It is around this time that Jen McIntosh enters her “crazy pre-Games phase”, according to her husband. The rifle shooter may dispute that description but she does acknowledge that

six months before a major competition she begins to cut out any bad habits that may have crept in.

“I definitely don’t think I’m going crazy. It’s really just that I get much more particular about things,” she said. “I’m much more rigid about what I’m eating, how much I’m sleeping and all of the little things that can make a small difference. Everything starts to become that bit more focused and it probably drives my husband mad but he has just got to put up with it.”

The 2018 Commonwealth Games begin on April 4 and things are, admits McIntosh, beginning to feel very real.

Tomorrow, the Commonwealth Shooting Federation Championships begin in Brisbane on Australia’s east coast and with the competition doubling up as a test event for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, it will be a practice run for what McIntosh may encounter come April.

“My training has been going really well so I’m looking forward to the competition,” the Scot said. “The main goal is to check out the range and get a feel for everything so it’s as much a fact-finding mission as anything else.

“But that’s not to say I’m not targeting medals – every athlete wants to perform well every time they compete – but it gives us a chance to try out different strategies for travel and get used to the conditions as well.”

Despite being only 26, McIntosh, from Edinburgh, is a Commonwealth Games veteran. She made her Games debut in Delhi in 2010, where she won two golds and a bronze, before following that up at Glasgow 2014 with a silver and a bronze to make her the most decorated female Scottish athlete in Commonwealth Games history, taking the title from her mum, who was also a shooter.

With two Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, under her belt it makes McIntosh one of the most experienced active multi-sport championship athletes in Scotland, despite her youth.

McIntosh’s success has resulted in her becoming one of the most recognisable Scottish faces in terms of the Commonwealth Games, with her medal tally resulting in high expectations again as Gold Coast approaches. Pressure from outside observers is not, however, something that affects McIntosh.

“I don’t feel like the attention adds any extra pressure,” she said. “I’m the type of person who expects the absolute best from myself whatever anyone else is saying. If I’m not shooting personal bests every day, I feel like I’m letting myself down. That’s my mentality, so when people start talking about me, it doesn’t really affect me because whatever they’re expecting from me, I’m expecting more.”

McIntosh’s recent form justifies her high hopes. In July, she became European champion for the first time when she won individual gold in the 50m rifle prone, as well as taking team gold in the 50m rifle 3 positions event. It was, says McIntosh, a significant milestone in her career. “Becoming European champion was one of the highlights of my career. It was just incredible,” she said. “The conditions in Baku were absolutely hellish. It was unbelievably windy and to come out with gold was amazing.

“It was a huge confidence boost too and now, whenever conditions are tough, I look at it as a challenge and think this is when I thrive.”

Despite McIntosh’s success, there is little chance of her taking her foot off the gas. She has her little sister, Seonaid, 21, biting at her heels, with the younger McIntosh also becoming European champion this summer, defeating her older sister in the 50m Rifle 3 Positions individual event in the process.

It can be, admits McIntosh, tricky having your sister as one of your greatest rivals but on the whole, is it, she says, a positive thing. “It’s an interesting dynamic and it does have its challenges,” McIntosh says. “It’s good in that I’ve got a training partner who is pushing me on but it’s still your sister beating you and so I’m a bit like ‘aahhh, I’m not enjoying this’.

“But I work really hard at not getting caught up in what she’s doing and just treating her like another athlete because at the end of the day, she is just another athlete – the fact she’s blood doesn’t matter when we’re on the range.

“It’s good, though, because we push each other to improve and without that, there’s the risk of becoming complacent and so whatever the challenges are, it’s worth putting up with them for the positives it brings.”