May 31, 2026, my cousin Cournti and I participated in our first HYROX doubles race. If you read my post about my half marathon, then you know I was in LA for nine weeks, and I was mainly focused on running and a little bit of kettlebell strength training until work became too busy.

Once I returned to the Bronx, I started working out on my own. My cousin lives on Long Island, and our schedules didn’t align for us to train together like we had hoped. She’s a personal trainer, so she had the equipment to train and was able to take a few HYROX classes near her.

I found a gym in the Bronx, Equis Fitness, that also offered HYROX training. I took a couple of classes there that helped because I was able to do a mini simulation, which gave me a real idea of what I was getting myself into. I also took a class at Forte in Queens, which focused on strength conditioning and running.

My last training, and the only one I did with my cousin before the race, was at Pure Bread Training on Long Island, and that was damn near a full HYROX simulation. Since this was our first time training together, it gave us the game plan for race day: what were my strengths and weaknesses and the same for my cousin, how should we switch at each station, what should our running pace be, etc.

Oh, and did I forget to mention we trained together only six days before our race?

Race Day

I felt good, and I think my cousin was a little nervous about how this was all going to play out, but overall, we both felt good.

After dropping off our bags at bag check, we went into the warm-up area. We threw a couple of wall balls up, practiced the sled push and the SkiErg, did some stretching, and drank some water.

I wanted to make sure I was fully hydrated. I also went to the bathroom a couple of times before we started since I was drinking so much water.

My mom and friends, Wendy, Juanita, and Jessie, came to cheer us on, and my cousin’s friend Kiki was also there as one of the judges. She cheered us on while making sure we were doing our burpees correctly.

I think we did pretty well on each station. We were slower on the run so my cousin’s heart rate could go down, and the sandbag lunges just about took my knees out because that was the second-to-last station before the wall balls.

We kept to our plan to switch before we really got tired, which helped us conserve energy.

We completed the race in 1:54:09, which I think was pretty good for our first race and really only training together once.

Tips

I would definitely recommend finding a gym that offers HYROX simulations and doing at least two of them before your race. If you can do more, that’s great, but at least two is my recommendation. It gives you a feel for what you’re going to be doing on race day.

If you are doing a doubles or relay, train with your partner or team at least once or twice. The more, the better. You can come up with a game plan and see the strengths and weaknesses of your partner or teammates.

RUN. Running is a big part of the race, and you’re running on compromised legs. So, do a workout at the gym or at the park, then run right after that.

Hydrate. There are water and electrolyte stations all throughout the Roxzone, but you definitely should hydrate before the race, and you don’t want to wait until race day to start hydrating.

Last, but certainly not least, HAVE FUN! There will be music playing, people cheering you on, and judges encouraging you when you feel like you can’t go anymore.

Have you done a HYROX? Are you considering doing a HYROX? Let me know!