The Playbook: How I Made The Podium In My First Hyrox Race At Age 58
How I Made The Podium In My First
Hyrox Race At Age 58
Christmas 2025 my buddy Vaughan texts me.
11 weeks. Time to LOCK IN.
TRAINING
I trained 4 times per week at regular CrossFit classes, plus I went to the Saturday morning team training to work out with Vaughan on station transitions.
TRAINING NOTES: with approximately 10 weeks of prep, we got to train both classic CrossFit classes and specialized Hyrox sessions.
In practice there were no real concerns as to completing a station, just logistics and recovery. The focus was always running on compromised legs.
I always seemed to die on the run after the sandbag lunges. Definitely room to improve.
Training THAT hard 4-5 times a week requires fuel. But eating pizza and beer is a recipe for disaster.
Boring. That best describes my eating profile.
I’m 5’7”, and 148 pounds of twisted steel and sex appeal.
On January 2nd I cut all beer and wine out of my diet for 10 weeks. I love to float around in my pool and drink a beer on a hot Mexico day.
But in competition season, I go ZERO. If it’s not in my house, I don’t get tempted. I started to eat the same foods every day. It reduces Decision Fatigue.
Breakfast 4:30 am - Nutrimeal Chocolate Shake mixed in water with ice and 1 teaspoon instant coffee
Workout 6-8 am
Post workout 8:15 am Shake 2
Breakfast 9:30 am: 3 whole eggs, 2 slices thick bacon, supplements
Lunch 12:00: 4 oz white rice, 5 oz ground beef or Instapot roast, salsa, supplements
First snack: 3 oz mixed nuts from Costco
Dinner: 4 oz white rice or potatoes, 6 oz Costco hamburger patty, salsa, supplements
Second snack: 1 piece homemade fudge, 2 oz mixed nuts or 2 hard boiled eggs.
Every 2 days I would bbq 6-8 Costco patties. My wife would stir fry ground beef or cook a Costco roast in the Instapot.
Total Macros
Adding up the macros from all items:
● Protein: 54g (shakes) + 48g (patty) + 5.4g (rice) + 30g (eggs) + 15g (nuts) + 10g (bacon) + 1g (fudge) = 163.4g
● Carbs: 64g (shakes) + 0g (patty) + 55g (rice) + 2.5g (eggs) + 18g (nuts) + 0g (bacon) + 15g (fudge) = 154.5g
● Fat: 14g (shakes) + 6g (patty) + 0.5g (rice) + 25g (eggs) + 45g (nuts) + 10g (bacon) + 4g (fudge) = 104.5g
● Calories: 560 (shakes) + 276 (patty) + 250 (rice) + 390 (eggs) + 510 (nuts) + 130 (bacon) + 100 (fudge) = 2016 calories
Summary
● Total Macros: 163.4g protein, 154.5g carbs, 104.5g fat, 2016 calories
Anytime I was extra hungry I would eat a bowl with rice, a cut up hamburger patty, and some habanero salsa. I know what you’re thinking… “What about vegetables?”
My salsa was super chunky. It had tomatoes, onions and habanero peppers. I’d add 2-3 tablespoons every time I ate beef, rice or potatoes.
SUPPLEMENTS
At 58, my shoulders feel 97. I got messed up at a jiu jitsu tournament in 2006. A kid from Venezuela caught my left arm, went belly down and arm barred me until it went POP!....POP!...POP!. The third pop is NEVER good. My left arm doesn’t fully extend at the elbow, which messes up my shoulder on overhead stuff.
I’ve been taking supplements since 1994. My wife is an affiliate for a nutritional scientist we met on a cruise. If you buy anything from this link she gets a couple of bucks. Thanks in advance.
For my achy joints I take a product called Procosa. That left arm is jacked, it helps a lot.
For my inflammation in almost every body part I take a product called Proflavanol. My neck and shoulders are jacked from BJJ, this is my secret sauce.
I drink 2 protein shakes a day. I try to be at 75 grams of protein by 9:30 am everyday.
I take the multivitamin and mineral complex. I’m supposed to eat a pound of veggies a day but I never do so this is magic.
I take vitamin D and fish oil because everyone in CrossFit does it for the performance edge.
Experiment with what makes sense to you. I’ve been using the same supplement routine for almost 30 years. I swear by their products.
