AFTER almost two months on the road in the UK, Austria and Mallorca, I’m now back home in sunny Los Angeles and recovering well from my debut Ironman.

I raced Ironman Mallorca two weeks ago today and I performed brilliantly. It was almost the perfect race. I finished second in a time of nine hours 31 minutes, which I was delighted with.

I had known going into the race that I was feeling good and strong and I’d been responding to training really well. I had done my final training block for the race while based in Swindon and on race day, it all just came together beautifully.

The race started with a 2.4-mile swim and I led out of the water in 55 minutes. The sun was only just coming up as the gun went, so it was stunning to be swimming as the sun rose over the water in the bay of Alcudia. I’ve raced in Mallorca twice before, winning the 70.3 race in 2011 and 2012, and there’s something special about the island for me.

Out on the bike I’d promised my coach I’d keep my effort smooth and steady - it is a 112-mile ride after all - and I did as instructed. The second half of the bike course includes a 20km climb up to a monastery and I was pleased to still be feeling strong at this stage.

The marathon was a complete unknown for me. The longest I’ve ever run before is 17 miles, so I knew it was a voyage into the unknown and I wanted to be conservative, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good my legs felt when I first began running. ‘Wow, maybe 26 miles won’t be so bad after all,’ I thought.

At this stage, I was in second with one girl less than a minute ahead of me and I was confident I could catch her and take the win. I just focused on myself and my running and got into a smooth rhythm ticking off the miles one by one.

It worked and I was running well, but I never quite caught the girl in front. I was so pleased to clock a 3:21 marathon - not bad for a first effort after a big swim and ride - and have really got the Ironman bug now. There may be another on the horizon quite soon.

Thank you to all my sponsors, including Swindon’s Morris Owen Chartered Accountants and Virtua UK, and to everyone who made my recent stay in the UK such a fun one. I’ll be back with more news in a fortnight.