Second Chances: How Vivian Chee Returned to Hyrox and Triathlons After Cancer

Vivian Chee opened 2026 with a 22km nature run in Melaka, after finishing her first Hyrox women’s singles race in Singapore in November 2025. She is 57, and she did it after colon cancer and three lung operations that left her with about half her lung capacity.

Her story is not about pretending setbacks do not exist. It is about making smart choices, training patiently, and racing with perspective.

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Before cancer, she already learned how to persevere

Chee was not sporty as a child. She only started moving seriously at 39 after a friend invited her to Bukit Timah Hill, and her early races were messy. She collapsed after 1.6km at her first event and panicked during open-water swim training. She kept going anyway.

That patience paid off:

• In March 2012, she completed the Aviva Ironman 70.3 Singapore (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run) in 7h 50m, just inside the cut-off.
  
  

• In 2013, she finished a full Ironman in Busselton (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km run) in 16h 30m.
  
  

The health warning signs she refused to ignore

In 2018, persistent bowel pain pushed her to seek answers. A colonoscopy in May 2019 revealed stage 2 colon cancer, and she had tumour-removal surgery the next month at NUH.

Even during recovery and follow-up treatment, she kept showing up for movement at a level her body could handle, including swim events she had already registered for.

Then came the relapses:

• September 2020: spread to her left lung and surgery (UVATS).
  
  

• August 2021: recurrence affecting both lungs, followed by more surgery including an open middle lobectomy.
  
  

• December 2024: another nodule led to a third major lung surgery after the Tokyo marathon in March 2025, with complications and a longer recovery.
  
  

Her surgeon noted that the lung can compensate and capacity can improve with training, and she beat the expected recovery timeline thanks to her baseline fitness and determination.

How she rebuilt fitness after surgery

Chee did not jump straight back into hard racing. She returned in layers:

• May 2025: light gym training.
  
  

• September 2025: more cardio work to prepare for Hyrox.
  
  

• October 2025: completed a triathlon in Bintan.
  
  

• November 2025: tested her swim fitness at Ironman 70.3 Phu Quoc (she made the swim cut-off but did not finish the race).
  
  

• Late November 2025: completed Hyrox in 2h 48m, after consulting her surgeon.
  
  

That sequence matters. It is a model for anyone coming back from time off: rebuild training capacity first, then add event-specific demands.

What Hyrox demands and why pacing matters

Hyrox follows a standard format: run 1km, complete one functional station, repeat eight times.

Chee’s experience highlights the real challenge: managing effort across the whole race. She described every station as hard, alternating walking and running, and pacing herself through 100 wall balls by breaking the reps down into smaller chunks.

If you are training for Hyrox-style fitness racing, you need:

• Aerobic base (so you can recover between efforts)
  
  

• Strength endurance (so stations do not spike your heart rate beyond control)
  
  

• Practical pacing (so you can finish strong, not just start fast)
  
  

For structured strength progression that supports endurance sports and hybrid events, Strength Development is a strong complement to cardio-focused training.

The mindset that kept her safe and consistent

Chee is clear about one principle: she does not race to extremes because she has a family, and she wants to race consciously to avoid turning sport into risk.

That is the most useful takeaway for most people reading her story:

• Train for progress, not punishment
  
  

• Pick goals that match your current capacity
  
  

• Use medical guidance when you are returning after serious illness or surgery
  
  

If you are rebuilding body composition or performance while managing recovery, nutrition structure helps. A simple way to set targets is the GymNation Nutrition Calculator.

Source: straitstimes.com 

The opinions shared in the blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.