Training Journal
Every session, dated and rated. The good weeks, the junk volume, the staircase intervals nobody claps for. If it is not logged here, it did not happen.
Five sets of 25 m at 76 kg. For three weeks the sled and I had a disagreement about physics. Today I stopped pushing it like a sprinter — arms locked, hips low, short choppy steps — and it glided. Lesson at 54: power is useless if your angles are rubbish. Filmed the last set for TikTok; watch an old man smile at a piece of steel.
Watch the clip on TikTok
10 flights up, walk down, times eight. My neighbours think I have lost my keys permanently. Stair work is the cheapest altitude training in Singapore — zero dollars, 100% humidity. Calves filed a formal complaint. Average 1 km pace after: 5:41. The heart remembers sprinting even when the knees pretend they forgot.
4 km of running split around SkiErg, sled push, burpee broad jumps and wall balls. I went out like it was 1994 and I was anchoring the 4x100. By the burpees I was negotiating with God. Finished in 48 minutes and lay on the gym floor contemplating my life choices. This is exactly why I signed up. Data logged. Ego benched.
Watch the clip on TikTokForty minutes of hip openers, couch stretch and thoracic work. Unsexy? Completely. Necessary? At my age, mobility is the entry fee for everything else. Twenty-year-old me stretched by jogging to the start line. Fifty-four-year-old me has a foam roller with a name.
Kept it conversational around the neighbourhood at 6:05/km. Every fibre of the former sprinter in me wanted to drop the hammer when a kid on an e-scooter passed me. I let him go. HYROX is not won on a Tuesday evening in August. Zone 2 is where old engines get rebuilt.
The SkiErg is a machine designed by someone who dislikes people. 5 x 500 m with 90 seconds rest. Cue that finally worked: hinge at the hips, long arms, crunch down like you mean it — not a tricep pushdown contest. Lats sore in places I did not know I had lats.
Full rest day. Walked the dog — KRUXO sets a punishing pace, by the way — ate properly, slept nine hours. Recovery is training. I have put that on a t-shirt in my head. At 54, the workout you skip can be worth more than the one you force.
First session of the 16-week plan. One kilometre at 6:12, then farmers carries until my grip gave up. I have raced 100 m my whole life — four seconds of violence. Now I am training for an hour-plus of suffering with eight stations in the middle. Some people buy a sports car at my age. I bought a HYROX ticket.
