Jess Petersson is known to many in the multisport world, although she hasn't been around for a while. Her sporting accolades include no less than four silver medals at the Powerman World Championships and seven top-five Ironman finishes, which included her breaking the run course record in three of those races. Jess is also renowned for her relentless perseverance, and it's probably for this very reason that she has managed to return to racing following a career threatening knee injury; sustained in a serious crash whilst training in Arizona two years ago.

Until three weeks ago Jess actually didn't know whether she would ever race again, but a chance to return to one of her favourite races, Powerman Zofingen, has perhaps changed her thoughts on the matter. After just six weeks of training she shocked herself and fellow competitors by winning a silver medal (her fourth one), finishing just over six minutes behind six-times winner of the event, Erika Csomor. The result has left her wondering about a more serious return to competition, although long working hours, a phobia of biking on the road and on-going physical problems will certainly be her biggest challenges.

AE Wow, Jess, that was some comeback race! We don’t see you around for a couple of years and bang you knock out a silver medal at the World Powerman Championships. Did you think you would be on the podium before the start of the race?

JP I only signed up the afternoon before the race, and to be quite honest my only expectations were that of just completing the race, I certainly wasn't thinking about really competing. Actually standing on the startline was really tough for me and I was genuinely undecided the day before due to my phobia of biking.

AE And that phobia obviously came from a very nasty road accident you had on your bike two years ago – hence your absence from the sport. I’m sure it’s not a place you want to re-visit too often, but tell us briefly what happened and what injuries you sustained?

JP In April 2007 I was in my best shape ever and ready for Ironman Arizona. Unfortunately though I had two flat tires which resulted in a DNF. But as luck would have it Zero2Hero stepped in and lent me the money to go and do Ironman Lanzarote.

I was due to fly out to Lanzarote on the 9th May, but on 1st May disaster struck. I was still in Arizona and so my training for Lanzarote was to take place there. Arizona is flat and of course Lanzarote isn't, so I needed to find a hill to train on.

As my previous accidents had typically involved downhills or corners I thought I would go to the safest hill in Phoenix in a mountain reserve. I decided to take a day off work and go on a Tuesday when I knew it would be quieter than at the weekends. The plan was to quietly go up and down the seven mile climb just to gain some confidence.

The accident happened when I was on my way down the hill and going round one of the many tight corners. Unfortunately two guys were racing up the hill on their motorbikes and one of them came round the corner on my side of the road, hit me on the left knee then clipped the back of my bike before he careered off the side of the road. I was pretty shook up as the whole thing seemed to happen in slow motion with me screaming and knowing I had no where to go, as to my right was a 100m drop with a landing of cacti.

I get a lot of flash backs of the event and that is partly why I have the bike phobia now. As soon as I get scared I see the accident over and over again, and that just stresses me out. I keep wondering if there was anything I could have done to avoid it.

In regards to my injury, for the first six months I just kept thinking 'it'll come right, just give it another two weeks'. But a second MRI scan in November - six months later - showed I was missing half a patella tendon and apparently tendons don't grow back, which does seem like a very unsatisfactory design. In the States the surgeon thought I might like an incision in my leg of about a foot in length and fake tendons drilled through my knee cap and sewn alongside whatever tendon I had left, and, if was lucky, I might recover in two to three years time. I didn't think that sounded very fun.

AE So where did you go from there, it didn't seem like you had a great deal of options?

JP No I didn't and on top of that I had money worries. In between studying and having a limited work visa for America I had seriously run out of money, so it was time to go back to the UK and try and stop the flood of hemorrhaging money. Also in the US my work opportunities were often sport related and it looked like I was not going to be doing much sport for the foreseeable future.

The first thing I did when I got back to the UK was to have an Ultrasound at Puresport in London. The diagnosis wasn't good as the surgeon found a list of about 50 things wrong with the knee.

AE Wow that was pretty major, what kind of things were wrong?

JP There were signs of trauma, hemorrhaging, abnormal blood vessels, bone edema, weird jelly stuff wrapped around the patella tendon, suspect patella groove messed up, floating debris, evidence of damage to joints etc, all sorts of stuff really. My right leg had also received a nice deep wound where the chain ring had cut in and there was a lot of colourful swelling up and down the right leg through to the achilles. But as injuries go I know it could have been a lot worse! The most frustrating thing was, that even though the doctors had found the problems they really had no idea what my recovery time would be. Some people apparently come back from horrific injuries and can do all sorts of things and someone else can have something which seems pretty small but it's just enough to chronically write them off.

