Triathlons can be challenging, the physical battle weighs just as heavy as the mental battle.
But from Maryborough in regional Queensland, lives one of triathlon’s toughest competitors – Juliette McAleer.
In 2020, Juliette was experiencing back pain and initially thought nothing of it, that was until the pain continued to worsen and she was rushed to hospital.
Doctors uncovered that parts of her bowel and stomach were starting to die, putting her chances at survival very low.
Flown in a rescue chopper to Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital, Juliette spent six months in hospital, enduring multiple surgeries and health battles.
Now, Juliette is tube fed and in September of 2023 decided to take up triathlon and has been ticking goal after goal ever since.
“I had my first swimming lesson as an adult on 2 November 2023, so just over a year ago,” Juliette said.
“I started running in mid-2023 as a way to deal with the fallout of having been told I could not return to the career I loved, due to my ongoing level of physical psychosocial disability.
“I bought myself a road bike because I needed to feel hope for my future, and a bike seemed to represent forward momentum and health and strength and all the things I wanted to embody, even in this broken body.”
Coached by Lars Olsen, Juliette recently competed in the Hervey Bay 50km, marking her longest triathlon to date.
“‘Do something that scares you’ has been a recurring theme and mantra in my life over the past year as I embarked on this crazy multisport journey,” she said.
“What started as a mission to prove to my doctors and myself that I wasn’t completely broken in the wake of a life threatening illness, has now become a source of unexpected joy in my life.
“Being tube-fed is tough sometimes with the tedious routines, the missing out on what everyone else can eat, the nausea and pain – they all make having a normal relationship with food and your body very difficult.
“Triathlon has changed this for me in a way nothing else could.
“I fuel my body for this and while I no longer find pleasure or fun in food, I have found joy in what my feeding tube and nutrition make possible.
“The Hervey Bay 50 is the most recent example of this.”
Supported in every step of the journey by her coach, Juliette knows completing events like the Hervey Bay 50 would be impossible without him.
“I am not sure I can properly thank Lars for his support and encouragement in the lead up to Hervey Bay especially,” she said.
“I have needed a lot of motivation and support as I navigated the ups and downs of this crazy life while training for this.
“In addition to missing most of my bowel and stomach, I also live with hypoxic brain injury from the impact of the efforts made to save my life.
“I get disorientated easily, and have difficulty with memory and all kinds of cognitive tasks so it really helps me to have someone patient and encouraging on my team to keep me on track.
“I couldn’t have done Transition 1 without Lars helping me to connect my feeding tube and manage all the small details (extension, flush, prime, connect, medical tape on wet skin, set rate, start pump etc).
“I had two feeding pump alarms go off on the bike and I had to stop to fix them, but otherwise I managed my first longer triathlon with my nutrition running, and felt amazing!
“I trust Lars’ judgement when mine is wonky, which is one of the key benefits of coaching I think.
“Way to go, body! What a buzz! The next morning I felt exhausted but was still riding that natural high.”
