Since my failure at the CCC last year I’ve been over eating and under training, not massively over eating and not massively under training but enough that by Christmas I was feeling bloated and fat. However, I still did nothing about it and even when Country to Capital came knocking and I’d look like a fat ultra runner next to my peers I still did nothing about it. It was only when my work trousers got just too tight that I thought now is the time to do something about it.

However, my relationship with food and in particular houmous and chocolate (not at the same time) is complex and these two foods I struggle to give up. So what do I do? That’s right I’ve brought in the big guns – Diet Coke and Pepsi Max. 

In order to wean myself off over eating delicious food I’m using dirty diet drinks. The good news is I should be able to wean myself off the over eating in a couple of weeks and therefore then stop drinking way too much of this vile product. It’s not ideal but for me it’s the control measure and kickstart I need to get back down into training weight territory.

But there’s a lesson in here somewhere and I think that it’s ‘don’t let a DNF get inside your head’, I’m always the same though and no matter what I say to try and keep me mentally focused when something goes wrong I just can’t do it. The DNF or race failure usually ends up with my ending up like a lard arse, trying to disguise weight gain and kidding myself outwardly that nothing’s wrong while inwardly hating myself at what I’m becoming. So yes, the Diet Coke break may seem bonkers but if it breaks a habit then why not?