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HYROX Explained: Endurance Meets the Sled
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If you’ve been scrolling endurance social media and wondering why everyone is suddenly pushing sleds and throwing wall balls, this episode is for you. Coaches April Spilde and Lauren Brown break down the HYROX phenomenon—what it is, why it’s growing so fast, and why runners, cyclists, and triathletes are jumping in. We compare HYROX to traditional endurance sports, discuss the stations that shock first‑time athletes, and explain why endurance fitness translates surprisingly well to this hybrid racing format. Plus, Coach Lauren shares what training for her first HYROX Doubles race has taught her about pacing, strength, and durability.
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Transcript
Intro
Introduction to 'Grit to Greatness' Podcast
00:00:20
Rich
Hello and welcome to episode 544 of the grit to greatness endurance podcast.
00:00:20
Lauren Brown
so
00:00:25
Rich
Yes, it is ladies here taking over the mic.
00:00:31
Rich
We are your hosts coaches, April Spilde and Lauren Brown, and we are on a mission to help endurance athletes train smarter, race stronger and build a grit it takes to achieve greatness.
00:00:42
Lauren Brown
Yes, I love ladies' nights. Yes. And
Is Hirox a Passing Trend or Endurance Athlete Essential?
00:00:46
Lauren Brown
if you've spent more than five minutes on endurance social media lately, You've probably seen people pushing sleds, carrying sandbags, and collapsing after wall balls.
00:00:58
Lauren Brown
Hirox is exploding right now, and a lot of athletes are wondering whether it's just another fitness trend or something worth paying attention to. So today, we're breaking down exactly what Hirox is, why it's growing so fast, and whether endurance athletes should consider giving it a shot.
00:01:16
Rich
Yes, I am excited to jump into this conversation. I'm uber curious about high rocks. I can't wait to hear about your experiences so far, Lauren, and what, what, uh, what, what's awaiting you.
Athlete Shoutouts and Achievements
00:01:29
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:01:29
Rich
But let's, uh, let's do a couple of shout outs first to our grit to greatness athletes. We have Elizabeth Wyland. She is racing Ironman Boulder 70.3 in two weeks.
00:01:41
Rich
We wanted to share this with her before the big race day. She just did her first Olympic distance race this last weekend, Lauren, and it was amazing. She looks so strong.
00:01:53
Rich
She is so ready for her first, uh, half Ironman.
00:01:57
Lauren Brown
Oh, I can't wait to see how she does. And next we're going to shout out Coach April, who also raced with Elizabeth last week and will be racing the Pikes Peak Apex Mountain Bike Single Day Race June june fourteen
00:02:15
Rich
Yep. And then we have Caroline young. She is racing tomorrow. The Colorado triathlons. We're sending you all of our love and hugs, Caroline. We know you've got this.
00:02:25
Lauren Brown
Yes. And then Jeff is racing Eagleman 70.3. That will be his first 70.3. And Arun is racing the Montauk Olympic Triathlon. Both of those are going to be next weekend as well.
00:02:42
Rich
Yeah. Can you say that it is officially race season here? We've got Chris Shothan who is racing best of the West tomorrow as well.
00:02:47
Lauren Brown
I know.
00:02:53
Lauren Brown
and it keeps on going we got mike murphy racing a dare to try leon sprint triathlon on june 6th so tomorrow as well
00:03:02
Rich
And then we have coach chaos athletes, Anna Marie, Lucy, Cindy, Sandy, Lindsay, and coach KO herself. They're all taking on the Patriot half Ironman on June 13th. Yep.
00:03:15
Lauren Brown
And then also her athlete, Joe, is racing Eagleman, right? I believe this is also Coach Keo's athlete.
00:03:21
Rich
yep
00:03:21
Lauren Brown
And so Jeff and Joe are both racing Eagleman 70.3 as their first 70.3. seventy point three We've got three first-timers. Because Elizabeth is in her first one, you said, right?
00:03:32
Rich
Yes.
00:03:33
Lauren Brown
So we've got three first-timers coming up next weekend on 70.3s. How freaking cool is that?
00:03:40
Rich
That is amazing. I didn't even think about that, Lauren. That is so cool. So we got three grit to greatness athletes taking on their first 70.3 on the same day
00:03:49
Lauren Brown
Oh, awesome. I'm so excited. Everyone get your freaking trackers locked and loaded.
00:03:54
Rich
Yes, this is going to come fast.
00:03:55
Lauren Brown
when
00:03:56
Rich
So get ready.
00:03:57
Lauren Brown
you
00:03:58
Rich
All right. Speaking of Boulder 70.3, there are still a call for volunteers. Myself and coach rich are going to be in transition and we would love to see your smiling faces out there. i will say that being a volunteer can be just as fun as being a participant, a racer, a spectator. It is such a great way to get a front row seat and have some skin in the action here. Speaking of skin in the action,
00:04:25
Rich
They are looking for wetsuit peelers to volunteer. So we've got a link here in the show notes. If you want to sign up to be a wetsuit peeler, that is one of the best jobs. I think you get right in the and the game there and, uh, can really help people get out of their own way by getting out of their wetsuit.
00:04:36
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:04:42
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:04:44
Lauren Brown
I love a wetsuit peeler. I'm always like, lie on my back, just take care of it. Yeah.
00:04:48
Rich
Yes. Thank you for taking care of this thing that I don't have to exactly.
00:04:53
Lauren Brown
Yeah. So cool. All right,
Understanding Hirox: Race Format and Global Appeal
00:04:57
Lauren Brown
well, that leads us to the main topic of conversation, on Hirox. So I'm really excited to talk about this. So I will be racing my first Hirox this Sunday, June 7th. I will be doing the doubles. and So I'm excited to talk about this and we're going to dive into what it is and what makes it so special. So before we jump into it, just a little bit of background on
00:05:31
Lauren Brown
What exactly is Hirox? It is a race. It was founded in Germany in 2017. It is a global fitness racing series.
