Blog post:  September 9th, 2025
https://round1fitness.com.au

In 2024, I entered HYROX solo with exactly zero preparation. It went about as well as you’d expect. By the fourth run I knew I was in deep trouble, and unfortunately I was right.

To be fair, I’d signed up knowing full well it clashed with the footy finals. I was 99.99% sure I wouldn’t even get to the start line. But when the season turned out better than expected and we had HYROX weekend off…well, suddenly I was in. Sadly, “no prep” wasn’t exactly the smartest race plan, and the event went exactly the way “no prep” events usually do.

Round Two – 2025

This year was different. I registered with my awesome partner Blair to compete (well, participate) as a duo. I put the running in the diary and stuck to it. Plantar fasciitis in my right foot gave me a heap of trouble along the way, but a lot of strapping tape and a bit of stubbornness got me through.

And honestly? The event itself was incredible. Probably the best event I’ve ever been part of.

• Organisation: Flawless. You start on time. I can’t stress this enough. You start on time.

• Layout: The stations are clearly marked, the video screens make everything idiot-proof, and while the running track meanders a bit (and the concrete floor isn’t exactly athlete-friendly), the Convention Centre is otherwise a brilliant venue. Train station right there, easy access — can’t complain.

• Stations: Tough but fair. The sleds feel heavy, but we do heavier every week in the gym. Row and Ski are straightforward if you train them regularly. Lunges and farmer’s carries are manageable, wall balls are fine.

• Burpees: They suck. They sucked last year, they sucked this year, and they will suck forever. Doing them as a duo was 10,000x better than solo, but still — they’re grim.

The crowd atmosphere and DJ give the whole thing an energy boost. Yes, there are a lot of shirts coming off (a bit weird for me personally, but hey — whatever makes people happy). And the officials? Tough but fair, doing their job with a smile.

The Training

Round 1 Fitness became a HYROX affiliate early in 2025, and honestly I just followed the standard HYROX sessions, adding one dedicated running session each week.

For the first few months of my prep I leaned into the strength-based HYROX sessions (HYROX call these Power classes). Then about 8 weeks out I switched across to the cardio-focused sessions (Engine). That meant I was doing 2–3 HYROX sessions per week, 2–3 Boxing for Fitness classes at Round 1, one steady run (never more than 30 minutes), and one interval running session focused on holding a time for distance.

I didn’t do any full HYROX simulations, but I did include a few compromised running sessions where the efforts were broken up with heavy squats, lunges, wall balls, etc.  The gym did run some scheduled simulations (half HYROX and Full-HYROX events in the lead up) together with the weekly ‘Race Ready’ programming on a Saturday morning but I found this time kind of conflicted with my footy commitments so kind of stayed out of the way of it…that said, I think it would have helped me even more in the end had I done them.

What else?  Well, at Round 1 Fitness, every HYROX class includes a strength block, so I didn’t really see a drop in my lifting numbers. The week before the event I hit a 117.5kg bench press for 5 reps and a 155kg back squat for 5 reps. I probably could have pushed those numbers higher and still hit the race time we did, but the balance between strength and conditioning felt pretty spot on.

Our Race

Blair wasn’t at 100% (pretty crook in the 24 hours before) and I was hobbling along on one working foot. But with him using the strength of his mind and me using the strength of anti-inflammatory drugs we got ourselves to the end.

Time: 1:22:43 — which was good enough for 3rd in our age group (aka OLD people who are kidding themselves). We spent a LOT of time in the Roxzone (10:45) due to the circumstances we were facing on the day but I’ll still take it.

Our run splits ranged from 5:01 (run 5) to 5:18 (run 7). Slower than what we were planning for but still pretty consistent across the board, and honestly I’m happy with that.  I excluded run#1 from the numbers above as that’s an extra 200m…

Takeaways

• HYROX is an amazing event — brilliantly run, tough but fair.

• It’s infinitely more fun (and survivable) with a partner.  Year 1 solo was a grind…this year with a partner was an ‘event’.

• Even on one foot and with a sick teammate, you can still cross the line and feel proud.

Will I be back? Absolutely. Next time, hopefully with two working feet.