I want to share a moment that happened a few weeks ago. 4 March, to be exact. Just a few days after my book launch.

I walked into Katy’s gym and she was already waiting for me, that mischievous look on her face. Very quietly she said: ‘Good morning, Marilise. I have a story for you.’ She took my hand and walked me over to her coffee area, where she had a copy of MOAR! displayed on the shelf. She pointed to the cover and said slowly: ‘How to play to win without burning out.’ Then she looked at me. ‘That’s exactly what we’re going to do today.’

I laughed. And then I felt it.

Because she was right. She always is.

At that point I was about eight weeks into training for my first Hyrox Doubles event with my sister Elsabet. The event is this Saturday, 4 April, at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. If you have never heard of Hyrox, here is the short version: each race consists of 16 segments in total, alternating between 8 runs of 1km each and 8 exercise stations. The stations include ski erg, rowing, sled push, sled pull, farmer’s carry, wall balls, and burpee broad jumps. It is exactly as fun as it sounds.

Elsabet entered us. I said yes before I thought about it too carefully.

The weeks leading up to the book launch had been full on. But I was genuinely proud of how I navigated them. Present, peaceful, and powerful amongst all the chaos. In the past, I would have completely exhausted myself and then crashed afterwards. I would have had this expectation of what it was supposed to feel like, what it was supposed to look like, and then spent half the time disappointed that it did not match the picture in my head.

The weeks leading up to the book launch had been full on. But I was genuinely proud of how I navigated them. Present, peaceful, and powerful amongst all the chaos. In the past, I would have completely exhausted myself and then crashed afterwards. I would have had this expectation of what it was supposed to feel like, what it was supposed to look like, and then spent half the time disappointed that it did not match the picture in my head.

This time was different, and I think training for Hyrox was actually a blessing in disguise.

In the weeks running up to my book launch there were still subtle signs: an extra glass of wine on a weeknight, waking up around 2:30 and struggling to go back to sleep, a killer gym session that was more about burning calories than building fitness. Just quiet signals that, if left unread, have a way of compounding. But I recognised them early most days, and I had Katy in my corner to remind me when I did not. This is the true value of working with the best and being held accountable.

That morning in the gym was such a reminder.

The last few weeks of training have given me five lessons I keep coming back to. Lessons that go well beyond the race.

Five lessons from the training floor

1. Get curious and listen to your body.

TUNE IN.

My default has always been to push through. Head down, ignore the signals, keep moving. Training for Hyrox has been an invitation to do something different. To get still enough to notice. Am I tense? Where? Is my form breaking down? Am I genuinely fatigued or is my mind just trying to negotiate an early exit? This is where Katy’s dog Madam comes in. She is always in the gym, and on the days I am running on fumes she simply arrives and will not leave my side. Madam knows. She knew before I did.

2. Our bodies keep the score.

DROP IN.

At heart Hyrox is all about the running. Not 8 fast kilometres, but 8 repeatable 1km efforts alternating with 8 exercise stations. Bessel van der Kolk writes in The Body Keeps the Score that physical self-awareness is the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past. In a race, your body tells you everything you need to know. The question is whether you are listening. Every decision early in the race either protects or costs your performance at the end. I see this everywhere in life: the leader who gives everything in the first quarter and is running on fumes by June, the professional who sprints through a big achievement and then wonders why they feel hollow afterwards. Life is not 8 fast kilometres either.

3. Strength comes from muscles, flexibility from fascia, freedom from breath.

BREATHE.

That is Katy’s line, and it really landed when she said it. In a race, when the breath goes out of control, when you spike your heart rate too early, get anxious, push too hard in the first kilometre, everything unravels. Form breaks down. Pace collapses. You peak at station 3 and have nothing left for station 7. The breath is the earliest warning system. Ignore it and you blow up before you even know it is happening. Training has also reminded me that recovery is part of the work: the yoga, the stretching, the breathing exercises.

4. We practise how we play.

PACE.

Start like you want to finish. A lot of my focus over the last few weeks has been race pace, going slower than feels comfortable so I can go for longer than I thought possible. Patience. My word for 2026. Patience as a strategy, not resignation. I know it sounds cliché, but patience truly is a virtue, and training for Hyrox has given this underrated word a new meaning. The body learns patterns. It does not distinguish between training and competing. It simply repeats what it knows.

5. Keep enough fuel in the tank to carry on.

SUSTAIN.

This one links to all four lessons above, and it deserves its own space because it is the big one for me. The goal is not just to finish. It is to finish with enough left in the tank to keep going. In the past, a big achievement like a book launch would have left me completely depleted, crashed, burned, and disappointed that it did not feel the way I expected. This time I approached it differently. No expectations about how it was supposed to feel. Curiosity instead of pressure. And enough fuel left in the tank to keep going. Not just to survive station 8, but to still be running after it.

That is what playing to win without burning out actually looks like in practice. Not holding back out of fear. Not pushing so hard you break. Finding the edge where growth lives, and staying there long enough to discover what you are made of.

Elsabet and I will find out exactly what we are made of this Saturday. Wish us luck. Especially for those burpee broad jumps.

Are you playing to win or are you playing not to lose?

No more playing small. Own your magic. Your story matters.

Want to explore what playing to win without burning out looks like for you?

MOAR! How to Play to Win Without Burning Out is available now on Amazon and Takealot.

Subscribe to the ROAR for MOAR newsletter on LinkedIn for monthly inside-out transformation tools.