I haven’t done strength workouts for a couple of weeks because of Hyrox and travelling, and not done calisthenics for even longer. Last Tuesday, I finally went back to a calisthenics class, and my lower ribs / chest actually hurt for most of the rest of the day. I guess I was working my lats, which I haven’t done in a while. But I’m shocked at how quickly I seem to have ‘de-conditioned’.

I saw my physio on Tuesday, who measured my left and right gluteus medius / minimus strength again. Weirdly, my left side has significantly strengthened, whereas my right side has languished.

My hip pain, which had started to decrease, had returned again over the past week or so. Maybe because I had largely stopped my hip rehab exercises while travelling. And I had done more running than strength workouts. Although at least my hips have largely stopped ‘snapping’, so I guess my psoas is less tight. The physio said my left leg / hip was particularly tight, and my hip symptoms seems to be taking rather long to improve, so I might want to consider a scan. He also asked if there will be ‘down period’ when I’m not racing (similar to athlete’s off season), where I will focus more on strength (low rep, high load) and running, rather than HIIT or high intensity work (high rep, lower load).

I said I might try to do another race end of May if I can get tickets, because I’m just really intent on achieving sub-90, and I’m feeling quite frustrated. But otherwise, I’m planning to get back to strength training 3x a week, and running ~4x a week, if that’s okay, and he said it is fine.

The good thing is that it’s the ‘Strength’ phase at my ‘Strength Gym’, where we’re supposed to be working to 4 reps @90% max. On Monday I did my heaviest ever set of front squats 4 x 40kg (last set of 4). The heaviest load I had previously done was 35kg I think. Today I matched my heaviest ever bench press 4x 35kg almost to failure (albeit I had previously done 35kg x 10). Today I also did my heaviest ever hip thrusters 4x 70kg (last set of 4); my previous record was 65kg. I need to find a better way of keeping track of my strength progression besides on my iPhone notes. I’ve downloaded an app, which I will try on Friday.

I went for an “easy run” today, which felt tougher than it should have done, given my pace. My legs felt heavy, I guess from the strength work. I had intended to go for my club social run, but I was worried I’d be too tired and slow, especially with a tempo run due tomorrow. So I just ran almost all the way to Hyde Park, and then back.

I am getting frustrated with my Garmin pace jumping all over the map – it said I was at a 17min/ km pace at some point, then 15min/km, then 12min/km… even though I was jogging / running rather than walking. I’ve signed up for Runna on KG’s recommendation – it helped him get from zero to hero (~4h marathon, from being sedentary and podgy maybe 18 months ago or so). I had been getting frustrated the plateau in my running pace and Hyrox time. I’m still a bit sceptical, as the programming is very different from my Garmin plan, although it’s more similar to AP’s “VO2Max” programme, which resulted in a 10+ minute PB improvement. Most of the runs seem pretty slow and easy, which worries me as it feels I’m not working hard enough. But JS and most websites do talk about the 80/20 rule. And my Garmin “race predictor” seems to trending back towards my peak performance last August, so I shall keep calm and stay the course. After all, there’s the adage about working smart rather than hard.

Runna seems to think I can make huge improvements in ~23 weeks’ time, which is when my current ‘Half Marathon’ plan ends. I will be running a ‘B-race’ half marathon in mid July, assuming I can complete a full half marathon, as my max ever distance has only been 19+KM, and even then I my feet were hurting and I was struggling, although, to be fair, I tend to do my long runs in the mornings, on an empty stomach, after an overnight ‘fast’ too. So maybe that’s why I run out of steam.