I suffered quite badly with stomach issues after the race in Fuerteventura (and sore legs but I blame Corinne for that), I presumed that it was just because of the hard hot race and the nutrition I had used but the problem didn't clear up and it got worse over the following week. I had planned France 70.3 and desperately wanted to race but by Wednesday I had to spend the whole day I bed and wasn't able to move with what was apparently a stomach infection. I tried to do some light training but it was hopeless as I was unable to even run easy for 10 minutes without being completely out of breath and dripping with sweat! I decided to stay in bed and rest with the hope that I could start the race.

Deep down I knew I shouldn't have started but it's hard not to when you are there and desperately wanting to race. We drove to the race start and hid the car keys as I planned to do 30-40k of the bike and then spin back for the car. I felt shocking in the swim but actually swam ok so decided to start the bike. On the bike I felt good on the flats and terrible on the climbs which direct is the opposite of what I usually feel. I kept going until the end of the bike and was in 4th place so started the run, that's when I knew fore sure that I wasn't ok. I struggled to run at all so not long after I dropped out and that was the end of my day. It's a horrible feeling not being able to finish but it probably would have felt worse if I hadn't tried at all.  I would like to say I have learned my lesson about racing when not completely healthy but I seem to be a slow learner when it comes to things like this!

I felt really bad after that both mentally and physically but over the next week I begun to improve and was ready to get back to training in preparation for Ironman Lanzarote at my favorite training location Ferrer Hotels in Mallorca. However, now I had an injury creeping up though as usual I thought if I didn't talk about the niggle it would go away. It was hip/hamstring problem which I have had before but in the other leg, usually caused by my saddle being too high. I ploughed on through the training with the focus on Ironman Lanzarote. It hurt but I put my head down and got on with it. I was running pretty badly and it felt really strange, there was no bounce in my step, and it felt like my left leg (the sore one) was shorter than the other one. It was like running on dead legs.

It wasn't until I arrived in Lanzarote that I made an appointment to see and osteopath (Gunter at Osteo 43). As soon as I saw him and gave him a brief explanation he described what he thought the problem was and it completely made sense. I trusted his judgement and he clicked nearly every part of my body back 0in to place (at the same time shaking his head at how I had let myself get in such as state). It made a massive difference, I could now move my legs and hips in a normal way and the pain was reduced when running. It wasn't perfect but a lot better and I knew it would be good enough to get me through the Ironman. 

So I prepared for the race and was on the start-line on Sunday morning ready to hit one of the toughest ironman races on the circuit. This time the toughness was multiplied by the ridiculous wind which had been howling most of race week. The swim was a mass start and for me it was horrible, by the first bouy I was swamped by the age group athletes and the rest of the swim was a punching match. At one point I was between two men getting smacked on both sides, I was thinking I'd be lucky to make it out without a broken nose so my only option was to literally swim over the top of one of them (sorry about that)! 

On to the bike I planned to set off at a steadier pace for the first 90k then to go for it in the last 90k. The first 90k was terrible for me. I was being passed by what felt like everyone and there was nothing I could do, my back and hips were so stiff and sore and it felt awful just turning the pedals, the wind was making matters even worse. I kept going in the hope that things would turn around. I was in 10th after the first 90k and suddenly something clicked, I pushed on and I felt like I was actually moving now. I started to feel really good and within the next 30k I had ridden back up to 4th place and was getting excited about the prospect of the marathon (normally that’s right about when I start to dread the marathon!). It was just then when I was finally really up for the battle my rear tyre went down. I tried using Pitstop to fix it but it didn't work so it was game over! 

I couldn't believe that my brand new tubular had punctured but I guess it just wasn't meant to be. When I got my bike back I couldn't see a cut or hole in the tyre, I took it to a mechanic who checked the valve and it turns out that the valve and a long piece of plastic stuck inside it which wasn't meant to be there. It was disappointing not to be able to finish the race especially when there was loads of Irish support there, but this was my first proper mechanical in a race so I guess I've had it pretty good. Looking back I think it might have been a blessing that I didn't make it on to the run as my hip really wasn't in good enough shape to run a marathon and who knows if I had run it may have been the last race of the season. 

