Professional triathletes are, by definition, multi-discipline allrounders who do their best to pack as much as possible into their days. Generally, the tougher the challenge, the better.
Even by the extraordinary standards of these endurance athletes, the final day of the T100 Triathlon World Tour for Kate Waugh was something else.
Ahead of the final race in Qatar, the 26-year-old Englishwoman held a lead at the top of the standings that was so slender, she was stricken by anxiety.
Anything less than a win around the streets of Lusail could deprive her of the title of T100 world champion. So tense was she, she slept for just three hours the previous night, and was in tears before the start.
The stress scarcely dissipated even though she emerged from the 2km swim round the waters of the Arabian Gulf in the lead. She remained agitated to the extent that the tears returned when she was on the 80km bike ride.
Still, she managed to power through to hold what appeared an impregnable lead for almost the entire duration of the 18km run.
The only doubt was when she was yards from the finish line. She looked back to check her lead, then appeared spooked by the flowers that were being lobbed into her path by children lining the finish.
Before taking the tape, she was convulsing. She crossed the line to claim the world title, then promptly collapsed to the floor.
“I was really doubting myself coming into the race; I was giving it all the talk, but inside I was terrified,” Waugh said.
“I even had a little cry before the start of the race because I was just so nervous, and everyone was trying to tell me to just stay composed, stay chill, but nothing was really working.
“It’s just been a long season and it's hard mentally to hold it together for this length of racing. This was my seventh T100 and I started to doubt whether I'd asked too much of myself this year.
“I knew it was going to take everything, and it quite literally did.”
She ended in a heap just past the finish line, in a pool of her own vomit, and needed medical assistance. She said that had never happened before.
“I'm slightly mortified,” she said. “I don't want to see those photos.”
And then, within minutes, she was fresh and sprightly again. She was ready to collect her trophy, a $200,000 winner's cheque as the tour champion, as well as pack her bags and head to Hamad International Airport to catch her flight to a mate’s wedding in Madrid this weekend.
With the elevated purse on offer for the finale of triathlon’s professional tour, Waugh could afford to upgrade her seats on the plane.
Ahead of the race, she speculated that the only thing she might spend her winnings on would be a nice Christmas present for her parents.
She realised after that she would have to honour that, but she said: “No present would be worthy of what they've given me over the years.
“I would not be here without them. They have endless belief and support in me and I'm so grateful to have parents like them.”
Between the penultimate race of the nine-event tour, in Dubai last month, and Qatar, Waugh had a training camp in Abu Dhabi. Even with that extra time of acclimatisation, she said the conditions in Doha were still exhausting.
“It was super, super hot,” she said. “I was so thirsty on the bike and then there was one stage where there was no one at the water stations for us.
“I was getting myself really worked up because I was so thirsty and I was actually a bit panicked because it was just a hot course.
“I struggled through my camp in Abu Dhabi with the heat as well, but I it paid off. It had its benefits as well.”
