Most competitive sportspeople will sometimes experience some kind of performance anxiety prior to competing in their sport. Â This can certainly be the case for athletes in the lead up to a HYROX race.
Some positive prerace jitters can be fine – it can mean you are switched on, excited, focused and ready to go. But too much anxiety can have a detrimental effect on your performance, cause lost sleep, poor appetite, sickness, injury, and an inability to feel good during the actual race.
This is one reason why an effective pre-race routine is so important. It helps to put your body and mind in a place where it can perform most effectively (whilst enjoying the experience of the event).
Ruining Your Race Before It’s Started
Unfortunately, the day and hours leading up to a race can be a time when a lot of your good work comes undone. Imagine this lead up to your next HYROX…
You get a bad sleep the night before the race (too much on your mind) which means you wake up in the morning feeling groggy.
Then your journey to the venue is delayed because of traffic, which puts you into a panic. Once you’re at the venue there’s an unusually huge queue to check in – more panic.Â
As you check-in, you’re given your timing chip and have NO idea (if you are anything like me!) about how to put it round your ankle. So, you put it in your bag to sort out later.
You go for a walk around the venue but first check your bag in so you don’t need to carry it around with you. You then realise it’s got your energy drink in it, the drink you wanted to sip on before the start of the race. You’re already feeling a bit dehydrated, and this will make it worse, but the queue is too big to go back for it.
You walk around for a while, feeling a bit intimidated by all the fitness beasts there are at the event, and notice it’s time to head to the warm-up section to start getting ready for the race.  You get a decent warm-up underway but then realise you need to go to the toilet. However, it’s now only 15 mins until the start of your race – and the toilets are outside the main hall. It’s going to be a rush to make it there and back in time, especially if there’s a queue. Fortunately, after rushing, you do make it back from the toilets, and your wave is heading to the start line.
As you join them you realise you’ve forgotten your timing chip! It’s in your bag! 5 mins to start time, and you need to run to get your chip AND work out how the hell it goes round your ankle. It’s all panic panic panic. Your heart rate is already at 150bpm and you haven’t even started yet!
Needless to say, this isn’t the way to prepare for a good race. But it is VERY easily done. In this article we will talk about steps to take, and avoid, and other elements to consider, in the hours leading up to your next HYROX…
The Day Before
The day prior to your race is a time to prepare as much as you possibly can. You don’t want to be rushing around the following morning. Race day should almost be on autopilot because of all the preparation you’ve done in advance. Therefore, pack all your clothing and equipment, and review your plan (more on that below), the night before.
You’ll also want to make sure you’re eating appropriately (fuelling yourself well, without eating anything out of the ordinary), and setting multiple alarms to ensure you wake up on time.
Finally, do all you can to get a good night’s sleep – so don’t stay up too late, and don’t spend hours on your phone before bed!
Nutrition    Â
What will you eat and when? This shouldn’t be left to chance. You shouldn’t be deciding, on the morning of a competition, what you are going to eat. It should be something you know works for you, and you should ensure you have it available. This way you aren’t left rushing around trying to find the right food and drink at the last minute.Â
Also, plan for when the most appropriate time is to consume this food. Read more about nutrition for HYROX in this article.
Review the Floor Plan
You’ll have been sent, a few days in advance, a technical briefing from HYROX.  You should ensure you have watched this video and reviewed the floor plan provided. Ideally, you want to try to memorise the important elements of that floor plan…
Primarily, you should be clear on how many laps of the track are required for each run (and how fast you want to run those – review this pacing article for more information on that).
You also want to make sure you know, in your mind, the order of the functional stations (i.e. ski first, then sled push etc – review our beginners guide to HYROX for more info). This will help you avoid messing up in the middle of the race and incurring a penalty.
Finally, try to memorise where each of the functional stations are within the Roxzone. In reality, it’s not that hard to find them normally, but it is still useful knowing exactly where to be heading each time, so you aren’t wasting precious seconds hunting around for where to go. This is a race strategy we talk about (along with 7 others) in this article.