Now I'm heading back home and will reluctantly be taking some time off running to try to sort out the problem and I'll also try to get to the bottom of my ongoing stomach issues. I love racing and am very frustrated that I haven’t raced much so far this season. I have entered a couple of races so hopefully after a bit of recovery time I'll be back to it very soon.

I've had a busy time lately and there have been a lot of things happening including: Christmas at home and getting engaged, having a good long end of season break, getting a new coach, a new triathlon team and new sponsors. 

Christmas at home was the usual mix of resting, eating, partying, fun with family and friends and a small amount of training. The only difference this year was that Ritchie and I got engaged! Ritchie, the romantic that he is ;) proposed on Portstewart beach on our way back from a nice easy run. Our families were quite surprised and it added some excitement for all of us around Christmas. 

I had a relatively long break at the end of the season of around 6 weeks off structured training. The length of my break wasn't something that I planned but it worked out something like this: 2 weeks completely off training (apart from 2 x country races which I am much too easily talked in to!). The first week or so was quite a novelty but by the end of week 2 I was starting to miss training.  I then had two weeks of doing whatever training I felt like; for me it was mostly running as it’s the most simple and takes the least planning. Ideally I would start to add structure to my training after 4 weeks off but because I was travelling to Egypt with my new team I just did whatever training I could to get back in to it before heading off to my first training camp of the year in Lanzarote. By the time I got to Lanzarote I was more than ready to start training properly and I couldn't wait to get in to it, however as soon as I arrived I got a kidney infection which slowed me down a little but it wasn't long before I was back in to the swing of things and getting on with some great training. 

I had decided at the end of the season that that I would be self-coached for 2015 but after giving it some thought I decided that I would contact one coach, Lubos Belik, to see if he would take me on. I had the view that if he didn't take me it wasn't meant to be and I'd just coach myself. I contacted Lubos by email and he replied saying that he couldn't coach me as he already has quite a few pro athletes, not so surprising as he is the coach of the Ironman World Champion! At the time I was disappointed and I started to get my head around coaching myself. After about a week Lubos got back in touch, we talked back and forth over email and decided to give it a go. I felt very happy with the decision and looked forward to getting the training started with him. 

This year I will be racing for a new team Alameda o.n Triathlon Team. Our team is based in the Middle East. Hassan Afifi is the main man behind the team; he contacted me in the summer and explained his ideas for the team and the vision he had for it. As well as fully supporting the professional athletes our team also focuses on developing young talent in the Arab region and promoting the sport in the Arab world. I am very honoured to be a part of the team along with Leanda Cave, Lawrence Fanous and Omar Nour. 

Along with Alameda o.n Tri Team other main sponsor for the 2015 season is FSG property services LTD. FSG are a company based in Milton Keynes where I used to live, work and train when I was racing as an age grouper. I am very grateful for their support and I am looking forward to representing them this year. 

I've just finished my first block of training in Lanzarote and I've loved every minute. Special thanks to Bella Bayliss who let me join in her coached swim sessions at Sands Beach. Bella has a great group of athletes both pro and age group and it was great to have the opportunity to swim with them. Right now I'm headed to Dubai to meet up with the rest of the Alameda Tri Team for a team camp. Ritchie will be racing at challenge Dubai so I can look forward to supporting him there too. The race is a little too early for me but I'm looking forward getting going at Challenge Fuerteventura at the end of April. 

Following Ironman Mallorca I had planned to race at Challenge Mallorca three weeks later followed by challenge Sardinia the week after that. I decided pretty quickly after the ironman that I would only do one of those races and I choose Sardinia. I don’t usually plan races very far in advance but Challenge Sardinia was one that was on my calendar since May.

