"I just thought 'Something's wrong, I'm feeling fatigued, I'm struggling to get up in the morning and I'm always tired and when I do anything my body is hurting'.

"It wasn't until about January that I went to the doctor's and he said you probably have a post viral syndrome, but then I went to Dr Nick Dutton and he confirmed I had chronic fatigue syndrome and that I needed to have have a break. My body was telling me that, I think I didn't want to listen to it and I needed someone to tell me I had chronic fatigue before I actually stopped."

North said if he had his time again he wouldn't take as long to get to a doctor and have a check-up.

"Definitely not, knowing that I was sick and thinking it was just the flu. I'll be a lot more conscious of it, even if it is just a common cold I'll get it checked out because going to get it checked is better than not training for months. Any little symptoms ? I'll be on to it straight away," he said.

One of the biggest problems for North has been adjusting to not training every day and he said it has been hard to cope with.

"Going from training three to four times a day to absolutely nothing at all now I suppose it developed into a bit of situation where I felt depressed and letting people know and I'm on medication now because I would usually wake up at 4am now I wake up at 8am get ready for work, go to work, come home and go to sleep, knowing I can't do anything now," he said.

"I suppose finding out that I do have chronic fatigue and a soft heart murmur, now I know this and now I can get better without thinking 'Why can't I do anything?' As much as I didn't want to hear it, I did want to hear it because I knew something was wrong, I didn't think it was in my head. Now I have to rest and get better for next season."

North has been told he will have to miss the remainder of this season and he will also need to take it easy over winter, but if he is feeling better after that he can look at resuming training at the start of next season.

While there is a long way to go, already North has felt that he wants to get back and his mother Carol has noticed that.

"That's what Dr Dutton said, a few months ago Nick wasn't even thinking triathlon or training but since February Nick was saying 'I want to try' and Dr Dutton said that's good," she said.

"He said 'If you do something and wake up the next morning and feel good, you've hit the nail on the head, if you wake up the next morning and you're sore and tired, you've done too much'."

North wanted to thank his colleagues at Winning Edge Cycles, who he has credited with being two of his biggest supporters as he goes through his recovery.

"Steve Buckland and Greg Westman have been two major helps for me, as much as the others have been there, these two boys coming to work every day have helped me more than anyone else," North said.

"I'm just trying to get better and hopefully I will be back out there soon and racing."