RECOVERY
I get up at 4:15 am. So I go to bed around 9 pm. I take a 45 minute siesta mid-day and listen to an app called Binaural Beats Brainwave. It puts me out in under 2 minutes.
I foam roll that tight band on the outside of my quads 3 times a week, my neck, back and shoulders.
I use my TENS machine 2-3 times a week. An electric TENS machine (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) is a small, portable device that delivers low-voltage electrical currents through electrodes placed
on the skin to help relieve pain. I bought it on Amazon.
At the gym I met a lovely lady at the Saturday classes. Her husband owns a clinic with their own hyperbaric chamber!
I did a total of 10 sessions in that chamber, going up to 2 atmospheres. I’m convinced it filled me with extra red blood cells to help oxygen transport to my muscles.
For body work I got:
weekly massage therapy
Hyperbaric chamber treatments
chiropractic treatments
fascia scraping
magnet therapy
Dry needling
compression therapy
I was a blank slate, willing to try anything to keep me able to perform. Somedays I felt like I was being held together with duct tape and chewing gum.
DELOAD WEEK
The week before the competition I did a light workout on Monday. Then I got a chiro and massage treatment on Tuesday. I ate clean but with 10% more calories all week. Wednesday and Thursday is pure rest and stretching and more carbs. I focus on letting my nervous system recover.
NO AMOUNT OF ANXIETY WILL CHANGE ANYTHING. So I don’t stress. I just chill.
Race Day. Sunday March 15.
A few days before the event we got an email with our start times.
It was a 4 hour drive across the jungle to Cancun. And 3 hours of waiting. Hyrox is so organized. Amazing experience at registration!
The Venue
Nothing I can tell you will prepare you mentally and emotionally for your first Hyrox experience!
There were 10,000 athletes. Almost 30,000 spectators. An enormous athletes village with DJs and after parties every night from 11 pm to 4 am!
Everywhere you look were the most physically impressive men and women I’d ever seen.
It’s natural to have anxiety. My perception of time was fascinating. From 4 pm to 6 pm it was like time stood still.
We HAD to eat. I brought my usual food so I didn’t have to stress about finding a meal. THE WORST TIME TO EXPERIMENT WITH FOOD IS ON RACE DAY!
I ate a container of 1.5 cut up Costco patties, 5 ounces of rice and some chunky salsa. And 2 ounces of mixed nuts.
Then we did the secure bag drop, hit the bathrooms and entered into the Athletes Only zone.
TIP: pack your own toilet paper and wet wipes. Don’t leave this mission critical component to chance!
We did the same warm-up that we do before every single training session. Calm. Focused. Ready for battle.
A word of advice? Prepare yourself for an absolute cacophony of noise! There is a hype person in the warm up area calling heats every 10 minutes. There was a giant screen TV and a DJ in our Red Bull tunnel. People were completely wigging out!
Again we’re Masters athletes. Calm. Focused. Ready. The countdown started. 3…2…1. GO!
Our first run was exactly on pace. 4:46
You can see a round by round breakdown of how it went at Hyresult.
For me I was dancing along the edge of maximum heart rate from station 3 to the moment I took a wee nap on the ramp at the finish line. Take a look on the next page.
The total number of steps that day was well above 9 km of running. I never anticipated how much walking you might do in a giant venue! TIP: FACTOR THIS IN TO PREP!
We made the podium! We finished second in Men’s Doubles 50-54.
11 weeks. A date on the calendar.
Total focus. Total commitment.
Isn’t it amazing what can happen when you set a goal, and finish what you started?
How Did I Get Here?
I find myself at nearly age 60 a fitness influencer. I’m as baffled as you are!
All I did was work on my internet business, go to the gym, eat right, train right, and have a ton of fun! I did it week after week, month after month.
Before I knew it, we were debt free, and retired early to Mexico.
Everybody asks me what I eat, what I take, how I train and can I help them?
People sign up for free in about 90 seconds. They get their own online store, and they get discounts on the products for weight loss, achy joints, sleeping better and looking younger.
I have former fitness clients that stopped training 8 years ago…but I still get a monthly residual check from their online purchases!
That’s how I got debt-free and retired early to Mexico.
If you’re still reading this, reach out to me. Ask questions. I promise I’ll try my best to help you to reach your goals.
David Ledoux
PS - some people just skim to the bottom. Good. Do these 3 steps. 1. Go to this link and sign up for free. 2. Send me a DM with the phrase “I’M IN!” 3. Watch for my reply within 17 hours.
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