Saskia Millard is one of the most exciting running talents currently competing in HYROX.
A former international runner with a 16:02 5K personal best, she was the fastest female age-group athlete at the 2026 HYROX World Championships in Stockholm and has quickly established herself as an athlete capable of competing at the top level of the sport.
What makes her approach particularly interesting is how little she runs.
Despite her background and running ability, Saskia generally keeps her weekly running volume below 20 kilometres. She combines that with strength work, cross-training and a demanding career as a doctor.
On the Rox Lyfe podcast, we spoke about why such low mileage works for her, how HYROX has actually improved her running fitness, the lessons she has learned from years of injuries and under-fuelling, and how she hopes to establish herself among the Elite 15.
From International Running to HYROX
Saskia started running at nine years old and competed throughout school and university.
She reached international level as a junior, competing at both European and World Junior Championships, while recording personal bests including 16:02 for 5K and 4:18 for 1500m.
Running remains important to her and she still wants to improve her 1500m performances. However, HYROX has become her main competitive focus.
Interestingly, preparing for HYROX appears to have helped rather than hindered her running.
Recent laboratory testing showed improvements across her aerobic fitness and threshold zones, with her tempo zone improving by close to 10% compared with earlier in the year.
Saskia believes becoming stronger and training her ability to tolerate and recover from high lactate levels have both contributed.
Her running training itself has changed relatively little.
Instead, she has added strength and HYROX-specific work around the running programme that was already working for her.
Why Saskia Runs Less Than 20km Per Week
Many competitive HYROX athletes run considerably more than Saskia.
She usually runs just two or three times each week and aims to stay below 20km total.
That is partly the result of lessons learned through injury.
Saskia has suffered multiple stress fractures, including two around her hips, as well as soft tissue injuries and a torn plantar fascia. Higher running volumes have historically been difficult for her body to tolerate.
Instead of accumulating easy running mileage, she completes additional aerobic work using activities such as the elliptical, swimming or cycling.
The running she does complete tends to have a very clear purpose.
One example is a session of 10 x 400m with two minutes’ recovery, targeting approximately 64 seconds for each repetition.
It is only four kilometres of hard running, but the intensity is extreme.
Saskia described the final repetitions as reaching the point where she can barely see properly because she is pushing so hard.
She believes this type of training also transfers particularly well to HYROX.
As a 1500m runner, she is accustomed to repeatedly reaching high levels of lactate and then recovering quickly. That ability becomes valuable during a HYROX race, where athletes repeatedly move between hard running and demanding stations.
Does a 1500m Background Suit HYROX?
HYROX lasts roughly an hour for elite athletes, so it might seem logical that a strong 10K runner would have the ideal background.
Saskia thinks differently.
She believes a 1500m or 3000m athlete with a good endurance background could actually be particularly well suited to HYROX.
Long-distance runners may have exceptional aerobic engines, but they do not always have the strength or muscle mass needed for stations such as the sled push and sled pull.
Middle-distance runners generally combine endurance with more speed, strength and regular exposure to high-intensity intervals.
For Saskia, that combination appears to work.
She has been able to maintain her speed while adding the strength needed for HYROX, rather than trying to dramatically increase her running volume.
Learning From Injuries and Under-Fuelling
Saskia spoke openly about the injuries she experienced during her running career and the role under-fuelling played in some of them.
Several of her stress fractures were associated with RED-S, where an athlete does not consume enough energy to support both training and normal physiological function.
It changed how she now approaches food and training.
She does not regularly track calories, partly because she knows she can become obsessive with numbers. Instead, her focus is simply making sure she eats enough.
Her usual approach is three meals and three snacks each day, while paying particular attention to getting enough protein.
And then there are the peanut M&M’s.
Before racing at HYROX London earlier in 2026, Saskia revealed she had already eaten more than 20kg of them that year. Her other race-fuelling habits have previously included turning up to race alongside Holly Archer with a litre of Pepsi hidden inside an Aldi bag because she was worried Holly might judge her.
The diet may not always resemble a conventional elite athlete meal plan, but Saskia is clear that sufficient energy intake is now the priority.
That extends into HYROX racing itself.
She takes four gels between beginning her warm-up and finishing a race. During her first HYROX, she took none.
Her experience has taught her that being well fuelled, strong and healthy gives her a much better chance of producing sustainable performances.
Balancing HYROX With Working as a Doctor
Alongside elite sport, Saskia works as a doctor.
She recently attempted to reduce her working week to four days, although staff shortages have meant that has not always happened in practice.
For many athletes, the obvious progression towards elite sport would be to stop working altogether.
Saskia is not convinced that would make her better.
She previously took a year away from work to focus completely on running and found she had too much time to think about training and performance. When she subsequently became injured, running had become such a large part of her life that she struggled.
Medicine now provides a valuable separation.
She can race at the weekend and then return to the hospital on Monday, where most people are largely unaware of what she has just achieved.
That perspective appears to suit her.
It also forces her to train efficiently.
Most days involve approximately one hour of training, five or six days per week. With limited time available, every session needs a reason to be there.
Chasing the Elite 15
Saskia’s ambitions extend far beyond being a strong age-group athlete.
Her immediate goal is to establish herself in Elite 15 racing and then compete for podium positions at major events.
She also plans to continue racing doubles alongside Holly Archer.
Their partnership has already produced extremely fast performances, although several races have been affected by penalties, including one for a discarded gel wrapper and another involving the sled lanes.
Saskia’s reaction to receiving a penalty perhaps says something about her competitive personality.
When she sees a red card, her instinct is to run faster to make the time back.
That competitive streak runs throughout her story.
Whether it is HYROX, running, training sessions or even family games at home, she wants to win.
After progressing so quickly during her first season in the sport, the next stage will show just how far that combination of running ability, strength and competitiveness can take her.
You can listen to the full episode on the Rox Lyfe podcast or watch on YouTube below
