Went for my first ‘proper’ strength training session today, i.e. a full class, rather than my self-programmed strength session, and I felt exhausted after. Also starving. So I guess my appetite came back in full force once I start working out again.

I’m not sure if I’m so tired because:

1. I slept poorly last night? Byron kept meowing – maybe because he missed me? – so my sleep was really disrupted. I woke up several times to check if there was anything major going on, and Garmin only registered ~6 hours’ sleep
2. I lost fitness? I’ve reduced my training load massively since early / mid-January, after I injured my hip, both in terms of strength training, as well as running
3. I haven’t fully recovered from my weekend race? My MyZone was a sea of red, and I hit my max HR of 200 during my race, even though I felt mostly pretty good during most of the race, and only really felt I was dying during the wall balls.

I did some race analysis (naturally)… and concluded that if I did my best times across all stations at the Glasgow race (Race 4 in the table), I would have just about achieved sub-90, even without an improvement in my running pace, which was the case this time – it was the first race where I didn’t improve on my running at all. Unsurprisingly, given my reduced running load.

What was great is that I reduced my wall ball time by a whopping 1m20, which is gratifying, given my focus on it! My sled pull also improved by close to 1m, which makes sense given my increased focus on calisthenics / pulling strength. I was slightly surprised that my lunge improved from my last race, given I’ve done less work on lunges, except some rehab exercises. I was disappointed and worried by the massive decline in my sled push performance, historically “my” station. I felt really gassed during the push at Bilbao, and I felt rather gassed during Glasgow too, which is even open women’s weights. I wonder if this is a just a result of poorer cardio, which carries over to the push given my HR / aerobic capacity, or if I have lost strength in my legs from reduced strength training load as well. I was also not happy with my farmer’s carry. I really pushed with the carry, but when I realised I had to loop around the course a second time, I think my spirit broke a little, and I kept putting the kettle bells down. My ski and row were never award winning, but were marginally slower this time.

It’s a little bit discouraging to see stations where my performance has deteriorated, but heartening to know that areas of focus have paid off. Now I need to continue honing in on my wall balls to move the dial there, while also pushing on farmer’s carry, lunges, and sled stations. And of course, I need to increase my running volume again, if not necessarily do that much speed work. My left hip is still hurting. But hopefully once I start strength training more, doing classes which are more holistic and longer / more challenging, my TFL will improve. I’ve noticed that my TFL actually feels better after strength sessions, rather than running sessions, which would have seemed counter intuitive to me, but my physio said that the tendon is stimulated by lower rep and higher load, which will lead to better recovery, compared to high rep low load.

I’m feeling slightly down today, maybe because I’m tired today. Doesn’t help that I have slightly annoying work to do, and I’m back to the daily grind and usual place after a welcome ‘disconnect’ up in Scotland. I guess even working remotely from a hotel in Edinburgh or on the train, made a nice change from the same old routine. And then I’ve realised I’ve lost / can’t find my Glasgow patch. I’ve even lost my industrial-sized battery pack, which could double up as a weapon for self-defence in case I ever get assaulted.

I’ll try to sleep early today, and hopefully go for a long easy run tomorrow. It’s not very long until my next race, and I need to make up for lost training time, while fully rehabilitating my TFL. Onwards and upwards!