Understanding the best way to approach the running sections of a HYROX race is not easy. HYROX is very different to pacing something such a normal 5km / 10km running race, for example. In those you are only running, and will likely have a reasonably good idea of how fast you can go from your training sessions. But in a HYROX you have all the functional exercises in-between the runs. This can have a significant impact on your running capabilities.
Go too quick with your runs, and you’ll end up making it harder than it needs to be, suffering later on, and potentially having to walk aspects of the race. Go too slow, and your overall time will suffer (as running is approximately 50% of the race). Getting your pace just right is, therefore, critical.
In this article, I’ll take you through what I’ve learned about pacing a HYROX, from personal experience, helping our coaching clients, and from diving into the data.
Keep It Consistent
In our “Average to Elite” article, we highlighted that the best performers in HYROX appeared to pace their runs more consistently than those who achieved an average HYROX time (which is about 90mins). This was particularly the case for the men. That perhaps shouldn’t be a surprise as a study has shown that women were 18.33% better than men at keeping an even pace in a marathon.
One thing to appreciate in HYROX is that the 1st run, and the last run, in some instances, can be different in length to the other 6 runs. With the first run you need to take into account that the “Start” is in a slightly different place to the “Out” of the Roxzone. This makes the first run shorter, or longer, than subsequent runs. What’s more, the final run is often longer because you need to make it to the Wall Ball station. That can be a reasonably long journey at most HYROX venues. I’d previously assumed this ‘journey’ was added on to your Roxzone time, as opposed to your run time, but that’s not the case – it goes on to your run time.
Therefore, when all is considered, it’s really only appropriate to assess runs 2-7 for consistency of pacing.
2022 HYROX World Championships Running Pace
Understanding this, I decided to take another look at the data. This time I used the 2022 HYROX World Championships in Las Vegas as the starting point.
I took the median run times for the following 3 groups of HYROX athletes:
– the top 5 Elite race finishers
– the remainder of the Elite race finishers
– a sample of athletes competing in the Pro division, on the same day, who achieved around the average finisher time (approximately 85mins)
I then looked at the average differences, for the athletes in these groups, between their fastest 1km run and their slowest 1km run (for runs 2 to 7 only).
Here’s what the graph showed…
We can see that the top 5 finishers in the Elite race ran much more consistent time splits, on average, than the remainder of the Elite racers. And the average Pro competitors ran much less consistent splits than the Elite racers.
Going Out Hot?
So that’s runs 2 to 7 analysed. But how about the first run? Anyone who has taken part in a HYROX will know how tempting it is to go out quickly from the start, spurred on by the adrenaline of the race, as well as the fact that everyone else around you seems to also be starting quickly!
In Las Vegas, the first run was substantially shorter than subsequent runs. So, I looked to see if we could work out if going out too fast was affecting someone’s overall time…
The graph shows the top 5 Elite finishers spent a longer amount of time on their first run than the rest of the Elite field, relative to their average overall run time. Basically, they went out a touch slower, relative to their overall running split times, than the rest of the Elites, who in turn went out slower than the average Pro athletes. Put another way, the athletes with the slower overall times, seem to be going out relatively faster on the first run.
I should just quickly add here that I am only looking at the World Championships data here. All of the athletes at the World Championships are amazing. They have earned the right to be there and are very good, and likely experienced, at HYROX. This data simply shows that the best of the best appeared to pace their runs more consistently, and went out relatively slower on the first run. My guess is that an average athlete at a non-World Championship event would show an even greater amount of variability in their runs, and would likely go out much faster on their first run.
But is it Important?
It seems to be reasonably clear, at the HYROX World Championships at least, the fastest competitors paced their runs more consistently than the rest of the field. And they don’t go out as quick (relatively speaking) on the first run either. Of course, we can’t know with any certainty whether that is playing a part in their superior finishing position. However, we can look elsewhere for some clues…
Kipchoge 2 Hour Marathon
Where better to start than one of the greatest running performances of all time? On 12th October 2019, 34-year-old Eliud Kipchoge ran a marathon in under 2 hours. His time of 1:59:40, was set in Vienna and is the fastest any runner has ever covered 26.2 miles. The event had been specifically put on with this goal in mind, and no stone was left unturned in helping to facilitate the incredible feat. As part of that, Kipchoge ran behind a group of pacemakers, and a pace setting car, throughout the race. This meant that every single 1km split time for the whole marathon was between 2:48ins/km and 2:52mins/km. It feels reasonably safe to say if such consistent pacing was not optimal, then Kipchoge and his team would not have gone to such great lengths to achieve it.
Half Marathon World Record
But a marathon is, roughly speaking, twice the length of time of the HYROX world record. Maybe pacing a marathon is more important because it’s longer?
So, let’s look at the half-marathon world records. At the time of writing, the men’s half marathon WR is held by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, with a time of 57:31. This is much more aligned with a HYROX elite athlete race time.
I don’t have the precise 1km split times for his whole race. However, we can see that for the first 5km he averaged 2:44mins/km, for the next 5km he averaged 2:41mins/km, the next 5km was 2:40mins/km, and the remainder of the race he averaged 2:48mins/km. Not quite as consistent as Kipchoge’s marathon but still incredibly consistent.
The women’s half marathon WR is held by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey with a time of 1:02:52. For the first 5km she averaged 3:00mins/km, for the next 5km she averaged 2:57mins/km, the next 5km was 2:57mins/km, and the remainder of the race she averaged 3:01mins/km. Again, very consistent!
Why is Pacing so Important?
If it is the case that consistent pacing is important, and that does appear to be the case, why is that?
