One thing that stood out from London 2012 was quite how many medals Yorkshire athletes collected. The county finished up with seven gold medals, two silver and three bronzes, which would have placed it twelfth in the medal table if regarded as an independent country.

“There’s something in the water” came the headlines. But was there – or is there something in the geography? The hills, the moors, the wide open spaces. The area of the UK that I come from is pretty much as different to the landscape of Yorkshire as you could get. The Fens is flat, flat and more flat.

My hopes of triathlon success seemed dashed before they’d even begun – Yorkshire, after all, is the training playground of the Brownlees and a long way from where I ride my bike. But The Fens have their own triathlon champions in the shape of Chrissie Wellington (Norfolk) and Leanda Cave (Lincolnshire). My thighs, born and raised on flat ground, may have some potential in them yet.

But athletes don’t all stay to train where they’re from. Training communities in places like Boulder, Oregon and Iten all see athletes gathering to take advantage of the geography or facilities of a given area. 

When it came to moving flat recently, my usual property evaluation process of does it have a roof, is it near a tube stop and is there a good local pub nearby was complicated further by the needs of the various sports I’m trying to get less rubbish at.

Living in central London is all very well for staggering home from a night out in the West End, but come Sunday morning when you’re pulling on your trainers to head out for your long run there’s a whole lot of tourist dodging to do before you can get to a bit of open space.

As well as this, the constant pounding on concrete and cobbles has led to two minor injuries in the past couple of years. It was time to find somewhere a bit grassy.

Good swimming pools are in short supply in London. To a budding swimmer this is the ‘school catchment area’ of property searches – needing to be close enough to a pool that you can make it home with wet hair before hypothermia sets in.

Finally cycling. Oddly, living within 2.5miles of your office isn’t very convenient as a cyclist. The time it takes to cycle vs time it takes to put all your gear on is just not sustainable. I needed a longer run up. And that’s just taking into account the location before you consider whether there’s anywhere for you to actually put your bike.

Sadly, there’s not yet a property search programme for wannabe triathletes with a tiny rental budget that just want to live somewhere that they can boil up some pasta in peace between training session. But if there were I’d probably get the gig as presenter/resident property expert (as an aside, in my past I was a resident property expert for a magazine) because I have found this hallowed ground.

In December I moved to Tuffnell Park to much “where’s that” from anyone that doesn’t go north of King’s Cross on the black tube line. It has the trifecta of being close to Hampstead Heath for off-road runs, 5 miles from my office for a morning downhill and evening uphill bike commute, and close to a suitable swimming pool as well as a lido and open-water swimming spot for the summer.

It’s pretty much perfect for taking on triathlon training. Or it would be if my neighbour would turn his TV down.