Hyrox is described as ‘the world series of fitness racing’, it is a 1km run followed by a functional workout x8. It is an extremely fast-growing endurance sport that will challenge you physically and mentally!
Why HYROX?
I am a very competitive individual and I’m always looking for new ways to challenge myself. I love the world of sports and fitness so it isn’t surprising that I stumbled across hyrox on social media. I took one look at it and thought, ‘that looks so hard, I’d never be able to do that’, I then signed up straight away!
What was the training like?
It was very tough at the start, having had 3 months off due to injury, my fitness was nowhere near where I wanted it to be. It took a long time for me to be able to start running again, let alone rowing and skiing and moving heavy weights around!! Additionally, I had to balance this with commitments of being captain of my uni hockey team and trialing for the international squads for both the U20s and women’s open-in touch rugby, while being cautious not to do too much on my ankle too soon.
However, my fitness came back quickly – training for hyrox was largely guesswork, ensuring to practice the movement standards, improved my endurance, and get used to compromised running (running under fatigue of other exercises) but I set goals and focussed on one session at a time. Very quickly, I saw huge improvements. Within 2 weeks, I went from having to run for 1min: walk for 1 minute on a treadmill for 10 minutes as part of a rehab program, to completing a 5k while doing burpees and squats every 3 minutes until I had run the whole distance.
What were you looking forward to?
Honestly, just walking into the arena! Taking in the atmosphere, being surrounded by like-minded people, knowing I’ve done all I can do in the build up and now all that’s left to do is enjoy it!
What were you nervous about?
I think regardless of how much you put into something, there will always be a little bit of self-doubt there. What if I don’t finish, what if I don’t make my time goal, what if I let myself down? That was definitely weighing on my mind. But equally, I had never done anything like Hyrox before, I had no idea what I was in for or how hard I would really find it. There were a lot of unknowns which made me very nervous.
Ultimately, I set myself 3 goals and ordered them in importance. The first was a must-achieve, the second was a bonus if I did, and the third was best outcome possible. 1) ENJOY IT 2) cross the finish line 3) complete in under 1hr 30min. This kept my focus and handled my nerves.
What was the best fit?
While I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, the best bit was definitely crossing the finish line. I was just flooded with relief and pride and happiness. There honestly was no other feeling like it.
What would you do differently next time?
Looking at performance, I know a lot of areas I can work on and a lot of things I can do differently to crush my time and get a higher ranking but honestly, I loved every minute, so in that sense – I wouldn’t change a thing!
Amelia carried on competing at HYROX competitions. She finished her 4th race in Mancheter, placed 10th in her age group, with her fastest time to-date of 1:19:07.
She has just returned from a competition in Bilbao, and looking forward to her next race in Cologne, where she again aim at refreshing her personal best record!