For many HYROX athletes, the hardest nutrition question is not whether carbohydrates matter. It is what to eat when a hard session or race is only a few hours away, especially if nerves or an early start make breakfast difficult.
Performance chef and HYROX athlete Dan Churchill joined me on the Rox Lyfe podcast to talk through that problem. He has a master’s degree in exercise science, has worked as an executive chef in New York and has raced a 57-minute Pro Doubles. His approach starts with the timing of food and with choosing meals you can actually enjoy eating.
Here is how he would prepare for the next race.
Start with the timing, especially on race day
When I asked Dan what he would change about the average amateur athlete’s diet, his answer was immediate: “I’d say like the main thing is timing, to be honest.”
For an 8 or 9am start, he gives more thought to the previous evening’s meal and a familiar breakfast than to a complicated plan earlier in the week. For an afternoon start, work back from race time.
Dan favours easily digested carbohydrate close to exercise. For him, that can be a banana before a run. For someone who struggles with solid food early in the morning, a carbohydrate-containing drink might be easier. He is clear that tolerability varies: oats work for him, but he would not insist another athlete eat them if they cause discomfort.
Test the food, portion and timing in a demanding session, ideally at a similar time of day to your race.
Do you need to carb load for HYROX?
Dan sees athletes worrying about how much to eat from Wednesday onwards for a Saturday race. His advice for a typical HYROX is simpler: keep eating adequately during the week and avoid making drastic changes just because the race is approaching.
Formal carbohydrate loading can help in longer endurance events, but it is not automatically necessary for every HYROX. If you expect to race for well over 90 minutes, make a plan that reflects your finishing time, training load and usual intake.
Dan suggests familiar, easily digested carbohydrates as race day approaches. If fibre tends to upset your stomach during hard exercise, temporarily eating less of it in the day or two before racing may help. Swap a large bean-heavy meal or a very high-fibre breakfast for foods you know you tolerate. Fibre remains valuable in your everyday diet.
The same goes for fat. Dan prefers less of it immediately before hard efforts because a rich meal can sit heavily when you start moving. That does not mean cutting healthy fats from the rest of your diet.
Fuel the session in front of you
Dan separates the food he eats around training from the fuller meals he enjoys at other times of day. When he has a threshold session in the morning and strength work later, he might eat a banana or take in carbohydrate through a drink beforehand. Afterwards, a smoothie with fruit and protein can be a convenient option if he needs to recover and prepare for another session.
Later, he might have eggs on sourdough with avocado. It is a more substantial meal, and there is no need to treat the avocado as a mistake because it contains fat. The point is that its timing serves a different purpose from a quick snack before training.
This matters most when hard sessions are close together. If you train once, an ordinary meal usually gives you more flexibility for recovery.
This is also where Dan draws a useful distinction between eating for performance and eating for general health. He wants a range of vegetables, carbohydrates, protein and fats in the meals away from training. Then he adapts the food nearest an intense session to suit the work he is about to do.
What if you cannot face breakfast before a race?
Dan wakes up hungry, but he knows plenty of athletes do not. His answer is practical: “I’m not going to force you to have breakfast.”
If a bowl of oats feels impossible before an early race, experiment during training with something smaller. Dan mentions a banana, fruit, honey or a liquid carbohydrate option. You might find that you tolerate a small snack at one time and a larger meal earlier on another day. The goal is to arrive with enough energy without creating a stomach problem.
If you cannot eat much at 6am, eating adequately the previous day matters too. Practise a plan that fits your appetite and schedule.
Hydration matters, but your needs are individual
Training for an Ironman made Dan rethink his own fluid needs. He described a sweat test in which he lost more than two kilograms in 40 minutes in unusually hot conditions. That is an extreme example, not a drinking target for everybody, but it changed how seriously he takes hydration.
He is also keen on electrolytes when sweat losses are high. How much fluid and sodium you need depends on your sweat rate, the conditions, how long you are exercising and what you have already eaten and drunk. Drinking excessive water to match somebody else’s sweat losses can cause problems. And while Dan suspects electrolyte balance may play a part in some athletes’ cramps, cramps have several possible causes. An electrolyte drink is no guaranteed fix for lunges late in a race.
Rehearse your drinking plan in long or hot sessions before competition.
Make good food worth repeating
Dan’s chef background comes through when he talks about the simplest change an athlete can make at home: learn a few basics well. He suggests starting with foods you already eat, such as rice, eggs, chicken, fish or potatoes, rather than a recipe with 20 ingredients.
If you can make your usual rice properly and cook a piece of protein so it tastes good, the next training block becomes easier to fuel. Dan puts it plainly: “If you do the basics really, really well, it’s going to excite you to kind of get involved again with other things.”
We also talked about the foods he thinks deserve more credit, what Ironman training has taught him about cycling for HYROX, and the changes he wants to make as he chases a sub-60 solo race. There is plenty more in the conversation beyond your next pre-race meal.
To check out the full interview, watch below or listen on the Rox Lyfe podcast.
