Triathlon: McIlroy tests form at national champs

Kate McIlroy is ranked number 22 in the world. Photo / Supplied

Kate McIlroy's long road to recovery from achilles tendon surgery continues on Saturday when she lines up at the national triathlon championships in Wellington.

The Wellingtonain has battled achilles tendon trouble for years, with the pain eventually forcing her out of athletics and into triathlons where she found the training load was spread a little more evenly across the three disciplines.

But as the workload increased along with her impressive string of results, 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," she said.

"Every run was painful, every race was a battle to get through.''

The option of surgery had been on the cards over the last eight years, but McIlroy finally made the decision when time off at the end of last year resulted in no improvement.

Surgeon Matt Brick convinced her the time was right.

"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," McIlroy said.

"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, McIlroy was back in the pool, followed by five weeks on the cycle wind trainer, and six weeks of walking.

The world No 22 triathlete is now up to one hour of straight running as she slowly but surely ``reloads'' the tendons in readiness for a big season of racing. While McIlroy admits she is not quite ready to run in race conditions, she is looking forward to mixing it on Saturday in the swim and the bike.

"I've decided that I will only swim/bike as it is too early to be testing my legs on the run," she said.

"It will also be a good gauge as to where my form is and give me an idea on how to shape my training over the next few months."

McIlroy will line up alongside a host of other leading triathletes from a number of nations, including New Zealand No 1 Andrea Hewitt, Nicky Samuels, Briton Vicky Holland, Vendula Frintova (Czech Republic) and Elizabeth May (Luxembourg).

- NZPA