I'm a fortysomething dad of four with a love for beer, pizza, and casual gym sessions. When a friend introduced me to HYROX—a tough indoor race blending running and strength workouts—my fitness routine took a serious turn. Join me as I juggle family life, tackle training, and navigate setbacks on my path to competing in HYROX.

1 – December 2022 – What the..?

Firstly please accept my apologies for adding to the vast amount of personal stories and advice swarming social media since the explosion of HYROX. I am in my forties, work full time and have four young daughters. I love beer and pizza (in that order) and have a ‘beer belly’ to prove it. I do not and will never take my top off during a race! I am your average Joe (sorry Joe) so that is my angle when it comes to writing. I doubt anyone will ever read this but if you are, thanks.

I have more or less always gone to the gym and done a bit of running but with little specific purpose. For years, I have had a niggling feeling of wanting to sign up for something to give more direction to training. I looked up 10k runs in Kent but never seemed to get around to booking one. Enter HYROX. In December my friend Dan asked if I wanted to do a ‘doubles’ race. I had never heard the word before and if you are familiar with Kent, there is a beautiful tourist attraction and weddi ng venue callerd High Rocks so that is where my mind naturally went.

HYROX is not this however. It is an 8k indoor run and after every kilometre you run into an area and finish one of eight workstations. Easy it is not. The workstations naturally test a wide range of strength types and techniques hence the race is for everybody. Of course, it is accurately timed via a chip on your ankle and therein brings a key element, it is competitive! Almost everybody wants a good time. The stations are SkiERG, sled push than sled pull, burpee broad jumps, row, farmers carry, sandbag lunges then the famous wall balls. Distances are the same for everyone but weights vary depending on category.

2 – February 2023 – Training begins

So after I got a bit of an idea of the race format, the question is: how do I train for HYROX? Who knows really. Of course there is tonnes of tips and tricks available plus record holder and ex-logger Hunter McIntyre is obviously doing something right. For me though, I just kind of started practising the stations while in the gym and hoped that will get me use to them enough. This along with my overall fitness and maybe a bit determination sprinkled in, I felt me and my partner Dan should be competitive. He had ran a singles race before so I just needed to bring myself up to his level.

A bit of a problem I had was that my gym at the time had no sled track or wall ball target so I ended up simulating these. The sled push by some leg presses, sled pull via a seated row and the wall balls by throwing a 6kg into the air to a rough height of 3m. I had been doing race simulations by running 1km on the treadmill then doing the various workstations but only half of them with the view that Dan would take over halfway. So 500m SkiERG, 40 burpee broad jumps, 50 lunges etc.

I have been going to the gym 2 or 3 times a week. Normally after I put the kids to bed at 8pm. It is the only time I have really as much as I love sitting at home drinking tea and watching TV. I also do a bit upper body strength stuff while training so fingers crossed this was getting me ready for a doubles race. What I wear to the gym is nothing to write home about. Mainly the cheapest stuff I can find at Sports Direct or other cheap rubbish bought online. I am poor what can I say.

3 – February 2023 – Practice

Dan pointed me towards a HYROX simulation event at Milo and The Bull at London Bridge. It was only £10 as an introductory offer. It was going to be my first real introduction into this type of event. I turned up way too early and was committed to sit in the corner and do my best not to stare too awkwardly at the class before that was still in full swing. After a brief warm up and a bit of direction from the trainer about running around the car park out the back, we started. The workstations were in any order we chose which I was not sure about as HYROX is a set format so we were doing the stations at the wrong levels of fatigue. In my head anyway!

I thoroughly enjoyed the event and felt it was very beneficial but my legs were absolute jelly afterwards. I hobbled my way back to London Bridge and when I realised my train was about to leave any second, I attempted to take the escalator two steps at a time. FAIL. And a significant one at that. My legs did not work as expected and I fell very hard and cracked my left kneecap directly onto the corner of the jagged metal step. And I did not make the train.

