Embrunman was never on my race plan, in fact I hadn’t even thought about it until the night of the entry deadline. I had raced there last year (finishing 3rd) and totally loved it but I thought I wouldn’t be ready to race there this year. After changing my training for the super sprint distance at the Commonwealth Games, having a mid-season break, injuring my shoulder and travelling to Switzerland for the remainder of the summer I knew it would be a risk. It was a spur of the moment decision to enter but even then I wasn’t sure if I would go especially since when I went for a 3hr training ride the following day I felt so terrible I didn’t think I was going to make it home. 

Four days before the race I decided that I was up for giving it a go, even though I had done no long runs or rides . I love racing in France, the race suits me and the money is good so I thought it was worth a shot. I decided that I wouldn’t taper for the race, I’d just train as normal right in to it and see what happened. It was like a bonus race to me, with no pressure. When I arrived in the beautiful town of Embrun I had a good feeling about and I was instantly really excited about the race. Embrunman is known as one of the toughest Iron distance races in the world (it’s actually a little longer) and just to make it that little bit more difficult the swim starts in pitch darkness. This is followed by an extremely mountainous 188k bike ride which takes in the Col d’Izzard and a very tough hilly marathon to finish off the day. 
See my blog from last year  http://www.eimearmullan.com/blog/embrunman

One of my main worries for the race was actually the swim in the dark, last year I was so disoriented that I didn’t have a clue what direction I was swimming I was just following the feet of someone who luckily seemed to know where to go. This year unfortunately I was on my own for the whole 3.8k. I seemed to manage quite well up to the end of lap one at which point I went completely off course and didn’t realise until spectators on the bank were shouting and pointing where to go. This happened a few time but I stayed calm and relaxed and finally made it to t1.

Without any sense of urgency I put on a cycling jersey, gloves and arm warmers and set of at a very steady pace up the first climb which starts as soon as you leave transition. I knew instantly that I hadn’t put enough clothes; it was completely freezing and very windy. I was shaking almost uncontrollably by the bottom of the first descent. It was so cold I could tell how hard or easy I was riding. Last year I rode a little too hard at the start and with 40k to go I had blown completely, at 20k to go I was seeing stars and was barely able to make it up the final climb. This time I knew I was feeling much better towards the end of the bike and I was able to ride up the last climb instead of just surviving. It helped that I made sure I ate properly with a mix of homemade energy balls and High 5 gels.  I spent most of the bike in 4th place but with no idea of how far up the road the leaders were. I was telling myself if I could keep the gap to less than 15 minutes going on to the run I could still be in with a chance.

I entered T2 and as I was putting my run shoes on I was trying to work out how far back I was. My French isn’t great but I figured out that I was about 9 to 10 minutes down. I started running and went with a high cadence, small step run style to get me going and I kept it like that for the first 15k then returned to my normal run style as I ran in to a very strong headwind around the lake. By that point I was in second and was around 2 minutes from the lead but I was not closing the gap very quickly at all.

I kept relaxed and told myself to hold back until at least the 21k point. I stopped at special needs for extra nutrition and Isabell Ferrer who was leading at that point must not have stopped as suddenly the gap had grown again, I decided to push on and try to close the gap. I stepped up the pace but backed right off on the steep hills and it seemed to be working as the gap was getting smaller and eventually I could see her just in front. With about 12k to go I took the lead and just kept running without looking back to the line. I didn’t want to back off, firstly because I didn’t want to get caught and secondly because It would be over sooner.  It’s not a race where you can ever relax and think you’ve won before you reach the line. After over 11hrs of racing anything can happen.

The finish shoot at Embrunman feels very different from any other race, you have been through so much in one day and it is such a relief to see the finish line. I was so happy to reach the line and I couldn’t quite believe that I had won; it was a pretty special feeling. Embrunman is a great race and its one that I would recommend to anyone who is up for a good challenge. It’s not like other races and it’s an experience you’ll never forget. 

When I started triathlon as an age grouper around 6 years ago I would never even have dreamt of doing something like the Commonwealth Games. I was a trainee teacher doing triathlons as a ‘weekend warrior’ just for fun and to keep fit. As I started to improve, I guess I did have some thoughts about racing at an elite level, but I soon learned that I would have to go to the longer non-drafting distances of 70.3 and Ironman where the swim doesn’t have such an impact on the race. As neither of those distances feature at the Commonwealth or Olympics games, I put any thoughts or dreams of going there behind me I moved towards my long distance career.

