When Health Editor Beth Skwarecki and Staff Writer Meredith Dietz pitched the idea of training for a Hyrox race, my first question was straightforward: What’s Hyrox? I imagined a CrossFit competition rebranded into a new social fitness craze by mashing together previous ones, like CrossFit meets SoulCycle, or HIIT meets Barre, or Peloton meets parkour. I wasn’t too far off, but Hyrox is more straightforward: Hyrox is a workout competition mixed with a traditional race, where participants run in one-kilometer intervals and complete a fitness station after each run.
Beth is a competitive weightlifter, and Meredith is a seasoned marathon runner, so Hyrox is a perfect opportunity to test their respective skills against a challenge that requires both. I gladly accepted their pitch, and since then, Beth and Meredith have chronicled their Hyrox training journey on Instagram, trained for countless hours, and written several explainers to frequently asked questions like “why is everyone suddenly doing Hyrox,” how to train for Hyrox as a runner who doesn’t lift, and how to train for Hyrox as a meathead who doesn’t run.
The biggest question is who will fare better, and today, we’ll get some answers. Beth and Meredith are in New York City to compete as a doubles team today in their first-ever Hyrox race, and I have a spectator’s ticket to keep you updated, cheer, and, according to Meredith, “watch us die.” I don’t expect death, but I’m looking forward to us all having a better idea of what Hyrox is like and what it takes to complete a Hyrox race.
What do you think so far?
What smartwatches and fitness trackers are they wearing?
For their Hyrox race, Meredith is wearing the Garmin Forerunner 970 on her left wrist with the unofficial-official “Roxfit” app loaded to track the race, the Amazfit Cheetah 2 Pro on her right wrist to test its built-in Hyrox race feature, and her Garmin heart rate monitor chest strap. Beth is wearing the Coros Pace 4 on her left wrist, the Fitbit Air and Whoop MG on her right wrist, and a Coospo heart rate monitor chest strap.