00:05:42
Lauren Brown
So something that's cool about Hirox, it's the same format every race worldwide. So you know exactly what you're getting into. it is designed to test both endurance and functional strength.
00:05:56
Lauren Brown
And another beautiful thing about it is that really it really is accessible to everyday athletes and elite competitors. I really think, you know, A lot of people can have skin in the game when it comes to high rocks.
00:06:10
Lauren Brown
If you're not familiar with what the actual event entails, I'll break it down for you. So there's there's definitely a good amount of running. So I do think that this race does favor the runners. So I'm excited about that part since I definitely am a runner. It starts with a 1K run and then you move into your station. So each station is followed by another one k of running. So you'll do a 1000 meter skier.
00:06:41
Lauren Brown
I'll go through the stations, right? So it's a 1000 meter skier. You've got your sled push, your sled pull, Burpee broad jumps, you have your thousand meter rower, farmer carry, sandbag lunges, and then you do 100 wall balls. So each station is separated by that additional 1K run, which totals, so the the total race is eight k running and eight functional fitness stations. So it is a hell of a lot going on and it just looks like an amazing time.
00:07:16
Rich
Yeah, my eyes are the size of wall balls right now. Just looking at that. Holy man.
00:07:24
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:07:27
Rich
So I love that this is accessible. I think as we break this down, we'll explain why that is a little bit more here. But let's talk about why it's growing so quickly.
00:07:39
Rich
One, it has a clear and repeatable format, and it's easy to compare performances worldwide. That makes it more approachable than other functional fitness, uh, criteria such as CrossFit and less technical skill is required.
00:07:54
Rich
But I would say that you got to get really good at these movements. So there is a lot of technical skill to get to the elite level, but you know what the format is, you know what to practice.
00:07:58
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:08:19
Rich
so one of the things that I love is that most people can look at a hierarchy workout and understand exactly what's happening.
00:08:25
Lauren Brown
Yes. And i I think it's funny. i I may have brought this up to you in the past, how there was, I wish I could remember the person who posted this, but it was a reel that gained so much traction. And he was probably doing it as, guess, a clickbait where you're you're doing, you're posting it to get people to be pissed off because he was like, why triathletes basically like suck at high rocks?
00:08:47
Lauren Brown
And everything he explained, people were just like this reel ended up getting so much traction because people were like, you are so wrong, bro. i athlete are du Like, right.
00:08:56
Rich
Step aside.
00:08:58
Lauren Brown
Like we are, we are good. We can handle high rocks, but you know, we'll talk a little bit about high rocks is different from triathlon. But again, I think there's still quite a bit of carryover with the skills when it comes to high rock.
00:09:12
Lauren Brown
So if you're a triathlete, who's like, Should I do high rocks? what's What makes it different? So it is a controlled environment. So as a triathlete, we're used to you know wind, rain, you know different terrain. So you can do a 70.3 distance half Ironman and have a million different variables that don't line up from race to race. With high rocks, controlled environment, it's indoors.
00:09:41
Lauren Brown
I mean, most likely you're not dealing with equipment failures, right? It's all structured. The weather's not an issue. For a lot of triathletes, this might be a big perk that there's obviously no swimming, no swimming involved.
00:09:56
Lauren Brown
Maybe they make it next time like a 800 meter swim or something like that. you peterers That would be a fun twist.
00:10:00
Rich
oh
00:10:02
Lauren Brown
You do a hundred meter swim in between each thing. And then, you know, when we look at triathlon, we do have to worry about the environment, the terrain, technical skills, which I think technical skills also come into play with high rocks.
00:10:17
Lauren Brown
I might have more to share on that after Sunday and actually racing.
00:10:21
Rich
Wow.
00:10:22
Lauren Brown
with triathlon especially longer sports nutritional management which is funny so i was just watching today a youtube video uh coach who was talking through he actually like runs some of the high rocks events and has a crossfit gym and he was saying when it comes to even like hydration he's like i don't drink anything during the race and he's like i don't even he's like it's a quick race it could be under 60 minutes for some people he's like i don't even drink i was like oh Yeah, so there's water stations there, but he was saying, he's like, for some, I was like, you don't drink for an hour?
00:10:57
Lauren Brown
That's crazy.
00:10:58
Rich
Yeah, that's...
00:10:58
Lauren Brown
So in triathlon, if you are not thinking about your hydration or your nutrition, you are setting yourself up for failure. I guess maybe in high rocks, it's not always a priority for everyone. i I feel like I will beg to differ when I'm done. And then when it comes to equipment, high rocks, you just show up with your body, your sneakers, and you go as a triathlete, you got to make sure that all of your equipment is dialed in. So I'm feeling a lot less stressed about going into a high rocks race,
00:11:28
Lauren Brown
then triathlon so there's that but one thing to consider which i thought this was a great question to kind of ponder is which sport punishes poor race poor pacing more and i think it's equal just totally different
00:11:48
Rich
I agree. That's the same thought I had.
00:11:50
Lauren Brown
something
00:11:50
Rich
Lauren was like, they're, they're both equally important, but they're very different.
00:11:55
Lauren Brown
Yep. And I think for we're used to running on tired legs, right? That's actually the heart of triathlon that you actually have to really train for.
00:12:01
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:12:05
Lauren Brown
I mean, you have to for all it, but you still, you train for running on tired legs. But again, something in in the videos that I've been watching and then been popping up on my feed, it's like, if you go out too high in a high rocks and try to run that first K,
00:12:18
Lauren Brown
and go balls to the wall, like that last 1K run and then finishing with 100 wall balls, like having to 100 squats really with the the wall ball, your legs are are toast. So I'm thinking I wanna to try to take like, I don't know, I'm trying to remember what I was thinking if I was like five minutes for each K, like run somewhere at like maybe like an eight minute per mile pace.
