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Arland Van Horn is a real-life Superwoman. When she’s not at her day job at Disney, or at her after-hours job as co-founder of STRIVE Omni Sport, Arland is busy training for her next race. She did triathlon back in college, took a break, but started racing again in her 40’s. Most recently, Arland completed a full IRONMAN in Canada back in July, but a back injury almost derailed her journey to completing her second IRONMAN before it could even start.

“I was having a lot of lower back pain on the bike,” Arland said. “I was already committed to IM Canada and I was worried I wouldn’t finish the bike if I didn’t address whatever was causing the back pain. 112 miles of really hilly biking was looking almost impossible.”

Yep, even superhero bodies break down sometimes. Arland has been a patient at Rausch Physical Therapy & Sports Performance for many years now for a myriad of injuries. As a passionate believer in STRIVE’s mission to “to reach limits we thought unachievable” and “STRIVE to be the best that we can be,” Arland says she appreciates Rausch PT’s focus on goals, not just fixing an injury.

“I hate being injured, but I actually really enjoy going to the clinic, even though that’s weird,” she said. “It’s a fun, supportive, goal-oriented environment. No one tells me “no” or “you can’t” (at least that I’ve listened to.) The focus is always on understanding my goals and helping me overcome whatever physical obstacle may be in my way.”

Arland says her PT Ashley not only helped her make it to the start line in Whistler, but her advice also really helped her push through to finish the bike.

“I finished!” Arland said. “That’s always the main goal in an IRONMAN. I had a PR swim, a rough bike and a decent run. I still had back pain (I probably started working on it a little too late to completely correct the issue,) but I was able to get through it through a lot of strategies Ashley helped me create. Did you know you can do “Cat/Cows” on the bike? It helps!”

Arland’s next triathlon is Oceanside 70.3 in April, and her goal is to be healthy and have a pain free race with the help of PT.

“I think triathletes in particular need to remember to take time to rehab and recover more. We are collectively terrible at it, especially me. I’m grateful to all the folks at Rausch for always being there for me when I need help.”