If HYROX is one of your first endurance competitions, you might not know how to properly fuel leading up to your race. In this blog post, I’ll go over a general plan of how to prepare for your race. Note: I am not a nutritionist or dietitian – these are principles I either learned through my own experience as an athlete, from learning from professional athletes, or from reading on the topic. Lots of this information can be found in Dr. Michael Roizen’s book What to Eat When.
TWO WEEKS OUT:
Two weeks from the start of your race, focus your energy on drinking more water and ensuring that you have adequate complex carbohydrates in your meal plan. This looks like building your meals with whole grains, fruits and veggies. Try to drink around a gallon of water per day if possible. When you’re drinking this much water, remember to also make sure you’re getting electrolytes through either food or supplementation. Choose fruits that are rich in things like calcium, potassium, and magnesium to help with this.
THREE DAYS OUT:
Cue the carb loading! At this point, your diet should be made up of roughly 70% complex carbs, 20% fats, and 10% proteins. This probably looks like a lot more carbohydrates than you’d think, so feel free to turn to some endurance athletes on social media or YouTube to get a visual.
NIGHT BEFORE:
NO NEW FOODS! We want to minimize GI distress, so introducing new foods when we don’t know how our body handles them is not the thing to do right now. In addition: hydrate hydrate hydrate, with water and electrolyte drinks.
THREE HOURS BEFORE:
This depends on the person, as some people feel sick if they eat a lot the morning of their race. Remember, no new foods, and choose something that will give you lasting energy (all three macronutrients). If you’re racing early in the morning, stick with simple carbs: they’ll be quick to digest and easy on the stomach. If you have more time ahead of your race, you can do some complex carbs like oats/granola/whole grains if you know your stomach will tolerate it. Avoid greasy fatty foods.
DURING YOUR RACE:
I recommend taking at least one gel during the race unless you are a very experienced endurance athlete who prefers to get through the race without intra-workout fueling. When you take your gel, unless it’s a water gel (will be a much larger packet than the smaller GUs you typically see), you NEED to take water with your gel (or else you’ll probably puke it up at the next station). During the race, there are also stations set up with electrolyte drinks and water. Use these as needed (but remember that time can add up when you’re in the rox zone!)
AFTER YOUR RACE:
REHYDRATE with electrolyte drinks to replenish what you’ve lost in competition. When you eat, add in protein for muscle recovery and plenty of carbohydrates to replenish blood sugar levels. And pat yourself on the back, because you did it!
Shannon McGoey, CPT is a trainer at Merritt Clubs Eldersburg.
HYROX is available at these Merritt Clubs locations: Downtown, Eldersburg, Federal Hill.
