My First HYROX Doubles Experience

This past Friday October 2nd, 2026, I did my first HYROX Doubles competition with my sister.

We trained together for about eight weeks leading up to the race. We did some track training with SABR Running, which was really helpful, and we trained quite a bit at Academy of Lions. We took some of their HYROX/Metcon classes, but we also did a lot of our own training in open time- they have all the equipment and space that we need.

Most of that training revolved around running, getting comfortable with the different stations, and partner workouts. We even did a simulation solo race side by side that was set up by Academy of Lions. We wanted to figure out how we were going to divide up the work and figure out the best way possible to communicate and transition during the stations.

Overall, the experience was great.

The Race Was Much Easier to Navigate Than I Expected

Going into HYROX, one of the things I was actually a little worried about was the logistics of the race.

Would I miscount a lap? Would I know where to enter and exit the stations? Would I accidentally go through the wrong exit when trying to get back onto the running course?

Once we got there, though, it was all pretty foolproof.

My sister and I reviewed everything beforehand, but even if we hadn't, they went through the information with us before the race and made it very clear how many laps we had to complete for each run.

There were also judges and volunteers everywhere helping direct people- although I feel as though we likely did 1 or 2 extra lengths on the sled pulls...but thats on us.

At one point, I couldn't remember which weight I was supposed to use for the lunges. I asked one of the judges and he was very kind and clear and pointed to the 20KG sandbag.

Problem solved.

I also got a warning from one of the judges about my burpees. I asked for clarification, which I received, then I adjusted what I was doing and kept going. I actually appreciated that. Everything felt pretty straightforward, and there were always people around to guide you if you weren't sure about something. I even appreciate the people handing out the water- it was a really good amount! Not too much in the cups- I had 2 small sips towards the tail end of the race.

The Atmosphere Was Probably My Favourite Part

The vibe of the event was really good. It was really grand. It felt very polished and professional. I can see why people are really into this competition.

Because everyone is running together and completing the stations side by side, there's this feeling that you're all doing something together, even though you're technically competing against each other.

I'm much more used to CrossFit competitions, and one thing I've learned from competing over the years is that you really have to run your own race. And maybe this helped me to some extent when it came to maintaining my pace.

At the end of the day, you're going to be ranked against other people. But you can't control what anybody else does.

You can only control how you perform that day.

And realistically, most of that performance has already been determined by the work you did leading up to the competition. There's only so much you can change once race day arrives. One major thing is staying focused, and another is your mindset.

From that perspective, I think my sister and I did great.

Racing With My Sister

Throughout the race, I was constantly checking in with her during the runs and stations to see how she was feeling.

We communicated and divided up the work well but looking back, I feel we probably could have run a little faster.

But hindsight is 20/20.

I'd rather finish thinking we had a little more in the tank than blow ourselves up halfway through because we started too aggressively.

And now we have something to improve on the next time.

Why HYROX Was Good for Me

I can definitely see why people love HYROX.

It was fun, well organized, and challenging in a very different way from what I'm used to.

I love CrossFit, and I definitely get into the pain cave doing CrossFit workouts, but at this point CrossFit is fun for me. I have no trouble doing workouts, I am happy to join in on workouts I am invited to. If anything, I have trouble dialing it back at times

I've been doing it for a long time. The movements make sense to me. The style of training fits me really well at this point.

I genuinely enjoy doing it.

HYROX is different.

The running, the length of the race, and having to keep moving for that long are much more outside of my comfort zone- even the doubles was a bit of a challenge. The solo race is way outside my comfort zone.

And I'm trying to do more things like that.

HYROX forced me to spend more time doing something I'm not particularly good at: running.

That's probably one of the reasons I enjoyed the experience as much as I did.

So… Would I Do It Again?

I think this might become something my sister and I do every year.

It's a good sibling-bonding experience, it gives us something to train for together, and it's just fun doing something that's a little outside of my normal training.

The next step for me might be doing a solo HYROX.

I've already done a full solo simulation at Academy of Lions, so I know how hard that is.

Maybe next year I'll do doubles with my sister again and take on a solo race myself.

We'll see.

Either way, HYROX put on a great event. It was a lot of fun, extremely well organized, and I can definitely see the appeal now that I've done one.

I'm already looking forward to the next one.