When recovering from the ironman in Mallorca I spent a week just swimming easy in the sea and doing some really easy biking. I really didn’t feel like running at all so I didn’t even try to. In the second week I introduced some short easy runs but I wasn’t really enjoying them which is strange for me as I usually love running but by the end of the second week I was almost back to normal and was able to get a good 10 days of consistent training done. Somewhere in that time my run legs started to come back which was a relief.

I hadn’t been to Sardinia before so didn’t really know what to expect but when we arrived there the experience from start to finish was amazing. The race is based at Forte Village Resort which is a 5 star luxury resort and like nowhere I’ve ever stayed before. I had a relaxing couple of days at the resort leading in to the race and by race day I was ready to go. The swim was average for me, there was a relatively large female pro field and our start was separate from the men which is always better. I didn’t have a great start but when the pace settled I found that I was at the front of what seemed to be a fairly large group. I let the group come around me and sat near the back of the pack till the end of the swim.

In to transition I started thinking that we might have a good group of girls on the bike. I was one of the first of my swim pack on to the bike but I decided not to wait to see who would come with me and I just went off at my own pace.  I had ridden the main climb of the course a couple of days before so I pushed on to it and climbed and descended fairly well. When the course flattened out I was starting to feel the efforts from the beginning of the bike. Soon after that I realised that the last part of the bike course, which I hadn’t seen was a lot more challenging that I had thought. There were some nasty little steep climbs that I hadn’t really expected but I do love hilly courses so I got to work and made up some places in the last 30k to get to transition 2 in 3rd.

I knew Nicole Hofer who was returning from a long injury would be one to watch and she was in the lead off the bike as I expected. I also knew that Susie Hignett and Michi Herlbauer would be up there as they are both strong all round and great runners. As I started running I felt pretty good so I got in to a good rhythm and got to work on making up ground. I was honestly surprised when I got near the first turn point and saw that the two leaders Nicole and Susie weren’t that far in front. I just kept moving along and soon I was in second then at around 7 or 8 k I was in the lead. Sometimes when I get in to the lead I just can’t wait for the race to be over but this felt a little different. I was comfortable and able to really enjoy the run. I kept running strongly and was super happy to win at such an amazing race and it was great to have Michi and Susie complete the podium.  It was also great to see quiet a lot of Irish athletes at the race and there were super strong performances from Jen Duffy, Eimear Fitzmaurice and Kevin Thornton.  

At the time I thought that my season was over and I planned to put my feet up after a successful year. I headed home to Ireland and before I touched down in Dublin I had more than one message informing me that I was entered in Saturday’s X Country race for my local club, Springwell. Before last year I hadn’t done many x country races but I’ve found a love for it so I was happy to race. After the x country I headed off to Dublin for the Triathlon Ireland awards dinner that evening. I’ve never been able to attend before so I was happy to be able to make it this time. I’ve been nominated for the Athlete of the Year award a few times but have never won it so it was a great honour to win the award this year and it really topped off a great season for me.

Two days later I was on a flight to Cozumel Mexico with Ritchie to where Brett Sutton is training with his squad. Ritchie is training in Cozumel with Brett in preparation for Challenge Bahrain and although I am not coached by Brett he kindly lets me swim with is group which is a great help for me as swimming alone can be quite difficult. It meant a lot to me when he told me he was proud of how I raced this season.  

Knowing that I would be in Cozumel at the time of the ironman I decided to enter the race just in case I wanted to do it (or part of it). I came out to Cozumel not knowing if I was on an end of season break or leading in to another race but when I arrived I kept ticking over doing a few bikes and runs along with the swims with the group. It’s now a few days out from the race and I’ve decided that since I’m here I will at least start the race and I’m planning to do the swim and bike for the race experience. Who knows if I put some shoes in transition I might just end up running too!   

I spent most of the summer training in the beautiful Saint Moritz, Switzerland. We went to Saint Moritz because Ritchie is training with Brett Sutton again and he’s now based there. He had a great squad of athletes training there and Brett kindly agreed to let me swim with them every morning which was a great help for me. This kind of swim training really suits me. My swimming seemed to be improving and I felt much stronger in the water by the time we left. Brett also ran age group camps and every week there was a new group of people training with him. Saint Moritz was a stunning place to train, the running was the best I have ever seen and the biking was varied with a mix of flatter rides and very tough, challenging mountainous loops.

