My First Hyrox Race: Lessons Learned From a 1:20:20 Finish
I crossed the finish line of my first Hyrox race in New York and felt like I had given everything I had.
Then I looked at my heart rate data and realized I had given it all in the wrong places.
My name is Austin. I competed in the Open division in New York City and finished in 1:20:20. I’m proud of that finish. But if you’re training for your first Hyrox race, the data I pulled afterward contains lessons I wish someone had handed me before race morning — so I’m handing them to you now.
What Is Hyrox (Quick Version for Beginners)
Hyrox is a global fitness race that combines 8 kilometers of running with 8 functional fitness stations. Every athlete completes the same course in the same order — 1km run, then a station, eight times through. Stations include a SkiErg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmers carry, sandbag lunges, and wall balls.
It sounds manageable. It is not manageable if you go out too hard.
That’s the first Hyrox tip every beginner needs: this race punishes people who start too fast. And I started too fast.
The Heart Rate Data That Changed Everything
My finish time was 1:20:20. On the surface, decent for a first race in the Open division. But my heart rate data told a different story.
61% of my race time was spent in Zone 5 — above 172 bpm against a max of 186. My average heart rate for the entire race was 168 bpm.
For an 80-minute race, that’s not a strategy. That’s survival mode with a race bib on.
The result was predictable in hindsight. My early runs felt controlled. By the middle stations I was managing. By the final runs I was just moving forward and hoping the finish line came soon.
3 Hyrox Beginner Mistakes I Made (So You Don’t Have To)
Mistake 1 — No aerobic base.
I trained hard leading into New York. Heavy lifting, station-specific work, high intensity sessions. What I didn’t do enough of was Zone 2 running — the slow, nasal-breathing, conversational pace running that builds your aerobic engine.
Zone 2 feels embarrassingly slow. My current Zone 2 pace is 6:13 per kilometer. It doesn’t look impressive. But it’s the foundation that lets you sustain effort across a full Hyrox race without blowing up. Without it, you’re racing on a narrow base that collapses under sustained pressure.
Mistake 2 — No pacing discipline.
Every Hyrox training guide will tell you to go out conservatively on Run 1. I didn’t listen. The crowd energy, the adrenaline, the fresh legs — all of it pushed me out too hard. By the time I caught myself, the damage was done.
Sub-70 at the Pro level requires roughly 4:00 per kilometer across all eight runs. That pace needs to feel almost too easy on Run 1 so it’s still possible on Run 8. Pacing in Hyrox is a skill that has to be trained — not just understood.
Mistake 3 — I didn’t train my breathing.
By mid-race, my breathing was the limiter before my muscles were. I was gasping before I was physically exhausted.
CO2 tolerance — the ability to stay calm and controlled when your body is screaming for air — is trainable. Breath-hold walks, nasal-only running, box breathing before sessions. I didn’t do any of that before New York. It’s now a cornerstone of how I train.
What My First Hyrox Race Actually Taught Me
The 1:20:20 wasn’t a failure. It was data.
It showed me exactly where I was — fit enough to finish, not trained correctly to race. And it showed me the specific gaps: aerobic base, pacing discipline, breathing control. All three are coachable. All three are what the next 20 weeks of training are targeting.
If you’re preparing for your first Hyrox race, here are the three things I’d tell you:
- Build your aerobic base first. Zone 2 runs are boring and they’re non-negotiable.
- Practice race pace in training. Your interval pace needs to feel controlled, not maximal.
- Train your breathing. Nasal breathing on easy runs, box breathing before sessions, breath-hold walks. It matters more than you think.
What’s Next
I registered for Tampa Hyrox on October 23rd in the Pro division the week after New York. Twenty weeks of structured training started June 8th. I’m now five weeks in and the data is already moving in the right direction.
I’m documenting every week of this build right here — sessions, data, adjustments, setbacks, and eventually the race itself.
Sub-70 is the goal. Tampa is the deadline.
— Austin