have a tv I couldn’t last the 20 minutes – it bores me stupid!

I know now however that I will never be ‘totally’ ready for the mountain properly. All I can do is do my best within the confines of work, and the rest of my life, and to try hard, and I am now more determined than ever. I have always been a bit lazy and indisciplined, but I cannot afford to be like that now. I was flattered also this week to see a very nice donation to the charity from one of the guys at work – thank you Martin, you are a star.

Oh and I weighed myself today, having not done so for a while – realised that I have probably not been eating as well as I should, but again for posterity I am as of today 84kgs, which is 13 stone 3lbs, or 185lbs.

More tomorrow – I am (as well as Body Pumping/torturing) going to buy a whole load of stuff that I need. Until then……..