PEEBLES triathlete Susan Gray has just over a week to go before her second ironman (IM) competition.
She completed her first ironman – 2.4 miles swimming, 112 miles cycling and 26.2 miles running – in Austria last year, finshing in just over 12 and a half hours.
And she's geared up for her second in Zurich, Switzerland, next Sunday.
Susan tol
d TheSouthern: "I would like to beat the time I did in Austria which was 12 hours 42 minutes."
She's a relative newcomer to the sport, only taking it up three-and-a-half years ago.
She said: "I watched a TV documentary about Jane Tomlinson, who did IM Florida and I thought if she can do an IM with terminal cancer then surely I could do one.
"I had never heard of IM before watching that documentary, but liked the idea of going long distance and I'd already done some ultra-distance running events.
"That planted the seed in my head. Then I started going out with a guy who was a member of Ayrodynamic Triathlon Club and it just grew from there."
Like many, she moved into the sport after "a dodgy knee" started to curtail her ultra-running career.
She had started with 5km road-runs 14 years previously and built up her distance to the 96-mile West Highland Way (WHW).
She told us: "I ran the WHW in 2005 in memory of my dad who had died the year before from cancer, but the race was cancelled when I only had 13 miles to go. So I went back the following year to do it again and completed it in 31 hours.
"By then I had started to do a few sprint triathlons and after completing the WHW, I felt that my ultra-distance running days were over due to having a bit of a dodgy knee which I did not think could stand up to many more ultra-running events. So I switched over completely to training for triathlon.
"I like the variety. I find it easier to train for three disciplines rather than one. If I don't feel like a run one day, I can bike or swim instead, and so on.
"I like the challenge of pushing myself to the limit. I get a real buzz out of long training days like 100-mile-plus bike rides and long runs in the hills around Peebles.
"I can't really explain it. I just love to do endurance events and the longer the better. I would like to do an ultra-triathlon next year in the Highlands (about 1.5 times the distance of IM) and then perhaps the following year do a double IM.
"I just like to see how far I can push my body. It also lets me eat as many cakes as I want as I am training so much!"
The 43-year-old sport and exercise science lecturer started working towards next week's competition at the end of September.
"I have been training for Zurich for the past 37 weeks, gradually building up the distances and weekly hours of training.
