14 October 2023 As I sit twelve hours into a long flight home from Kona I find myself reflecting on the fact that this journey actually started all the way back in 2007 when Chris and I found ourselves on a mountain biking adventure in Nepal with a remarkable lady called Dot. Dot was World Ironman Champion at the age of 75 and meeting her sixteen years ago planted a seed of an idea. Over the years that seed has become a very clear goal. On Saturday – thanks to my very supportive husband and kids – it became a dream fulfilled. Saturday was the first ever all women’s race at Kona and so it seems ..read more

Ironman Wales 2023: A Day like no other “The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” Michelangelo. One of the toughest, one of the best, and a race that has seemed aspirational (if not out of reach if I’m honest). This was only highlighted further when in January of 2023 I saw a consultant who advised I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t stress my cardiovascular system, I shouldn’t swim alone and I had to wait for surgery to help me understand how I would stay well. Not exactly ideal for triathlon training or even attempti ..read more

Taunton Sprint Triathlon was a great day out: short and sharp with nowhere to hide, a really friendly, mixed field, great event team and I was back to racing with friends. Pool swim, rolling bike course, 5.7km run. 10/10 would do it again. Swim: 50m in and my lungs are on fire, my stroke has definitely been better, but another minute passes and I’m a quarter of the way through. Head down and splash through it. Done. No idea of my time, assume my heart rate is about 200. Best leg it into transition. T1: Decide socks are for wimps. Bike: Rolling with some beautiful views. Caught at two red light ..read more

Having completed a race course reccie last weekend on my TT bike, I then found out that the qualifiers were going to be draft legal, and on the modified bike course (21.2km on the not so lush and smooth new tarmac), oh well! I have never done a draft legal event so I was very excited about this but totally underprepared – my road bike has spent a winter covered in mud after using it for a bit of commuting. Thankfully amazon came to the rescue with a last minute order of bar tape. One enthusiastic 4 yr old child and a bucket of hot soapy water with a bit of elbow grease and it looked almost ra ..read more

Emily’s first middle distance of 2022…   Outlaw Half Ironman  I entered this with one goal – to serve as a recce ahead of the full Outlaw Ironman in July.  Arriving at Holmepierre Point on Saturday took me back to doing the National Relays there about 15 years ago!  My campsite was 7 miles from the start. Not insurmountable but when I discovered those 7 miles were along a closed road and the diversion was more like 20/30min I tried my luck on Saturday and got the last space camping on site at Holmepierre Point. Hoping I can repeat this in July.  Went to bed at 8pm with ..read more

So where do I start with a race report on this one? So many lessons learned:  Lesson 1, never drink loads of beer before committing to an event! We started the epic journey with a compulsory cold environment survival course of 4 days – absolutely key to getting to grips with some of the finer details of not becoming an icicle.   Meeting up with all the proper athletes the days before the race was also great, an array from all over the world, these guys and girls are superhuman……. I’m in awe of their abilities. Second lesion, pack lighter!!   Man those pulks are heavy at 30+kg w ..read more

Weymouth 70.3 Sunday 19 September 2021 This race has been a long time coming. It began as an entry to Stafford 70.3 in 2020, then became Weymouth 2020 and then Weymouth 2021. As I sit here I’m still not sure that it even happened, it all feels very surreal. The atmosphere in Weymouth was buzzing. Two thousand or so triathletes each with their freebie red Ironman 70.3 rucksack. Sadly far less than two thousand parking spaces and the town had clearly exceeded capacity. The logistics of the weekend were arguably the hardest part. After registering on Saturday afternoon, I drove a few miles across ..read more

I foolishly went into this race fasted…..long story but suffice to say Friday nights Chinese was a foolish choice as I never left the house yesterday for fear of, well you can all guess! So my diet yesterday was a crumpet and a bowl of pasta, woke up at 5am and was going to not bother but then remembered what I tell all my athletes; ‘You never regret doing a session but you will always regret skipping one’. Still couldn’t face food so my breakfast was sipping a bottle of Hi5 energy drink as I drove to Boxend, was feeling OK, but a bit queezy. Swim I absolutely smashed it! I’ve always said I’m ..read more

Hertfordshire Triathlon (Standard) Sunday 22nd May saw the Hertfordshire Standard, Sprint and Super Sprint Triathlons. The standard distance was the Hertfordshire championship race so the pressure was on from Triforce, my triathlon club, for as many club members as possible to compete.  Despite this being my local race I was still up at 4:30 thanks to a traditional inability to sleep the night before, I might be an ‘old hand’ at this but I still get at least as nervous as any newbie on race day. But pre-race nerves are good right? They fire up the adrenaline and get things ‘moving’ in the ..read more

Having completed a race course reccie last weekend on my TT bike, I then found out that the qualifiers were going to be draft legal, and on the modified bike course (21.2km on the not so lush and smooth new tarmac), oh well! I have never done a draft legal event so I was very excited about this but totally underprepared – my road bike has spent a winter covered in mud after using it for a bit of commuting. Thankfully amazon came to the rescue with a last minute order of bar tape. One enthusiastic 4 yr old child and a bucket of hot soapy water with a bit of elbow grease and it looked almost ra ..read more