{"id":12116,"date":"2021-07-29T15:12:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-29T15:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.incirliseviye.com\/?p=12116"},"modified":"2021-07-29T15:12:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T15:12:00","slug":"emma-pallant-triathlon-has-taught-me-i-always-have-to-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/?p=12116","title":{"rendered":"Emma Pallant: \u201cTriathlon has taught me I always have to fight\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

For fans jaded by overt professionalism in sport, decisions made without a business motive, or, at least, one that will not pay instant dividends, are not merely refreshing, but strike at the heart of what makes it so captivating.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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In the summer of 2012, Michelle Dillon was at a crossroads in her career. The former Commonwealth Games 10,000m runner and sixth-place finisher in the Athens\u2019 Olympic triathlon had been coaching an elite group of London 2012 hopefuls including Will Clarke, Jodie Stimpson and her own husband, Stuart Hayes.<\/p>\n

Once the chase for selection and the crescendo of Hyde Park had petered out, it was time for all to take new directions and for Dillon to consider her options. The truth for multisport coaches is that financial rewards lie with schooling large groups of trusting amateurs. Most professionals don\u2019t earn all that much, meaning coach earns a percentage of not a lot for a role that can demand undivided attention \u2013 particularly if the athlete in question has never attempted the sport before.<\/p>\n

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So when Emma Pallant came knocking, a successful junior runner, plagued with injuries and not sure where to turn having hobbled away from a 5,000m trials race and her quest for the London Games, the most cost-effective decision would have been a polite \u2018No\u2019.<\/p>\n

That it wasn\u2019t says a few things: Dillon has strength of character; a hunger to still be involved with elite sport; and, most pertinently, that in this runner from Farnham, who could be a little firebrand at times, she saw an image of her younger self and a kinship could blossom. Project Pallant was underway and it wasn\u2019t to be the smoothest ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter London, I made the decision I wouldn\u2019t go for a big group of elite triathletes, having done four years of it,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cI receive quite a lot of emails from up and coming athletes, but not many put the light on like Emma\u2019s. I come from the same high-level running background having competed in the world cross-country as a junior and 1994 Commonwealth Games at 21, and I could appreciate where she was with the injuries.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething said: \u2018Let\u2019s do this\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was why I switched to triathlon. I thought she probably couldn\u2019t swim, wouldn\u2019t have a clue how to ride a bike and would be starting from scratch. But something said: \u2018Let\u2019s do this\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cStu\u2019s mum told me to give her a call. We got on really well. It was a \u2018your journey will be my journey\u2019 approach and in two years we\u2019ve developed a good relationship. I\u2019m so glad I made that decision.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWhat struck me was how passionate she was,\u201d Pallant recalls. \u201cMost people I told I wanted to be a world-class triathlete would laugh, but Michelle took it seriously. I\u2019d only known her two months and she was lending me her bike, Speedo wetsuit and trisuit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Surrey, the successful Aldershot, Farnham & District athletics club, where veteran coach Mick Woods presides, would capture a large chunk of Pallant\u2019s youth. \u201cI\u2019ve never really known life without sport,\u201d she says. \u201cI was hyperactive as a kid and have an amazing mum who would take me to every sports club. Mick said if I wanted to be the best at one sport I would have to focus my attention and I\u2019ve always liked the idea of being the best.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccess breeds success and if you a have couple of strong runners forming good friendships, like myself and Steph Twell, the social life integrates with the running. It was fun growing up in the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pallant was rarely headed at Under-11 and Under-13 level, even clashing with 2013 triathlon world champion Non Stanford on occasion. \u201cI think we were pretty level paced,\u201d she recalls. \u201cAlthough as she\u2019s Welsh, I\u2019d have the advantage of a stronger backing team for the relays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under Kelly\u2019s wing<\/p>\n

