Exercise for its own sake is a bit boring. I've been working hard on building up my strength and on improving my flexibility. Now that I feel "fit" enough to start training again I've entered a triathlon for next May. My PT/coach, David Jones, has worked out a schedule, so now I'm back to following a session plan.

David advises me on my fitness conditioning which is important to my rehabilitation. The sessions are an improvement over the unstructured workouts I was formerly doing. The fitness program he has set for me is largely designed to do whole body / kinetic chain exercises with very little done in isolation. The main exception to this is my right shoulder where I am still strengthening the deltoids and trapezius.

With the circuit training, just as I learn how to do one exercise it's suddenly no longer in my program and I have to learn another one. I have to admit that I'm not sure how much the brain injury has slowed my acquisition of new motor skills or how much is down to other factors such as lack of balance. It's hard for me to believe that many years ago I was an adept skateboarder!

Once a week, David observes my routine. An outside overview is useful as it gets me to focus on correct technique, such as doing correct single leg squats and as far as I am able to, moving my right shoulder properly. I have to be careful that the left side isn't over-compensating and creating other imbalances. The physio has enough to do without me creating more work!

All three sports offer different challenges; physically swimming is the hardest, due to my inability to get a good glide action with my right arm. Cycling is restricted to the turbo and trying to increase my cadence is a challenge. I guess my 400m running background has given me a long running stride which has translated to a low-ish cycle cadence. Running offers the most frustration, especially when I struggle to keep up with my training partners. My shoulder often aches too due to impingement.

Although to me there is a lack of progress, I can measure my improvement by comparing my performance in this winter's first Sussex Cross Country League fixture at Goodwood. I improved by nearly four minutes compared with the previous year. It was the same course as last year which was my "comeback" race. I guess I need patience which is something a lot easier to type than to observe.

Exercise is a two-edged sword, in general it's recommended good practice to those that have suffered a brain injury. However to me at the moment it's a source of frustration. By now I should recognise that I'm slower than I was pre-accident. When I was running in a half-marathon recently I looked at my watch at the 11 miles mark. "1:22" - the time I had finished in two years ago, it certainly made the last 2 miles hard work. I'm trying to avoid depression and will think harder about entering similar events. I'll stick to cross country!

With the return to structured training and the goal of the triathlon in May, I decided to join in with the V02 testing an East Grinstead club mate set up with TRUST4You. This would give me a baseline and set a few training parameters. I now know my Lactate Threshold and can "obey" Coach Troy's Spinervals "keep 10 beats below your lactate threshold."

TRUST4You run by fellow triathletes Mark Tickner and Michelle Colvin are located in Sussex, so to me, fairly local and not that far to drive. I took my old squeaky bike over and Mark oiled it before fixing it to the turbo. Wearing a heart rate monitor and a mask connected to the "New Leaf Metabolic Profiler", I proceeded to cycle at increasing wattages until I could manage no more. Every couple of minutes Michelle took a blood sample from my right ear lobe, although as I had not kept to the strict "no eating four hours before" it distorted the final analysis of fat burning. I aim to return there for a re-test towards the start of next year [hopefully I'll remember not to have a snack beforehand].

A painful lesson?

It goes without saying try and avoid accidents! The general stress and anxiety that comes with dealing with solicitors and independent "medico-legal" consultants has put my recovery back. Moreover it seems to put more stress on family members than me. I seem to be living in another world where some emotions don’t exist and I'm spectating and not participating. [A "classic" brain injury symptom].

I had my appointment at the Peripheral Nerve Injury Unit of the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital. I think it boiled down to the nerve seems mostly OK and the lack of mobility is down to the severity of the original accident - "Significant bony trauma and subsequent skeletal abnormality". They have offered me an operation to explore the accessory and long thoracic nerves. These emerge near where my neck was lacerated by my trip through the van window and is now heavily scarred. I've got to be honest and say I'm not inclined to accept it as it has taken me a long time to get as fit as I am now. But I'll wait until I have seen another Orthopaedic Surgeon for a "medico-legal" appointment and get his opinion as he is a sports injury specialist.

I have an appointment to see a Consultant Neurologist [medico-legal]. I also have an appointment to see Dr Trevor Powell who has written a book "Head Injury - a practical guide" that people like me will be unfortunately familiar with. Dr Powell will carry out some cognitive and psychometric testing and write another report to add to my extensive collection.

It disappoints me to say that the sudden rush of appointments is as a result of my father complaining to the law firm who are representing me. It would seem that if you don't complain then beware! I am just trying my best to rehabilitate myself, with some very good professional help from an Occupational Therapist and Neuro-Psychologist. I've said it before but I also have the love of my family and friends. Thanks go out to them.

On a lighter note I returned to watch my favourite race the Ballbuster duathlon at Box Hill again. It was a year on from the last time I went to watch, so my previous target of competing again was missed. When you do see my name on the entry list it will mean that I'm back to some sort of fitness that I'm satisfied with.

Train safe.