Doing a single Hyrox event is already an impressive milestone, but continuing to chase faster times and personal bests in these challenging hybrid events takes a certain type of person. Toronto’s Vicky Chen started her Hyrox journey on a whim, but it’s become more of a lifestyle.

An event that felt accessible

“For the longest time, I just loved going to the gym,” Chen says. “I would go every day, and I also ran, on and off. When Hyrox first came out, we thought it sounded kind of silly.” On how that initial impression faded, she says that “they started popping up in these cool places, like Miami. A friend and I decided to do the one there as a weekend getaway, do the competition and have a mini-vacation. And we ended up loving it!”

The intensity of hybrid events like Hyrox can be intimidating, even for someone like Chen, who considers herself an active person. Part of Hyrox’s appeal was “because it felt so accessible to an average athlete, rather than it being just for very competitive professional athletes.” The performance ceiling, or perhaps the lack of one, also called to Chen: “I like having this goal that I can always train toward, rather than just weightlifting where there really isn’t a finish line.”

Having the right tool for the job

As a distance runner (her usual distance is the half-marathon), Chen is comfortable on the runs—but she knows she can pick up some speed. “At my run club, Girls Run the Six, we had a mini speed training session over eight weeks, and I did that this year,” she says. “I think that helped make me slightly faster for the shorter distance that we have in Hyrox.” Training for speed coupled with the Adizero Dropset Pro is certainly helping her reach her PB. “I can run comfortably in them—you can actually run, which isn’t the case with other hybrid shoes I’ve tried.”

As the race gets closer, Chen will shift her focus from general prep for each station to actually practising the specific movements, from farmer’s carries to wall ball repeats. This is key, she says, as many of the event judges have gotten pickier about what counts as a rep. “We went to Miami again this year, and I think the first time we went, the rules were looser, but this year, the judge just kept saying ‘no rep’ on my wall balls,” she says. “I think my partner and I did at least 130 wall balls to get 100 reps! Our squats weren’t deep enough, so I’m working on training that.”

A shoe designed for strength training would help absorb some of the fatigue and provide a solid base for the more dynamic workouts (such as wall balls), which can save energy. But that type of shoe isn’t designed for running fast or hard. A competition like Hyrox covers 8 km of running, in addition to the strength-focused stations. That means finding a hybrid shoe that offers a stable base and better grip for tossing a wall ball or pushing a sled, while providing enough bounce and comfort for kilometre repeats. The adidas Adizero Dropset Pro offers the best blend of the two, making it ideal for hybrid racing.

Having the Adizero Dropset Pro has certainly upped Chen’s game; she is also adding smarter fuelling to the mix. Because races take close to two hours, or typically around what an average half-marathon time would be, fuelling and hydrating during the event can be a big boost to performance.

Most competitors skip this, due to the hectic nature of the stations and the fast pace of constant change. Chen used to compete without any fuel, but this year, she started to take at least one gel during the competition. “I think it does help a lot, especially for running,” she says. “Having more carbs really helps your performance—and even if it’s not helping immediately, just taking the gel gives me a mental boost.”