Confessions of a HYROX VIRGIN

Turning a cyclist into a runner is one thing, but can you target a Hyrox in four months in your fifties? Frank Bauer finds out

- Frank Bauer

It's just after lunch on the last Saturday in November. Most ordinary people are kicking back after a late brunch. I stop short of using the word 'normal', but it feels completely abnormal to me to be stood on a start-line with 200 other scantily clad men about to take on my first Hyrox.

The last four months of training comes to this: a warrior-like arena setting at London's Excel Centre where the fittest do battle and seemingly only the strongest survive. What happens in the next hour or so will reveal if all the training and pain has been worth it. I would cross my fingers but I'm already clenching my fists in anticipation.

It started with a bet

The idea of doing a Hyrox was originally suggested when I was having a pre-gig pizza with my nephew, Will, and my best friend [and Men's Fitness editor] David. Will had already completed a men's open singles in 1 hour 26 minutes and so the gauntlet was laid down for the two 52-year-olds - and more importantly 20 years Will's senior- to have a go and try to beat his time.

David and I had done a full simulation as a double in August and laboured to the finish in a little under Will's time. So, carrying a nagging doubt that the reality of the full distance would be much harder than the more encouraging part simulations that I'd completed in the weeks prior to the event, the optimist in me hoped that my body and legs would fall into a transcendental state on race day, with the possibility of achieving sub 75 minutes and maybe a top five in my age group.

Swapping events

To fit Hyrox into my typical cycling season, I figured that I could swap my training focus at the beginning of July, which would allow me to do a few masters races through to June, and still have enough time to get run-and-workout fit by the end of November.