Namita Nayyar:
Tell us about the trailblazing company you are building/backing that supports female athletes through pregnancy and return to competition. What is the one service or resource you wish existed when you were pregnant that you are now providing?
Emma Pallant-Browne:
I talk a lot about the PTO maternity clause and I think it really is huge for females in sport and I think it should inspire more sports to do the same. Its really hard in sports where you rely on rankings to get into the top races and for PTO to freeze rankings when you fall pregnant under their maternity clause, to pay the athletes contract for 14 months and supply three wild card race entries to mothers when they are ready to return to racing at the top level is great and its only going to elevate female sport.
That and the sponsors that continue with their mothers through pregnancy and with their return to sport because mothers do have a place in elite sport as has been shown time and time again now and its only possible with the team of sponsors that believe and support them being patient for a safe return to the top because it does take a bit of time.
Namita Nayyar:
Jocelyn recently announced her third pregnancy after competing at IRONMAN New Zealand. How do you and Jocelyn support each other as elite mothers? Is there a text exchange or ritual you share before races?
Emma Pallant-Browne:
I definitely had a lot of conversations with mothers in triathlon when I was pregnant and now as a mother. I think it really draws you close together and as competitors you have so much more understanding and respect for each other and also offer support to each other because you know the challenges that are out there and its barriers that we all want to see keep on getting broken because more mothers in sport means more children in sport and more happy healthy families and I think as an elite athlete you really do feel your responsibility in this movement and want to back all the others sharing the same messages.
Namita Nayyar:
Walk us through a typical training day now versus a typical training day pre-child. Where do you find the 2-3 hours you need?
Emma Pallant-Browne:
Pre pregnancy I really did live sleep and eat training, we did our socialising in evenings but I always made sure that I got good sleep because that really helped me stay well recovered to race and travel so much each year with good health. Sleep I would say is the biggest change now, Locky will often wake up five times in the night and if I get six hours sleep a night its a good night but I know this is a stage that will pass. We have a nanny come in three times a week from 5am – 8am so me and my husband can do our key sessions and do some training together.
The other four days we tag team so one of us will get up early for their key session (which we both fight to go first so we do two days each where we go first) and then will come back and recover looking after Locky whilst the other one trains before my husband has to leave for work.
Then when he gets back he will look after Locky so I can do my evening session. I can also do my gym work in the day because our gym has a nursery which I pop him into a can get a workout done then. Then when Locky sleeps in the day and goes to bed early at night is when I get all my coaching work done, so it’s a balance but we get the days done!
Namita Nayyar:
What does a key “quality session” look like for you in 2026 (e.g., a specific bike/run brick workout)? Please give us the exact set/reps/distance.
Emma Pallant-Browne:
At the moment I am training for running races so a typical key training day for me (I do three of these a week) would be:
Morning: warm up 10mins, 10 x 1km with 1min rest in between, cool down 5mins
Lunchtime: stretch, foam roll, glute activation
Evening: 3 sets of 8 x 400m off 30secs descending the sets so starting out running 8 x 400m at 80sec, the second set 8 x 400m on 75sec and the last set at 70sec pace, short rest and getting leg turnover up, again normally doing 10mins warm up and 5mins cool down
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