You’ve trained, you’ve convinced your friends to join in, and now you’re at the starting arch. The atmosphere is buzzing. But how do you make your first HYROX a blast?
HYROX is the world’s fastest-growing fitness race, with competitors ranging from pro athletes to everyday fitness enthusiasts at events in 30 cities around the globe.
Centr and HYROX have joined forces to create a line of custom competition equipment for the sport – and for your training at home.
While we’re taking it to the next level, you might be considering giving HYROX a shot for the very first time. So we caught up with members of the Elite 15 – athletes with the fastest race times in the world – at the HYROX North American Open Championships in Washington D.C. to ask for their best coaching tips to nail your first race.
1. Make running your priority
Every HYROX race combines running with functional workout sets using our new competition equipment: Power Ropes, Sandbags, Power Sled, Octo Kettlebells and Wall Balls. While the workout stations get a lot of attention, it’s all the running (1km repeated eight times) that will leave you gassed.
Vivian Tafuto, who placed fourth in women’s doubles, recommends settling in for the long haul in your pre-race training. “Really focus on getting comfortable running for long periods of time,” she says. “It’s a long race and building up that endurance is extremely important.”
Ryan Kent, who also placed fourth this year, explains: “Most people will spend well over half the event running, so that should be where your focus is. At the end of the day, this is an endurance event and stamina wins out.”
Ryan’s preparation advice? “Build yourself a solid strength foundation – nothing too crazy – then spend the rest of your time developing your aerobic system through running, biking, rowing, skiing.”
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2. Fuel up with simple sugars on race day
Race day isn’t the time to introduce something brand new to your diet. Our Elite 15 athletes recommend keeping it simple.
Simple sugars (such as those you’d get from bread or bananas) provide glycogen: a complex carbohydrate and the first energy source your body reaches for during high-intensity activity. When those stores are used up, your body will turn to other energy sources – like fat, which is less efficient and can hurt your performance.
Before competing, Vivian gets her simple sugars from “crackers, bananas, apple sauce and fig bars – I find they work pretty well for pre-race snacks”.
“Pancakes or waffles work well as my last big meal before a race,” says Ryan. “Then it just comes down to making sure your glycogen storage stays topped up in the hours before go time.”
But what do you reach for if you need a sugar hit during the race? For some athletes, the answer is confectionary.
Lauren Weeks, winner of the Female Elite 15 race, swears by Sour Patch Kids: “The texture means they are easy to chew while you’re running.”
Ryan has a similar strategy: “I treat myself to gummy bears and I’ll eat a handful every 30 minutes to an hour as needed.”
3. Prepare to sweat (and replenish)
We can’t overstate this enough: you’re going to get sweaty. Take it from Ryan: “This event can get rather warm being indoors and with so many people packed into one room. You are going to sweat a lot.”
And that means losing a lot of water and electrolytes.
“The most common thing I notice with first-timers is they don’t hydrate enough beforehand,” says Ryan. “Make sure you are sipping on water but also keep an electrolyte beverage on hand. You need to be in a sodium surplus going into your race.”
Vivian agrees that planning ahead is crucial. “The key is making sure you’re getting in a lot of electrolytes the 24 hours leading up to the race. Cramping is common, so you want to minimize that possibility the best you can.”
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You don’t need to spend big on brand names to stock your race-day kit – fill your bottle with a homemade electrolyte beverage like this Citrus Sports Drink from Centr nutrition expert Angie Asche.
4. You’re a winner just by taking to the starting line
The HYROX race day environment is unique, to say the least. Vivian describes the atmosphere as “electric” and says the energy is well worth experiencing for yourself.
But if you’re wondering if the competition is for you… Yes, it is.
HYROX prides itself as being “the sport for every body”, and these athletes agree.
Lauren recommends trying a partner or relay division if you’re not keen to tackle the whole race solo. “It’s accessible... you can still get the race done,” she says.
Alina Willnow, a winner at the Munich race in 2023, says: “Just do it. Just try it out. Do your best – you can always improve.”
And Jess Towl, who came 9th in her Female Elite 15 debut, believes the race is just as rewarding for beginners as it is for the pros.
“You might not be strong now,” Jess says, “but if you look a little bit further in the future, work hard on it, then you will be stronger tomorrow or the next day or in a month or a year’s time.”
Keen to start training and get involved? Discover the range of custom Centr | HYROX equipment at shop.centr.com and find a race near you at HYROX.com.
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