The return of Janelle Morrison
Janelle Morrison was badly injured in a head-on collision in late November of 2010 when another car turned right in front of her. The road to recovery has not been easy, but Morrison has a lot of determination.
Slowtwitch: Thanks for your time Janelle.
Janelle: Anytime! Right back at you!
ST: It has been about 8 months since your bad accident late lat year. Where are you now in terms of recovery?
Janelle: Let me just start by saying that I am not where most doctors thought I would be at this point, or even, ever. So, as you would expect it has been very important for me to progress with my recovery on “my own terms.” This being said, I am very close to where I expected to be at this point. I have actually just returned from training with my coach, Paulo Sousa, and his Triathlon Squad in St. George, Utah. I was supposed to join them all in the 1st camp back in Las Cruces in January, but that didn’t quite happen, and I proceeded to miss the next two as well. But making it to the 4th camp? One word – awesome.
As per Paulo’s program, I am swimming every day, often twice a day, and this is allowing me lots of time to work on my weakness of the 3 disciplines which needs serious doses of technical feedback, volume, and intensity. And I’m getting it all. I am also riding almost every day as well and feeling really good on the bike! I am finally using wattage to gauge my efforts and it is giving me tremendous feedback on the efficiency of my riding and how to appropriately conserve energy.
The challenge and setback that I have had to deal with is tendonitis in my tibialis posterior due a few things such as the surgery, initial lack of mobility (being in a wheelchair), scar tissue, and overall tightness of the surrounding muscles. I was given running clearance in April but I have had to very much ease back into things. I started with run/walk. Then moved to 5-minute runs. It has progressed to now running 35 minutes at a time on consecutive days. So, it has not only come a long way, but it is now very, very close! Once the tendonitis makes its final departure, it’s game on.
ST: Do you still remember much of the accident?
Janelle: I remember nothing about the accident. The last thing I remember is pulling into Tim Horton’s in Sicamous about half an hour prior to the accident. From there it is all a blank until I woke up in Kamloops ICU after having been in an induced coma for a week. Even then, things are hazy a couple of weeks after that as I was heavily sedated with morphine and whatever other things they were pumping into me at the time. I am grateful for this lack of memory. It has made it so clear to me that the brain can and will shut off to things that are just too traumatic for us to deal with. I do believe it has made recovery just that much easier for me. No memories. Simply moving forward. That has been very important in the recovery process.
ST: Were there any charges filed in that accident?
Janelle: I have no contact with the driver of the minivan that crossed the yellow line, causing the accident. I do have a lawyer and he has told me that it could be a couple of years until all of the logistics are complete. But to be honest, I don’t think too much about it at this time. I recognize that it’s futile and not in any way helpful towards going where I intend to go. Thinking or brooding about any of that is only a distraction. So, I focus on full recovery and getting back to racing, safely and properly. The rest will all take care of itself.
ST: Having been through that situation yourself, does that give you a different appreciation for people like Jordan Rapp, Alex McDonald and John Carson?
Janelle: Absolutely. I had not known about John’s story until recently and we have just had contact recently. I am so proud of him for his recent IM CdA finish, as well as the other substantial accomplishments he has made since his accident. Very powerful stuff. I was on Team Timex with Alex McDonald who had his crash soon after mine and we have been especially supportive of one another. Another reminder that something like this is very much mind over matter.
Regardless, when I recognized the massive recovery that awaited me after my own accident, at that time I knew only of Jordan’s accident and comeback. I immediately touched base with him for moral support, and of course, inspiration. Worked like a charm I might add. I have also had contact with some additional Canadian athletes who overcame serious adversity, such as Silken Laumann and Kyle Shewfelt. All are inspirations to me who I think about regularly as I go through the ebb and flow of my own journey.
It would also like to add that my accident was on November 21st, 2010. I don’t know if that day rings a bell to anyone, but this was the day that Jordan was making his epic comeback performance in IM Arizona in which he astounded the triathlon world with a 4th place finish. I was following him along with great interest whenever I stopped for food/drink on my travel breaks that day. I may very well have been thinking about him when I had the crash for all I know. Serendipity has been close by my side since the accident occurred, and this is certainly a finer example of what I mean when I say that.
ST: Alex was joking that he’ll come back leaner and meaner, what is on your mind to make lemonade out of lemons?
Janelle: No question at all…to come back smarter. I only raced my first triathlon of any distance in 2008, and it was as an amateur. I became pro in 2009 and it all happened very quickly. Even prior to this I was not an ‘elite’ athlete my whole life. I didn’t even do my first marathon until 2006, so it was a huge shock to be racing for the Canadian marathon team by 2007 while I was still working full-time as a teacher. So it is very safe to say that I still have so much to learn in so many areas.
