“I Thought My Days of Running and Being Active May Be Done.”Now I’ve Ticked a 70.3 Triathlon Off My Bucket List!
My journey from pelvic organ prolapse to getting my confidence and active life back.
When I first started experiencing symptoms of pelvic organ prolapse, I felt overwhelmed and sad, with no idea what was really happening or if there was any way back to doing what I love. Most importantly, I had no idea where to get the kind of proactive, knowledgeable help and support that I knew I wanted.
I was frightened about what the diagnosis meant for my future. Would I ever be able to exercise properly again? Could I run, lift weights or do the things I enjoyed without making my prolapse worse?
I felt as though my body had let me down, and I was scared that the active lifestyle I loved was something I would have to leave behind.
Then I started working with Gemma and The West 6 Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation Programme.
What made the difference for me was understanding that pelvic floor rehabilitation wasn’t just about doing squeezes while lying down or sitting still.
It was about gradually building strength, control and confidence, and learning how to use my pelvic floor during the activities that actually mattered to me. Rather than being told what I couldn’t do, I was working towards what I wanted to be able to do.
“In the latter stages of training and during the event the improvement was so significant that I experienced none of the initial prolapse symptoms at all.”
The programme took me through different stages, starting with the foundations and gradually progressing through the levels, all the way to strengthening my pelvic floor for impact, something that I had never even considered previously, but makes total sense!
As I progressed, my confidence began to return. I started trusting my body again and realised that having a prolapse didn’t mean giving up exercise or accepting limitations on my life.
With the help of Gemma and The West 6 and a clear, easy to follow structured rehab programme (like I’ve followed before for previous muscle or tendon rehab), I was able to adapt my training while I worked on improving my symptoms, and in the latter stages of training and during the event the improvement was so significant that I experienced none of the initial prolapse symptoms at all.
This enabled me to achieve something that a few months previously, when I first received my diagnosis, I genuinely thought I’d have to permanently delete from my activity wish list.
I completed a 70.3 (aka half Ironman distance) triathlon!
Endurance swimming and cycling, then running a half marathon to finish the event.
Looking back at how I felt when I first developed prolapse symptoms, I can hardly believe how far I’ve come.
For me, this journey has been about so much more than pelvic floor exercises. It’s been about getting my confidence back, feeling strong again and realising that my diagnosis doesn’t have to define what I’m capable of.
I went from fearing my active lifestyle might have to be a thing of the past to crossing the finish line of the biggest triathlon I’d ever done, aged 58!
And I’m so glad I didn’t give up on the things I love doing. I genuinely don’t think I would have been confident or strong enough to get back out there without all the support from Gemma and The West 6.
Individual patient experience. Outcomes vary.