00:12:44
Lauren Brown
I don't know, we'll see, that could be terrible idea.
00:12:48
Rich
Girl, I can just taste the, the iron in my mouth right now from like the effort, you know, when you go so hard that it's like blood is in your mouth.
00:12:56
Lauren Brown
Yes.
00:12:56
Rich
Yeah.
00:12:57
Rich
That's what it, that's what I'm thinking of right now. When I think of this.
00:12:57
Lauren Brown
Yes.
00:13:01
Lauren Brown
Yep. Can't wait.
00:13:03
Rich
All right. So why are endurance athletes surprisingly good at high rocks? endurance athletes bring a few different tools to this kit. So one, they have the endure, the, aerobic capacity.
00:13:17
Rich
They've got the, uh, capacity to handle, a an effort that requires,
00:13:26
Rich
skill speed and, sustained movement throughout the entirety of the race. So having that incredible engine to get you from start to finish at a high level, that's what an endurance athlete can bring as well as the mental toughness.
00:13:43
Rich
riding that line of wanting to vomit. And, uh, yeah, yeah.
00:13:49
Lauren Brown
We love that. Yeah.
00:13:51
Rich
We love
Why Do Endurance Athletes Excel in Hirox?
00:13:52
Rich
that. Oh my gosh.
00:13:52
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:13:54
Rich
Yeah. That is definitely a level of grit and mental toughness to stay at that, that for an hour. and then that pacing discipline, knowing What is the line and not going past it so that you are, shortchanging yourself at the end and the ability to suffer.
00:14:13
Rich
That's definitely, uh, that is definitely within the endurance space.
00:14:15
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:14:35
Rich
Muscle fibers, all those need to be developed and worked. So learning how to do that and knowing how to execute. And then, switching between stations and running, right.
00:14:46
Rich
All of plays a huge hand in being, and then sled work.
00:14:46
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:14:51
Rich
I, you know, I listened to Nick bear from, uh, BPN and he he's done a couple of high rocks and this was one of the areas that he thought he had in the bag. Cause he's a big muscular guy. But he didn't train it.
00:15:05
Rich
So this was what this was one of those stations that because he thought he was good, but he wasn't trained, he he suffered. So that is something that you absolutely need to be training for are these different types of power, these different types of endurance that are going to demand different signals from your body. And then, of course, functional, right? Your ability to move from station to station without twisting an ankle.
00:15:32
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:15:33
Rich
without falling on your face without, pulling a muscle.
00:15:38
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:15:38
Rich
Like there's, yeah, there's a lot going on here. So that functional strength endurance. And then of course, like we talked about transitioning from strength to running, that is a different, that is a different style of training completely.
00:15:52
Lauren Brown
Yeah. And this kind of leads right into really what surprises first time High Rocks athletes. as far as like some of the stations go and going right into the sled work, how you were mentioning, it's it's funny. So when I first started, even when I would do sled work before even considering high rocks, right? Because I would still sometimes do sled work.
00:16:15
Lauren Brown
I would be more inclined to just push and have maybe like a micro bend in my elbows. And then looking at videos, it was like leaning into it almost more with your shoulders.
00:16:25
Lauren Brown
And then again, I was watching a video and the guy was talking about how he actually keeps his arms straight, but then somebody else was like, that's basically like doing an overhead squat versus a back squat.
00:16:36
Rich
Mm-hmm. Yep.
00:16:36
Lauren Brown
it's a lot easier to do a back squat, right?
00:16:37
Rich
yep
00:16:38
Lauren Brown
Where just your legs are dealing with it rather than your shoulders and and getting any extra taxing and just the strength from your legs. And so when I started pushing more with leaning into it with my shoulders as part as opposed to my arms out straight, I was like, huh, this is so much easier.
00:16:55
Lauren Brown
It's not easy, but it was definitely easier for me. So I think really, if especially if you're not used to sled pushes or wall balls or farmer carries, like looking into different techniques and trying them because again, some people might be better with arms out in front of them versus leaning into it maybe. and Really, rather than going into your first high rocks with only trying, like, I'm going to just push the sled this way, or I'm going just carry the kettlebells a certain way, trying different methods and see what actually makes you stronger and makes you less fatigued. Because the for me going into this, I'm like, I want to get through each station with as little fatigue as possible.
00:17:45
Lauren Brown
right? So I want to rest maybe before I'm feeling like, you know, it feels like there's lactic acid in my, you know, whatever you might be feeling, right? That it's like the, that you're just building, building, building and getting exhausted, like rest before you're too exhausted. It's almost like having nutrition before you're hungry, right? Rest before you're too taxed.
00:18:08
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:18:08
Lauren Brown
So anyway, that's a little bit sidetracked, but I think for the, the sled, it can be a matter of changing your body position and realizing, oh, that actually made a big difference.
00:18:20
Lauren Brown
With the wall balls, again, i watched a video where she was talking about like the wall ball is actually really a hip hinge movement, if you think about it. She's like, if you change your thought and think of it as a hip hinge, as opposed to just like tossing the ball up.
00:18:36
Lauren Brown
So i think from my perspective with training has been looking at each exercise a little bit differently than my first knee jerk reaction is to approach the exercises. And one thing I've been doing for like grip fatigue is something else that's come up.
00:18:55
Lauren Brown
I've been doing, and I started doing this more for my swimming and for my shoulder mobility and just doing dead hangs. And then I realized after I've been doing dead hangs for a while, I'm like, Oh, this is definitely going to help my farmer carry. Cause I do a dead hang. I'll do like two to three sets of one minute and hang.
