Tara-Lee Marshall writes: The last two years have been very difficult for me on a physical and mental level. Going into the 2001 season I was totally pumped on having a very profitable year. In 2000 I had won two ironman and had reached a level that honestly I had never thought I would achieve when I first started the sport. I was thinking that I was invincible and that I could only get better. I trained harder than ever and was putting in 25-30 hour training weeks along with a part time job. I was feeling super strong and all my testing had come back positive. Then my first race of the year, a small local duathlon, I stepped awkwardly off a sidewalk during the run and felt something go in my hamstring, it was so painful I had to pull out. I rested for a bit and then resumed training again, thinking it was just muscular even though the pain was not localized.

From there things just got worse and for the next two years (2001 and 2002) I dropped out of more races than I finished and the pain went from just my hamstring into my glutes and up and down my legs and back. At first it would only bother me when I was in a race, but eventually it bothered me to the point that I could not bend over to pick something up . I tried everything in rehab to strengthen what had been diagnosed (MRI showed I had a herniated disk in my L4 and L5 joints in my back). I've never done more abdominal and back work, and enough yoga that I could call it a job!

However things didn't change in 2002 and I once again dropped out of more races than I finished. I would lose total power in my legs and get excruciating back spasms. In 2001 in Hawaii my back spasm so bad in the swim that by the time I got out of the water my back was no longer straight and instead was shaped like a pretzel due to the muscles pulling my spine out of whack. They had to give me powerful muscle relaxants to ease my back into a straight position.

My mind started going on me by this point and I wondered if I would ever compete at the level that I was in 2000? I was ready for a break and decided mid way through 2002 that I would not race and seek other avenues with my back. We were lucky enough to have one of the top neuro surgeons in Vancouver at our ironman camp in August of 2002 who asked what was happening. By the end of the camp he had offered to do the surgery for a nominal fee. I went in the fall of 2002 and had endoscopic discetomy on my two disks where they trimmed up the disk and removed a lot of scar tissue. The surgeon said that the MRI did not do the area justice as there was a lot more going on in the area which was impeding the nerve bundles in my spine. Directly after the surgery I noticed that my hands and feet were no longer constantly cold, which is a good sign and was instantly encouraging. I have since been back training fully for about 1 month of running and two months of biking and swimming. So far everything is going really well and I have decided to ease back into racing this year by starting my main season a little later than usual. I am back with a positive attitude and hope to be able to compete with the best in the world again. I have learned that no matter what diversity you face you must always hold a positive attitude. As long as you stay positive things will work themselves out. Here's hoping you have a great year of racing and I hope to see you out there.

Tara-Lee