HYROX TORONTO | RACE-DAY NUTRITION GUIDE
Problem: HYROX sits in an awkward nutritional middle ground.
It is longer than most HIIT workouts, more intense than a steady endurance event, and difficult to eat or drink consistently because you are constantly alternating between running and functional stations. For Hyrox racers looking for a boost in performance, a good plan is not about consuming as much as fuel as possible in the days leading up to the event and hoping for the best. It is about starting with a good plan, for both the day before, the hours before, and during the race, and understanding where your non- negotiables sit and what is up for individual preference.
The same principles apply across open, pro, and doubles races, but the specifics required changes substantially. A solo athlete expecting a two-hour finish has different needs from a fast doubles athlete or a pro looking for a 1% performance edge. The nutrition plan for Hyrox needs to be built around your race, your physiology, your goals and your personal background with different fuelling strategies.
The night before: top up, do not overload
You do not need an enormous pasta dinner the night before your Hyrox race. If training has tapered and you have eaten normally, glycogen stores should already be reasonably well supplied. For most athletes, the goal is a familiar carbohydrate-centred meal that is large enough to finish the day well fuelled but not so large that it disrupts sleep or digestion. While Hyrox is a longer event than most HIIT classes, you do not need to carbohydrate load to the same degree that someone who is running a marathon needs to.
A useful dinner target is roughly 1-2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body mass. A 75 kg athlete might aim for 75-150 grams from foods such as rice, potatoes, pasta, bread and fruit. One practical meal could include 1.5-2 cups of cooked rice, a moderate serving of lean protein, cooked vegetables, a bread roll and fruit for dessert. Athletes expecting to race longer than 90 minutes should also ensure the whole day has not been unintentionally low in carbohydrate; approximately 5-7 g/kg across the day is a reasonable general range during a lighter training or pre-competition day.
Keep fat, fibre, and spice conservative, especially if your stomach is sensitive. You should avoid alcohol completely because of its affect on sleep, GI comfort, and it generally not being beneficial for your race. Use a normal amount of salt with dinner rather than attempting a large sodium load. Too much sodium can cause GI upset and water retention, both of which will not have you feeling your best on the start line. Drink fluid steadily with the meal and through the evening, aiming for normal thirst and pale-yellow urine. Clear urine and repeated trips to the bathroom are signs that you are already maximally hydrated and more water is not necessarily better.
Race morning: finish the job early
Your start time determines breakfast timing. The standard pre-exercise range is 1-4 g/kg of carbohydrate in the 2-4 hours before exercise, with more food requiring more time to digest. We want to be even stricter on limiting fibre, fat and even protein for this meal (small amounts are fine, but you shouldn’t have 6 eggs) so that you allow your stomach to empty before hitting the start line. For HYROX, most athletes will do well with 1-2 g/kg approximately two to four hours before the start. A 75 kg athlete would therefore eat about 75-150 grams. [2,3] You want to aim to have the food digested by the time the race starts, as your body is naturally going to shift blood flow away from the GI system and toward working muscles while racing. Any food left if the stomach is going to sit there, and can lead to more severe GI issues mid-race out of both ends.
Good pre-race meal ideas include a bagel with jam, a banana on toast with peanut butter; oatmeal with fruit and maple syrup, or a cereal bar with fruit if that is familiar. Race morning is not the time for a large serving of avocado, fried food, bran cereal or an unfamiliar supplement.
For hydration, a practical starting point is about 5-7 mL/kg roughly 4 hours before racing: approximately 375-525 mL for a 75 kg athlete. If urine remains dark or you have not urinated, another 3-5 mL/kg about two hours before the start may be appropriate. Sip your drink rather than chugging large quantities at a time and include sodium through a normal salted meal or an electrolyte drink if you are a heavy, salty sweater. Athletes with kidney, heart or blood-pressure conditions should obtain individualized advice before deliberately increasing fluid or sodium, especially before exercise. [5]
If your breakfast was more than 4 hours before your wave, a 20–30-gram carbohydrate top-up 30-40 minutes before the start of your race can help keep you topped up. A gel with a small amount of water, a few chews or 250-400 mL of sports drink are simple options. If breakfast was recent and substantial, the top-up is optional.
