Melbourne Hyrox and the Down Under Adventurers

Thank yous and travel

I first need to start off by thanking Chris Wooley, Benji and Chris Griffin for making my trip down under a trip I will never forget. Traveling around the world as an athlete can be complicated as far as routine and comfort compared to what you have back home. All of these guys went out of their way to make sure that I was taken care of the whole way. Benji has been my care taker for the last year, he is a quality guy if you are looking to hire a chaperone travel companion.

Training focus leading into Melbourne

The training leading up to this race was strong in the gym paired with tons of cross training. I have been still focusing on off season conditioning. Intentionally avoiding the Hyrox movements that are the key focus of most athletes training for this sport. Why you might ask? 1. I am bored of wall balls, burpees and lunges. 2. I think that the conditioning that I need right now is mostly longer hours to achieve the big breakthrough I am looking for this season. As a bigger guy with many years under my belt of hard racing and training, I am in a position where it is best and safest to crank out big hours of movements that have the lower impact on my body day after day. Concept 2 equipment is top of the list and so is a lot of biking volume.

Strength work and Westside techniques

In the strength department I have brought back a lot of the techniques that I used to use from Westside Barbell. Now I don’t want you guys to think that I am training like a power lifter, I am just using compound lifts to get strong. My volume per movement is far lower than anyone you’d find training for strength sports. I mainly like the variation and intensity waves that they use to help keep me excited and healthy.

Race readiness and the taper mistakes

Going into this race I felt very fit but unpolished. If you put me on a bike for a few hours I would hold more watts than ever before in my life but my running wouldn’t match my peak and neither would my stations. The weeks leading up to the event I felt like a rocketship. Every time I was able to go further and further without getting tired. Every time I lifted I was able to put more weight on the bar. That being said I think my last weeks of prep were sloppy. I’ll admit that I felt that my taper and travel was too long out of routine preparing for this race so I felt a bit off the few days before. My biggest regret leading into this was probably my nutrition and my mental game. My routine was so out of place for the ten days before that my brain during the race was making mistakes left and right and my thoughts would drift off mid race constantly. For someone like me this is key for pushing the intensity. Every step and action must be one of precision and execution leading toward a win. This has happened to me several times in my career leading to huge swings in my performances. It was particularly challenging for me at the Spartan Race World Championships because of the length of the race. Hyrox being so short and intense I need every second to be locked in or slip ups like the ones that happened to me during this race will plague my results.

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Tim’s race vs my race

First of all, I would like to congratulate Tim for his hard work and smooth race. It was impressive to watch afterwards on the live stream. This is what a dialed athlete looked like. All his runs were so smooth and his stations seemed that he never was in a hard place. Me on the other hand I made mistake after mistake and you could see it in my face as I ran. My plan was to have a strong push and pull gaining 15 seconds on each station over Tim then lead off into a hard effort through burpees to the end.

The penalties and the mistakes

I came into the sled pull 12 seconds ahead of Tim, I left behind him and got a 15s penalty. I had three call backs because of my sloppy actions on the sled, not fully pulling the sled fully over the line. It was plain dumb. Panic was setting in, my whole CHARGE after the sled plan was cut back because I couldn’t afford any more penalties. My burpees were slow and safe but even here I got a call back for stepping on the last line of the burpee before I went on into the next run. Again I made a mistake at the farmer's carry after catching Tim who had 12 second lead on me already. I made my way past him quickly then missed the kettlebell drop point. Almost every station that I could make a mistake on I had done just that. It was a mess! As I went into lunges I slowed back to see if I could make one last surge on Tim on the wall balls. As we repped away I continued on with my mistake with 5 no reps and then I proceeded to drop the ball twice. As my last ball hit the target I finished ahead of Tim but I was then held in the penalty box for 15 seconds. A few reps later Tim passed me to win the race. All added up it was 50 seconds of mistakes. Not fitness, just stupidity. The bull in the china shop. Lots of power but not much control. Even as I type this now I can still see him passing me in slow motion as I stood in that box. Each moment of stupidity out on course plays over in my head.

The lesson: focus is as important as fitness

This is an important lesson for myself and all of you readers. Focus is just as important as fitness on game day. You need to be dialed. Your time in the gym is crucial to your prep but the hours outside of the gym can be just as important. Don’t allow your life to become disorganised the days before the race. Create a routine that will prevent your mind from unraveling when the pressure piles on. I have done this job for far too long to let silly things like this happen yet here we are. This is my work for next month. Time to sharpen the sword. Over the next 30 days here is my plan

Altitude

Clean off my plate, no distractions

Sled pull and burpee work

Climb as many steep hills as possible

50-60 miles of running every week!

Australia is the best

As for the down under adventure…. What can I say, Australia is the best. At this point if I hadn’t built up so much of a life here in California I would move there today. Their way of life is better. You may disagree but this isn’t your blog so keep it to yourself.

The bike rides and the best way to see a country

Benji and I had one main goal, bike as much as we could. Over three major bike rides we got 190 miles of riding and we climbed the hardest mountain I've ridden in my life. The miles were like a drug. Cycling truly is the best way to see a country if you have the time. Your attention to the things happening around you is so heightened that you really get to witness the world. Nowadays everyone is driving and walking with a phone in their hand 247. No one is fully present anymore, at least not our generation. As we rode along we would pull off to jump into a coffee shop or gas station based on how tired or inspired we were to explore what was inside. In the end I couldn’t have asked for a better way to spend a week.

Business problems and real friends

While this was all unfolding I had a few major things going on in business that made it hard to fully be present in the moment. I was here for vacation but I was often solving problems a million miles away while climbing a hill that nearly snapped my knee caps off. Benji stepped up big time for me during these days. Not only did he help me unpack the problem but he also helped me solve it and improve the situation massively. I often talk about the network effect and how important it truly is to your success and happiness in life. Many people would passively listen to your words then float off into their Tik Tok brain. True friends will step into the hole that you are in and help dig you out rather than letting you figure it out on your own. It is critical that you surround yourself with people like this. People that can be a friend you fart around with and also be a resource when times like this arrive. Life can be challenging but it doesn’t need to be a drag if you have the right people around you.

Leaving early but cup full

Unfortunately I had to leave the trip a week early but I packed every moment of excitement that I could into what I had. In the end my cup was full. I boarded the plane with a bigger smile than when I arrived, that was my main goal. If you haven’t visited Australia, make it your next trip. If you don’t have good friends like Benji, go make them. And lastly, go buy a bike, you will thank me later.

Final note

Thanks for checking out the blog! Also, we just launched our cans! Make sure to grab some before they’re gone!

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