It was at the beginning of last year when I got a call from Tommy Evans from Triathlon Ireland about considering the Commonwealth Games for 2014. I was very shocked by his call but I said I was interested and then totally forgot about it as I got on with my long distance racing. I knew my swim was too weak to be competitive at the Olympic distance but when I was training in Spain in February I met with Tommy and he suggested that the Relay might be an option for me at the games. I don’t know if I really believed that I would actually be selected but I knew I would love to be a part of it and I was really excited when the team was announced and I was on it.

As the selection date was quite close to the games I continued with my race program which involved a few half distance races and an Ironman (IM France) which was 4 weeks before the games. It worked well as I trained as normal up to the Ironman, had some recovery time then focussed on some much shorter and harder efforts in training to get ready for the super sprint distance for the triathlon relay. My racing distance would go from 3.8k swim/180k bike/42.2k run to a 250m swim, 6k bike, and a 1.6k run!!

When I was packing to leave for the games it felt like I was going on a school trip. We went by bus to Glasgow and when we arrived we went to a hotel to keep us away from the hype of the Athletes Village and close to the triathlon venue of Strathclyde Park. We made a few trips to the Athlete Village and as I was racing in only the Triathlon Relay I was the triathlon representative at the opening ceremony. It was great to be a part of it and to meet some of the other athletes.

We spent the week preparing as a team. It was great to be part of a team environment and a very different experience for me as I am used to doing everything on my own. We were well looked after and it was a relaxing, stress free run in to the race. When race day arrived we were all looking forward to getting on with it and it was the short hard explosive effort we had expected. In the triathlon relay each person does the swim, bike, and run before handing over to the next person to do the same. Our team consisted of Aileen Reid, Connor Murphy, Russell White and me. I was 3rd to go and I have to say it was the hardest I have ever gone in any race. I swam biked and ran as hard as I could and handed over to Russell. We put in a brave effort to finish in 6th place. So after around 20 minutes of hard work from each of us it was time to head off to enjoy a few days in the Athletes Village.

It was quite a surreal feeling wandering around the village and going from venue to venue to watch different sports. It was such an honour to go to the Commonwealth Games to represent Northern Ireland and an experience I will never forget. I was the first Northern Ireland athlete to leave the village and though I would like to have stayed until the end, I needed to get back to my normal training program to prepare for the second half of the season.

I travelled to the UK from Mallorca to race at the UK Ironman 70.3 Championships at Wimbleball Lake. For this race you can usually expect to find rain, cold temperatures and a massive mud bath at the race site. This year it was a totally different story. The weather was the best I have ever seen it at the race. It was sunny and warm for the entire weekend and the lake temperature was a lovely 18+ rather than the usual 14 or below.
I love racing at Wimbleball because its remote location makes it very different from any other Ironman race in the world and also means that the course is super tough which suits me down to the ground. The bike course is hilly and hard and the run is even tougher. I was really looking forward to racing as I wanted to defend my title and to make it my 3rd win at the race. In previous years, the race has attracted a strong field of athletes but this year the pro field was very small so I knew it could be a very different type of race for me.
My race got off to a mediocre start - I didn’t feel like I was swimming very well - but I kept moving along and came out of the water with small gap over the other professional woman. I jumped on my bike and set off on the bike course which is my favourite part of this race. I started steadily up the first hill and rode the first lap quite conservatively then pushed on a little for the second lap to extend my lead before the run.
I usually get off the bike and go as hard as I can to the finish line, either chasing people down or being chased, and on a course like Wimbleball it’s a tough way to run. This time, with a comfortable lead off the bike, I was able to take it all in and really enjoy the run. The conditions were great, the off-road surface was solid underfoot and the support from the crowds was amazing.
It felt really great to win here for the 3rd time and it was great to catch up with all the familiar faces and with my old training buddies from Bedford and Milton Keynes. 

Wimbleball was a great way to prepare for my next race just 2 weeks after at Ironman Nice/France. I went home to Ireland for a week and then headed off to France just before the Ironman. I had the privilege of staying at Stephen Roche's apartment with some friends who were on holiday there. 

I finished 4th at France with a solid swim and bike but this time my run was well off my usual run form. I was trialling a new nutrition strategy which obviously didn’t work for me as I had a lot of stomach problems on the run. It meant that my run was slow and very painful and though I was disappointed not to make the podium as always I learned a lot from the race and from the problems I encountered. 

The few days following the Ironman felt like a real holiday and I had great fun cruising around on Boris bikes, biking in the hills with Stephen Roche, eating some amazing French food and chilling out by the pool