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It's been one month since I competed in my first Hyrox event and to be honest, I don't think I've come down from the post race high yet!
I competed at Hyrox Birmingham and although I spent around 6 months prepping, in reality, I really wasn't sure what to expect on the day.
Yes, I knew the order of the exercises (although I did write them on the back of my hand, just in case!), but in terms of the actual day itself, no one really prepares you for that.
What would have been super helpful is some type of 'beginners guide to Hyrox'. A play book of what newbie's should expect. From the moment you step foot in the building, to the moment you leave.
Some advice around travel, hotels, nutrition and other nuances throughout the day which may prove helpful, if not to elevate some of the small stresses, in what is actually (or at least found) a very stressful day.
Well, if you're about to do your first Hyrox, this might be your lucky day. As you've just stumbled across the notes from that first race, detailing every aspect of my inaugural outing at the infamous Hyrox.
By no means did I master everything on my first try... oh far from it!
(Wait till you hear how I f**ked my nutrition up so bad that I ended up nailing 20 stroopwafles 30 mins before the race).
But from my catastrophic blunders (and a couple of wins), you shall go forth a much better prepared and slightly less anxious, Hyrox newb!
The Timetable
When do you find out your race time? That's the question we were asking up until a week out. Seven days before race day we recived our start times via email.
I say we, because I ran this with a client of mine, Dan Smith. Yes, it was unbelievably rewarding to take guy from coach potato to competing in his first Hyrox alongside me.
(An added bonus is that Dan is much more organised that I am!)
Dan and I both had tickets for the singles 'men's open' which is essentially the full works. All the pain. In it by yourself. No one to cary you through. Full Hyrox send.
But if you're interested, the full list of categories include...
Open (Men's & Women's) – take on the standard HYROX for a challenging but achievable race for everyone.
Pro (Men's & Women's) – for the experienced racer, heavier weights make for a more challenging experience.
Doubles – find a partner and take on the challenge as a pair, running together but splitting the workload of the exercises.
Relay – come together with your friends or family and race the relay where each member of the team does 2 times 1 km and 2 workouts.
Races run from 6.30am to 8pm and each category has a time window throughout the day.
I'm yet to confirm if the time windows are the same for every Hyrox event, but for the one I competed in, the mens singles ran from 9am to 1.30pm.
I should also mention that although me and Dan bought our tickets together. We didn’t get the same start time. Dan was 2 waves before me going out at 12pm. Whereas I got 12.30pm (waves set off from the starting pen every 10minutes throughout the day).
The Race Itself
If you've contemplated doing a doing a Hyrox, the first thing you probably did was search was the race entails.
So this is probably a formality but here's how the hyrox race itself looks.
It’s 8km of running, with an exercise in between every 1km you run. The’s a combination of resistance and cardiovascular based exercises. All geared towards testing muscular endurance, strength and of course, fitness levels.
The order of exercises is the same wherever you compete in the world. But bare in mind the course layout may be different.
Run 1km
Ski erg 1k
Run 1km
Sled push 50m
Run 1km
Sled pull 50m
Run 1km
Burpee broad jumps 80m
Run 1k
Rowing1k
Run 1k
Farmers carry 200m
Run 1k
Sandbag lunges 100m
Run 1k
Wall balls x 100
Be aware that there’s three different weight options for each event, depending on whether your competing in the female, male or pro event. The mixed doubles will use men’s weights.
A few days before, we got sent the course map. Which for our event in Birmingham, looked like this…
Hotels & Travel
We both live in Sheffield. So Birmingham is only a 90 minute drive away. But Dan suggested staying over the night before, which in hind-sight, was one of the best decisions we made.
We're both dads who intended on bringing our families to watch. So having a place we could stay the night before, that was close to the NEC, served breakfast, had a hotel gym, just meant the added stress of travelling the morning of was completely taken away.
It also eliminated a few hours cooped up in a car travelling on the day. It meant we could wake up early and do a proper warm up in the hotel gym the morning of. Having a breakfast buffest that gave me some options for fuel first thing.
The mrs and I also didn't have to worrying about shipping a toddler across the country hours before the race (parent's, you know the struggle). It took away so many potential stresses.
