Three days after CTS Senior Coach Kate Gracheck raced at the 2008 Collegiate National Championships, and 6 days after turning 29, Kate was diagnosed with cancer. For two years Kate had been monitoring the size of a growing lymph node on her neck and alerting doctors to its presence. She was reassured that she was too healthy and too young to be concerned. Finally during her annual exam in 2008, a nurse practitioner took her golf-ball sized lymph node seriously and ordered a biopsy of the tissue.
Just as Lance Armstrong raced in the 1996 Olympics with cancer, Kate competed in the 2008 Collegiate National Championships with cancer. Kate raced on Sunday and had surgery to remove the lymph node the following Wednesday. Nine days after racing at a National Championship Kate Gracheck was diagnosed with Stage 1A Hodgkins Lymphoma. She had been living with cancer for 2 years at that point.
Kate’s family wanted her to return to California for treatment, but Kate wanted to keep her life as normal as possible. She wanted to continue coaching her athletes, counsel her clients (Kate is a therapist working on her Doctorate in Psychology) and hang out with her friends. So she stayed in Colorado Springs, CO, with the support of family who flew in for her treatments. On October 17th Kate started chemotherapy treatment at the Penrose Cancer Center. She responded well to treatment and after 12 weeks her body was cancer-free.
Kate’s success at fighting cancer is undoubtedly linked to her coping strategy throughout treatment. She was very angry at the cancer and took all of her anger out exercising. As a highly successful athlete, coach and scholar, Kate was accustomed to setting goals for herself. She approached treatment similarly and told an Oncology nurse that she was going to win a national championship within a year of her cancer diagnosis. Toward that goal, she remained as active as possible throughout her chemotherapy treatments She climbed The Incline - a 2000-vertical-feet climb in just one mile up and over old railroad ties. The average grade of the incline is 41% with the steepest portion at 68%. This is one of Colorado Springs’ toughest training arenas, where many an Olympian comes to work towards their Gold. Kate was climbing the incline in 42 minutes during chemo, while most “average” individuals don’t even make it to the top in an hour. She was, however, disappointed as she had been climbing The Incline in 32 minutes pre-cancer. In addition to The Incline, she ran the trails through the mountains west of Colorado Springs and she continued to train on her bike. Kate had to keep the intensity low throughout treatment, though, as her lungs were compromised from the chemo and her heart raced with any effort over a recovery pace.
Once Kate was discharged from chemo she traveled to California to visit her family. Even though her training during treatment wasn't overly strenuous, Kate saw that she |
was producing higher power outputs on the bike post-chemo than she had one year earlier. Being cancer-free made the lighter training load that much more effective and her higher power outputs post-cancer made her realize how much the cancer had been hindering her progress over the previous seasons. Kate was ready to get back to full-intensity training at that point, but she still had a session of radiation ahead of her.
Despite the rapid progress from diagnosis to remission, Kate’s doctors still recommended radiation treatment. So in January of 2009 Kate underwent 20 days of radiation. The radiation took a lot out of her - she said she felt like she was “hit by a Mack truck.” Her energy levels were very low and she was unable to remain as active as she was during chemo. However, after radiation was over, Kate’s energy levels returned, and in March of 2009 Kate was once again training like the track star she was before cancer, with her sites set on achieving her goal of winning a Stars-and-Stripes jersey within one year of her cancer diagnosis. And since Kate turned 30 during her treatment, she was now eligible to race Masters National Championships.
Beginning with some moderate intensity and low gearing workouts to build her strength and refine her pedaling cadence, Kate grew stronger and more powerful with every passing week. She could only handle intensity every other day, but she was still able to ride 6 days per week, 3 days of intensity and 3 days of endurance/recovery. Each ride was meticulously planned out to prevent her from wasting valuable energy. Her training plan consisted of very focused intensity and recovery blocks, ensuring that Kate never became too tired because she was unable to bounce back from too much overload. Using her energy wisely, she was able to focus on strength work on the bike and then move to higher intensity training just before Masters Nationals.
A typical training week for Kate looked like this:
Monday- Easy Ride
Tuesday Track Race
Wednesday-Recovery Miles
Thursday- Track Race
Friday- Recovery Miles
Saturday- 4x2k efforts, 3 1 lap standing starts
Sunday- 2 hour Endurance Ride
Kate’s gradual buildup in training volume and intensity worked exceedingly well. In the weeks leading up to Masters National Championships, she was riding stronger than she ever had in the five years she’d raced before her cancer diagnosis. Taking another cue from Lance Armstrong, particularly from his recent return to professional cycling after a short retirement, Kate attributes her new-found strength and success (at least in part) to her 6 months of “recovery” after 5 years of racing. While chemotherapy and radiation treatment can hardly be considered recovery, it’s also significant to note that Kate was not pushing her body on the bike the same way she had for the previous five years. Lance Armstrong retired for nearly four years following a 15-year career as a professional cyclist, and the extended mental and physical recovery period served him well during his comeback in 2008-2009. Similarly, Kate’s 6-month hiatus allowed her to fully recover from the accumulation of 5 years of training stress and her 2 years living with cancer. Kate had built up a strong base over the years, and when she was free and clear of cancer and able to handle focused efforts, “it all came together.” During the 2009 US Master’s National Track Championships in Colorado Springs, CO, Kate earned her Stars-and-Stripes jersey. Less than a year after being diagnosed with Stage 1A Hodgkins Lymphoma, Kate Gracheck stood atop the podium as Masters National Points Race Champion in the 30-34 age group, and a Masters National record holder in the team pursuit event.
Perhaps the note she sent to the rest of the CTS Coaching Staff sums is it up best:
“Most people never have to face cancer, and most people never win a National Championship, and I did both in the same year!” –Kate Gracheck
Chris Carmichael
www.trainright.comYou can follow me at
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