So just a couple of weeks back Hyrox finally arrived in Singapore. As a nation, it sure feels like many people have taken the effort to be more active. From the masses taking part in the many running events each year (yes Singapore Marathon i’m looking at you) to all the various gyms offering workout classes, we have really seen a boom in people taking to these kind of functional training (even Becks became an abassador!). Guess that in the case for Hyrox, it was just a matter or WHEN and not IF they would come to Singapore.
What is Hyrox?
It is an endurance event that requires you to run and perform different workouts. Below is a description from Hyrox’s own website.
HYROX combines both running & functional workout stations, where participants run 1km, followed by 1 functional workout station, repeated eight times.
Hence in this event, you basically would need to (Run 1km, do a workout) x8.
The workouts are as follows:
1km ski ergs
50m sled push (150kg)
50m sled pull (100kg)
80m burpee + broad jump
1km rowers
200m farmers carry (24kg)
100m lunges (20kg sandbag)
100 wall balls (6kg)
Why take part?
Well Tammy was pretty determined to continue her fitness journey this year and she pretty much signed up right at the start when they announced that they were coming to SG. My brother - Jonathan - also signed up because he wanted to give it a go! In fact he signed up just after the annoucement because he just wanted to try it out.
I was pretty excited for them because it’s the first time both of them would take part in something like that. I even got my hands on a zoom lens to play with so that I could get some shots of them! Both of them trained pretty well, Tammy got her long runs in (with me -.-) while doing the workouts organized by the wonderful folks at BFT Kovan/Seletar/Yishun. Jon also got his workouts in but alas…as raceday approached he got himself injured. He did not manage to sell his slot to anyone (everyone lowballed him) and hence he decided to screw it and gave his slot to me!
AND that’s the story of how I found myself at the start line O.O
Pre race!
Mentally I felt that I had nothing to lose, in fact I was quite excited at giving this a shot. I was confident that the running portion would be okay. For the other 8 workouts, I was particularly worried about #2, #3 and #8.
I did not manage to work with the sled pushes and pulls before so it was a bit doubtful on how it would turn out. Thankfully I managed to get a session in to try out the technique before event day - thanks Dave!
I guess it helps that I’ve gone through some races before and I adopted the same preparations. @Alvin from RunningDepartment recently mentioned something similar to all the pacers and I was telling him that it's a good practice!
Sleep early throughout the entire week
Drink loads of water throughout the week
Eat properly (don’t need to carbo load but don’t put junk in)
Visualize what would happen
Eat something light on raceday before heading down.
My race visualization was as follows:
- 1km ski ergs - 4m30s
- 50m sled push (150kg) - 3m 30s
- 50m sled pull (100kg) - 4m 10
- 80m burpee + broad jump - 4m 10s
- 1km rowers - 4m 30s
- 200m farmers carry (24kg) - 4m 45s
- 100m lunges (20kg sandbag) - 3m 30s
- 100 wall balls (6kg) - 8m
Run: 5m45s - 46m
Time walking from zone to zone: 10m
Total: 1hr 33m
Race and execution - Let’s go!
Tammy and I headed down in the morning, she wanted to come along because she was really excited on how it would feel like. She also wanted to support me (winks) + some of the other folks who were doing their race in the morning too.
I felt calm and composed and I saw a couple of familiar faces as I headed into the start pen. I was running together with another friend - Terence so that was awesome as we could at the very least ease ourselves into the race. The national stadium felt quite grand and comfortable. Now I finally know how people like Melvin Wong feel when they race here!
1st km and ski ergs - the first km was great (5m 30s) and I completed the ski ergs in 4m 50s so I guess my starting station was already less than ideal - but I wasn’t too concerned. My breathing felt great so lets just kick on.
2nd km and Sled Push - the 2nd km was (5m 19s) so it was a little bit fast but still not crazy. The sled push though was really REALLY tough. I knew that it was going to be hard but wow it caught me off guard because the friction of the floor really played a part. I guess I was not used to this at all as well but woah my legs took a beating and mentally I also checked out here.
3rd km and Sled pull - when i mentally checked out at the sled push, it also meant that I lost focus after I exited the station. I incurred a 7m penalty for my run in the 3rd km and i miscounted a lap hence my run was - 10m14s. I only knew I cocked up when Tammy shouted that I was a little too fast. The sled pull was slightly easier then the sled push but I was breathing really heavily at that juncture!
4th km and Burpee Board Jump - the run was 5m55s (spent some time to compose myself and to get my head back in order to refocus on the road ahead). The BBJ was harder than expected but I just kept thinking about the next jump and going through the motion to keep moving, heart rate was really through the roof when I ended!
5th km and rowers - 6m 33s for the run, I walked a little to catch my breath and when I headed in for the rowers I was really happy as it felt like a welcome distraction. I even saw a friend that I have not seen since school ended 10 years back and we caught up over some shouts of encouragement while I was on the rower LOL.
6th km and farmers carry - 6m 09s, the run portion slowed but still near 6m so it was alright, I was just ensuring that the runs would not cause any spikes in my heart rate. Farmers carry was 200m and damn it felt like shit. The first 100m was alright but after that I felt like my arms were going to fall off. But still the name of the game was to continue chipping away and to survive!
7th km and lunges - 5m 41s very strange that it was quite a quick run but it might be that I had a sudden shot of adrenaline and I just fed on it to power me through the run. The lunges were a killer though, I had to really take my time on this because my legs felt heavy. The last 50m felt like this was the 38km of the marathon and I was thankful to make it through!
8th km and wall balls – 8m 10s for the run (Sound effect - JANG JANG). Horror of horrors I had to slow down because I experienced the onset of a cramp in my left leg. It start as weird sensation in my left calf and after that I knew that it would become ugly real fast if it wasn’t managed properly so I walked for a bit to shake it off. Happy to have reached the wall ball station and I did 10 sets of 10. I was really lucky to have a strict but encouraging judge - he was so motivational. Right behind me were Tammy and the awesome folks from BFT Seletar Hills who were screaming and shouting at me! I was just really grateful to have some tailwind to finish on a high!
To end/Takeaways:
Very happy to have been able to complete this! It brought back a real adredenline rush which I last experienced when I did my last endurance event (the marathon) back in 2018. I guess it makes people have a buzz and yeah it felt really nice!
Given the circumstances going into this race, I was confident with my running base and quietly confident that all the usual workouts during BFT can pull me through. However like in any endurance event, you should always be prepared for the unexpected. In my mental preparation I did not factor in any cramps at all because I haven't had any cramps since my last marathon in 2018. I also did not expect the sled push to be so hard and that really threw me off my game early on.
All the race principles from the other races apply - preparation is important, but execution is even more important. In my case I think my planning was crap given that I might have under estimated the intensitiy of it but I'm pleased with my execution (good run discipline, bouncing back from an early blow, managing the sudden cramp and ending it well). I'll take this!
It's also good to be able to start with a buddy or familiar face. Its like pacing or running a race togther, you get some company and you get the sense of familiarity that is not too bad!
Supporters play a huge role in the race - okay intially I was like wow if you are not racing you will need to pay $15 to get in the venue. It felt crazy but if you have a friend that you wanna support you should do it! It's crazy how near you can get to them when they are doing their race. More importantly you'll literally be by their side as they get put through their paces and they would not mind the encouragement at all!
Thanks to Jonathan once more who sponsored me for the race - I gained from your misfortune lol! You will need to do the next one and I'll be there to support you! Oh yes = after the race I hung around to support Tammy and some other folks - really cool to be a supporter, maybe another post on that next time!
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