At the IM distance, I have never gotten to a finish line without having to go to the med tent in dire straits. In “the old days” (as I call them now) I pushed, and I pushed hard, as that was what I knew how to do. But with Ironman it is not about who pushes the ‘hardest’ but about who pushes the ‘smartest.’ So, I am honing in on what is required to save as much energy as possible throughout an already long race, and to have a final result that displays what I am capable of. So, I am approaching this year as a “fly on a wall.” I am watching. I am learning. And with this I am gaining much needed patience and control as I “wait for my shot.” With a final goal to fill in the missing pieces to race with the consistency and speed that I know I have within me.
ST: Will we see you in a race this year?
Janelle: A very good question. As Paulo has told me, it is premature to discuss racing at this exact point in time. Until I am able to open things up on the run and “train accordingly” for my favorite of the disciplines, it is simply a game of patience. I have been told by a good friend and mentor that I must treat this time like I would treat a “cocoon.” Essentially, this means that picking away at a cocoon to force a butterfly to emerge before it is ready would only produce a dead or ill-formed butterfly. I must wait until this cocoon of mine is ready, making use of every second of time that I am given to sharpen my tools. And then, when the time is right, I will allow that butterfly to emerge. But not until it is ready.
This being said, I would be lying if I said I didn’t have some race prospects in mind. But I am not at liberty to make these public yet as I have to wait until my body is ready for the task that racing will entail. I will be back, and when I am…I will be ready. To exemplify this, Paulo asked me a while back if I want my comeback to be about the “survivor” that completes an Ironman OR if I want to be the “professional athlete” toeing the line for a paycheck. Enough said.
ST: We understand that you can't talk about specific races, but do you think the pressure to race in general is bigger because you are surrounded by so many fast athletes on the Paulo Triathlon Squad?
Janelle: A very good question indeed. Having just returned from training with the squad I certainly had to grapple with some emotions and thoughts like this. Most members of the squad are in full race season mode and I will not lie and say it is in any way easy to sit back on the sidelines from the ‘racing’ aspect of things. Not easy at all. At the same time, this pressure was only self-induced. I have zero pressure from Paulo to make my comeback before I am ready, in fact quite the opposite, as he feels I need to be ready to ‘race’ before I step up to any start line. I also have no pressure from my squad mates, friends, or family members to ‘hurry up and race’ again. So, in line with this entire journey/process, it is so very much how I handle it all and what I choose to do with it this time that is given to me. So, I continue to sharpen my tools and prepare with some of the very best…for when my shot arrives.
ST: You are no longer on Team Timex, is that correct?
Janelle: My title sponsors this year are Felt and Zoot sports…who have been amazing and then some. Zoot providing me with flowers and cards and running shoes while I was still in the hospital (to remind me that I will run again!!) and Felt who donated a bike to a fundraiser immediately after the accident and has made sure I have been provided the right bikes as I progressed through my recovery. Yet it is important to note that no contracts had yet been signed at the time of the accident…so they didn't have to stick by me.
ST: Other sponsors who you'd like to mention?
Janelle: Product Sponsors who have also all been super supportive are DeFeet, Louis Garneau, Timex, Nathan Hydration, Rudy Project, Kurt Kinetic, ZIPP, Tri-It Multisport and Red Lime Marketing.
ST: Talk to us about your favorite food items because somehow we have the feeling you have something to say along those lines.
Janelle: Hilarious. Herbert, I do believe it might be YOU that has something to say on this matter? I have never seen such epic ‘food shots’ from all taken with an i-phone and then posted on Facebook for all to salivate at. So I ask, why are you asking me about this? You are the master.
ST: Well, it really isn't about me here, but thanks for the compliments. Anything else we should know?
Janelle: I would just like to take this time to thank everyone who has believed in and supported me through this process. Right from the beginning I had a team of people that have had my back through the good and downright ugly days. I would like to say that without this kind of incredible support I don’t believe I would be where I am today. No one does it alone and this experience has made that abundantly clear to me, especially in the early days in the hospital and while I was in a wheelchair. Those were tough and vulnerable days. Yet, the positive words and vibes from people near and far gave me the strength to follow through. I remember lying in a hospital bed, unable to yet even up and into a wheelchair yet, and I had floods of emails and messages from people all telling me that I would get through this and I would be back. And I felt within these messages that they weren’t just saying it, that they meant it. It was here that the seed was planted. That seed grew in my mind, and I have never looked back. You all know who you are. I am so grateful to be surrounded by love and support the way that I am. So grateful.
