Wow…. 6 weeks ago I had surgery but to me it might as well
be 6 months. I had no expectations as to how my recovery should go as I learnt the hard way last year that nothing goes as expected
when it comes to cancer.
Surgery was booked for the 12th of February. My surgeon assured me that what was going to happen was a drop in the
ocean compared to the operation I had in July last year and that I would go
home shortly after the minor procedure. The night before my surgery I didn’t
sleep at all. I got up at 5am to have a feeding frenzy before fasting from 6am.
I felt sick from the lack of sleep and potentially overeating. I went to work
to occupy myself from hunger and thinking about going back under the knife. I left work and went straight to Selangor
private hospital where I met my parents. In the back of my Festiva was my bike
and windtrainer to go home to the parental’s place…. Just in case!
The surgery was extremely straight forward. I was that tired
that as soon as I had my pre-med, being equivalent to about 10 glasses of wine
at once I was out of it… don’t even remember being taken into the operating
theatre. I woke up in recovery about 60 mins later and was grateful to feel a
million times better than when I woke up in July. No drain, a small incision
over my right clavicle and a single cancerous lymph node had been
removed. I was starving and after some food and fluids I went home to
my parent’s place which is now come to be known as my recovery retreat. The
first day I slept and spent on the couch. The next day I decided to jump on the
trainer for an hour…. Couldn’t help myself and pushed myself over my limit and
spent the rest of the day horizontal!!! 3 days after my op I headed back to
Mooloolaba & went for a run (after another windtrainer session) and a day
after that I got in the pool…. And then it was on….
Bribie kindly gave me a free entry for their final sprint
race in the 2013/2014 season. 2.5 weeks after my surgery I lined up on the beach
at Bribie for a 750/20/5 sprint race! Wow- did that hurt!!!!!! I had a great
swim, took the lead before the first round about and finally had a race there
without a bike mechanical or crash!! I had a fantastic 5km run off the bike
going just under 18:50 & was really happy to win there again. Thanks
Vanessa for being my caddy for the day ;) Post-race I got talking to Mel and
Matt Hopper and we started talking Mooloolaba tri. At that point I had no
intentions of racing but at the back of my mind Bribie was a test to see how
I’d recovered and I must admit, each day I’d been checking to see if entries
had closed. Matt raised a good point that if I was standing on the sidelines
I’d be kicking myself having not entered…. He was right…. So with no pro
licence at present and no road bike I put an entry into the open age group
category. Well that is after some difficulty scrapping together 3 Olympic
distance times to comply with the organisers regardless of them being fully
informed of my current situation. Then I went into extreme panic that I wasn’t
ready. So the cram training started. I had 10 days to find some Olympic distance form!
Oh dear.
Bribie Triathlon race 4
I’d had some old SIJ issues raise their ugly head the week
leading up to Bribie. Unfortunately they got worse before they got better. Each
run session was quite ginger and seemed to flare up latent pain. Standing up
and walking around all day at work doesn’t help those chronic problems but
thankfully some rocktape, my belt and a little treatment from my Physio (Adam
McKenzie) and massage therapist (Christie Bassett) by race weekend things were
relatively under control. The day before Mooloolaba I did my pre-race training,
ate, racked my bike, put my legs up the wall, ate, hydrated and watched copious
amounts of trashy TV. I woke up before my alarm clock at 4am- race day was
here! I always have a quick shower before breaky on race day (I don’t know
why!), coffee and food before walking the 400m over to transition. Oh how I
love racing at home. I set up and got out. Mum and dad were at my place by
6:10am, I went for a 10min jog and then we walked to the start line. Earlier in
the week the swim had been moved to the canal due to impending swells coming
through. This didn’t bother me much as I outside of Bribie I hadn’t done much
open water swimming and this made the race start about 200m from my front door.
At 6:48 I was off along with about 10 other open age group women. The swim was
tough: currents, swimming into the sun, some people reported it to be long and
when I saw my time of 23:40 I was disappointed, even though I exited in 3rd.
After the race this proved to be an ok swim as everyone else seemed to be
slower than usual.
The long run to transition was up and over a ramp with 3
right angle corners… later on, once wet, would have cause some carnage. I had a
quick T1 and was on the hunt, but also riding scared from Sarah Crowley and her
monster biking! Didn’t take long for Sarah to catch me and make her move up the
road putting me into 4th. I moved back into 3rd place
before the turn around. We had perfect conditions on the bike, minimal head
wind out and the tail wind started to pick up heading back into town. I caught
2nd at about the 25km mark and proceeded to put time into her
quickly.