For the following month, this injury had a massive impact on my training. I just could not bend my left leg. Rowing was out, lunges were out, wall balls were out. And even when I started slowly getting back fully into training, I had to make a lot of changes albeit temporary. Not bending my leg fully during the stations was the only way to train pain free. I have no idea how bad an effect this had on my preparation but I was very annoyed with myself. I have never worried about injuries. How things have changed!

4 - March 2023 – Working towards a date

So HYROX Doubles in Copenhagen is now booked. Second weekend in May flying out Friday morning and coming back on the Sunday leaving my friends to enjoy Copenhagen’s fruits for another night without me (I was thinking save money and get home to the family). My basic gym work is carrying on plus also have a joint training session booked in with Dan. When we did this a couple of weeks later it was super busy at the gym with all the treadmills taken and other gym goers spread out all over the sled track.

This I must say is a pet hate of mine. People who not only go to the gym to stretch when this can be done at home but do so all over areas which I clearly needed for functional training. The gym in question even has a separate area for stretching! Anyway moving on, we were relegated to use the cross-trainer between workstations and Dan relentlessly complained the fatigue did compare in any way to actually running with tired legs.

What did I know? Very little really. I was led by him and was feeling generally good about things. I carried on as before, practising the workstations mixed in with a bit of gym work. I began to find that my achilles are starting to ache a lot. No doubt from over-training. I embarked on reducing the amount of running I was doing, eventually down to once a week and this stopped the aching. Very annoying though as running is clearly the largest part of HYROX and needs regular practice.

5 – May 2023 – Disappointment

HYROX Copenhagen has been cancelled. What the hell!? Apparently a logistics issue. Mixed emotions I guess as I have been apprehensive whether I am actually ready for the event so maybe partly relieved but also all our flights and accommodation are booked so I get to go to Copenhagen for the weekend anyway. Oh no! Plus I could nestle down with a beer at the airport without the worry of a race the following day.

Easily the most amazing city I have ever been. Granted my travel history is limited plus the stress of travelling with children and keeping them entertained was missing but wow. I did not see a cloud for two days either which easily helped but the people were amazing and the pace of life was nothing I have ever experienced. Did I mention my love of beer? The most incredible European hub for craft beer. Chilling out on the Nyhavn river in the sun and in absolute peace with a beer will take a lot for me to forget.

I naturally took my foot off the gas thereafter. With no HYROX event to work towards, motivation certainly slowed down. I still completed HYROX-specific training but with little desire to push myself and took it easy in the gym. Probably needed in hindsight as with every passing minute I feel older and older and my body could do with a break. The group of 6 of us planning on doing the doubles event started discussing options for the future. Watch this space.

6 – June 2023 – Barcelona

We have moved our Copenhagen tickets to Barcelona this November. And back on the gas I go. This time the family were coming with me. I wanted them involved and wish I had shared the Copenhagen experience with them. Naturally the level of complication went up several hundred per cent but that did not deter me. I planned to collect the children straight from school and make a beeline for the airport. Check in late, wake up early and make my way to the venue then they would come along later to watch me fall to pieces.

Then have a family evening on the Saturday, escort them to the airport Sunday morning then have an evening with friends on that evening and come back by myself the following day. Best made plans. Before all this though, 5 months of training lay ahead. This has been carrying on much as before however so very little to write about. I have been going to the gym 3 evenings a week and doing a HYROX simulation once a week doing about half the workstations in preparation for the doubles event. Other gym visits upper body strength and cardio workouts. Ticking along.

I feel I have been eating and drinking way too much but with my move into a physical job plus the training, I have been keeping the weight generally at bay but still have a midriff which bugs me. I wish I was more disciplined and there is no reason why I cannot look after myself better but well there are no excuses I am willing to write. The summer months are passing. Family holiday to France under my belt (with lots of eating and drinking) and the autumn months are fast approaching.

Follow my journey as I navigate the trials of training, balancing family life, and pursuing a newfound passion for HYROX. Will I conquer the race or fall to pieces? Stay tuned to Part 2!

Thanks,
James