The fact is that if you go out too fast you will more quickly build up lactic acid in the body, use up glycogen stores much sooner, and increase your core temperature too soon.
Over shorter distances / race times, this can be manageable (within reason). But when you are talking about something as long as a HYROX it just makes the latter stages of the race too hard, and you slow too much.
Essentially, you want to just push to the point where you aren’t excessively fatiguing yourself for the latter stages of the race. It’s a difficult thing to manage – and it comes with training sessions designed with that purpose in mind, as well as experience of the HYROX events themselves.
Consistent pacing will almost certainly mean deliberately slowing yourself towards the start of the race. You will likely feel like you could be going faster (and many athletes around you will be going faster). This can be mentally challenging. However, it is better to slow yourself down deliberately at the start, than be forced to slow down towards the end (or sooner!)
How Can I Pace Myself at HYROX?
Without practice, research has shown that recreational runners incorrectly estimate their pace by 32 to 40 seconds per mile. Accurate, consistent pacing isn’t something you want to leave to chance on race day! Fortunately, there are steps you can take to help …
Use Your Watch
The most effective way I’ve found to pace myself at HYROX is by using the lap functionality on my watch. As I leave the Roxzone, I hit the lap timer button. I then keep a close eye on my time so that I enter the Roxzone again at a pre-determined running split time. This also helps to minimise the chances of the surprisingly common mistake of running too many (or too few) laps of the track.
I’ll also know how my target time translates to the amount of time I need to run per lap of the track. I use the venue floor plan to help do this in the days prior to the race. Let’s say that 1km is 2.5 laps of the track. If I want to hit a running split of 4:30mins/km, it means I need to run 1 lap of the track in about 1:48mins. So, from the moment I leave the Roxzone, to the first time I pass the Roxzone exit, I’ll be aiming to do it in roughly 1:48mins. This is something I will be keeping an eye on during my runs.
The watch I personally use is the Polar Vantage M2, but many watches will have a lap functionality that would be suitable.
First Run
You also need to consider that the first run can be shorter, or longer, depending on where the Start line is. I will calculate, in advance, how long I want that first run to take. If I estimate the first run to be 100meters shorter, for example, then I’d be looking for my first run to be 90% of my normal running split times. If my 1km time aim is 4:30mins, then that first run at 90%, would be 4:03mins.
Practice in Training
I appreciate I am a bit of a numbers geek. Some of this stuff (like working out time per lap, etc) may come more naturally to me than others. I do, though, think it’s a very important, and highly underappreciated, aspect to HYROX. Therefore, it is something that should be practiced in your training sessions. You could literally run some 1km intervals at race pace (perhaps at the athletics track), both with the use of your watch and its lap timing functionality, and on occasions without a watch (in an attempt to get used to proper pacing by feel alone).
How Do I Know What Pace to Go Though?!
Determining your appropriate race pace can largely come down to experience. If you’ve competed in HYROX before you’ll know your total running time. That can be used as a starting point for working out how fast you want to run next time (taking into account any improvements you’ve made since then). Everyone is different so it’s hard for me to give any specific direction as to how fast you should be running. But I’ll try…
Running Race Paces
Firstly, if you haven’t done a HYROX before, I wouldn’t expect your 1km running splits to be aligned with your 5km pace. It will almost certainly be slower than that. It will also likely be slower than your 10km running pace. I’m sure there are people who do run at their 10km pace, but in my experience that’s not common. It will likely be more aligned with your half marathon, or even marathon, pace. I know that’s not hugely prescriptive but hopefully it gives you a ballpark pace to be thinking about. If you’ve not run a half or full marathon before, then this race time predictor can provide a rough estimate of your time based on any shorter runs that you’ve done. Again, its rough, but gives a bit of a guide to be thinking about.
How Long Does it Take to Run 1km?
How long it takes to run 1km, on average, is of course a question that many people entering HYROX for the first time will have. The reality is, it depends on a huge number of factors. The fastest in HYROX will run 1km as quick as 3:30m, sometimes even faster. The average though are slower than that. In the Mens Open (generally the most well attended division), the average time per km is just over 5 minutes.
Heart Rate Test
One test I periodically perform to help determine my pace is to run 1km at 155bpm (which is around 85% of my max heart rate).
To do this I will start to run (on an athletics track) and steadily bring my heart rate up to that level. Then I’ll hit the start timer on my watch, and time how long it takes me to run 1km whilst maintaining my heart rate at an average of 155bpm. You may need to adjust your HR target depending on your age, max heart rate, and how comfortable you feel over extended periods of time at certain heart rates. I have found that the time I take to do this is, roughly speaking, a good pace for me to aim for at HYROX.
It certainly might not be appropriate for everyone, but it’s good for me. It’s also a reasonably pure way of tracking your running progress as it takes out any pacing experience, trying harder, or anything like that – it’s all just driven by your heart rate. That said, there are obviously factors that can affect the result such as levels of fatigue, the temperature, etc. So I consider it a rough guide. I ensure I use my heart rate strap for this test as it provides a much great level of accuracy than a heart rate watch does.
Training Practice
Aside from the above, the best way to determine an appropriate pace is by experimenting in training. This is where a full HYROX run through / simulation can come in handy. To find out what might be considered a good running pace in HYROX check out this article.
Summary
Between my first HYROX and my third, I improved my time by 12 minutes. I attribute a fair portion of the improvement to more appropriately pacing my race. I think it’s a hugely underappreciated aspect to HYROX that can have a real impact on your overall performance. It’s not necessarily an easy thing to do, which is why it’s important to work on in your training sessions.
If you need more help with all of this, as well as training for the event, and planning your nutrition, check out our coaching plans, where we give you all the tools you need to maximise your potential in HYROX.