By T2 Sarah had put about a minute into me. Running out I didn’t feel
so great. Heading out towards Alex the wind was getting stronger and hotter by
the minute. Man, I had forgotten how horrid that Alex hill is during a race. At
the final turn around I still had about 2minutes on third and thought that I just
needed to maintain the same pace to stay in 2nd. I was absolutely
wrecked when I crossed the finish line. Sarah had put another 2minutes into me
on the run and I learnt that an Olympic distance is where my limitations are
at. My feet were the biggest concern to me! My brand new, white (UNREAL) Mizuno
Hitogami’s (thanks a lot to Trent & Allez Sport) had blood stains all over
them. The tops of my feet were shredded and I had blisters under my arches and
toes. Mum and dad were at the finish line (mum jumping up and down!) which
makes me so happy to have them sharing in my comeback. For many years they’ve
been absent from my races and it meant the world to me to have them there.
Above all I was over the moon! Not anywhere near my best performance
at Mooloolaba and my run time has a lot to be desired but it was enough on the
day. I have never beaten Sarah and I wasn’t expecting to. We’ve been racing one
another for some years now and she too has had her own challenges the past year
so if anyone was to beat me I’m happy for it to be her.
What I loved has been people’s reaction to me racing and
managing to finish up at the pointy end of the field. You’re not doing it right
if you’re not shocking people! Yes the past 9months have been the most
tumultuous roller coaster ride but this was another small win in the battle.
After the horrible anti-climax of doing Mooloolaba and a few
other dramas earlier in the week, I decided getting out of town for the weekend
was exactly what I needed and put a late entry into the Dalby triathlon. Dalby
is a country town about 250km from Mooloolaba south east. Needless to say
they’re facing a horrible drought out there and water is scarce. I booked
myself into the caravan park which is conveniently located next to the aquatic
center where the swim leg was to be. I raced Dalby tri back in 2008 as my
comeback race following a bike crash and clavicle fracture. I really love
heading back out west and racing these types of regional races. The community
support is amazing and they make do with the facilities that they have. Race
start was scheduled early (5:45am) so I’m happy I stayed next door. It was
pitch-black riding my bike down the street!!!! The start time ended up being
pushed back to around 6am and it was surprisingly cool. They started the open
men and women together- all up I think there was only 7 of us. Even at Dalby I
still can’t lead a swim out!!!!! Alice (a girl I know from Brissy) towelled me
up in the pool but with her taking time in T1 to put socks on I was first out
on the bike. This was a race I went to have nothing but fun in. Each time I
passed my good mate Mick I called out something ridiculous even though he was
seriously focused. The ride is two loops on a rough but flat piece of road
heading east from town. I made the joke that it’s actually technical as you are
dodging mounds of bitumen, pot holes, corrugations and lose gravel. It’s hard
to get a good pace up as it’s a dead piece of road. Coming back in from my
first loop I almost collected an elderly lady walking her wheelie bin across
the road?! I came off the bike with a very comfortable lead on Alice and took
the extra time to put my socks on after destroying my feet at Mooloolaba. The
run is (dangerously) on the road that the bike course is so I ran along hoping
the cyclists are watching where they’re going. I held 4min pace for the 5km (or
the 4.5km really) and took an easy win with only three men finishing in front
of me. It was a tone of fun, paid training session and an excuse to get away. The
Dalby tri sports and local sponsors should be very proud of the event that they
run and I’m sure I’ll be heading back.
Mick and I after winning the Dalby Triathlon
For now it’s time to do some proper training. I am looking
to do a race at the end of April and one early May so for the next 5 weeks it’s
head down.
As for my health: I saw Dr Allison, my oncologist, at the
end of February. I will head back to hospital in Brisbane in May for some
further treatment. This will be a high dosage of the radio-active iodine and a
4 day stint in isolation. I may feel a little unwell from it over those days
but aside from not being allowed to have babies in the next 12 months, the side
effects really are negligent. The other bad news I have had is that my
re-implanted parathyroid looks to have not taken. This means indefinite calcium
supplementation to maintain (close to) normal levels. A pain in the neck; but a
small price to pay to be cancer free. I will then have to wait another 3months
before my review to see if THEN my cancer markers are down to 0. At the end of
the day so much of this is mental. I’m not sick if I don’t think of myself as
unwell. I do however, now see it
important to put myself first rather than keep others happy or sustain toxic
relationships just because. For the
next year at least, what makes me happy will come first.
Rachie xox
Dad being support crew at Mooloolaba Triathlon
