Training For My First HYROX

For thirteen years, I have identified as a CrossFit athlete.

That identity comes with a certain confidence. Walk into almost any gym, and I know I can move a barbell, cycle through gymnastics, suffer through long workouts, and adapt to whatever gets thrown at me. It is a confidence earned through thousands of training sessions.

When HYROX® began growing in popularity, I found myself curious. Running has always been one of my strengths, and I thought this was an area of fitness where I could be competitive. Signing up for the Mixed Doubles division felt like the perfect introduction. It would allow me to experience the race while learning how the stations and the running interacted.

Like many CrossFit athletes, I assumed the stations would be manageable.

The running was what interested me.

What I didn’t see coming

At the time I am writing this, it is July 15. I am two months away from racing HYROX in Salt Lake City. By race day, I will have spent five months preparing, having begun my training in April.

Looking back, I realize the biggest challenge had very little to do with my fitness.

It had to do with my recovery.

HYROX forced me to take a hard look at everything outside the gym. Sleep mattered more. Mobility became non-negotiable. Recovery sessions were no longer optional. The more I ran, the more I realized that my ability to recover would determine how well I could train the next day.

The biggest obstacle arrived before my training ever found its rhythm.

Every time my runs stretched beyond a few miles, I felt a sharp pull along the outside of my knee that wrapped toward the back of my hamstring. I convinced myself I had a knee injury. The more I ran, the worse it became.

One day I managed to finish a five-kilometer run before the pain became unbearable. I remember standing there convinced something was seriously wrong, knowing I still had to walk all the way back. It was frustrating because I was months away from the race and already questioning whether my body could handle the training.

Finding the real problem

My assumption was wrong.

After working with my chiropractor, we discovered the problem was coming from my hip. Weakness and tightness through my iliacus was changing the way I moved. Instead of treating symptoms, we addressed the source.

Strength work and Heavy Squats became just as important as running.

Mobility had to become part of my daily routine.

Plyometric training slowly evolved from small doses into a meaningful part of my weekly program.

Within a month, there was a dramatic improvement in my ability to bound efficiently and cover longer distances without pain. Runs that had previously ended in frustration became enjoyable. Three miles became four. Four became interval sessions. Eventually I stopped thinking about discomfort and started thinking about building running capacity.

That was the moment HYROX training truly began.

Building HYROX alongside FLAGSHIP 2.0

Rather than replacing my normal training, I built it alongside HWPO Flagship 2.0. Four days each week remained focused on CrossFit while two or three sessions emphasized running and race-specific conditioning. On the longer running days, I treated that as my primary training session because CrossFit had already prepared me well for the stations.

Late in May, I had the opportunity to compete in a HYROX activation event at the Summit Games.

It was only a shortened partner version of the race, but it changed my understanding of HYROX.

The sled push felt exactly as I expected.

The wall balls were comfortable.

Then came the burpees and sled pull.

My heart rate exploded.

What surprised me was not how difficult those stations felt. It was how uncomfortable the beginning of the next run became. My breathing was chaotic, my pace dropped immediately, and I had to stay patient before eventually settling back into rhythm.

Learning to pace, not just push

For the first time, I understood that HYROX is won by pacing the run to recover, moving fast, and being able to run out of the stations. 

Every workout after that became an opportunity to practice those transitions.

The biggest boost to my confidence came from an unexpected place.

During HWPO’s World Cup Running Challenge, thanks to Ste… we committed to running one thousand meters for every goal scored each day. Some days meant only a few kilometers.

Other days meant twenty.

The challenge humbled me.

I remember one ten-kilometer day where the heat was relentless. Around eight kilometers my hips and joints were aching enough that I had to stop several times before finishing the run.

A few weeks later everything changed.

I covered sixteen kilometers at a four-minute-thirty-second-per-kilometer pace for the entire run.

For over an hour, my breathing never felt out of control.

That was the first day I truly believed I had not only built an engine but learned how to use it.

Somewhere along the way my mindset changed.

I stopped wondering whether I could survive HYROX.

I started wondering how well I could race it.

That is a much better place to train from.

The final stretch

Now I find myself entering the final stretch of preparation.

By the time you read this, race day will be one week away.

The plan is simple.

Continue with four Flagship 2.0 sessions each week.

Complete two or three HYROX-specific sessions built around one-thousand-meter repeats flowing directly into stations.

Continue learning where my heart rate climbs.

Continue refining the transitions.

Continue finding the pace that allows me to move efficiently from start to finish.

Ironically, my biggest concern on race day is not going out too fast.

It is going out too slow.

As a coach, I spend a lot of time teaching athletes to trust their preparation. Now I have to do the same.

The goal is to finish in one hour and fifteen minutes in the Mixed Doubles division. It is an ambitious target, but one I believe is within reach if we execute our race plan.

More than anything, I am excited to represent HWPO in Salt Lake City. We are working on organizing a community meet-up, connecting with athletes, and sharing the experience together. That feels just as meaningful as the race itself.

Before this journey, I looked at HYROX from the outside and assumed I understood it.

I was wrong.

The farther I moved outside the bubble of CrossFit, the more I realized how much there was to learn. I became a better runner, a healthier athlete, and hopefully a better coach because I was willing to step into something unfamiliar.

Weaknesses remain weaknesses only if we refuse to address them.

The obstacle really is the way.

Even after thirteen years of CrossFit, I have discovered there are still entirely new ways to challenge myself, continue growing, and become a better athlete.