Ironwoman Catriona Morrison back from injury and heading to Ironman Norway 70.3

Catriona Morrison, better known as Cat, is a Scottish born triathlete with more than her fair share of victories on the professional long course triathlon circuit. Cat had a brilliant 2011 season, opening with third place at the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon, followed by victories at Ironman Texas 70.3, Ironman 70.3 St Croix, Ironman Texas and the Alpe D’Huez Long Distance Triathlon. To top this off an 11th placed finish at Kona in the Ironman World Championships! Despite this it was time to face every athletes worst nightmare. With a persistently niggling Achilles  tendon, Cat made the incredibly tough decision to stand down from training and racing to attend to what had turned into a chronic problem. Having recently returned to racing with a victory at Ironman 70.3 St Croix, we caught up with Cat to find out how she has coped with her time away from racing in 2012.

Trizone Women: Firstly Cat it’s so great to hear that your in transit to Norway for the Ironman 70.3 Norway event this weekend! Your recent victory at Ironman 70.3 St Croix marked an amazing return to racing after over a year’s hiatus! How has your preparation gone leading into this weekend’s race?

Catriona Morrison: I still feel a bit rusty but after so long out of racing this is only to be expected (at least that’s what I tell myself!). I’m really happy with how my training is going as I have been really relaxed in terms of progression. It’s been a really gradual increase of volume and intensity and I have been very careful not to push things too far too fast. This season I have to learn to race with where I am at now rather than where I have been in the past – tempered expectations.

TW: Can you fill us in on where you’ve been since your recent return to the circuit in St Croix?

Cat: I’ve been rehabbing my Achilles – after struggling through another season in 2011 I decided that I had to stop managing things and get to the root of the problem. Initially I had thought that this would mean intensive biomechanics and physiotherapy work but after a year things had not progressed and I decided to go for surgery in October 2012. To add into the mix of fun things I came off my bike and broke my collarbone in August 2012 and also faced family bereavement through the loss of my dad. 2012 was challenging to say the least!

TW: It’s only natural that we hear so much about the success achieved by triathlon’s elite. Injuries are an incredibly frustrating process, do you believe you learn a lot about yourself as a person and athlete whilst forced out of competition due to injury?

Cat: Injuries are unfortunately part of the course as an athlete and the biggest challenge is to prevent them if at all possible! As you age and progress in the sport you learn to read your body better, but often not well enough, to prevent things from happening. My Achilles problems were long-standing and resistant to every kind of therapy – believe me, I tried everything. It was actually very liberating to initially decided to deal with the problem rather than manage my body through the next race or training session, as this was becoming physically and mentally more challenging. Being in pain constantly is debilitating at all levels and was just not necessary. After all, at the end of the day it is only a sport! I think that this clarity for me was quite easy to come by as I was dealing with the death of my Dad. Loss and bereavement of someone so close brings almost instant and hard-hitting reality and perspective. I chose to volunteer for a charity that promotes sport and physical activity to young people and this turned into a part time job. I got to concentrate time and energy into an area that I am passionate about whilst also having time to rehab and heal my body. As my Achilles healed I have picked up my training and I now work one day a week with the charity (Winning Scotland Foundation). My time out has enabled me to feed back into the sporting community, learn new skills, forced me to stop navel gazing, appreciate my sport far more, reminded me how lucky I am to do what I do and be more mindful of my body’s tolerances for training.

TW: Is there any advice you’d like to share with other women who may be battling a niggling injury? At what point do you seek advice and how do you decide which health professional to seek advice from?

Cat: Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. Little niggles and soreness are to be expected from daily training. However, persistent niggles should not be ignored. More often they are easily resolved with good guidance and it’s better to nip things in the bud – the tendency to want to just “do one more wee run…” is often our downfall. If you can work with a good physio who will assess your biomechanics and help you to prevent injuries before they happen this is always preferable – paying for a few sessions to look at your biomechanics and design a specific exercise program for you is a better long term investment than paying for multiple sessions to try and fix things – and will prevent the frustration and angst that injury brings. Word of mouth is often the best way to find a good therapist.

TW: You have a bit of a cake obsession . . . Care to share your favourite?

Cat: All baked goods are fair game but I’m a sucker for chocolate. I had a very good slab of chocolate beetroot cake last weekend – that’s gotta be healthy with the veg in it … ?!

TW: Paleo seems to be the the latest craze, do you use paleo recipes or prefer butter, sugar and all the trimmings?

Cat: A bit of everything to be honest!! Although if I can substitute the butter and sugar for “healthier” alternatives I will do so.

TW: You’ve had to virtually start the collection of points from scratch for the 2013 KPR (Kona Points Ranking) and 70.3 PR (Ironman 70.3 Points Ranking) having not raced either World Championship in 2012. What are your plans for the remainder of the 2013 season?

Cat: I want to take care of my body and I don’t think that I can realistically do this if I try to qualify for Kona – I think that there would be too high a risk of breaking again. My intention is to try and qualify for 70.3 Worlds in Vegas and to do an end of season Ironman.