00:19:11
Lauren Brown
And I know that's going to carry over to the farmer carry because I weigh more than 16, well, 16 kilograms in each hand. Right. So I think those are a few things to consider. And then how hard the running is going to feel, I know that's going to be different than running off the bike, but I don't know. I feel like we have a little bit of practice of running on, on dead legs.
00:19:39
Lauren Brown
So, I think, uh, one other thing that can be similar, like similar, but different with triathlon is transitions. So we transition heavy with triathlon in the sense that we practice it, we practice we practice it, but we have two transitions.
00:19:57
Lauren Brown
This is going to be like, eight minimum, maybe 16. I'm trying to think of how it would work because you're transitioning to your 1K, transitioning back, transitioning to your 1K.
00:20:05
Rich
Yeah.
00:20:05
Lauren Brown
So it's it is a lot of transitions. So
00:20:11
Rich
You put it like that. That's pretty mind blowing too. Right.
00:20:15
Lauren Brown
yeah.
00:20:15
Rich
And that mental, that's where that mental toughness really comes in because sticking through each one of these and just kind of chipping away at it strategically to the end, that is, that is the mindset of of, uh, endurance there, get it onto the next, onto the next, onto the next and chip away versus looking at it from the, oh my gosh, I got to do all of that.
00:20:37
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:20:42
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, but I think, I think Hierarchs is great for anybody who, uh, maybe it's little bit more like ADD, like they want to switch and switch and switch.
00:20:53
Lauren Brown
like where That's why I even thought for me when I first wanted to do triathlons, I'm like, this is great because it's not just running, it's not just swimming, it's not just biking where I get like, well, I know it's crazy.
00:21:01
Rich
Karen Hollweg,
00:21:06
Lauren Brown
I'm like, I feel like I'm more excited to do a full distance Ironman than if I had to do a a full like marathon. Even though I know it's just one leg of the Ironman, but there's still something about being like swim, bike, run that just feels mentally easier for me.
00:21:23
Rich
agreed. I will, I will fully support that. I have done a couple of long, longer distance mountain bike races. And I'm like, man, I wish this was a triathlon.
00:21:35
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:21:36
Lauren Brown
Yeah. You're like, you need that little switch up, even if it's longer.
00:21:39
Rich
Yes. Yeah. It's hard. Yep.
00:21:42
Rich
Exactly.
00:21:42
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:21:44
Rich
All right. So who should try high rocks? We got a little list here. Of course, we talked a lot about triathletes, runners, cyclists, former athletes, fitness, enthusiasts, enthusiasts, and people intimidated by traditional endurance sports. I think this is a great gateway into endurance through strength, which is what I love about this too. I'm i'm sure there might be people who roll their eyes at this, but high rocks is definitely built for the hybrid athlete.
00:22:15
Rich
And what that means is the ability to have competitiveness at both ends of the spectrum. And I think Hyrex blends that beautifully.
00:22:28
Lauren Brown
Yeah, I think it's, it's important to do both. That's why when people even ask, should i do strength training? Should i do cardio? Even just from a general fitness perspective, I'm always like, well, your heart's your most important muscle. You still want to, you want to work on your heart, which granted you can do with strength training, but I think it's it really is a huge test of overall fitness because April, you and I both preach pretty hardcore the importance of strength training for triathletes. Both of us with our athletes and probably with anyone who will listen to us, we're like, you need to have strength training in your program. And this is a great way to enter a race that's going to really push you to incorporate strength training, you know functional fitness, whatever you want to call it, into your regular programs.
00:23:22
Rich
Yes. I love that. we are staunch believers in the power of strength. And, uh, I would go so far to say that strength should be prioritized and, never be out of your programming, regardless of whether or not you do triathlon. And I know Lauren's shaking her head also. but this is again, a great way to sit in that sweet spot between endurance and functional fitness and, get, get you something, a taste of something new.
00:23:48
Lauren Brown
Yes. love it.
00:23:49
Rich
All right, Lauren, this is the part where we're going to ask you some questions about your upcoming High Rocks, which I can't wait to to learn a little bit more and hear what you're thinking and how you're planning.
00:23:51
Lauren Brown
Do it.
00:24:03
Rich
But you are taking on your first High Rocks doubles event, and I would love to know a little bit more about your journey and how this came to be. So what made you decide to sign up?
00:24:16
Lauren Brown
So my friend, Kathy, who i actually raced world championships with in Marbella, and we did another 70.3 together. So we've done a couple of races together in the triathlon world.
00:24:26
Lauren Brown
She actually, she reached out to me because her anticipated partner, i think she tore her Achilles. She had something happen where she just could not train. And she reached out to me and was like, would you want to do high rocks with me?
00:24:43
Lauren Brown
And I was like, oh, My major branch was like, hell yeah. And then I was like, wait, how far out is it from Lake Placid? Cause I was like, it's six weeks so out. So I was like, I will, I'm like, let me just run it by my coach and make sure he doesn't think I'm being completely crazy. And I was not. And so, yeah so she asked me and I'm like, i I have a hard time saying no to doing a new challenge and,
00:25:11
Lauren Brown
I also, i I've been intrigued by it because its it is kind of up my alley in terms of the way i i train and and my strengths. so So I was asked and it was it was an offer I couldn't refuse.
00:25:24
Rich
ha
00:25:25
Lauren Brown
but
00:25:27
Rich
So what I'm hearing is you are you and Kathy are going to take on doubles. Can you talk about how that works?
00:25:34
Lauren Brown
So you basically, every one K that you do, you have, I don't remember the exact distance. We're just going to run side by side. We're both similar in our pacing anyway. So you have to stay within a certain distance of your partner for your, what the one K run. And then you basically split up the stations however you want. I mean, there are certain rules, right? So like with the sandbag, walking lunges like the sandbag can't touch the ground when you're doing the skier the handles need to touch before your partner grabs them but you can really like play to each other's strengths and split it 50 50 or if one of you is stronger you know or if one of you needs a longer rest you can rest so you're basically
00:26:21
Lauren Brown
partnering up and splitting the distances that are mandated for the the doubles race.
