Terrible time, and my hip flexors are smashed to bits today.
So how do I get better?
Should probably mention this was the first time I’ve ever tried rucking!
First time will always suck, stretch and foam roll the heck out of your hips, glutes, and legs. 5km is a usual starting point, so you did good.
Moving forward, there are three parts of rucking to improve: speed, weight, and distance. Only every increase on of these at a time (i.e. move faster one session, long another, heavier a third).
I’d also recommend capping yourself at 2 sessions a week; more than that usually requires a specialized plan.
Cheers. I’m training for an OCR event, so this is one part of that. And yeah, hip flexors have taken a beating more than they would running a half marathon.
I suppose I’ll do a 5km and an 8-10km each week. This needs to be on top of running at least three times a week so it’s challenging to fit everything in.
I think the main thing I should be focusing on is speed, as much as that correlates to cardiovascular performance. But it took a long time to find any sort of rhythm yesterday.
If you want an out-of-the-box plan, I can vouch for Mountain Tactical’s stuff. They used to have OCR plans, I used one to prep for a goruck.
Since you run halfs already, push your lacrosse ball into your piriformis until you reaches your soul, that’ll help the hips. You might also need to adjust your running gait for load carrying; you generally want to limit upper body movement to the extent you are able.
Appreciate the advice, thank you. I’ve not been able to move much for the past two days! Training starts again tomorrow.