When stress fractures and knee injuries began chipping away at that competitive edge, the invitation to join up with Athens\u2019 double-gold medallist Kelly Holmes instilled fresh confidence and opportunities to gain experience shadowing more senior athletes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe went to Berlin for the World Championship in 2009 and Delhi for the Commonwealth Games the following year,\u201d she says of the same On Camp with Kelly initiative that mentored Stanford and world 1,500m silver medallist Hannah England. \u201cI achieved the qualifying time for Delhi but then got injured. We still went to the athletes\u2019 village, ate with them and saw how the Games operated, so when we did make a championships we could concentrate on the racing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, it didn\u2019t come to fruition. Pallant had stepped up to the 5,000m by 2012 figuring she could cut back on the gym weights, race with a lighter frame and not put so much impact through her knees. The plan was to achieve an Olympic slot through the European Championships, but when she dropped out of the trials race, the knee flaring up once more, the dream was over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was devastated,\u201d Pallant says. \u201cKelly found me and told me that mentally I needed a fresh goal there and then. The London Triathlon was in two months and it gave me a focus for swim and bike training.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Running her own physiotherapy clinic, Pallant had treated and become friendly with Katie Hewison (who recently retired from international triathlon), and knuckled down to some tri training. Swims with Hewison were mixed with spin bike work and sessions with the running club, but Pallant felt if she was to make a serious stab at multisport a more concrete strategy was required. Cue spotting a Team Dillon hoodie on a club night.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my mum\u2019s friends does triathlon and told me that Michelle Dillon had done what I wanted to do \u2013 gone from a runner to a triathlete,\u201d Pallant explains. \u201cIf I was serious, no one would know more about the transition than Michelle.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nagging injuries and a fresh challenge are probably the leading two reasons most individuals take up triathlon; Pallant\u2019s ambition to achieve greatest on the world stage was a third. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a runner, going on to medal in distance races against Kenyans and Ethiopians would have been very difficult,\u201d she says. \u201cI was looking at being one of Europe\u2019s best. But the best in the world? That was a lot harder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether she has chosen an easier path remains to be seen. Certainly she\u2019s picked a time to switch when the depth in British women\u2019s multisport has never been greater. In Stanford, Helen Jenkins, Jodie Stimpson and Vicky Holland, the UK has two world champions, and the reigning Commonwealth gold and bronze medallists. If everybody is fit and firing \u2013 it\u2019s a halcyon era.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But all that lay ahead. Before she even stepped on to the pontoon to challenge these women, Pallant would need to acclimatise to the increased training load. \u201cThe biggest shock for Emma was when we went to the Gold Coast,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cThe first day she hammered it out the door.\u201d \u201cAnd 10 minutes later I was crawling home.\u201d Pallant remembers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoor Emma arrived as a pure, skinny runner, with not much muscle from riding or swimming and a host of problems,\u201d Dillon continues. \u201cI massaged her every night to get the lumps and knots out of her quads, stretched out her hip flexors, and she learnt to run again.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBefore I went I considered myself a runner,\u201d Pallant says. \u201cNow the sessions were so much longer and I really didn\u2019t have much endurance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEmma had a lot of stomach problems as well,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cEating the wrong things at the wrong time, she\u2019d spend half a long run in the bushes. If we didn\u2019t sort it out she was never going to make an elite athlete. It\u2019s been a two-year process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d picked up bad habits from so many different diets,\u201d Pallant agrees. \u201cI cannot put my finger on what exactly was wrong. I\u2019d work a lot and keep busy and couldn\u2019t switch off. It required a lifestyle change to concentrate on what and when I\u2019m eating and to start hydrating properly during exercise. Living with Michelle and Stu, I\u2019m seeing how it should be done and have the self-control to put it into practice in my own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little Miss Bump<\/p>\n

Despite the problems domestic success came quickly. Pallant was sixth in that debut race in London, almost six minutes down on winner Daniela Ryf despite posting the fastest run split by over two minutes, and the following year would be crowned British champion over a sprint distance race in Liverpool.<\/p>\n

The international circuit was a tougher challenge, though, and included a couple of DNFs including the World Series Grand Final in London, plus a disqualification in Holland for racking her bike in someone else\u2019s spot and then not stopping for the penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know what a penalty box was,\u201d she explains, compounding a reputation as a somewhat incident-prone individual that has earned the nickname Little Miss Bump. \u201cI\u2019ve been hit in the head with rounders\u2019 bats, fallen off bikes, and run into lampposts and car doors.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs an Under-13 I was in Marrakech for the World Youth Championships and went to get a henna tattoo, with the idea of pretending it was a permanent one. I asked for \u2018GB\u2019, was misunderstood, and became the wally walking round having been branded TB! It was only dye but I had a reaction to it. My mum wasn\u2019t impressed. Thankfully, Team Dillon has a bit of a safety angel in Safety Stu who protects me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s had to do it really,\u201d Michelle explains. \u201cWe had to work on a lot of technical things: drafting in the swim, being under pressure in transition. And racing in open water with 60 other women is completely different from training with a handful.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always taken at least one positive from each race. How far Emma is behind in the swim plays a big part in how it pans out and we\u2019ve seen the time deficit coming down. She biked herself back into the pack in Cozumel [where she eventually finished seventh, 28 seconds behind Olympic champion Nicola Spirig] and held the gap at 45 seconds in her last race in Columbia. At the beginning of the year it would have been three minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got so much to learn but sometimes there is a limit to what Michelle and Stuart can teach me,\u201d Pallant explains. \u201cStu can tell me not to over-gear, but it\u2019s only when I try running off the bike that I really find out the effects. Then there are the logistics of travel, race briefings, where you swim and cycle abroad, and even putting the bike together. It\u2019s a lot to think about.\u201d<\/p>\n