00:26:28
Rich
Excellent. And I would love for you to share with the audience, kind of like your partner, Kathy, how tell me if I were to look at a picture of you two, what what am I seeing?
00:26:38
Lauren Brown
We are like twins.
00:26:38
Rich
What am I seeing, Lauren?
00:26:39
Lauren Brown
We are like Danny DeVito and Arnold Schwarzenegger, me being Danny DeVito.
00:26:44
Lauren Brown
So for those of you who have who don't know or haven't heard me talk about my, I'm five feet tall. I'm a solid five feet tall.
00:26:50
Rich
he
00:26:52
Lauren Brown
And Kathy, i want to say she's somewhere between like five, 10 and six feet tall. She is she maybe six feet tall. We are drastically different and we have matching outfits and we are going look like mother and daughter or I don't know what. But
00:27:10
Lauren Brown
So I like that when we did the the tough man, 70.3 last year, we took a picture and I'm standing on a bench and we're like the same height. Yeah.
00:27:21
Rich
but Oh my gosh.
00:27:25
Lauren Brown
Yeah. yeah So it's going to be fun. We're going to, we're to look great.
00:27:28
Rich
I can't wait to see the photos. I can't wait to see the you two in action. It's it is. It's going to be amazing.
00:27:34
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. There's gonna have to be something with like me sitting on her shoulder or something.
00:27:40
Rich
Well, you we are hearing Kathy has a height advantage here. What strengths does Kathy bring that compliment yours?
00:27:48
Lauren Brown
So i I mean, we haven't trained together for this. I know she's done a couple of like high rocks, like specific classes or are training, whatever.
00:27:59
Lauren Brown
But my guess is going to the wall ball might be a little bit more friendly for her because she's going be closer to the target no matter what.
00:28:07
Rich
Yeah, yeah.
00:28:23
Lauren Brown
so i think I'll probably carry my weight still on the sled push and pull because that's not going to be as much of a height dependent area and I feel pretty good with the pull and the push.
00:28:39
Lauren Brown
i feel definitely I feel good with the farmer carry. And again, that's like, even though she's taller, I don't think her walking stride is gonna be that much of an advantage because grip strength also comes into play there. And like I said, i've been doing my dead hangs like,
00:28:56
Rich
Hmm. Hmm.
00:28:57
Lauren Brown
very regularly for the last couple months now, just again, as part of my training anyway. So those three, the wall ball skier and rower because of her height will be, we'll probably keep an eye does it make sense for like us to do 250, 250, or it 300, 200, 300, 200 when we're splitting it up to get to the thousand meters.
00:29:21
Lauren Brown
So she's been really great with sending a lot of videos with technique of how to pass the sandbag to each other or the kettlebells on the farmer carry.
00:29:32
Lauren Brown
but again, we haven't been able to practice it in person, but I'll get to her house tomorrow. We're going to have sleepover and talk all game planning the night before.
00:29:41
Rich
An adult sleepover talking about high rocks. Yes. but
00:29:46
Lauren Brown
That's it. That's what we do.
00:29:48
Rich
And don't let audience, I need you to know, yes, Lauren shared she is an outstanding five foot tall, but she is a packed powerhouse. Like this girl can move.
00:29:58
Rich
She is fast. She is strong. Yeah, I know you're going to bring it. i'm Yeah, I'm so excited.
00:30:03
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:30:05
Rich
It's given me like goosebumps. Yeah.
00:30:08
Lauren Brown
you. I won't let you down.
00:30:10
Rich
Oh no, know I know. I can't wait to see it in action. It might even prompt me to do it. That's so cool.
00:30:16
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:30:17
Rich
what has surprised you most in your training, Lauren?
00:30:22
Lauren Brown
I would say, and this is something I knew going into it, but how strength training, the way that high rocks is strength training, makes you think, do I do cardio at all?
00:30:39
Lauren Brown
I'm like, dang, i could i could do 70.3 miles. And I'm like, I mean, obviously it's not easy, but it's, but, and then I'm like rowing, you know, 200 meters at a clip and maybe supersetting with something. and i'm like, huh, whew.
00:30:56
Lauren Brown
I was like, and you know, Varan, so Varan's one of my friends, one of my athletes also, and we work out together and we're both like, I'm like, geez, like, you know, I'm doing the skier and then doing walking lunges and I'm just, you know, hunched over trying to catch my breath and thinking,
00:30:59
Rich
Thank you.
00:31:16
Lauren Brown
I don't get it. I could do i could do like Maeve shuttles and and sprint at like, you know, like a six something pace and then I'm like recovering and fine. So it is, it's, our bodies are built to handle different demands cardiovascularly. And so when you're demanding different things from your muscles and different things from your cardio respiratory system,
00:31:41
Lauren Brown
they don't it doesn't always have a direct transfer. transfer so I think that for me was like, uh, when you assume because you train a high volume of cardio that most cardio things are easy. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:01
Rich
They're not.
00:32:03
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:32:03
Rich
Yeah, it's, it's, it's anaerobic too, with the, with the strength component. So you, you are really, when I say riding a line like that, that is it right there.
00:32:13
Rich
You're, you're just hoping, hoping praying that you can, you can maintain it and manage that fatigue as much as possible before you hit the edge.
00:32:14
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:32:22
Lauren Brown
Yeah. And so I think like considering that, right, when you think about going from anaerobic to aerobic and
00:32:23
Rich
Yeah.
The Critical Role of Pacing in Hirox Events
00:32:29
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:32:30
Lauren Brown
switching over, it that's where even the pacing, not going out too hot, even though 1K is 1K a long run,
00:32:34
Rich
Yeah.