We were also able to stroll to and from the NEC to check the place out before coming back to the hotel to relax.
If it's your first time and you want to take away a tonne of stress, I can't reccomend booking a hotel enough!
Pre-registration day before
We arrived at our hotel the day before the event at around 2pm. We had an email from Hyrox letting us know pre-registration was available at Sports Direct in the centre of Birmingham (about 15 mins on a train from the NEC).
This is basically an opportunity to sign in and get handed all the bits you need for the event, the day before.
Pre registration was open from 12pm to 8pm and we decided to give it a go in fear that we might be queuing for a while the morning of.
I did wonder why they wouldn’t just keep it all at the NEC, but when we got to Sports Direct, it became very clear - merch everywhere!
Which we obviously fell for hook, line and sinker. Walking out of there looking like two certified Hyrox w**kers, in our puma tops with initials on.
(Yes, they offered a free personalisation service on any Hyrox kit you purchased - a nice touch to be fair)
In a minute, I'll get on to how well the whole event itself was organised, but even the pre-registration was seamless.
As soon as you got to Sports Direct there was someone who greeted all Hyrox competitors, took you though the store, passed you onto someone else who helped sign you in.
You then prove it’s you who purchased the ticket (so be sure to take ID!), before being given a little goodie bag containing two things...
1 - A wrist band that allows you access to the various areas inside the event.
2 - A fob attached to some Velcro. This is to strap on your ankle and it tracks your splits around the track as you do each exercise/run.
A little piece of advice - dont tie the wrist band too tight (it doesn't come back off!). Keep it lose, because it may not be tight now, but wait until you're a ski erg, sled push/pull and burpees in. The last thing you need whilst you're in a world of pain is that hand turning blue.
The Day Itself.
No matter how well you've prepped for this, if it's your first go, you'll be super nervous on the day (and if you're like me, the whole week leading up to it). Hyrox is something completely new, intense and extremely tough. There's bound to be a few butterflies floating around in there.
But amidst the underlying levels of anxiety, that will be with you right up until the moment you set off, keep your wits about you on the day.
Leave plenty of time to get there. Pack everything you need the night before. Check and double check you've got everything you want to take. Preparation pays.
Alright, so let me talk you through how the day went.
The place itself is just brilliant!
From the moment you walk in, there’s an energy, a buzz, music blaring, people cheering each other on. I felt my heart rate building from the moment I stepped foot in the main hall and that urge to get out there got stronger and stronger as the day went on.
Collecting your ticket on the day - If you haven't already grabbed your ticket through the pre-registration, you can collect on the day. Which was actually really quick to be fair.
No ques like expected and plenty of volenteers on hand to get you on your way. We probably would have done this if we had known. But hard to say if it will be like this at every event.
Collecting spectator tickets - This works in exactly the same way. You show a QR code that they'll send you and your support crew will collect a different coloured wrist band. At our event, spectators collected thier wrist bands in a different place to where the athletes collected their's. Something to be aware of.
I was advised not to get there too early as you can burn out mentally from being in that environment for too long (this turned out to be very good advice!).
Whilst we were down there collecting our spectators wrist bands, we spent around an hour having a mooch about, just getting a feel for the course itself.
We assessed where we'd be starting from, where all the individual exercises are, what's in warm up zone and where it's located.
Speaking of which, I highly reccomend getting in the warm up zone around 45 mins before so you can try everything out and start building your heart rate.
You may have heard about how the sled runs different at each event. Trialling this in the warm up zone gave me a good idea of what to expect.
I also found this a great place to start zenning out. Spectators aren't allowed in the warm up zone, so it was my first chance to leave the family, zone out and start focusing on the race.
There’s even a Deep Heat stand where you can apply it yourself, or get a free massage. I made the rookie mistake of applying it myself. I ended up rubbing it too far down my groin, touching my ball sack, so about 10 minutes before my race, my testicles are singing sweet chin music and breathing flames of fire.
Talk about lighting a fire under your own arse.
It's also at this point (10 minutes before your start time) you're encouraged to head over to the starting pen. A red bull sponsored tent that literally glows blue (can't miss it) and it's where you'll be heading off onto the course.
