8 weeks today my daughter and I will be at London Olympia to compete in Hyrox ‘the premium functional fitness competition designed for EVERY BODY’.

In November 2022 my daughter and I both competed in Hyrox. I completed it in 02:26, she in just under 2 hours. On May 1st 2023 we are competing as a pair, a double. Running together but splitting the workload of the exercises.

As a double our age category is determined by the average of our ages. I’ll be 64, she 27. So an average age of 45. Looking at the all time rankings for this age category (41-49) the fastest time has been 01:00:54, the slowest 02:49:50. I’m hoping that we will come in at sub 2 hours.

After I completed the event back in November I reflected on what I could have done better. I’d anticipated that I’d run faster than I did. I started off as predicted with a 07:25 kilometre but over the course of the event I got slower, with my final km coming in at 10:58. Very slow. It is not unusual for the kilometre times to slow as the fatigue of the workstations start to impact but 10:58 is woeful.

I’ve been doing a lot of work on my aerobic endurance. But I’m not sure how much improvement can be made. I spoke to my cardiologist a couple of weeks ago about the drop in my aerobic endurance. Over the course of the past year I’ve slowed from running a 35 minute 5k to near on 40 minutes. I asked him whether having an overactive thyroid could have damaged my heart further. He said no, that it was probably my age that was slowing me down but he conceded that it was a big drop. I’ve now had an echocardiogram. I’m awaiting the results but feel fairly confident that he’d have contacted me if it was bad news. So it could be age which is an easier obstacle to conquer. I’ve implemented a number of changes which have already shaved 2 minutes of my 5 k time.

There are also improvements to be made in all the workstations but some more than others.

The sled pull was slow largely down to my technique which I can work on.

The 80 metres of burpee broad jumps will benefit from improved aerobic endurance. And practicing my jump so it is more broad and less bunny hop will help.

Last, but certainly not least, those wall balls. I need to get more comfortable doing them.

So a lot I can be focusing on. Unfortunately what has taken a bit of a battering over the last few weeks is my mood. Whilst my training seems to be hard wired into me other aspects of my well-being are on the slide. I’m not sleeping well. I’ve lost weight but not in a good way. I’ve lost mainly lean mass as I’m not prioritising protein in the way I usually do.

I can’t remember ever feeling so low, so tearful. I was in a dark place when my heart condition was diagnosed but that was largely out of fear. Fear of having open heart surgery, fear of not having open heart surgery. There were things I could do to reconcile and prepare myself for what lay ahead.

This is different. I feel anger, guilt, sadness. I’m questioning whether my past actions/omissions have contributed to this unhappiness? Life feels very bleak.

At the same time my rational side is telling me that my feelings are somewhat disproportionate. Could it be my medication that is causing this despair. I know that the medication has caused a drop in my white cell count. Could it also have caused a drop in my serotonin, dopamine and endorphin levels. I’ll find out tomorrow.

In the meantime I just need to place one foot in front of the other and hope that when my daughter and I cross the finish line I’ll be smiling.