00:32:39
Lauren Brown
comparatively to what we might do in training? No, 1K a fraction of the run that you might normally do, but you might wanna go out the first, like, you know, even 200 meters and just jog and then pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up because you have to be able to shift.
00:33:00
Lauren Brown
And so I think that's gonna be something that might be a new takeaway after the race.
00:33:07
Rich
Yeah, I, I, I'm looking forward to the recap of how this went and and how, how you manage that, that switch back and forth. What has been harder than expected?
00:33:20
Lauren Brown
I'm going to say probably recovery and fueling for me. So i think i i have a I've always done strength training and endurance, but the sometimes with my strength training, I'm going a little bit slower. I'm doing more stability core work. And and yes, I'll always have like squats, deadlifts in some of my foundational movements, but I, you know, I say this lot, you can't out train a bad diet. Not that my diet is bad.
00:33:56
Lauren Brown
My diet is sometimes I probably under fuel because When you're, for me, when I'm strength training, i don't necessarily think, oh, let me like have carbs while I'm doing this. It feels like a short workout. When I'm in my triathlon mindset, I'm like,
00:34:15
Lauren Brown
electrolytes, gels, you know carbs before, our carbs after. And there have definitely been times that I'm like strength training and then jumping into a session maybe with a client and I'm like, I'll have a shake after. And it's just, it's that cumulative fatigue and it will catch up with you. And I think for somebody who's balancing triathlon training,
00:34:41
Lauren Brown
And high rocks, it's not just 30 minutes of going through the motions to make sure you're not losing strength during your in season. Right. So it's it's still high demand strength training with triathlon. So while all of the disciplines were like, OK, like wall balls definitely gas the hell out of you. And they are the last thing. So I'm sure the wall balls are going humble me real quick.
00:35:06
Lauren Brown
But if I'm looking at it from my training perspective going into this, my nutrition was probably something that I could have, or I just, I always need to, we need to eat more. I just, that's like the common problem for most endurance athletes is that we do not eat enough.
00:35:23
Rich
Yeah, you bring up an excellent point with the importance of that recovery shake, that recovery meal, and what that can do when you put it off, right?
00:35:36
Rich
It's not, it might not affect you right here, right now, but when it comes to tomorrow's workout or the, you know, and that that's a repeated cycle, that compounding fatigue is what, what unfortunately does us in
00:35:46
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:35:51
Lauren Brown
very real.
00:35:52
Rich
very real Lauren, which station are you most confident about?
00:35:58
Lauren Brown
The one k run.
00:36:02
Rich
Thankfully you have eight of those.
00:36:02
Lauren Brown
That's not, yeah, I know.
00:36:03
Rich
Yeah.
00:36:05
Lauren Brown
Like the 1K run is probably my most confident where I'm like, okay, we're home here.
00:36:08
Lauren Brown
This is what we know. But I think out of all of them, i mean, I'm um'm least nervous about probably the farmer's calorie and the broad jump burpees.
00:36:10
Rich
Yes.
00:36:19
Lauren Brown
Those I think will go by pretty quick. But I think if I'm looking at, think, I'm kind of looking forward to the sled push and just seeing how that feels. But farmer carry, again, because my grip strength, I feel like is kind of in a good spot. And broad jump burpees. I don't know. Those are just fun to me. i don't know. You're just like jumping and landing on the floor, jumping up. i I'm sure many people but I don't don't And I might hate them after Sunday, but I think that those are probably my two like easy-ish ones.
00:36:54
Rich
Yeah, I was curious to hear if the burpees would come in because I could see you just exploding through those.
00:37:00
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah. It's so funny because whenever I teach and I have burpees and i' be like I'm like, why are burpees like, and I know people hate burpees. I'm like, it's just jumping up and down.
00:37:09
Rich
Because you're so low to the ground, girl
00:37:12
Lauren Brown
I know. And that was another thing that I was like, through my videos and they were like, it's not about how high just jumping far. And I'm like, I could definitely jump further than high. So for me, I'm just going to poof.
00:37:23
Rich
Yeah.
00:37:23
Lauren Brown
And I really, I can just like, land and be on my stomach in two seconds.
00:37:23
Rich
i love that.
00:37:27
Rich
Yeah. I love that. I love that.
00:37:29
Lauren Brown
Yeah. So, bang those out.
00:37:30
Rich
Oh, all right. What is, uh, what stations keeping you up at night?
00:37:37
Lauren Brown
For me,
00:37:40
Lauren Brown
I hope the sled pull doesn't do me in. I think the sled pull is just gonna be making sure my form is okay and I'm not just relying on my upper body strength because I tend to do that and I know I need to use my lower body.
00:37:51
Rich
Mm-hmm.
00:37:53
Lauren Brown
So that's something like I've done rock climbing or like bouldering And even when I would do that, the person I was with was like you need to use your lower body. You're just trying to do pull-ups. And I'm like, I know, I just feel better doing that.
00:38:04
Lauren Brown
So I think I need to be careful on the sled pull. And remember, it's not just an upper body movement. It's my lower body. And then walking lunges, this is more of like my right knee has been so funky lately that bending my right knee is not really comfortable.
00:38:19
Rich
and
00:38:22
Lauren Brown
So getting my right knee to the ground is stressing me out a little bit because my main thing going into this, and I just spoke with Coach k with my coach about it And I said, my main thing is that I want to have fun and I don't want this to be something that hinders my training for Lake Placid.
00:38:41
Lauren Brown
And so the real stress is that i I have issues on the walking lunges because my right knee getting to the ground is going to aggravate my knee.
00:38:51
Rich
Lauren, do you wear knee sleeves but for those? What are you thinking?