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If Pallant is to reach the next level, she\u2019ll have to defy a school of thought that ITU racing is beyond anyone who hasn\u2019t spent a childhood following the black line in the pool. <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone says it\u2019s about improving the swim,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cBut that\u2019s a small thing compared to where she\u2019s come from in the past two years. We first had to iron out the other problems, the habits formed from her running background. Now we finish every session, even if we have to crawl round. It\u2019s a change of mentality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scale of Pallant\u2019s task is underlined by not being in receipt of lottery funding, nor was she in 2014. British Triathlon will tell you she hasn\u2019t hit the required standards in specific races, which is true, but they do have discretion for those with potential.<\/p>\n

The reality is that without her swimming being of the front-pack calibre demanded to break into medal contention \u2013 or make her useful as a support athlete (domestique or pilot) \u2013 means she isn\u2019t yet a useful team player. It\u2019s why Lutterworth\u2019s Lucy Hall got the nod in 2012, because she can swim fast \u2013 too fast at times \u2013 and pull up the Team GB \u2018runners\u2019.<\/p>\n

What also hasn\u2019t helped is Pallant\u2019s decision to race in the neutral ITU suit in 2014 as she contemplated an offer to switch allegiance to Turkey, who are looking to import talent as has been seen in middle distance racing on the track.\u00a0 While the financial and single-minded drive could be understood, it\u2019s not so palatable for fans, and it wasn\u2019t either for British Triathlon, who refused to sanction the switch, meaning an extended period in limbo would need serving.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTurkey are hoping to develop triathlon and at one point I had a chat with them,\u201d Pallant says. \u201cI thought I could help in a way. I\u2019m now back for GB. [Former chief executive] Zara Hyde Peters has left British Triathlon and I feel that after chatting with Brendan [Purcell, British Triathlon\u2019s performance director], there is a place for me. I think you don\u2019t always have to be part of a team to inspire other athletes. Performances can connect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pallant\u2019s return to wearing the Union flag coincides with the start of the Olympic selection process and while making the Rio Olympics might be a long shot, neither the triathlete nor coach is giving up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The indomitable spirit is admirable and who is to say it won\u2019t fall into place. Other than the robust Stimpson, injuries have beset Britain\u2019s best. Stanford missed the entirety of 2014, Jenkins must have felt she\u2019d crossed the path of a black cat after picking up injuries ahead of the last two major championships. Holland was running into her best-ever shape last summer, but now battles a plantar fasciitis problem that won\u2019t see her return until May at the earliest. Those are Britain\u2019s leading four, beneath that a breakthrough should not be ruled out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my swim gets faster, I can be up in these races,\u201d Pallant says. \u201cI finished the year not fussed about running. It\u2019s all about the rectangular blue wet thing. Then I\u2019m aiming for Rio qualification, and doing everything I can to be the best triathlete I can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bring on 2015<\/p>\n

The ITU World Series has been extended to 10 races, starting in March in Abu Dhabi and continuing to Chicago in September for the Grand Final. The latter is one of just two races the British selection policy for the Games concerns itself with, the other being the Rio test event in August. There will be an opportunity to make an impression along the way and given how stringent the policy is, it is quite possible that no women triathlete will secure an automatic spot in 2015, which will buy Pallant more time for a one-off early 2016 showdown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIdeally we\u2019d love to focus on the whole series,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cBut that\u2019s a lot of travelling. Being weaker on the swim, Em needs access to the pool a lot and a lot of travel will compromise her swimming.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Many readers will be familiar with SwimSmooth, who have partnered with British Triathlon, and Pallant is travelling to Perth over the winter for tuition from head coach Paul Newsome. Confidence is mounting but there is still an awful lot to learn. Not making the front pack in elite ITU racing can effectively mean being out of a two-hour race within the first 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cPaul called my style Kicktastic,\u201d Pallant says. \u201cI\u2019m ok with steady swimming, but the minute the pressure is on in a race, I let my legs go, which throws my timing out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEmma is not afraid of hard work,\u201d Dillon explains. \u201cShe needs to be stronger at the front end and drop the kick slightly and emerge V-shaped from winter having swum 50km a week.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If the plan works, allowing Pallant to more regularly make the front pack, the excitement will be palpable. \u201cWhen she gets into a race, she won\u2019t have to bike so hard and will see how much easier it is,\u201d Dillon says. \u201cIt\u2019s then the big performances will come.\u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my running days I\u2019d pull the plug in a race because I was used to winning,\u201d Pallant says. \u201cTriathlon has taught me I always have to fight. If no-one in the bike pack is working, I won\u2019t be in the race if I just sit up as well. Now I come out of every race having given 100%, controlling the controllables. If my swim is not up to it, it will be a tough day, but every day should be a tough day and that\u2019s what makes me value the sport.\u201d<\/p>\n

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(Images: Romilly Lockyer)<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For fans jaded by overt professionalism in sport, decisions made without a business motive, or, at least, one that will not pay instant dividends, are not merely refreshing, but strike at the heart of what makes it so captivating. Advertisement In the summer of 2012, Michelle Dillon was at a crossroads in her career. The … <\/p>\n

Read more “Emma Pallant: \u201cTriathlon has taught me I always have to fight\u201d”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12116\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/onhee.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}