Yet throughout her life, the tenacious woman has loved proving people wrong. The experienced ironman participant hopes to overcome an injury-cursed year to return to one of her favourite races.
"I was born with a VSD [ventricular septal defect], which is basically a hole in the heart and other heart issues which have come up during my adult life," she explained in a matter-of-fact manner.
These problems have inhibited her training.
"Due to the nutritional issues when I was little, I have poor bone health and I have had seven or eight broken bones ranging from stress fractures to bike-crash fractures.
"The heart condition affects my training or racing when I am pushing the intensity. I end up with a very high heart rate that I can't control and my limbs go very weak. It feels like someone is standing on my chest and has turned the blood circulation off to my limbs."
As a former runner and cyclist, Cachemaille, from Upper Hutt, switched to triathlon because she believed the non-drafting rule would lead to fewer accidents.
Not a woman to do things by halves she made her ironman debut at the Auckland half-ironman at Kawakawa Bay in 2007 and has completed eight half-ironmans and one full ironman.
Despite further heart surgery, coupled with a broken foot in 2013, Cachemaille completed the Ironman 70.3 Auckland in 5h 51m and was determined to return for this year's event, describing it as "one of the best organised events I have been to".
Unfortunately, her preparation has been marred by a fractured shin, which was diagnosed after completing the Ironman 70.3 Cairns. She also faces an MRI scan on her back.
After a troublesome build-up in which she has struggled to put in a decent block of training, the ambition is simply to make it to the start line injury-free.
"I'm sure ACC hate seeing my name come across their desk and it probably doesn't help that I'm a little accident prone," she said.
"I only know this experience, as I've had it my whole life, so I just play with the hand I was dealt. I'm sure there could be a much worse state to deal with."
Overweight and working in a stressful banking job in London six years ago, Kiwi Nigel Bond had reached a crossroad in his life.
At that time, his first daughter was born and his father underwent a triple heart bypass operation.
Weighing 106kg, the Aucklander decided he needed a radical overhaul of his life.
"I realised I wanted to be around to look after [my daughter] for as long as possible and so something had to change," said the 40-year-old, who is now based in Sydney.
Embarking on a committed exercise regimen was initially not easy. Even a 5km run had to be divided into two of 2.5km.
However, as he shed the weight his running started to improve. He completed his first half-marathon in 2h 5m.
He continued to run (his half-marathon personal best is now 1:27) and later became interested in triathlon before making his half-ironman debut in Monaco in 2009.
Now 30kg lighter, Bond has tackled three full ironmans and six half-ironmans and is looking forward to competing in his home city at Ironman 70.3 Auckland.
However, as the banking lawyer is prepared to admit, his past attempts have not always run smoothly. Like at Ironman Regensburg in Germany in 2010. "A marshall whistled up someone for not passing quickly enough, so as they pulled over in front of me and clipped my front wheel I went down," said Bond.
"I was patched up but despite the language barriers I managed to convince them to let me get back on the bike.
"I ended up finishing the marathon with blood squelching out of my shoe from a hip abrasion."
At the 2011 Ironman Austria, he turned a corner too fast, hit a discarded gel packet with the front wheel and lost the bike.
"I ended up with my collarbone trying to escape out my back," he grimly recalled.
"My main regret being all the training I put in was "wasted" as I never made it to the run."
Since then he has slowly rebuilt his confidence. He returned by competing at Ironman 70.3 Shepparton and completed Ironman Melbourne in 2013.
"I now always stick to flat track races for some reason," he joked.
Bond is looking forward to achieving a special milestone in his old hometown.
"This will be my 10th Ironman, including 70.3 races, and with it being in Auckland it seems a nice chance to go home."
IN 2008, Yvonne Shaw would have dismissed any thought of completing a half-ironman as pure fantasy.
She weighed 30kg heavier than she does today and was battling a serious phobia of the water.
However, after the last of her four children left home, Shaw decided to tackle the weight loss and get fit.
After conquering her fears, the 53-year-old grandmother of five is optimistic of completing her second half-ironman at the Ironman 70.3 Auckland.
Despite growing up by the coast in Tauranga, Shaw never learned to swim properly and almost drowned after she was tossed from a kayak during a trip to Canterbury nearly 30 years ago.
"After that incident I couldn't even hop in at the deep end of the pool," she said.
That was until two years ago when, after she had successfully shed the weight through walking, running and cutting out sugary foods from her diet within 12 months in 2008, she vowed to learn how to swim and complete a triathlon. It was far from easy.
"My poor coach," she said with a laugh.
"I used to burst into tears every time I was out of my depth, so I decided the only thing that would make me stick at it was to have a goal to work towards."
Shaw took on her fear head-on and signed up for the 2014 Port of Tauranga Half-Ironman.
"I was a bit worried about Tauranga because it was a two-loop swim course and I knew that if I was struggling it would be very easy to hop out after one lap and not go any further," admitted the business owner.
"But thankfully halfway around my second loop, I started smiling because I knew I was going to make it. It took me over an hour, but I got there."
Shaw went on to finish the course in a combined time 6:25 and was rapt - she had completed her first half-ironman. The hard work was worth it.
Rising at 4.50am to train, her aim is a sub-six-hour time in Auckland, but the Nelson super gran has an additional motivation to perform well.
Her husband John suffers from a rare autoimmune disease called Susac and undergoes regular bouts of chemotherapy.
His illness has added significance to her performance and she wants to make him proud.
"He is a former marathon runner and I know he would love to be out there training," she explained.
"He will be up in Auckland and is a great supporter. Because John has been so sick for the last two years, I'm glad I've had the distraction of training or I think I would have got very depressed."
Ironman 70.3 Auckland
When: Sunday January 18
Where: Finish and Transition - Viaduct Event Centre
Course: Swim 1.9km from Maritime Museum, out at Karanga Steps, Viaduct Event Centre
Bike: 90km - long lap over Auckland Harbour Bridge to Albany and return, two short laps to St Heliers and return.
Run: 21.1km - two laps along waterfront to Parnell Baths
Start times
Professional men - start 6.15am
Professional women - 6.18am
Age group - first wave - 6.25am
Age group - final wave 7.17am
Teams - start 7.25am
First athlete out of swim: 6.40am
First athlete after bike: 8.50am
First athlete finish: 10am
Final finisher: 3pm
Prizemoney: $90,000
For more information: www.ironmanauckland.com.
