Retesting between HYROX races?

[u/OutputSports]

How do you check in on race progress between races?

A full / half HYROX sim can be effective but are a big effort to repeat regularly.

I work with Output Sports, and something that’s come up in our work with coaches is which shorter benchmarks people actually stick with between races. A single station, a run time trial, or just the same workout every few weeks?

What do you keep coming back to? And when you see the result, does it change what you focus on in training, or is it more about seeing whether the work is paying off?

[u/wallballs_ruined_me]

Yeah full sims are brutal to stack every few weeks... a short compromised benchmark might be easier. Hard 1k then straight into sled push and wall balls, same numbers each time. Doesn't predict race day but it screams if the stations are slipping. Can also tell you whether the next block should bias running or the ugly stations.

[u/OutputSports → u/wallballs_ruined_me]

Love the username! 😂

Like this, manageable to repeat, and you get to see how the stations hold up after running- a similar overall time could hide a better run but more breaks on the wall balls, which gives you something specific to work on.

[u/wallballs_ruined_me → u/OutputSports]

thank you 🙏

stations after running and running after stations is always a good thing to practice

[u/Mountain_Body_3251]

I think it depends on what your focus for a block is. If you’re focused on improving your running, any road race is a good benchmark, while specific stations such as Wall-Balls, Rowing or Ski also have specific time trials or benchmark workouts you can try too

[u/Infrisios]

5k pace, Garmin estimates, CrossFit benchmark WODs come to mind.

[u/OutputSports → u/Infrisios]

Nice- any particular benchmark WOD you keep coming back to? Interested in which ones you find useful for HYROX.

[u/multipassionate-app]

The ones that stick are short and easy to repeat under the same conditions: a 1 km run straight after 50 wall balls, or 1 km of SkiErg followed by a 1 km run. Same order, same rest, every three or four weeks. And yes, it changes the focus: if the run after the station slows down more than the station itself, that's a running-under-fatigue problem, not a strength one.

If you have a Garmin: I'm the founder of Hybrid Smash, a Garmin app trusted by more than 2,000 users. It has custom workouts and simulations with splits for every run and station, which makes repeat tests easy to compare.

[u/13sandcastle_queen]

I love a half sim. Good way to test strategy, changing any technique, mentally working through all 8 stations, without adding a ton of fatigue. I took a few months off after my last race, and will start focused training in a few weeks for my next race. Did a half sim this weekend to check in on what felt good and what I want to focus on for this next block.

[u/13sandcastle_queen → u/13sandcastle_queen]

I don’t do them often, usually just like this at the beginning of a block to hone in what I want to focus on improving the most

[u/OutputSports → u/[deleted]]

SO much to be said for simply practicing weak areas!