AE So with all that in mind it makes your race in Zofingen all the more remarkable and the fact you were only just over six minutes behind the winner, Erika Csomor, is pretty amazing. If you'd have realised how close you were going to be at the beginning of the race do you think you could have gone faster or was the tank empty at the end of the race?

JP To be honest I'm pretty surprised as my training over the last couple of years has been pretty shocking. I've probably done in two and half years less than most people, who train seriously, do in a month or two.

Unfortunately with not having trained there is no idea of when the tank is going be full or empty. You seem to swing from full to empty with no warning light. In short I was shocked to be anywhere near Erika not to mention the other girls in the field, it seemed very weird, surreal and wrong, especially given that my current lifestyle is so different to the pro athletes.

AE Getting through the bike on very little training though, is one thing, but 40k of running over very tough hilly terrain is another, isn't it?

JP Fitness wise, the run hurt. It felt like crap from the first few steps. I genuinely thought everyone was going to motor on past me. If I'm honest; it was pretty emotional racking the bike in T2, it was just so overwhelming having got through the bike in one piece. I was also very shocked to be in third, especially as I had to stand up a lot on the third lap of the bike as my back had packed in. I think I've done two brick sessions in two and half years, so obviously the transition from bike to run did not feel pleasant. And the nice 4k climb straight from transition sure did make for a challenge.

AE You've now finished second four times at Powerman Zofingen so you’ve really got to keep racing it until you win, haven’t you?

JP It is totally crazy to have finished second four times to the same person, and I still don't think I've really digested what happened this year. I seriously thought I was never going to do a race again, and eight weeks before Zof I would have laughed in your face at the ridiculous suggestion of even entering the event. But in answer to your question, after this year's event it would be neat to actually go and race and contend for the title. I would need a nice dry day though, as I'm a triple wuss on the bike when it rains.

AE Powerman Zofingen is possibly one of the toughest one-day multisport events that there is, so what is it exactly that keeps drawing the athletes back year after year?

JP The course is tough but it's fair. There's so much space on the bike course so you know people are not drafting or unlikely to. The second run course is very tough - I did more walking this year than in any other event I've ever done. The spirit of the people in Zof, especially the event organisers and the host stay families, is simply amazing. The first time we came here was five-years ago and we've built some really special friendships. This year, perhaps more than ever, it was so great to see familiar faces out on the course and at the finish. People that actually know you, what you're about and have shared your personal roller coaster.

AE Several people have said that racing Zofingen is harder than racing most Ironman races, as an expert on the two would you agree?

JP I'm not sure I'm an expert, but hey it's a compliment and I don't get many so I'll take it! Well I can't swim (Jess doesn't actually mean she can't swim, she's just not quite as fast as she would like to be), and I would happily have all multisport athletes run any distance on any terrain rather than swim. So, a 10k warm up run versus a 3.8k swim, um mm, let me think for a moment, thinking over, I'll take the run any day.

The bike and run at Zof although shorter than Ironman are challenging and really do suck the energy out of you. There is a fair amount of downhill on the run too, which ensures you feel the event in your legs for a long time afterwards. So in answer to your question, I think it's up for debate, Zofingen is very tough, but then again so are some of the Ironman races.

AE If there was something you could know now that you didn’t know before the accident what would it be?

JP Be aware that accidents might be a lot worse than you realise at the time. At the time I was convinced that in two or three days I'd be ok and that I would still be going to Ironman Lanzarote. Another word of advice would also be, DON'T get back on the bike after an accident. I tried to get back on the bike to coast down the hill home, 48-hours later the bike shop told me the frame could easily have fallen apart, which of course could have resulted in a far worse accident.

I think for me the biggest lesson, was just not to ever be that vulnerable again. This one little accident, has affected: my sport, my job and PHD, and gave me ten grands worth of debt in relocation and medical bills. It was this huge domino effect, and domino after domino fell. I found it hard as I had invested so much money and time, I was alone in the US, I had no contingency plan, and no fallback plan, and I don't think I ever really considered how something like this would spill over into every area of life. The two year legal battle to get reimbursed was a real pain too and I had to be realistic in that we might never see that money again, and even if we were reimbursed, clearly I would still be paying ongoing physio bills etc for the foreseeable future.