Mid-race fuel depends on expected race duration
The carbohydrate stored as muscle and liver glycogen is the main source of fuel that for the repeated high-intensity efforts that define HYROX. Contrary to what you might think, it is not the carbohydrates immediately before or during the race that do most of the heavy lifting, it is the carbohydrates eaten in the 24-48 hours before race day that do most of the work. Pre-race and mid-race carbohydrates can help to maintain blood glucose levels, but do very little to muscular glycogen stores. Carbohydrate consumed during the race becomes increasingly useful as duration extends beyond approximately 60 minutes, but aggressive fueling can create nausea while you are pushing sleds, doing burpees or bracing through lunges. The limiting factor for most people in how fast their stomach can empty and digest the carbohydrates, not how muscle the muscle can burn. The following fuelling targets are practical starting points rather than mandatory quotas:
Under 60 min
No intake is essential
A sound pre-race meal; optional carbohydrate mouth rinse (Gatorade, etc) or 15-25 g if breakfast was early.
60-90 min
~ 20-40 g total
One gel, chews or a measured amount of sports drink.
90-120 min
~30-60 g/h
Usually one gel every 30-45 minutes, adjusted for sports drink intake and tolerance.
Over 120 min
~ 45-60 g/h
Higher intakes, up to 90 g/h, require gut training and mixed glucose-fructose sources.
Sports drinks count toward both carbohydrate and fluid totals. Do not add gels on top without doing the math first.
During the race: use simple, practiced fuelling strategies
While you are racing, you do not want to be experimenting with new fuelling strategies- that is a good way to be making friends with the closest garbage can. A few weeks before you race, you want to start experimenting with different brands of gels and drinks to see what works best for your stomach, and dialing in your race-day hourly carbohydrate totals. Most gels provide 20-30 grams of carbohydrate, with chews commonly providing 5-10 grams each, and 500 mL of sports drink often contains 20-35 grams, depending on if you are mixing your own or buying a pre-mixed version.
Practically, it makes sense to take your gels or chews near a planned water opportunity, not immediately before a high-leverage station that makes you nauseated. For a 90-120 minute race, a workable schedule is one gel around 30-40 minutes and another around 65-80 minutes. Faster athletes may need only one, while longer-duration racers may need a third. Water is helpful to make sure the gel goes down smoothly and helps to get any lingering taste out of your mouth if that is not something you want to keep tasting while racing.
Intakes above 60 g/h generally require a mixture of glucose and fructose and should be practised in training. However, they are rarely necessary for the typical HYROX racer. More carbohydrate is not automatically better when the stomach is bouncing during runs and abdominal pressure is high during stations. Practise the exact product, dose and timing in a race simulation. Just because something is done by elite marathon runners and ultra-athletes does not make it applicable to all endurance events. There is no need to be going >60g/hour for Hyrox, even though some elite marathoners are pushing 120g+/hour.
Water and electrolytes: replace what matters, not everything you’ve lost.
There is no single correct hydration rate. This includes water and electrolytes.
Sweat rate changes with genetics, body size, exercise intensity, clothing, temperature acclimatization and venue conditions. Even though HYROX is indoors, the floor can become warm and humid with that many athletes competing in an enclosed venue. Making sure that you are well- hydrated to start the event, and then drinking to thirst is a reasonable safety anchor for most competitors, particularly in a race of one to two hours. You want to avoid both substantial dehydration and drinking so much that you gain weight during the event. [5,7] During HYROX, frequent small sips are usually more tolerable than taking a full cup all at once. Personally, I prefer to drink at least something at every opportunity, even if it is only a quick mouthful. This prevents me from trying to play catch up later in races if I start to feel dehydrated.
