I’m seriously impressed you managed to complete an Olympic triathlon so soon after giving blood. I don’t think I would have had the willpower to make it to the finish line. I was surprised how much giving blood impacted my running, I don’t recall having to struggle through so many sluggish training runs last time I donated. At the moment I’m booked in to give blood on October 3rd my half marathon takes place on October 16th. I might just be sensible and postpone donating blood until the week after the half marathon. I probably sound really selfish, but I don’t want to jeopardise all my training. A half ironman followed by a half marathon, I feel knackered just thinking about all the training that you’ll be doing!

Sorry for making you feel queasy! My friend Anna used to faint after giving blood and was eventually asked to stop going. I think she was secretly quite pleased. I only started donating because I wanted to find out if I had a common blood group – I do! My family don’t understand why I put myself through the trauma of giving blood, I tell them that one day my blood might help to save a life. I’m terrible at taking photos with a proper camera so suspect trying to improve my iphone photo taking skills might be a step too far. As I’m only running for 10-30 minutes at the moment there is a danger I’d spend more time trying to get a decent photo than actually running! I love your Cakeathon photos, the medal is seriously impressive.