Fouhy, 31, quit the sport in March after falling out with national coach Ian Ferguson. But talks began earlier this month between Fouhy, government sports funding agency Sparc and Canoe Racing New Zealand (CRNZ) in a bid to find a way back into the sport for the 2004 Olympics silver medallist.
CRNZ chief executive Paula Kearns said at the time that CRNZ was open to the idea of Fouhy returning to canoeing with a spot at the 2012 Olympics as the goal.
The solution would involve Fouhy training on his own under a funding model similar to individual athletes such as shot putter Valerie Vili and triathlete Bevan Docherty.
Kearns indicated Fouhy, through his representative Rob Nicol, had approached Sparc over the possibility of an "athlete-led" programme for him and allow him to train outside the national programme environment.
Although the talks were still in progress, Fouhy told NZPA today that his training load was starting to build.
"I've gone from no paddling for seven weeks, to about 30km for a week, to about 100km. I've been at the physio a few times this week, put it that way," he said.
"I've still got a bit of work to do -- normally I'd be getting up to over 150km, plus on top of that you've got your gym work and your runs, your biking and cross-training."
Fouhy said reports yesterday that his return was almost complete were premature.
"It's a little bit early to say a deal is imminent -- when it gets to the finer details, it takes a while for things to get firmed up.
"We want to get things clean and tidy, cross the t's and dot the i's and that seems to be running its course at the moment."
Fouhy was reluctant to pinpoint just when a decision would be made, but said he would not expect any news before the end of next week.
"It's pretty important, when you've that much invested, to make sure you do things justice. That really starts with getting things right from the very beginning and doing the best you can at that stage, which is what we're doing right now.
"Things are looking encouraging."
Fouhy decided to quit the sport permanently in March this year, citing criticism from Ferguson as a catalyst in his decision.
Fouhy did not contest the national trials on Lake Karapiro near Hamilton, ruling him ineligible for the national crews to contest this year's World Cup regattas in Europe and the world championships in Poland in August.
He won the K1 1000m title at the national championships at Rotorua in March ahead of Ian Ferguson's son Steven, with whom he contested the K2 1000m at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Los Angeles Olympian Ian Ferguson had previously said he was looking forward to coaching a national team without Fouhy, saying he was so intense and competitive he could be a "pain in the butt".
Fouhy hit his peak in 2003 when he won the world championship K1 1000m title, following that up with a silver medal in the same discipline at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He finished fourth at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, then took a year off the sport to "decompress".
After contesting two ironman competitions in that time, he returned to canoe racing in November last year.