There's several screens inside the starting pen that show athletes motivational videos of inspirational stories. It started off a little corny, but ended up getting me pretty hyped up as we got towards the final countdown.
I'm not going to lie, that 10 minutes stood inside the starting pen seemed to last as long as the race itself, but once the timer inside hits zero, IT GO TIME!
Everyone inside the pen will filter out onto the coruse. Similar to the way a race car would filter onto the track.
At which point, it's all down to you!
Everyone generally sets off too quick because of the adrenaline. You’ll also get some decent runners in your wave who set off like Usain Bolt. My advice - run your race, don't try and keep up with them.
I had to ease myself in because I was nursing a dodgey hip. A blessing in disguise because I think this helped pace me better in the early stages.
Here's my breakdown of each station plus my personal splits.
Running (Total time - 39.11)
The running itself wasn’t too bad. It gets progressively harder as the legs take a battering. Worst bit of the running - post burpees and walking lunges. It had my legs well and truly shot. The secret is just to keep moving no matter how slow it may feel. Whether it’s in the roxzones or on the track, just keeping running.
Ski erg (4.07)
Barring a complete blow out on your first 1k, this should be the one exercise that goes to plan. It's your first of eight and therefore means you can hit it hard. Remember to raise your hand once you're finished to indicate you've hit 1k. Failure to do so could result in a time penalty.
Sled Push (2.02)
When I first started my Hyrox prep, sled push was my least favourite. On the day I found it to run a little slower than in training but not horrendously so. Again, cant reccomend the warm up zone for a trial run.
Sled Pull (3.50)
This is the one that got me. Absolute killer on the day. Tougher than it ran in the warm up zone. Turns out it took everyone by surpise too. It was a real battle. I must have hated it so much that I only pulled it for 25 metres before I ran off. Complete brain fog. The steward sent me back for another 25m before I could go. Saved me a time penalty!
Burpee Broad Jumps (4.29)
During our brief whip around earlier in the day, this is the event I saw real pain in peoples eyes. Personally I've never disliked burpees, but whilst I was jumping my feet, annoyingly, kept slipping. I couldn't for the life of me work out why. Then it hit me. This whole carpet is drenched in sweat lol. My two tips - Don't lie down in that sweat riddled carpet for long and jump as far as possible on each rep, can only mean less burpees.
Row Erg (4.32)
Much more difficult than in training. By this point you're officially half way through and the serious fatigue starts to kick in. I rowed slower than I had practiced, but it's one event where you can give a little less output and not be punished time wise. Something to bare in mind.
Farmers Carry (1.45)
If I had to pick a favourite, it would probably be this one. I don't think I'm the best person to pull advice from. My goal is simply grip it and rip it, no putting them down until you hit finish. But I totally get grip strength is the limiting factor here. If you can jog with it you'll decrease the time spent holding. My biggest flaw on the carry was spending way too much time chalking my hands before (saw an inch, took a mile, live and learn).
Sandbag Lunges (3.56)
Going into the lunges, you know you're not far off now, which is good news! But you then realise it's too heavy leg based exercises back to back, bad news! Again my tactic here is all out until your legs give in. Dodging people on this one was probably the trickiest of them all. But with a little side shuffle here and there, I managed to beat the crowds.
Wall Balls (5.57)
And boy do they love to save the worst till last. In training this was my long standing nemesis. From day one I hated them just as much as the sled push. Only the sled push got easier, the wall balls did not. My tactic in training was 3 solid sets. Broken down into a set of 50 reps, a set of 30 reps, a set of 20 reps. On the day, 30 reps into my first set I buckled and knew it was going to be an uphill batle from there. This is the exercise my mum had to walk away from because she couldn't face seeing me in that much pain lol. Bless her. But that tells you all you need to know about the wall balls.
Roxzone (7.34)
How the hell did I spend seven and a half minutes in the roxzones. The only explanations are, I either passed out momentarily, or got carried away nattering to Sandra while she was handing out water! Jokes aside, the roxzone if you're not aware, is the area between the running track and the exercises. A layover section that is added onto your total time. My only explanation here was a brief walk after each run - yep guilty! :( I tried to limit it. I thought it was only a few seconds, clearly was a lot more. This will be one of my biggest area's for improvement next time round.
