Practical guide 3 min read
How to split the work in HYROX doubles
Run together, share the stations: how to set your team pace, split each station between partners and balance the workload across the race.
How HYROX doubles works
In HYROX doubles, both partners run all eight 1 km runs together, enter each station together, and leave it together once the work is done. At the station only one of you works at a time, and you can swap as often as you like. While one partner works, the other rests on their feet in the station area.
So the runs aren't shared, but the station work is. That changes how you plan the race. Open the HYROX Doubles Calculator to plan it with your partner. LabAnvil is not affiliated with or endorsed by HYROX.
Your run pace is the pair's pace
You have to run together, so the team's pace is the pace the slower partner can hold for 8 km of broken-up running. Enter that as the base run pace. If one of you is much faster, their advantage shows up at the stations, not on the track.
Splitting the stations
Only one partner works at a time, so a station's time is the sum of both partners' working time. Sharing the work helps because each of you can work harder in shorter bursts than you could solo.
Common ways to split:
- Even swaps. Switch every 250 m on the SkiErg and rower, every length on the sleds, every 10 or 20 wall balls. Simple, and both partners stay fresh.
- Strength-led. The stronger partner takes more of the sleds and lunges; the better engine takes more of the ergs.
- Short bursts on the hardest stations. Frequent swaps on the wall balls keep both partners from reaching failure.
Every swap costs a few seconds, so don't swap so often that the handover takes longer than the rest is worth.
Plan it with the calculator
- Enter your team run pace and a slow-down per run.
- Enter your team time for each station, from a training session done in doubles if you can.
- Put your names in Partner 1 and Partner 2.
- For each station, set the share of the work Partner 1 does: 50 for an even split, 70 if Partner 1 does most of it.
- Read Station work per partner. It shows how many minutes of station work each of you does across the race.
The planner's example team runs 4:50 per km with a 2 second slow-down, finishes the stations in 26:50, and spends 6:15 in the Roxzone, for a predicted finish of 1:12:41. With every station split evenly, each partner works 13:25.
Balance the load, not every station
A 50/50 split on every station isn't always the fastest plan. If one partner is much stronger on the sleds, let them take more there and do less on the rower. The number that matters is the total: if one partner ends up with far more station work than the other, they'll slow down the runs you share.
Pick your division
Doubles teams race as Doubles Women, Doubles Men, Doubles Mixed, Doubles Women Pro or Doubles Men Pro. Mixed teams use the same weights as Doubles Men. The full weights are on the HYROX Doubles Calculator page; check the current rulebook before race day.