28/10/2026
HE WAS STRONG. BUT HE WASN’T REACTIVE.
And with a Half Ironman on the horizon, that mattered
Welcome back to PROJECT 70.3, following Tom’s preparation for his first Half Ironman
In Part 1, we looked at his history and why we needed to understand more than just his previous injuries
Now, here’s what we actually did with that information
Our initial testing showed some useful strength qualities, but his jumping and hopping highlighted areas we wanted to develop
Particularly around his ankle-foot complex and his ability to tolerate and reuse force quickly
So we got to work
We built strength through heavy calf loading and unilateral exercises
We progressively introduced faster loading through hopping, skipping and reactive work
And we structured it around his running, swimming and the rest of his training
Because the answer wasn’t simply to give Tom more exercises
It was to make sure every exercise had a purpose
The goal was never just to improve a number on a test
It was to prepare Tom for the physical demands of the event he was working towards
That’s the difference between collecting data and actually using it
Assess → Identify → Build → Retest
And that brings us to Part 3
We’ve seen where Tom started
We’ve seen what we worked on
Next, we’ll look at what actually changed