Music
Music can play an important role in a pre-race routine as it can have such an impact on your mood. Once you’re in the venue at HYROX, the music will be pumping. It’s loud and upbeat.  There is a LOT going on. For most people, it’s not a relaxing environment. If you are the type of person who finds they are overly anxious before a race, then you may not want to arrive at the venue as early someone who perhaps enjoys getting a little more pumped up for the event.
If you tend to be more anxious, plan to play yourself calming music during the morning, journey, etc up the point you enter the venue.Â
Arrival Time
Of course, you don’t want to arrive at the venue too late – that will lead to a rush / panic / more anxiety – but too early can be mentally exhausting for some people. If this may apply to you, remember you could consider getting there well before your start time, check in, scope out the venue a bit, but then spend some time before your race outside, alone, in a calmer environment until you have to go back inside.
Relaxation Techniques
Aside from the use of music, other techniques to help you focus and relax might include deep breathing routines, some light yoga (obviously without fatiguing yourself), and / or meditation.Â
Again, the type that works for you might be different to someone else, so spend some time well before the race working this out.
Set Expectations
Lebron James, one of the greatest basketball players of all time, has described elements of his pregame routine. In particular, he says that he has certain values / standards that he considers to be important, written on the walls of his locker room. These include Humility, Unity, Discipline, Thankfulness, Servinghood, Integrity and Compassion. They are there to serve as a reminder for how he wants to show up / act during the game (and presumably all aspects of his life). As he goes out on court he taps, with his hand, a poster with these qualities written on them.
He also said that pre-game, he particularly focuses on thinking about his teammates and how he can put them in a position to be successful.
In your pre-race routine, can you remind yourself, in some way, of the qualities that you want to show? And are you clear about what those qualities are?Â
You want to be careful here of not setting expectations / outcomes which are outside of your control. An outcome focused result, such as achieving a podium at HYROX, or even getting a certain time, is not entirely within your control. You could get tripped up on a run, injured, or feel sluggish for no apparent reason that day (which turns out to be the start of a cold). There could be a much higher level of competition preventing the podium, get no repped unfairly by a fussy judge, or get stuck behind some particularly slow people on the burpee broad jumps and unable to get round them.
You don’t want to judge whether something has been a success based on these factors. Instead having a goal of following your pre-race routine, living up to your standards during the race, remaining calm, positive, and happy, fuelling appropriately, doing your best to sleep well the night before, etc are all within your control, and can contribute to your success.
Put on Timing Chip
Putting your timing chip in your bag and forgetting to put it on until moments before your race, is a very common issue (one that I’ve made myself). It leads to unnecessary panic. The best way to avoid this is to put it on as soon as you get it. It stays around your ankle, and once it’s on you can pretty much forget about it. As already mentioned, personally I find it more confusing than I should to work out how it goes around my ankle, so I normally ask one of the HYROX staff to help me when they give it to me.
Forget Everything Else
It’s easier said than done obviously but do your best to compartmentalise what is happening in your personal life so that it doesn’t have an adverse impact on your performance.
Plan the Final Moments
As mentioned in the introduction to this post, the hour before a HYROX can get very intense if you allow it to. You want to take out as many decisions as possible by planning out everything in advance.
Here’s some questions to be considering:
- What time will you arrive at the start line (aim for 5-10 mins before start time)?
- What time will you go to the toilet?
- What time will you put your bag into the baggage check in? And will you need anything out of the bag before you put it in?
- When will you take any supplements (if you plan to)?
- When will you start your warmup, and what will that warm up entail exactly?
- When will you finish the warmup?
- When will you have your last drink?
You want to plan all of this out, almost to the minute, so that you aren’t having to make lots of decisions in the spur of the moment.
Summary
Your pre-race routine is an incredibly important, often under-looked, part of the competitive process and can make a difference to your finishing time and position. It is a time when you can get yourself to a place where you feel prepared, confident, and ready to put all your training to good use.
To read more on reducing your fears / improving your confidence in the lead up to a HYROX event, then check out this article.
Photo credit: Erik Wittkopf
