A living library of lessons, decisions, and training logic from my HYROX build. Short answers, clear reasoning, and practical takeaways — written so anyone can follow along.
Why has VO₂ max been the major focus for the past two weeks for HYROX?
HYROX is a hybrid event, but the limiter for most athletes isn’t strength — it’s the ability to recover while moving. VO₂ max is a proxy for your aerobic “ceiling,” and raising that ceiling improves how quickly you can clear fatigue between stations like sleds, lunges, burpees, and wall balls.
For the first two weeks we emphasized VO₂ max because it creates the foundation that makes everything else work:
As the foundation stabilizes, focus shifts toward station efficiency (technique), lactate tolerance, and race-specific pacing — built on top of that aerobic engine.
I notice multiple NSDR breathing sessions on some days and at least one every day. What is NSDR and why is it important to HYROX?
NSDR stands for Non-Sleep Deep Rest. It’s a short, guided breathing and body-scan practice that places the nervous system into a deeply relaxed state without sleeping. Think of it as structured recovery for your brain and nervous system.
HYROX places repeated stress on the body: high heart rates, heavy muscular fatigue, and limited recovery time. If your nervous system stays stuck in “go mode,” performance drops and recovery slows. NSDR helps restore balance so you can train hard and absorb the work.
Bottom line: NSDR isn’t passive relaxation — it’s an intentional recovery tool that allows higher training quality, better consistency, and improved race-day composure.
What’s your winter training protocol to keep VO₂ max trending up (and tracking clean) when it’s cold and routines get disrupted?
Winter is when VO₂ max readings can get noisy and training consistency can get fragile (cold temps, travel, poor sleep, holiday stress, reduced outdoor volume). My goal in winter is simple: keep the aerobic engine progressing while protecting recovery so the VO₂ trend stays meaningful.
If the ring/watch dips during winter (cold sleep environment, travel, dehydration, late workouts), I don’t panic. I tighten the protocol: hydration, sleep timing, Zone 2, and one quality VO₂ session — and the trend corrects.
What did last week of travel teach you about recovery, readiness, and training control?
Last week reinforced a simple truth: travel doesn’t break fitness — unmanaged recovery does. Flights, disrupted sleep, time-zone shifts, and long days quietly tax the nervous system even when workouts still “look good” on paper.
The biggest lesson wasn’t about doing less work — it was about doing the right work when recovery signals are compromised.
Managing travel well isn’t about pushing through fatigue — it’s about staying disciplined enough to arrive back home ready to train, not needing a reset week to recover.
How can you set up an Apple Watch to coach HR zones + time cues on race day when Multisport won’t allow strength segments?
If you want HR zone alerts, time cues, and clean run vs station splits on HYROX race day, Apple Watch has one big limitation: Multisport only supports endurance modes (run/cycle/swim). No Functional Strength, no HIIT, and no “Other.”
The simplest race-proof workaround is a clean hack: use Indoor Run for every run segment and Indoor Cycle for every station segment. You still get one continuous workout with clear segment splits — and your watch becomes a quiet coach instead of a distraction.
Don’t stress about perfectly labeling each station on the watch — the value comes from separate splits for runs vs stations and the alerts that keep you honest.
During the race, you only do one thing: tap “Next” at each transition. Finish the run → tap Next → station starts. Finish the station → tap Next → run starts.
Bonus race-proofing: tighten the band one notch before the start for better HR accuracy, and consider Water Lock to prevent accidental touches. The goal is simple: start controlled, stay composed in stations, and earn the right to race hard late.