Modern pentathlon world champion Mhairi Spence is finding the Olympics a good painkiller as she prepares for her Games debut in London in a month's time.
The 26-year-old and team-mates Samantha Murray, Nick Woodbridge and Sam Weale have just returned from a high-altitude training camp at their base at Font Romeu in the Pyrenees and will head back out there later this month.
Britain have won four medals since women's modern pentathlon was introduced to the Olympics in 2000, and hopes are high Spence could add to the success on home soil.
She said: "We've had a really good training camp, I really enjoyed it. It was tough getting our fitness up and finding that little bit extra for the Olympics.
"It's a great facility, I love being up there and I've always found it's good for my performance so hopefully things are going to go well.
"Every day I wake up and I just feel so happy and really lucky to be in the situation I'm in. I'm really making the most of every day and I'm making sure that I'm not going to regret any day that I've missed any training.
"It's so much easier when you're tired and you think, 'Oh yeah, I'm going to the Olympics'. It doesn't hurt any more."
The Scot and her team-mates were at Loughborough University on Monday to receive all their kit for the Games, a time-consuming process for an event involving five different sports.
Spence had dressed specially for the occasion with Union Jack trousers on, and she added: "It's unbelievable, I'm not sure I've taken my kit off so many times in one day.
"I feel like all my Christmases have come at once. I think I might just spread it all out on the floor and roll around in it when I get home."
Modern pentathlon is one of the last events of the Olympics, with the men's competition taking place on August 11 and the women's event on August 12.
