HYROX Pacing & Race Strategy

Oct 21

When it comes to race day, knowing how to pace yourself is key to a good race. After you've put in all the hard work in training and practiced the movement standards, you should be more familiar with how fast you can run and how quickly you can complete the stations.

It's easy to get distracted amidst the stress, excitement and fatigue during the race so you need to have a solid pacing and race strategy before you start the race. Here are some tips to make sure you don't burn out in the race.

Before you read on: don’t worry if this feels overwhelming! Reach out and I can help make a race day strategy for you.

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Start steady.

HYROX is an endurance event. It might be under an hour if you're fast, but for most people, it's somewhere between 1-2 hours, even longer for some. So at no point should you be going at near maximum intensity until the very last station (wall balls). You may be tempted to run faster and push harder than your target pace, but if you do this in the first half, this can ruin your race. So set a sustainable pace from the start so that you can stay consistent. Another way to think about it is to save your highest intensity for the end of the race, so that you can rest afterwards.

Time your run laps.

This helps with pacing, making sure you don't run too fast in the first half, and to push yourself in the second half. It also helps to roughly know when you should be returning to the Roxzone to avoid running too many or too few laps. You can do this with a smartwatch or running watch with the lap button (or equivalent).

Stay consistent.

Keep moving, rather than taking long pauses. This includes the Roxzone (area between the stations and the running track): jog through it rather than walking, as this will end up saving you a lot of time; if you are struggling, it's better to slow down a little rather than constant stopping and starting.

Have a run pacing strategy.

The more HYROX races you do, the more you know the feeling of the intensity level and speed that you can sustain. But if you are new to HYROX, there are a few ways to estimate and plan your pacing:

Practice "compromised running" regularly in training to get a feel of what pace you are capable of sustaining. "Compromised running" means running with more fatigue: do this by alternating exercises like lunges or burpees with running.

I don't like to do full HYROX simulations often because they need more recovery time and can lead to mental and physical burnout, but modified simulations are great.
An example template is 6-8 rounds of 700m run with a "station" in between: 400m ski, 40 wall balls, etc. (at race weight, but lower volume/distance, so you can maintain intensity).

If you are a runner:

For a solo HYROX race, run at around your half-marathon pace, if you have done one. Think about this as a maximum effort or speed of 7/10.
For a doubles race, run at around your 10k pace.
The runs are only 1km, but you don't want to go much faster because of the fatiguing or "compromising" effect of the stations, and vice versa from run to station.

If you haven't done any of the above by race day, then a solid strategy is to start steady (at what you think you can sustain for a long and steady run), reassess after each station, and if you are feeling good, run the next km slightly faster than the last. HYROX beginners tend to overestimate their pace!

The same principles apply to the stations: everyone has different strengths, so race your own race, and stick with a pace / intensity that is sustainable until the last couple of stations. Figure these out in training. Check out my article on Station Techniques and Tips here.

Memorise the race format in advance.

This includes station order and number of run laps (which may be different for each venue). It's easy to get confused during the race and waste time figuring out where to go next, or even worse, get a penalty for the wrong station order or wrong number of run laps.

Race your own race.

It's tempting to get caught up in the adrenaline, particularly at the start, but trust your pacing strategy (above). Don't get thrown off by the other athletes around you: you don't know where in the race they're at. On the runs, focus on yourself, or find someone with a similar pace and try to stay with them. On the stations, stick to a pace/effort that is sustainable for you: now is not the time to try to set PBs in the individual stations!