It was upsetting having to re-live every detail of the event over and over again every time I bumped into a friend or someone who wanted to know what happened and why I wasn't racing. I found myself avoiding everyone, and anything to do with sport, which was pretty hard. I couldn't even watch an event or go as a volunteer as I would just get too upset.

AE Sadly, there seems to be an ever increasing number of road accidents involving cyclists – if you had to give one piece of advice for anyone training or riding regularly on the road what would it be?

JP I'd only really biked for three and a half years and in that time got hit by cars five times. I'd say stick to the really quiet roads, maybe somewhere like Richmond Park before the gates open at 0700. I do have a kids hi-vis jacket from Halfords, but I don't really think it makes a huge difference. I always try to make eye contact with drivers at roundabouts to try and see if they have seen me. In Arizona this was hard though, as everyone drives massive SUV's with blacked out windows. Maybe time trials are a good option for the safety in numbers aspect.

AE In 2004 you finished fourth at Ironman Austria in a fantastic time of 9:24, which at the time was a British record. Of course it still is a great time, but a certain Chrissie Wellington has raised the bar, just a bit! Was it a shock to see how fast the women have become in Ironman racing?

JP It is pretty exciting to watch Chrissie's journey especially as she seems to have come from nowhere to kick ass consistently on the global stage. It's refreshing to see an athlete get to the top and use the platform for international development purposes, but at the same time to be torn between choosing the sport, her charity and government development work, and using her IQ. It's great to see how she's managed to forge a life for all of her interests rather than them taking competing priorities and pulling her apart. And what's even more cool is how two-years ago it was Chrissie who? And now she's on for a third Kona win, with the women's all-time record firmly squashed.

AE Looking back over your career as an Ironman athlete what’s your greatest memory?

JP I'm not really sure, to be honest after the accident I really tried to repress anything to do with triathlon what so ever. I've experienced a lot of ups and downs during my sporting career and unfortunately a lot of the ups I didn't really appreciate at the time, as I was always worried about money, or work etc; so I couldn't really relax. I do remember some very cool post Ironman parties and hitch-hiking with some GB athletes through Klagenfurt in Austria at 2am with some random Mexican athletes looking for somewhere open for some more random jumping up and down drunken dancing. I also remember sharing a room with four GB guys - always check the reservation first - and I remember walking back to the hotel at 4am with a brown envelope in my pocket with the prize money, minus tax, in CASH, it all seemed very surreal.

On a less me me me note; watching sister Madonna Buder come across the finish line in Hawaii 2006 with literally seconds to spare, having all been screaming for her when she was still five miles from the finish line is a pretty cool memory. Watching the Blazeman and his friends in his memory, and the Hoyt family, is just so humbling and inspiring. I also got to meet and chat with Jane Tomlinson which was incredible. I guess those are the things that make the big events like Ironman so amazing, there is just so much going on, so much outside of you own little race, so much to be inspired by and be a part of.

AE Not only did you compete in duathlon and Ironman events but marathons too. With a PB of 2:42 for the Marathon did you ever think after your crash about giving up tri’s and du’s and concentrating solely on running?

JP I did think about training properly for a marathon. I did 2:41.51 in 2005, five weeks after Powerman Zofingen. Running somewhere around 2:36 would be pretty neat, but again with a knee like mine who knows if it could withstand the marathon training.

AE At the age of only 32 you haven’t even reached your prime yet, so now you are back and you've proved that your as good as you were before your accident what goals and dreams do you have left for your sporting career?

JP Yep, I turned 32 last week! To be honest I still have the kinda "did that really happen, how the hell did that happen, that so should not have happened", thoughts going through my head, so not really sure. I'd love to do something again, but I will have try and see what I can manage time wise and financially. It's hard as when you enter a race as pro you measure yourself against the pro's and I have to learn to be happy with whatever I can manage with the time available etc, as clearly I am not going to have the 20-40 hours a week training and the seven to eight hours a night sleep they get. But then if I could get my commute down to two hours a day (not four), and worked a 50-hour week, not 60-80, things could be more realistic! Nevertheless, if I am to do anything I've got a lot of physio exercises waiting on me first!

AE And finally, what's your motto for the day?

JP Today is today and tomorrow is tomorrow!