Hyrox Pro Cape Town (focused)

Last Friday, I raced HYROX Pro weights in the 55–59 age group… and I was fortunate enough to win.

That means I’ve now qualified for the HYROX World Championships in Sweden this June — something that means a lot to me.

For 6 months of last year I was out of action with an achilles tear.  Then, when I could finally run again, in Johannesburg, in November last year, I missed hyrox WC  qualification after running extra laps in the running section. Losing focus like that costs you dearly in this sport.

This time,the race was different.

I was nervous — but in a controlled way. I counted every lap carefully. I paced myself properly. I did not let the Benoni phenomenon kick in — that moment where you suddenly believe you can run 3:30min/km and drag cars across parking lots and throw people across bar rooms, over and over again. And down a bottle of tequila and still do wordle.

Reality pacing won.

Some reflections from the race:

• Sled push: tough. On my lane, the carpet was bunching up, which made the push feel far heavier than it should.

• Farmer’s carry: my best station (luckily, I do get to carry  groceries, school bags and cricket bags all of the time).

• Sandbag lunges: still my weak link. 100 m with a 20 kg bag on your back hurts more than you'd think. Work to do there. My left achilles and calf need more strength.

• Wall balls: my nemesis again. I had about 25 no-reps because the ball was brushing the target instead of hitting it cleanly.  100 reps is tough. An extra 25 is a mind f@@k.  When you think you're done and the judge says “no rep”… that drains you fast. I felt my soul leaving my body.

But I think I’ve figured out how to correct it. So the work continues.

But first…

Next Monday, I start the Race Across South Africa  Freedom Challenge — a 2,000 km gravel race from Pietermaritzberg to Paarl with a 15-day cut-off. I have not told my mom yet. Luckily it's a GPS race.

I’ll be riding with my friend Sarah van Heerden , the tart, who has already created a fairly strict cycling protocol… which might be interesting as my cycling training has been a bit absent of late.

It's hard to train two different energy systems at the same time.  One endurance cycling. The other more strength and threshold training for hyrox.

But the mindset is the same:

• Trust the training process (or carry over of the training).

• Understand that pain, discomfort and sleep deprivation are not new sensations. I have felt them before.

• Choose my thoughts carefully as my thoughts will become my actions.

• Remember how lucky I am to be healthy enough to do these things.

Let’s see what the next 2,000 km teaches.

Tracey Clark

Sled push. Never easy.

Wall balls. Still the devil, but I am making friends (with pain)