Soon enough the lake swim comes to all novice and aspiring triathletes. I’d avoided it for months. I left it as late as I possibly could: just one week before my first triathlon. If I could have left it until the day before I would have, truth be told.

I was terrified. I was terrified for many reasons, one being my struggles with swimming – in a pool. I did not have the confidence to head out of the relative safety (and warmth) of a pool to attempt to swim in a lake. Every pool swim, or delayed swim confounded my panicky preconceptions of how damn awful it would be. And of what a rubbish swimmer I am.