Pelayo Menendez Fernandez’s 2026 HYROX season could hardly have ended on a higher note.
Just twelve months after being forced to pull out of the World Championships Elite Doubles race with a ruptured Achilles, the Spanish athlete returned to stand on the podium alongside Rich Ryan, finishing third at the 2026 HYROX World Championships.
In a chat for an episode of the Rox Lyfe podcast, Pelayo reflects on the seven-month rehabilitation that followed his injury, explains how he trained to return so strongly, and shares the mindset that helped him get through such a tough period.
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From Achilles Rupture to the World Championship Podium
Pelayo entered the 2025 World Championships already carrying a long-standing Achilles problem. Despite knowing the risk, he lined up alongside Rich Ryan in the Elite Doubles race as defending world record holders. Unfortunately, his Achilles finally gave way during the SkiErg.
“I risked my health a little bit and I don’t regret it. But after the SkiErg my Achilles just fell apart.”
What followed was seven months away from racing and plenty of uncertainty.
While the physical recovery was demanding, Pelayo admits the psychological challenge was equally difficult as he watched the sport continue to evolve without him.
Rather than trying to become the athlete he had been before the injury, his sports psychologist encouraged him to take a different approach.
“There’s no reason to return to the old Pelayo. We are going to build a new Pelayo.”
That shift in mindset became one of the foundations of his comeback.
How Cycling Kept Him Race Fit
Much of Pelayo’s rehabilitation centred around the BikeErg.
Within two weeks of rupturing his Achilles he was already completing structured interval sessions, often mirroring the exact workouts he would normally perform as running sessions.
Rather than losing fitness, he believes he simply lost running specificity.
“I don’t think I lost fitness. I lost specificity, but I didn’t lose fitness.”
Because cycling allowed him to tolerate even more time around threshold than running, he feels the rehabilitation may actually have improved parts of his aerobic engine.
By the time he resumed running, he only needed around a month before returning to racing at the Phoenix Major, where he immediately finished second alongside Rich Ryan.
Why Pelayo Thinks Many HYROX Athletes Train Wrong
Pelayo has become known for taking a more endurance-focused approach than many athletes in the sport.
While he believes maximal strength is important, he argues many athletes continue chasing numbers in the gym that deliver little benefit once a sufficient strength level has been reached.
Instead, he prefers developing strength through HYROX-specific movement patterns.
Heavy sled work, lighter sled work performed at speed, and repeated race movements make up much more of his in-season strength work than heavy squats or deadlifts.
He also believes many athletes would benefit from reducing overall training volume while increasing the quality of their harder sessions.
“I think we should focus more on getting into the intensities that require cleaning lactate than adding too much volume.”
His own weekly training generally sits between 12 and 15 hours, considerably less than many people assume for an athlete competing at the very top of the sport.
Technique Tips to Improve Your HYROX Race
The conversation is packed with practical advice for everyday athletes – on the wall balls, burpees, and lunges in particular (give the episode a listen for the insights on those, they could save you lots of time!).
Trust Yourself More Than Your Wearables
Despite his engineering background and love of data, Pelayo says he never lets wearable metrics dictate how he feels.
He shared an example from the morning of the World Championship Elite Doubles race, when his recovery score suggested he was only 30% recovered.
Instead of letting that influence him, he ignored it.
“I felt amazing. And that’s what matters.”
For Pelayo, data should support your decision-making, not replace your own judgement.
The Mindset That Drives Elite Athletes
When asked what separates Elite athletes from everyone else, Pelayo pointed to two things.
The first is years of consistent training, often long before athletes arrive in HYROX.
The second is a willingness to suffer.
“The thing that differentiates an elite athlete from an age grouper is how bad we want this.”
It’s a mentality built over many years of competition and one he believes every top athlete shares.
Watch the Full Podcast
If you enjoyed this conversation with Pelayo Menendez, you’ll also hear much more about:
- His approach to structuring an entire HYROX season
- Why he alternates between running-focused and station-focused training weeks
- His nutrition strategy before and during races
- Travel tips for athletes racing internationally
- Why he believes runners may become the future of Elite HYROX
- His long-term ambitions in both Singles and Doubles competition
You can watch the full conversation now below or listen on the Rox Lyfe podcast…