If you want a better estimate of your specific needs, weigh yourself before and after a hard 60-minute HYROX simulation. Each kilogram lost is approximately one litre of net fluid loss after accounting for anything you drank and any urine produced. When exercising, you want to prevent a greater than 2% loss in body mass from fluid loss, which means drinking ~80-100% of fluid lost through sweat during exercise. If you lost 1.2kg after 60 minutes of exercise, you need to drink an additional 1-1.2L of fluid more than you did during that workout.
Regarding electrolytes- sodium is the main electrolyte lost in sweat, but losses vary enormously between people. Research in more than 500 athletes found predicted whole-body sweat sodium concentrations ranging from about 420 to 1,630 mg/L. That is a massive range. The good news is, you do not need to replace every milligram lost during a relatively short race. Sodium can support fluid retention and palatability, but it does not make over-drinking fluids safe and is not a guaranteed solution for cramps. Potassium and magnesium have important roles in health, but sodium and total fluid balance are the main acute electrolyte considerations during HYROX.
For a 60-120 minute indoor race, a drink containing roughly 300-600 mg of sodium per litre is a reasonable general starting point, but it is not a universal prescription that is going to work for everyone. Athletes with high sweat rates, visible salt marks or known high sweat-sodium losses may need more. [5,6] A good self-test for how salty of a sweater you are is found here:
Know your plan within the HYROX race logistics
The current HYROX rulebook states that at every event, water will be available at least once during, before or after each pass through the Roxzone; and a sports drink may also be available. However, any other nutrition you want must be carried from the start, and outside assistance is not permitted. Used gel packaging must go into the provided bins.
Practically, this means that it makes the most sense to assume you need to bring everything you need from a fuelling and electrolyte standpoint, and rely on Hyrox for only water. Even if they do provide sports drinks, you do not know the brand, flavour or concentration, and it is not worth risking GI issues or under-fuelling.
If you are racing this year, confirm in the Toronto athlete guide before race day because the available drink, cup size and aid-station layout may change from previous years or races.
A example plan for a 75 kg athlete expecting 90-100 minutes finish time
Night before:
A familiar dinner containing roughly 100-130 g of carbohydrate, moderate protein, normal salt, and fluid according to thirst.
Three hours before:
A breakfast containing 90-120 g of carbohydrate plus approximately 400-550 mL of fluid. Caffeine intake as tolerated.
Twenty to forty minutes before:
An optional 20-25 g gel with a few mouthfuls of water if breakfast was early- avoid feeling "full" of fluid or food on the start line.
During:
One 20-30 g gel around 30-40 minutes and a second around 65-75 minutes, with small drinks of water at aid stations to aid ingestion.
500mL total water consumed between 8 aid stations, ~60-70mL per aid station (2 mouthfuls).
500mL soft flask carried with the athlete with 500mg sodium. Sip on flask throughout race to finish by the 7th station.
Test the plan before Toronto
The best race-day plan is the one you have already tolerated at race intensity. Use your final hard simulations to test breakfast timing, gel placement and drinking comfort. If you want a plan built around your expected finish time, pacing, sweat response and gastrointestinal tolerance, Back in Balance Clinic offers HYROX performance testing and individualized race consultations.
BOOK A HYROX PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OR CONSULTATION
Sources
[1] HYROX. HYROX Singles Rulebook, Season 2026/27.
[2] Thomas DT, Erdman KA, Burke LM. Nutrition and Athletic Performance. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. 2016.
[3] Burke LM, Hawley JA, Wong SHS, Jeukendrup AE. Carbohydrates for Training and Competition. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2011.
[4] Burke LM et al. International Association of Athletics Federations Consensus Statement 2019: Nutrition for Athletics.
[5] McDermott BP et al. National Athletic Trainers' Association Position Statement: Fluid Replacement for the Physically Active. 2017.
[6] Baker LB et al. Normative Data for Regional Sweat Sodium Concentration and Whole-Body Sweating Rate in Athletes. 2016.
[7] Hew-Butler T et al. Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia: 2017 Update. Frontiers in Medicine. 2017.