After Embrunman i recovered well and raced at Gerardmer in France, a tough hilly half distance race where I finished 2nd. After that I wanted to race at Ironman Wales but I was too late to get a start so I entered Mallorca instead. I was asked a few times at the beginning of the season if I would be racing at Ironman Mallorca and my answer was always  ‘no’ or  ‘Probably not’. I’m not one for making long term season plans as I never know where I am going to be or where I will want to race. Mallorca seemed like a good decision as one of my main sponsors Ferrer Hotels is based in Mallorca and I have trained there a lot this season so it was a great opportunity to represent them at home.  

Ritchie and I decided to drive to Mallorca from Saint Moritz and arrived a week before the race to a 30 degree increase in temperature which took some getting used to. The road trip allowed me to have a couple of easier days and when I arrived in Mallorca a picked up the training again with some easy sessions to get used to the heat then did something close to my usual race week. I wasn’t feeling great but sometimes it’s normal to feel tired and lethargic leading in to a big race. Partly because you are more aware of how you feel and also because the body isn’t use to the reduction in training.

Staying at our home from home in Ferrer Hotels made the week leading in to the race much easier and very relaxing. I was really looking forward to racing Ironman Mallorca as I know the roads well and love the island. Before I arrived in Mallorca I had a fair idea that it would be a non-wetsuit swim so I did a little more of my swimming without a pull buoy (I still do most of my swimming with the pull buoy). This would be by first non-wetsuit Ironman and I actually wasn’t bothered about the non-wetsuit swim. In the only other non-wetsuit swim I’ve done (Miami 70.3 last year) I had one of my best ever swims so I took a little confidence from that.

By race day the humidity had dropped a little from when we first arrived. The pro woman had a separate start from the pro men which is always much better for me. I find that I am much closer to the faster girls in the swim when we have a separate start as they can’t get on the feet of the pro men. It was a beach start and when the gun went I had a great start and was one of the first in to the water. A couple of girls got away but I was pleased to find some feet and I was determined to stay with them wherever they went. We got caught by some of the age group men but I stayed with the girl I had been following (Astrid Gonzo) switching positions now and again and we exited the water together. I had a bit of a nightmare in transition as I had to stop to fix my visor which I accidently knocked off and then I ran past my bike.  When I went back to it someone shouted, ‘you just lost 10 seconds I really hope you don’t loose by 10 seconds’, I hoped so too.    

I set off at a sensible pace on the bike, working alone, just trying to keep it steady as I usually start way too fast. When I got to the first turn at Arta it became apparent that many packs were forming on the bike and that the male age group race was going to impact the Female pro race. 3 minutes separating us from them at the start was not enough.  I got a little worried as I could see that some of the slower swimmers weren’t too far behind me and were riding in the middle of those packs. I did what I could to ride fairly keeping  my distance from the person in front. I was working steadily but hard, comfortably uncomfortable and I felt ok. I didn’t know where the other girls were but I was riding my race.  Suddenly I was completely swamped by a massive group of men with some pro woman riding right in the middle of them. At this point I didn’t know what to do. It was crazy, it was completely stupid and dangerous, one of the girls was making no attempt to ride fairly, she was just enjoying getting sucked along. The others at least were either trying to make a move or trying to get some distance.

At an aid station I made a break for it, it kind of worked and I got away from the girls but 10 minutes down the road I was swamped again. I tried to get away a few times but it was really killing me to push so hard to make a break so eventually I just tried to keep the gap. After 90k everything seemed to spread out and I found myself riding completely alone and working pretty hard. I found the main climb up to Lluc very hard, I wasn’t climbing very well at all but I was happy to hit the descent after the long climb up. It seemed like forever before we got to an aid station and I was so pleased to see one that I slowed right down and took bottles of whatever I could get my hands on. One of them was a sports drink which I don’t use but I drank it anyway. I felt ok and was able to eat so I thought I would be ok. I got to the end of the bike feeling like I was ready for the run and I was kind of looking forward to it.