Total Time - 1 hour 17 mins.
Nutrition
Stupidly, this wasn't something I'd given a great deal of thought to. Apart from planning out what I would have from the hotel breakfast, along with what I would take mid race (which I opted against in the end), I hadn't given this much more thought.
That was until an hour before my race when the butterflies in my stomach turned into extreme hunger. I'd kept my breakfast relatively light - 3 eggs, sourdough, avocado and some fruit. All in by 8am
But by 11.30am I was Hank Marvin and sweating a little. The food options inside the NEC were mostly fast food spots. Starbucks being the best of a bad bunch.
But by the time I had located it, queued and panic bought a chicken and bacon melt, plus 20 stroopwaffles. it was only 45 mins until my set off time. I devoured the lot as I headed over to the warm up zone.
Looking back on the photos of the event, I can just about make out each waffle as it sat in my bloated belly! Not wise and if I were to do it again, I would have got a pack up from the hotel breakfast o take with me. Again, live and learn.
My others pitfalls nutrition wise - flushing my 2000 calorie lunch down with a can of monster. This left me pissing like a race horse right up until the moment I entered the starting pen.
I was also heavily medicated due to my hip injury. This had some diverse effects on water retention during the race. Something to bare in mind you're tempted by meds to ease the pain during your race.
After the event
There's nothing quite like the feeling of crossing that finish line.
Knowing the pain is over. The hard work paid off. And that you can lie on your back for an unconfirmed period of time.
Fortunately there were deck chairs laid out for athletes to sit on post race. I had a brief period on these before I headed out to meet my family.
One thing I was really gutted about, was not getting a picture with my time. You may have seen pictures of athletes stood next to a TV which displays their finishing time, be aware this is located inside the finishers section and it requires your ankle fob to pull up.
Unfortunately I handed my fob in before I realised where this screen was. My family managed to get pictures of the big screen when my name flashed up, but definitely something to note if you would like a snap with your time.
On the way out of the finishers area, you'll also be handed your Hyrox patch, with the location of your event on. A nice momento for the day. I think I'll have have to collect a few more patches before I splash out on one of these 'Built For Athletes' bags where you can display them.
Bag drop - Speaking of bags, there is a section where you're able to drop of and pick up your bag whilst you race. Note that these aren't lockers, they're just open shelves in a private section to store you bag on whilst you race. Only athletes are allowed in here, but we opted to give our bags to family members whilst we were racing.
After hobbling around and debriefing with Dan for around 30 mins. We headed back to the hotel for a shower in their gym.
In truth, after your head stops spinning, it all seems to end quicker than it started and before we knew it, we were face deep in our Gourmet burgers, clawing back most of the calories we had just burnt off.
Final thoughts
Firstly thank you to everyone who sent myself and Dan well wishes for the event. we were blown away by the support and they definitely helped spur us on.
I had a lot of messages from people who've either done it before or are thinking about giving it a go. My advice to those on the fence... go for it!
There's so many things I've loved about prepping for this Hyrox. From documenting my journey, the conversations it's opened up, the intensity of training, working with a brilliant coach in Mick Blythe.
But what I've loved more than anything... it's brought a real purpose back to my training.
I've done the bodybuilding style of training for over 20 years now and I've loved it. I've even enjoyed conditioning circuits intermittently throughout that time period.
But once you've looked good for a few holidays and hit a bit of a glass ceiling with your strength and appearance, the burning desire to push harder can start to wain a little.
Training for this Hyrox event has reignited that 10 fold over the past 6 months and I'm really excited to see how much I can improve my time in events to come.
Our next one is Manchester on 25th. Dan and I were hoping to try a doubles event but had to settle for mens singles tickets again. Because as you probably know, the tickets are somewhat tricky to come by.
It's back to the drawing board to develop our new and improved programs. Roll on 25th Jan! We can't wait.
PS - I'm more than happy to answer any questions you might have. You'll find me over at @r5.online on instagram.
Ryan
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