Posted: Wed, 5 May 2010 08:35 AM - 8,147 Readers

By: Matt Sanctis

When she was diagnosed with breast cancer in April last year, Angie Brouhard wasn’t sure whether she’d ever be able to run with her husband or play with her three children again.

But this weekend, a CNN crew will film Brouhard and five other people from across the country as they train for a triathlon with Lance Armstrong, a professional cyclist who beat cancer and won the Tour de France seven times.

Just one day later, she’ll swim across Lake Travis in Texas with Eric Shanteau, a 2008 Olympic swimmer who also beat cancer.

Brouhard, of Springfield, is one of six people participating in CNN’s Fit Nation Triathalon Challenge. Participants are provided with personal trainers and dieting guidance, and CNN is filming them as they train for the Nautica New York City Triathalon on July 18.

The cancer forced Brouhard to cease most physical activity, but she said the program encouraged her to get active again. Now, she’s in the best shape in years, and runs as much as six miles before going to work as a speech language pathologist at the Lawnview Child and Family Center in Urbana.

“I think there’s enough variety in the training that I don’t get bored with it,” Brouhard said.

The triathalon will require her to swim across the Hudson River, run 10 kilometers and bike another 40 kilometers.

Matt Sloane, of CNN Medical News, said the weekend will be a final boot camp as the participants prepare for the triathlon.

Sanjay Gupta, a CNN medical correspondent who helped launch the Fit Nation program, knows Armstrong well and asked if he would participate, Sloane said.

All of the participants are doing well, but since they also have to balance jobs and family life as well, training isn’t always easy.

“One issue all of them have without fail is time,” Sloane said.

Brouhard never imagined she’d get a chance to take a bike ride with Armstrong when she first sent a video to CNN producers this past winter.

“I’m better every day,” she said of her fitness level.

Sloane said the segments will air on the network in about a week.