On the run I started at a slow pace. The plan was to keep it slow to see if I could gain some time back in the leaders without too much effort in the first 21k. The plan was working and the gaps were coming down but suddenly I started to have some bad stomach issues. I thought it might be nothing so I tried to put it out of my head and got on with it but it became more painful and uncomfortable. At around 19k I was no longer running to gain positions, I was running to the next aid station for a toilet stop. It cost me quite a bit of time and after being so close to catching I now had much more work to do to catch up again. Dede Griesbauer was running really strongly in first place and I think she pushed on after she saw that I wasn’t gaining very quickly as it seemed to take forever for me to catch her.

I think that half of the Irish triathlete population was in Alcudia that day as on every corner there seemed to be an Irish flag and they were all cheering me on. It was a great boost for me on a really tough run and it made me want it more. With around 15k to go I took the lead but I didn’t realise that Dede had come with me and was just behind me. When I realised she was there I wanted to make a brake and I ran a little harder to get away. It felt horrible and I couldn’t wait for it to be over but I knew I just had to hang on. After a while I realised I had a bit of a gap but I didn’t want to let up, partly because I didn’t want to get caught and partly because I wanted it to be over sooner. I never believed I had won until I crossed the line. I arrived at the finish exhausted, and feeling pretty unwell but I was so pleased to have won the race and so happy that my Mum was there to watch at what was her first Ironman.

Right now I am still at Ferrer hotels, recovering and enjoying some relaxed training, sea swims and spa days. Not for too long though as in 3 weeks I am racing a half distance at Challenge Sardinia. My plans after that are not confirmed but I will take a few weeks to think about it before making my decision.

A huge thanks to Ferrer Hotels for their support this year and also to Fusion for sorting me out with my kit for race at very short notice. 

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

I started my triathlon season at the Porto Colom Triathlon in Mallorca, a race which I had won twice before in 2011 and 2012 . It was the first race I ever did (and won) as a professional so it was quite special for me to go back to the race. I'd say it's one of my favourite races, I like the 1k swim 100k bike 10k run format and I particularly love the tough bike course. It was also a great race to do as I had been training for a while in Mallorca at Ferrer Hotels (in Can Picafort).

I knew what to expect from the course but what I didn't expect was the tough woman's field though I knew it would be a good test to see where I'm at and a great way to kick start the season and blow away the cobwebs. I won the race by a narrow margin of 8 seconds after running down super strong bikers Julia Gaiger and Eva Wutti. I wrote a little update/race report for Planet X and Viner which you can read here. http://www.planetx.co.uk/news/teams-and-riders/q/date/2014/04/22/a-great-start-to-the-season

After that I had 2 hard weeks training and headed off to Challenge Fuerteventura. This is another tough race and it was my second time here and my second time coming second at the race. I had a bad swim, an ok bike and a very good run as I managed to run my self up the field to finish in second. I was a little concerned with my performance as although I pulled off a good result I had to rely a lot on my run to get me there so I went away from than race with plenty to work on. You can read a little more about this race here on the Viner bikes website http://www.viner-bikes.com/news/getting-ready-for-challenge-rimini/

Straight from Fuerteventrua I headed to Italy to prepare for Challenge Rimini. Recovery after Fuerteventrua was good, I rested and slept a lot, ate very well as the food it Italy is hard to beat and though I kept training consistently I did a little less volume than what we had done previously which made the legs feel a little fresher on race day. The hospitaly form the organisers was the best I've ever experienced and it was great to be looked after so well.

My race at Fuerteventura was pretty rusty and I was looking forward to having a go at fixing a few of the things that didn't go so well there. I was much more relaxed in the swim and I managed to find some feet to follow. This helped my navigation which is one of my major open water swimming problems. I swam a little better and was around 3 minutes down out of the water.

