The long road to recovery from surgery on both Achilles tendons continues on Saturday when Kate McIlroy lines up in Wellington at the Contact National Triathlon Champs, an event that also doubles as the ITU Oceania Championships (standard distance).
The Wellingtonian has for years battled with her Achilles tendons, with the pain eventually forcing her out of athletics and into triathlon where she found the training load was spread a little more evenly across the three disciplines, giving her long suffering heels a much needed break.
But as the workload increased along with her impressive string of results – including an ITU World Cup win and being our best placed Kiwi (12th) at the final round of the ITU World Champs Series in Budapest last year, McIlroy realised the pain hadn’t gone away and something needed to be done.
"I made a decision after World Champs in Budapest to sort out my Achilles. Every run was painful, every race was a battle to get through - so it was time to fix them! It had been talked about on and off over the last eight years to have them operated on but they always seem to come right when it came to the crunch. This time though, even when I had time off at the end of last year, they were not showing any signs of improvement with terrible morning stiffness leaving me hobbling around like a 90 year old!”
Surgery was a tricky prospect though, with the rehab made doubly difficult by having the procedure carried out on both tendons at the same time.
"After seeing surgeon Matt Brick in Auckland at the end of October I was convinced that surgery was definitely the way to go. I had my paratenons removed from each tendon (like the white plastic coating for electrical wiring), and both tendons slit to make them bleed to help the healing process.
"I spent the first three weeks lying on the couch with my feet in the air to minimise any form of swelling. Once stitches were out I was able to get back into the pool, no kicking, no wall push offs - just pull. It was good work out for my shoulders and lats if nothing else!
Five weeks on the wind trainer (bike) and six weeks of walking sees the world number 22 ranked triathlete now up to one hour of straight running as she slowly but surely ‘reloads’ the tendons in readiness for a big season of racing.
That next few months are crucial for McIlroy as she, like others in the Tri NZ High Performance Squad, has her sights on London 2012.
"I am really pleased with my progress, but have to remember that the big goal for me this year is the Olympic selection race in London in August. This weekend is a small stepping stone to reaching that goal. It is bit of a novelty to finally be able to walk normally in the mornings and most of all run pain free.”
McIlroy will line up alongside a host of other leading triathletes from a number of nations, including New Zealand number one Andrea Hewitt, two time winner on the Contact Tri Series this summer Nicky Samuels, winner in Takapuna Vicky Holland (GBR), Vendula Frintova (Czech Republic) and Elizabeth May (Luxembourg).
The elite women’s Contact Cup and Oceania Championship race is set to start in front of Waitangi Park at 10.30am on Saturday, with the bike and run leg taking the athletes along Oriental Parade before finishing back at Waitangi Park. The elite men’s Contact Cup and Oceania Championship race begins at 11.45am.
Prior to that the venue will play host to triathletes of all backgrounds, ages and abilities with races for beginners, children and age group competitors looking to qualify for the World Championships in London later in the year.
