Road to Ironman with Endometriosis

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Road to Ironman with Endometriosis

I am a triathlete who is aspiring to complete Ironman New Zealand in 2023. https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/journey-to-ironman-nz-2022-with-endometriosis

I have endometriosis and raising funds for Endometriosis New Zealand along my journey.

31/12/2022

Up to run with the first sunrise of 2023! I’m hoping this sets the tone for the year.

2022 had some rough moments. My first Ironman being cancelled, surgery that showed my endo had spread, getting sick, getting sick again with covid and then post covid complications. Happy to put those all behind me and focus on what 2023 could bring!

Eight weeks until Ironman New Zealand
Just under six months until Ironman Cairns

22/12/2022

Training camp done! It’s been a massive two weeks of hard work to get back into the routine and body adjusted to a training volume again. I travelled over 500km swimming biking and running. I’m pleased with the most part how my body has felt and recovered from each session. Endometriosis continued to throw in some curve balls and a pretty nasty flare up which saw this week slow down a lot compared to last week and an unintentional rest day today. No doubt over the next few days I’ll be correcting my calorie deficit with some yummy holiday treats!

Happy Holidays everyone and excited to see what 2023 will bring!!!!

https://megans-journey-to-ironman-new-zealand-2023.raisely.com/

18/12/2022

Huge training week this week with a total time of 16 hours 25 minutes. It’s been my biggest training week ever and hopefully a sign of great things to come as I continue to build towards Ironman New Zealand! I’m amid a two week intense training block/camp and I’ll check back in on Thursday with distances covered and achievements. It feels great to be training at this level again! Managing my endometriosis was definitely part of this week and sessions had to be altered to cater for not being able to push to the higher intensities. But on the whole it’s been very successful! The next few days will bring their own challenges.

14/12/2022

Big training week this week! So far going strong and the conditions are throwing it at me! Hot, windy and muggy! I’ll certainly check back in at the end of this week with how things have gone.

In the mean time, I want to share that I have updated my fundraising page to the website Raisly which is being used by Endometriosis New Zealand. For anyone who has donated to the Give a Little, your donations are still here and thank you! It has a few more details on my why and what led me to both Ironman and how endometriosis has impacted that. I’ll post regular updates there as well 🙂

https://megans-journey-to-ironman-new-zealand-2023.raisely.com/

11/12/2022

A fun few updates with fundraising to come shortly!!

Watching yesterday’s Ironman New Zealand has me super inspired!! I’m entering a solid block of training to lay some good foundations to build on. There won’t be anything speedy about the next week, but it’ll be strong and exactly what I need!

Endometriosis New Zealand

02/11/2022

Sorry for the delay with an updated post. Needless to say a fair bit has happened and 2022 continues to throw its challenges!

A week before the Crater Rim Ultra I tested positive for Covid. Although I’m thankful I’ve avoided it until now it did come at terrible timing. That threw any chance of running at Crater Rim out and has really thrown the first half of my event season into question. The end of November I was supposed to run the Queenstown Marathon however I’ve dropped to the half and even that may not quite be doable in two weeks time. I’ve certainly felt the harsh effects of covid particularly around intense fatigue which is one of my main endometriosis symptoms as well so it’s quite the combo!

I’m having to tell myself to play the long game. Which is Ironman New Zealand and Ironman Cairns in March and June. 2022 has been rough. With the cancellation of all the events at the beginning of the year and then all training being halted due to my fourth endometriosis surgery. Recovery from that was hard as I learnt to be patient. I really felt like I was getting back into full momentum then covid. However, I’m taking the lessons I learnt from surgery with being patient with my body. Previously I would have pushed through and got the events done or DNF. Which for the long term is not great for my body. Playing the long game and being patient is certainly a learnt skill especially with all the cancellations last year and now for all the events to go ahead and I can’t participate. It’s rough mentally and I’ve had some down moments but I want to take these lessons of patience to push towards Ironman with new mental skills in the bag.

17/09/2022

Back to the long runs! Ripping the plaster off with 3hrs and 750m of elevation! Awesome to get out in this beautiful weather and enjoy the hills. The body certainly came together alright in the end after a bit of a painful start which included using a hot water bottle on the way to start the run to get things to settle. It feels good to be back into the endurance aspect of the sport and some long sessions!

16/08/2022

Getting back into the hills to start the build towards an awesome event season! There are certainly some big events on the cards for the next several months.

Last week I started a gentle consistency in my training. It also coincided with my period. For the first time in as long as I can remember I managed to train on the first three days of my period. They were incredibly gentle sessions but its building the small blocks of confidence that I can do it. Menstruation talk matters, lets talk about it! If it was a topic more readily discussed, I possibly would have realised a lot earlier on something wasn’t right about my period, but I dismissed it for so long as normal.

I am continuing to raise money for Endometriosis New Zealand to keep pushing for these conversations to happen and so younger people can get the help they need earlier.

Endometriosis New Zealand

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/journey-to-ironman-nz-2022-with-endometriosis

08/08/2022

After a much needed break away and reset, it’s time to get back into training! Saturday ticked over 30 weeks until Ironman New Zealand!! It’ll be a gradual load increase over the next few weeks until I get fully back into the swim bike run routine. I will keep my fundraising journey for Endometriosis New Zealand as I look towards and exciting season of events!

22/06/2022

Why not enter a second Ironman before you’ve done the first?!

Ironman Cairns 2023 is on the race cards!!! Very excited to take part in this beauty of a race. Am I scared that I’m going to get eaten by crocodiles, sharks, stingrays and jellyfish - absolutely! As Jordan joked, I’m going to be a croctail!

18/06/2022

I can now say I’ve got the final tick of approval to carry on with a full timetable of training! This recovery hasn’t been the easiest but I’ve gotten to the point where I can say I’m fully recovered and now it’s time for the fun work to begin!

I celebrated by taking to the roads on my bike rocking my new winter kit that Jordan Bailey got me for my birthday. It was very snuggly!! And visible!

I was stoked with how this ride went. I felt comfortable the entire time and even managed longer stints down in the aero position. This is the triathletes choice of bike positions but something I’ve always struggled with due to pain in my pelvis and lower abdomen. This time though, I felt great in aero position with no pain in my pelvis and felt my legs working effortlessly through the range of motion needed. I was stoked!!! This has me so excited to crack into the work required to get myself ready again for IRONMAN New Zealand 2023! And maybe something else… watch this space hehe!

I know that surgery has not cured me from endometriosis and there is a chance the disease will continue to cause me challenges. In fact, I expect that both endo and adenomyosis will throw some curveballs my way. Accepting this and knowing how to manage it and fight back is going to be the way forward. I am incredibly lucky to be in the position where I can get amazing wrap around care from my surgeon, GP, physiotherapist, dieticians, massage and clinical psychologist. I’ve also had input from general surgeons as required along my journey. This is the sort of wrap around care that endometriosis patients need involved in our care. But unfortunately, so little of this is funded and a lot of people either miss our, or put huge amounts of money into their care. Endometriosis New Zealand do massive amounts of work to help people with endo throughout NZ navigate this journey and advocate for those with this disease.

I’ve attached again my link to my fundraising page which will be open until after Ironman New Zealand. Please feel free to share this around your friends and family!

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/journey-to-ironman-nz-2022-with-endometriosis

Address

Blenheim

Website

https://givealittle.co.nz/fundraiser/journey-to-ironman-nz-2022-with-endometriosis

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