I changed my position on my bike, straightening my handlebars (for some reason they were pointing at the ground in the last race, maybe my own fault after travel!) and thanks to FSA/Vision I now had some very fast race wheels. I biked well making up time on the faster swimmers and following coaches instructions I went for it on the more challenging and hilly first half of the course. I took the lead on the last climb just before the turn around to come home but Tina Deckers passed me again on the downhill section and I came in to transition just under 2 minutes behind her in second place.

My run was different from my usual down to the wire hard run and sprint finish which I seem to do quite frequently these days. I took the lead on the first section of the run and stayed there till the finish. It wasn't an easy run, it's very flat and a 3 loop straight out and back course. It sounds easy but I think I prefer the hillier courses as you can get some recovery on the downhills and it keeps the mind more occupied instead of thinking of how much is left to run or how you feel. Although I had a good lead I was very pleased to see the finish line and if felt great to take the win in Italy.

After two good races it was back to Ferrer Hotels in Mallorca. My next race is UK 70.3 and I'm really looking forward to racing at Wimbleball again this year.

Last year I took a big step, I quit my job, moved all my belongings back to my home in Ireland and without much of a plan I headed to Lanzarote to start my first year as a full time triathlete as part of Team TBB. It was a huge step, a big risk, and a pretty scary decision I knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. 

The year was an amazing experience, and I am very privileged to have had the chance to be a part of Team TBB and to work with Brett Sutton. For the first few months, whilst training in Lanzarote I worked closely with Bella and Stephen Bayliss. After this I was coached by Brett for the remainder of the year when training in the amazing locations of Leysin, Switzerland and Cozumel, Mexico.
I didn't start the year with a solid race plan, I went with the flow and chose races according to where I was and what I felt like doing or what I thought might suit me sometimes making some very last minute decisions to race. 

I learned a lot from my year with Brett and the biggest change for me has probably been how I approach and prepare for races. I learned to view each race as a stepping stone or a training session in preparation for the next. I've learned to cope better with whatever is thrown at me both before and during the races. I didn't let it bother me when I borrowed various different bikes (I raced on 5 different bikes) for races some without even riding in training. From July till the end of the season I raced with little or no run training after picking up an injury which was managed very well by Brett which allowed me to keep racing where others might have sidelined me (I actually produced some of my fastest run splits at this time). 
Of course it wasn't all positive, on the other hand I found that I was quite often thrown negative comments which for me is not what I need. It made me loose a little confidence in myself which I'm now having to build back up. 

I raced last year with the goal of getting enough money to survive as a professional athlete in a sport where the prize money is minimal. I managed to finish on the podium in every race but one (I was 6th at IM Arizona) so altogether it was a good season and just about managed to get by financially. 

As I mentioned in my last blog I have started to work with my new coach, Spencer Smith which has been going really well. My first training block was in Aguilas in Spain which was an excellent place to get back in to the swing of training and the fitness after the long end of season break soon came back. Training isn't a million miles from what I was doing last year. Some of the major differences have been; getting used to swimming without a pull buoy and paddles all the time, doing very structured sessions on the bike and run an using power on the bike and a Garmin for running which is taking some getting used to. 

There was no better way to end the camp than with a race so the Aguilas Duathlon the day before we left was excellent timing. It was sprint distance so it was a good hard hit out. I had a good gap on the first run which grew throughout the race and it was good to start the season off with a win. This was actually my second race this year as at the beginning of January I won the Northern Ireland and Ulster X Country championships. 

After a fairly hectic trip back home where I visited my family back In Ireland, went to Planet X HQ in Sheffield to pick up our new bikes, visited my cousin in Glasgow and visited Ritchie's family in Scotland I'm now at my second home in sunny Mallorca. Ritchie and I are now ambassadors for Ferrer Hotels so we will be spending a lot of time out there training throughout the season. It's a perfect set up out here for us here with the hotels own 25m pool and excellent biking and running right on our door step. Now its time to start entering some races!