Racing My Second HYROX

Borrowed & Learned

HYROX #2 is in the books after this weekend, but it was not the outcome I was chasing.

For those unfamiliar, HYROX is a fitness competition that combines 8k of running with eight functional workout stations, alternating between 1k runs and a different workout each time.

I finished the race in 1:29 on Saturday, seven minutes slower than my 1:22 finish in NYC in June—the opposite of what I was going after.

While I’m not thrilled with my result, I’m not beating myself up.

I signed up for this race just a few weeks after running my first marathon in November. I was eager for another challenge and had considered doing HYROX again. I liked the idea of challenging my finish time and figured it’d be something to keep me on track through the holidays and the inevitable busyness of Q1. When I saw one happening in DC, I liked the idea of being close to my brother and his family. Having them there felt like a bonus, so I went for it.

From this perspective, the race was a win.

The start of the year was nonstop—holidays, work, travel, and, well, life. HYROX gave me something to train for and keep me grounded, but I didn’t expect to get sidelined for nearly a month due to ankle pain. I could train, but had to scale things back when I should’ve been ramping up the intensity.

Once the pain passed and I started physical therapy, I got back at it but couldn’t shake the feeling that I wasn’t where I needed to be. I was doing my best to put the injury behind me, and for the most part, I did, but confidence was not easy to rebuild.

After the marathon, I moved into a calorie surplus with my coach to focus on strength and building muscle. I knew this wasn’t the best leading up to a high-intensity aerobic competition, but I figured the extra weight might help on the stations. By race day, I was about 20 pounds heavier than in June—still fit, but I could feel the extra weight in any aerobic training sessions, and it crept into my mindset.

That said, the weeks leading up to the race offered some glimmers of hope. Two weeks before the race, I ran a workout faster than during my prep for the NYC HYROX. And the Sunday before the race, I crushed my last HYROX-style workout, finishing it 7 minutes faster than I had in May 2024. So maybe, I thought, I am ready?

I told myself the conditions were lining up. I’d put in the work. Even with Mylo keeping us up the night before the race, I woke up to a 77% recovery score on my Whoop—my highest before any race. For context, I ran the marathon with 38% recovery and did my first HYROX with 45%. That gave me a bit of a mental boost.

Still, I couldn’t shake the nerves. We were running late to the race. Then, I couldn’t bring my gym bag into the warmup area, so I had to find Dana to give it to her, reducing my prep time to a tight window. I hit the start line with mixed feelings, doing my best to ignore the ones that said I wouldn’t perform.

By the second 1k, I wondered if I could finish.

I’ve learned that in any competition like this, it’s normal to have moments when you ask yourself why you’re there. This time was different, though; my internal voice offered me a way out, “I don’t feel like I can make it through; I should just give up. It's just a race.”

My mind wandered to these thoughts throughout the 8k of running. Still, I kept going, reminding myself how awesome it was to have family there—Dana, Mylo, my parents, my brother Nick, my sister-in-law Paola, and my niece and nephew, Sofia and Rafael. Seeing them cheer me on was the best.

The sled push and pull were unexpectedly some of the most challenging stations. After that, my stomach was in knots as I set out on the next 1k. Nerves? No idea. Things finally leveled out a bit during the 80m burpee broad jumps, but from there on out, the race was a test of pure willpower.

I’ve heard athletes say you’re not doing it right if every competition isn’t the most challenging yet. By that logic, I guess I’m doing a great job because this one was tough. I was in disbelief when I got to the final station, a set of 100 14 lb. wall balls, taking everything in me to keep chipping away reps.

Over the past 48 hours, I’ve been thinking about what I want to take away from this experience. At the top of the list: mindset is everything. I’ll never know exactly what held me back in this race. It might’ve just been an off day, but I showed up already doubting myself. That alone can make all the difference.

A few other things come to mind.

First, it’s not about this one race. It’s just a milestone in a much longer health and fitness journey. I’m not an elite athlete going for a world record; whether or not I beat my time only matters to one person: me. And what’s most important is I continue showing up, being consistent, and challenging my potential.

Second, no win is a sure thing, even when you do the work and feel you did everything right—a relevant lesson for most things in life—so worrying about the outcome won't get you anywhere. In that way, I went into this race too focused on whether I could beat my previous time instead of embracing the experience itself. In his book With Winning In Mind, author Lanny Bassham captures it well:

“If you are worried about your score, your competition, your last failure or anything other than the process of executing, you are thinking about outcome instead of process. You cannot think about two things at the same time so your focus is pulled away from execution and toward outcome. When this happens we almost always over-try to make the action happen instead of just letting it happen.”

I love this book; it’s been a helpful reference for me. But in this case, it’s a perfect example of how knowing the concept isn’t the same as applying it.

And third, don’t try something new on race day. There are no silver bullets! Given my race day mindset, I started tinkering with my form during the race, specifically for the sled push and the burpee broad jumps. I’ll never know if I would’ve performed better, sticking with what I practiced, but I do know that new methods stay in training next time.

Plenty more on my mind but we'll end there. Overall, I’m feeling okay. After the race, my dad reminded me that in the past 10 months, I’ve completed two HYROX competitions and a marathon. His comment helped me zoom out and see what I’ve accomplished, especially considering I'm only a handful of years into this fitness thing.

HYROX champion Dylan Scott likes to grade how he felt during the race and his performance; if I did that, I’d give this one a C-. And from that perspective, I’ll take the 1:29 finish. I got through it and made it out only 7 minutes off my first go-round. It makes me wonder what I could do with even a B performance.

And so, here’s to whatever comes next.

+

Okay, that was my personal take on the race, but after I wrote this, I turned to ChatGPT to analyze my results. The verdict was similar, but there were some pleasant surprises, like achieving more consistency in the running (something I focused on) and a more data-driven look at where I lost time.

Here’s the summary from ChatGPT:

• You finished 7 minutes and 9 seconds slower in DC, and most of that time wasn’t from the run, it came from transitions and workout stations.
• You spent 5 minutes and 29 seconds longer in the RoxZone in DC (41:10 vs 35:41), which made up over 75% of the total time difference.
• Workout stations added another 3–4 minutes in DC, with sled push and pull alone accounting for over 2 minutes of that. The other
• The DC race was the North American Championship, so the field was more competitive. Your placement dropped even though your effort was solid. You were in the top 15% in NYC but closer to the 50% mark in DC.
• Your total running time in DC was only 1 minute and 39 seconds slower than NYC, and your pacing held steadier mid-race.
• Your overall speed wasn’t as sharp in DC, but you handled the middle portion of the race with better control and consistency.
• In NYC, you opened with a 3:16 lap but faded to 5:54 by Lap 8. In DC, you stayed more consistent, with Laps 4 to 7 all between 5:08 and 5:15 and 5-7 faster than NYC.
• Your average pace dipped slightly (5:00/km in NYC vs 5:13/km in DC), and your running ratio dropped from 48.5% to 46.5%.
• Wall balls were nearly identical across both races, with just a 12-second difference—showing strong consistency even at the end when fatigue is highest.
• You’ve already proven you can go fast, but tightening transitions and executing cleaner at each station will put you in PR territory.

Thought

When do I feel most mentally locked in, why?