I’ve been trying to reload quite aggressively post Glasgow race + 2 days (for recovery), with the aim of getting to a full load of ~6 days of work, 3 days of strength training + 3 days of running, with 1 day of rest. Running because I desperately need to improve my running and rebuild my cardio engine. Strength training because strength work (low rep, high weight) is the type of stimulation my TFL needs to recover. 1 day of rest, that the physio recommended I take, I assume to avoid overstrain given I got injured probably because of my 500 thrusters in one day in the first place! He also strongly advised me to get adequate rest. 8 hours is required for proper recovery and to build the muscle, and strength required, otherwise we are just wasting our effort. And yes, I know I’ve heard that before.

This week I’ve slept rather less than usual of late. Mostly because I started a new Netflix series “Virgin River”. It was on my recommended list for ages, but I had dismissed as being rather too boring – why would an LA nurse move to the sticks??? And the name “Virgin River” seemed designed to irk, and mock me. But after watching a few Harlan Cohen series, which are exciting, but rather stressful and nerve wracking… I wanted something more relaxing, especially as an antidote to my low grade anxiety over my job search and interviews. When I’m stressed, I need a distraction, or something to buffer my anxiety, and Netflix works well for that. Something boring seemed better than Harlan Coben, and apparently it was a romantic drama. Not quite light hearted RomCom, but something romantic but ‘realistic’ might be what I need to lift my mood and give me hope. So Virgin River it was, and the mystery behind why Mel moved to Virgin River kept me clicking “Next episode” far too often over the past few days.

So this morning, I was super tired and almost didn’t want to go running, as I wouldn’t have had time for my 12-interval speed repeats programmed by my Garmin coach. But I decided to go anyway, because I know myself – if I don’t keep rigidly to a schedule, and start skivving, then it would be a slippery slope. The weather was also milder than it had been for a long time – it was the first time it was warm to wear shorts in a long time. I downed a couple of lattes to get myself awake enough, even though the milk sat heavy in my stomach, and decided to go to the track, and do as many rounds of an earlier program (only 8 intervals) that I could manage before I had to go home for a work call. I skipped all the drills as I had no time, and did my 8 intervals with a “no pressure, let’s see what I manage” attitude, and I did rather better than I expected, and a distinct improvement from last week. Last week, most of my ‘yasso’ intervals were a between 5:30-6:00 per km pace, whereas this week most of my ‘yasso’ intervals were 5:30 or sub-5:30, despite feeling tired. So I’m really pleased that it seems I’m improving my running again.

Unfortunately, my left hip / TFL symptoms seem to be have flared up again. Maybe because I’m reloading on my running, as well as DB thrusters. But hopefully ice, foam rolling, and percussive massage will keep it under control. And I need to prioritise getting more sleep.

I don’t have a lot of time + have the kids a lot, which makes training doubly challenging, before my next race. I really want to do well. But I guess at least there’s no real pressure because HV has qualified for Worlds, which seemed important to her. But still, it would be really nice to do a good time, and given how popular and competitive Hyrox is getting, this may be my best chance of getting a podium finish.