00:38:54
Lauren Brown
I don't, I don't. I was talking to my physical therapist and he's like, he doesn't really think that it's, that will help the issue with my knee because it's not that there's like a tracking thing. It literally feels like, like there's a rubber band under my knee that's going snap.
00:39:11
Rich
Oh, okay.
00:39:11
Lauren Brown
So it's not like, it's not that my knee feels like it's out of track.
00:39:12
Rich
Okay.
00:39:14
Lauren Brown
It's just, it's hard to bend it.
00:39:17
Rich
Okay, wow.
00:39:18
Lauren Brown
Yeah. And it's hard to bend it when my hip is in extension. So like right now, if I'm sitting and my hip is flexed, so that's why when my right knee is behind me and the right knee has to touch the ground and I'm in more hip extension, that's where it gets aggravated.
00:39:29
Rich
Yeah.
00:39:32
Lauren Brown
So, but if it, you know, that's where my six foot tall partner is going to step up and take over those one.
00:39:40
Rich
Yes.
00:39:42
Lauren Brown
So that's the benefit of working with a team. We're going to just, you know, we're going to help each other out where we need to.
00:39:47
Rich
complement each other. yep
00:39:49
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:39:50
Rich
So with the lunges, your knee has to touch the ground for it to count.
00:39:53
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:39:54
Rich
Okay.
00:39:55
Lauren Brown
Yep. And you'll either get a time penalty or I don't know if they'll make you redo it, but I hear that the judges there are like, Anya,
00:40:05
Rich
Yeah, I believe it. I I've, some of the footage I've seen because it is such a packed event, like they have judges everywhere and it, I can understand why it's, there's a lot going on so I can understand why they would have that presence.
00:40:19
Lauren Brown
yeah avenue
00:40:23
Rich
all right, Lauren, my last, my last question for you, what are your race day goals?
00:40:31
Lauren Brown
So
Lauren's Goals for Hirox Doubles Event
00:40:32
Lauren Brown
it's a good question. i was trying to figure out like times and because I still always want to have a time goal. I don't really necessarily have any idea like what would get me get us placing, but I think an hour, 10 minutes would be like a very competitive time for us to finish in.
00:40:51
Lauren Brown
My friend who just raised said that the the New York course was a lot harder. So I guess there are some technical things that come into play with the 1K run and where like the in and out is for station. So I would say anywhere between an hour 10, hour 20.
00:41:07
Lauren Brown
i know that's a big ballpark, but since we've never neither of us have ever done it, we're both newbies.
00:41:10
Rich
Yeah, it's first time. Yeah.
00:41:12
Lauren Brown
I would like to do it without penalties. and without being like, those are obviously newbies. They no idea what they're doing. They're getting lost in an indoor race.
00:41:21
Rich
Oh, my God.
00:41:24
Rich
oh
00:41:27
Lauren Brown
And I really just want to have fun. i said it from the start, even for 2026, is that I've i've had a lot of seasons of putting pressure on myself of like, I want a podium.
00:41:37
Lauren Brown
I want to qualify for Worlds. i want And this year I'm like, I just want to make memories. I want to like,
00:41:43
Rich
Yes.
00:41:44
Lauren Brown
be in the moment and just have fun. And if something doesn't feel comfortable, it's my choice to to say like, not right now. So I wanna just, I wanna laugh a lot.
00:41:58
Lauren Brown
i want to like I want to have some really fun pictures of us in our cute little outfit. our our our zoot We have our matching zoot, like those like longer sports bras and shorts.
00:42:04
Rich
yes
00:42:09
Lauren Brown
So i just if I'm looking at a time perspective, hour 10, hour 20, hey, listen, if we can podium, because I told you my friends, like, F this, we're world champions. it's because we both race in merbella together so if we can podium and be two newbie triathletes podiuming podiuming there like that would just be like you can't help it there's always gonna be piece of me that wants to podium but yeah but for me it's it's it really is all about like let's just have freaking fun let's just be you know let's just do what we do we're both competitive in the triathlon world and let's
00:42:31
Rich
Oh yeah. Yeah. Fuel that fire, baby. Yeah.
00:42:45
Lauren Brown
shut people up who say triathletes don't belong in high rocks.
00:42:47
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:42:48
Rich
m
00:42:49
Rich
I love it. I love the mixture of fun and feisty. I think you ladies are really going to bring it and, and also super inspire. So I can't wait to hear how goes. I can't wait to see the photos and your race recap.
00:43:03
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:43:04
Rich
Lauren, before we close out for the night, it's time for everyone's favorite, completely unscientific test of athletic judgment.
00:43:11
Rich
Yes. That is our fun segment. I am calling this in honor of you. High rocks or hell nah.
00:43:24
Rich
So I'm going to describe a situation in your job is simple.
00:43:24
Lauren Brown
love it
00:43:28
Rich
You're going to tell us whether that's high rocks, meaning totally normal behavior in the sport or hell nah, meaning absolutely not. Who thought this was a good idea?
00:43:40
Lauren Brown
All Let's see.
00:43:42
Rich
Let's go. all right. Running one kilometer, just so you can immediately push a sled that weighs more than your first car high rocks or hell nah.
00:43:51
Lauren Brown
that's high rocks.
00:43:52
Rich
Yeah, baby. ha That is normal operating procedure up in here. Yes. Paying money to do 100 wall balls after you've already been exercising for over an hour high rocks or hell nah.
00:44:08
Lauren Brown
I mean, it's high rocks, but I want to say hell not.
00:44:13
Rich
Yeah. When we were talking about the one that keeps you up at night, the wall balls that would keep me up that, that, that is the one that I think I would yeah lose my lunch.
00:44:20
Lauren Brown
Yeah, that's going to be tough. Yeah.
00:44:23
Rich
Calling burpee broad jumps a good opportunity to recover.
