What Happens in a HYROX SIM-Day at CrossFit BC
The closest thing to race day without paying a registration fee. Here is exactly how a SIM-ilar runs at CFBC, station by station.
If you have signed up for a HYROX race, the single best training session you can do in the lead-up is not another long run or another heavy lift. It is a full race simulation. At CrossFit BC in Vancouver we call ours SIM-ilar, and it is the closest you can get to race day without paying a registration fee.
Never raced before? Start with the 8 runs, 8 stations format explained, then come back for the inside-the-room view.
This article is the inside-the-room view. Whether you are a member trying to decide if SIM-ilar is for you, or an athlete from another gym wondering what "race simulation" actually means in practice, here is exactly what happens in 90 minutes.
The Format, In One Paragraph
HYROX is 8 functional stations and 8 x 1 km runs in a fixed order. A SIM-ilar at CFBC is the same 8 stations and 8 runs, programmed in race order, with race-spec equipment, coached in real time. We compress the running so it fits indoors and into the 90-minute class window, but the rhythm, the transitions, the pacing decisions, and the mental load are the same. That is the point.
Before You Arrive
Eat 90 minutes out, hydrate, bring the kit you would actually race in. The first time you wear new compression shorts should not be on the race floor. SIM-ilar is also the day you find out your shoes are wrong, your watch fumbles transitions, or your fuelling plan is too heavy. Better to learn that now.
Minutes 0 to 15: Brief and Warm-Up
The coach walks the room through the day. Today's pacing target. Any swaps (sometimes we cap wallball reps for capacity reasons). Any cues we are watching for, like lunge-to-floor depth or sled posture.
Then a 12-minute progressive warm-up: easy run, hip openers, banded sled mimic, light SkiErg, a few empty-bar movements, a wallball primer. The goal is to spike body temp and rehearse three of the stations before the clock starts. You should be sweating and ready to push.
Minutes 15 to 90: The Race
Here is the order, exactly as we run it:
- 1 km run. Start conservative. The single biggest mistake at SIM-ilar (and at races) is going out too hot in the first run and paying for it for the next 70 minutes.
- 1000 m SkiErg. Sit back, drive with the hips, breathe through the catch. Your coach will be watching split times and calling out pace.
- 1 km run. This is where you settle. Pace should feel "comfortably uncomfortable."
- 50 m sled push. Heavy. Short steps, low hips, eyes on the line. We coach the first 20 m of every push because that is where form collapses.
- 1 km run.
- 50 m sled pull. Quiet hands, hips behind the line, full body. People burn out their grip here, so we cue alternating hand positions.
- 1 km run. Mental gut-check. Halfway. Most athletes hit a wall here. The coach is in your ear.
- 80 m burpee broad jump. The most-feared station. We coach a short jump, soft landing, fast hand placement. Do not try to PR your broad jump.
- 1 km run.
- 1000 m row. A real rest from running. Use it. Long pulls, low stroke rate, finish strong.
- 1 km run.
- 200 m farmer's carry. Tall posture, no looking at the floor, brisk walk. Drop only if you have to.
- 1 km run.
- 100 m sandbag lunges. The stage where everyone hates their life. Eyes up, breathe, every rep counts.
- 1 km run. The last full kilometre. Pace should now lift.
- 100 wallballs. Break it into chunks before you start. Most people negotiate with themselves on rep 60 and lose minutes. Do not.
Coaches are positioned at the transitions. Transitions are where SIM-ilar pays you back the most: a clean transition saves 15 to 30 seconds per station. Across 8 stations, that is your finish-time goal.
The Debrief
This is the part that no Garmin file gives you. Coaches sit down with the room and walk through what we saw: who paced their first run well, who blew up at burpees, who needs to fix their sled posture, who has a wallball capacity issue, who needs more aerobic base, who needs a different fuelling plan.
You leave with three things: a number (your projected race time), a list (two things to drill before the next SIM-ilar), and a feeling (you have rehearsed race day under real load, and it is no longer scary).
Why SIM-ilar Works Better Than Long Runs
Plenty of HYROX athletes train hard but never simulate the full event. They build aerobic base, they get strong, then they show up on race day and discover that their grip dies at the sled pull, their pacing falls apart after run 4, or their transitions cost them five minutes. None of that shows up in a tempo run.
SIM-ilar surfaces the gap between fitness and race readiness. That is its only job.
For the full periodised plan that surrounds your SIM-ilar weeks, read our 12-week HYROX race prep timeline. For the program itself, see HYROX at CrossFit BC.
Who Gets In
SIM-ilar is held weekly and capacity is intentionally capped to protect coaching quality. Active CrossFit BC members and HYROX class-pack holders book first. Drop-ins and free-trial guests are welcome at any of our 60-minute HYROX classes plus the free Sunday HYROX Run Club, and unlock SIM-ilar the moment they become a member or buy a pack.
If you are coming up to a race and want a coached rehearsal of race day, this is the session. Book a free trial week first, or jump straight into a HYROX class pack to unlock SIM-ilar this week.
Related reading: Fitness racing is officially a sport now, what World Triathlon recognition and the Hyathlon name actually change for HYROX athletes.