Hyrox London

Between the nature of the event being shorter duration but higher intensity, and Andy’s late start time (19:40), pre-race nutrition was the priority. Andy consumed an appropriately high calorie intake the day of, though the proportion of carb was a bit less than ideal. Typically, straying from high fat (and fibre) foods is advisable to reduce the risk of GI discomfort, particularly in close proximity to high intensity events. Andy’s mid-afternoon burger ahead of the start may have been the culprit for him feeling “a bit flat”, though his GI comfort rating was still a 7 out of 10. The sips of energy drink he had right before the start were small, so he could’ve used a more strategic, higher carb dose in the final few minutes to pre-fuel and provide a greater increase to his blood glucose.

Andy kicked off his hydration strategy the morning and afternoon of the event by preloading with a strong electrolyte. He also started the race with a soft flask of PH 1500 to account for the higher thirst he often experiences at the beginning. While racing, he grabbed about five sips of water from the stations to stay hydrated. Considering the relatively short duration (he clocked in at just over an hour), he still took in a commendable amount of fluid. The most important factor for his performance though would have been starting hydrated, as sweat fluid and sodium losses wouldn’t have had time to accumulate enough to make a sizable impact.

While his numbers show a low caffeine intake, this is only reflective of the few energy drink sips he had in the final few minutes before the event. However, Andy also had a large coffee at lunch plus a 200mg caffeine tablet 90 minutes prior to the start. Caffeine typically takes about ~45-60 minutes to be absorbed into the body and has a half life of 4-5 hours. So, Andy’s timing of his caffeine wasn’t far off being optimal for him to reap the performance benefits during his event, though he could have moved the tablet ~30 minutes closer to the start.