00:44:28
Lauren Brown
I mean, I might think it's a good opportunity to recover, but I feel like most people under the sun are like, hell nah.
00:44:33
Rich
not
00:44:35
Lauren Brown
And I don't think Higher Rocks was thinking it either.
00:44:39
Rich
All right. Practicing lunges in your garage while your neighbors quietly question your life choices. he Hell rocks. High rocks or hell nah.
00:44:48
Lauren Brown
should be called Hell Rocks.
00:44:49
Rich
Hell rocks, yes.
00:44:53
Lauren Brown
I'll say that's, I'm going to say it's a hell nah.
00:44:56
Rich
Okay.
00:44:57
Lauren Brown
We'll go with hell nah.
00:44:57
Rich
I like it.
00:45:00
Rich
Finishing a workout and thinking, you know what this needs? More sleds.
00:45:07
Lauren Brown
Hirox.
00:45:08
Lauren Brown
I'm
00:45:11
Rich
Having stronger opinions about grip strength and world events, high rocks or hell nah.
00:45:16
Lauren Brown
going to say Hirox because I'm all for that right now.
00:45:22
Rich
Yes, girl.
00:45:22
Lauren Brown
really
00:45:23
Rich
I was like, that's definitely high rocks. Yes.
00:45:25
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:45:25
Rich
Hell yes. All right. Looking at a race course and saying only eight runs. That's not bad.
00:45:33
Lauren Brown
Uh, hell no.
00:45:37
Rich
16 transitions. Yeah.
00:45:38
Lauren Brown
yeah That's yeah, that's another reason why I also was like so done with even duathlons because I was like, I don't want to run twice.
00:45:45
Rich
Yeah.
00:45:45
Lauren Brown
Well, no.
00:45:45
Rich
Goodness. Hell nah. oh Spending 20 minutes discussing wall ball strategy.
00:45:54
Lauren Brown
I
00:45:55
Rich
That's high rocks for sure. You and Kathy are going to be doing just that this weekend. My God.
00:45:59
Lauren Brown
know. I know. I just did like a pushup competition and I was like, that was really dumb. My chest is so sore. was
00:46:06
Rich
Oh, yeah. Your form was beautiful though.
00:46:08
Lauren Brown
like, oh, thank you.
00:46:09
Rich
I got to say.
00:46:11
Lauren Brown
But i was like, what dumb idea.
00:46:14
Rich
yeah
00:46:15
Lauren Brown
good.
00:46:15
Rich
all right. Number nine, signing up for another high rocks before your legs have forgiven you for the last one.
00:46:21
Lauren Brown
That's probably very high rocks in the high rocks community. That's probably like saying we're never to do an Ironman and then signing up for another one like the next day.
00:46:25
Rich
Oh yes.
00:46:29
Lauren Brown
Like you have like one beer as a celebration and you're probably like super tipsy. Like this is a great idea. i'm just going to sign up for another one.
00:46:35
Rich
Yeah. It just takes 24 hours, baby. And you're back on. Yeah. It's crazy how that works. Crazy.
00:46:40
Lauren Brown
Yeah. Yeah.
00:46:42
Rich
All right. Last one. Referring to a workout as fun, even though you saw your soul, leave your body halfway through it. High rocks or hell nah.
00:46:54
Lauren Brown
I'm going say hell nah, but I have to share.
00:46:56
Rich
Yeah.
00:46:58
Lauren Brown
There was a reel I ended up sending to Kathy because I sent it to her and I was like, LOL. And then I actually watched it and I was like, oh wait, I don't think this was an LOL reel.
00:47:09
Lauren Brown
because it's
00:47:11
Rich
Bye.
00:47:12
Lauren Brown
It started with her being like, it was almost like it seemed funny to me because she was like talking about like what you expect when you're going to High Rocks. And it was like basically like your soul leaving your body. And then it switched to her, a picture, a video of like her in the hospital because like she ended up but and I was like, I sent her and then I like rewatched it. and I was like, oh, wait, I don't think that was supposed to be funny.
00:47:33
Rich
Quite literally. oh my gosh. Well, Lauren, congratulations. Based on your answers, you've officially demonstrated the exact level of questionable decision-making required to be successful in high rocks, including laughing when your soul leads your body.
00:47:51
Rich
And honestly, that's what makes high rocks so special on
Challenges and Rewards of Hirox Participation
00:47:55
Rich
paper. It sounds ridiculous and practice. It's incredibly challenging and somewhere between the sled pushes the wall balls, the moments where you're questioning every life decision that brought you there, you discover you're capable of a lot more than you thought, which sounds suspiciously like endurance sports. So Lauren, thank you for playing high rocks or hell. Nah.
00:48:17
Lauren Brown
Always. I freaking, I love, love the fun segment. So thank you for always making me laugh until my, my cheeks hurt. It's like my favorite part and, uh, give a little shout out to our sponsor who I will definitely be bringing along with me on Sunday, right before I,
00:48:36
Lauren Brown
or maybe about 30 minutes before my start time, Vespa. So Get Gritty sponsor Vespa Power. If you are not familiar with it, definitely check it out. Vespa Power Endurance helps you tap into steady, clean energy so you stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer.
00:48:54
Lauren Brown
Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source. It comes in CV 25, junior, and concentrate, giving you less sugar, higher performance,
00:49:10
Lauren Brown
Faster recovery, which we all know is extremely important. Home of Vespa power products. So you can use our discount code G2GVespa15. There will also be a link in the show notes that you can click on and automatically get that 15% discount on your order.
00:49:30
Rich
Thanks for spending time with us today on the grit to greatness endurance podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us and leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts and YouTube.
00:49:40
Rich
It helps us reach more athletes like you stay gritty, train smart and keep chasing greatness.
00:49:45
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:49:47
Rich
We will see you next week.