MULTISPORT
Emma won the Totalsports Two Oceans Half Marathon earlier this year , then went on to claim a third World Duathlon title
Kelly saw me crack open an egg and then fish out the yolk , because in my head , that was fat and not allowed in , and she asked what I was doing . I said , oh , I don ’ t eat fat , and she replied that ’ s not healthy , do you know how much goodness and nutrition you ’ re losing by cutting fat ? She said there ’ s a reason we have fat in our diets , and that was where it slowly began to sink in for the first time that I was unhealthy , because it was coming from an elite athlete that I looked up to , who had won two Olympic gold medals . In my head , I was being a strict , dedicated athlete , and just ticking all the boxes , so I didn ’ t fully realise what I was doing to myself , but it still took years for me to change that .
EPB : First of all , I didn ’ t realise I had changed my bike position , and the Ibiza race actually highlighted that , so we went and got a saddle pressure test and actually moved the saddle to the original position , so that shouldn ’ t happen again . But yes , I talked to the Santini designers , and we agreed the suit was a little bit too light , so we ’ re going to make it a bit darker next time . I think you can have dark either end without taking the lightness out of the actual material , where you ’ re going to have most of your core heat , and that won ’ t change things dramatically . However , they ’ ve already done all my suits for this year , so that ’ s next year ’ s thing . This year , I ’ ll just own it .
MA : You went on to build a successful career , including that first World Championship title in 2016 , and many other great results , so would you say that 2009 was a turning point for you ?
EPB : Yeah , I definitely think so , but again , I don ’ t want to edit or glamorise the story . In those years , from around 2008 to 2012 , I totally messed up my metabolism , and I just wasn ’ t healing or recovering as a result . I had a bad knee injury that I had to have surgery on , because I wasn ’ t healing , and that forced me out of running for a while . Fortunately , I could still cross-train , and I did that really hard , which is how I eventually got into triathlon in 2012 , but there was no running for a while .
New Home in SA
Emma travelled to South Africa in 2018 to race the Ironman 70.3 event in East London , and while there met South African Jared Browne , when he offered to be her bodyguard while she was in the country … but that ’ s a story for another day . They were married during lockdown and she now calls South Africa home . They live in Johannesburg with their two dogs , and in between her training , travelling and events , she helps coach some of the athletes in Jared ’ s Training Peaks team .
By the time I went into multisport , my metabolism was so slow because I ’ d been undereating for years , that when I started eating properly to fuel my sessions , I put on a lot of weight . I was living with a triathlon coach when we went abroad , and she was watching what I was eating and making sure I was eating more , more and more . I look back on that time and I know that I had to , because if your metabolism is so slow , the only way to speed it up is to feed it , and so to begin with , you ’ re going to hold weight , and then eventually you ’ ll come back down to your normal body weight .
But that took a couple of years , and for some time , looking in the mirror was really hard , because I ’ d had such control over my weight before . Now I couldn ’ t control when my metabolism was going to go back to normal , and it was a really hard learning curve . I just had to accept my new weight and appearance , but I also knew that even though I was racing heavier , I was getting my body back to a healthy place . I also started getting my period back when I started doing triathlon and eating properly .
MA : If you don ’ t mind me asking , does the Ibiza experience now make you hesitant to race in your pink and blue suit again ? I ask because you ’ re not ashamed of what happened , nor hiding it , and you have embraced it as healthy , but at the same time , from a practical perspective , it probably would be simpler to have a darker suit , wouldn ’ t it ?
Images : Tobias Ginsberg , courtesy Emma Pallant-Browne
64 ISSUE 161 | www . modernathlete . co . za