How Important is Running in Hyrox

How important is running to the competitive Hyrox athlete?

Is it just something we do to connect the different strength or functional fitness components or is it a critical component to a successful competition? Running will not win us our division in a Hyrox competition but it can certainly lose it. It can also significantly affect how well we perform the functional sections of the competition. Let’s look at why.

Firstly, more than half of our Hyrox is going to consist of, you guessed it, running. Not only the 8 X 1km run segments but there is also the distance and time that we spend in the transition between each run and the functional work before and afterwards. This adds up to a significant run, which we will be spending in our aerobic threshold heart rate zone.

That brings us to the next significant aspect of Hyrox running. It is done at a very high intensity. So, anyone not spending the time in training on their running, is going to lose form very quickly with each consecutive run segment and slow down considerably from the first to the eighth. This will then also massively impact the functional exercises.

That is out next point. We don’t need to only do run training workouts to improve as a runner. A lot of that running fitness will not be done in order to enable us to run faster in competition but rather to run in a more comfortable and efficient manner, allowing quicker recovery from the previous functional exercise and to allow us to start the next one in a much more comfortable state.

So, how much running do we need to do and what should our run workouts look like?

Initially, we want to build our aerobic endurance. That zone is about 20-30bpm lower than our aerobic threshold, which is where we will spend most of our Hyrox competition. Building our aerobic foundation could be termed, ‘building general fitness’. We will be strengthening and training the muscle and connective tissue in our legs in order to be able to withstand the impact of running and to build our general endurance. We want to build up to runs that last the estimated time that we hope to complete a Hyrox competition. From start to finish, including the functional work. Not just the running component.

Once that foundation has been layed we can then start working on our anaerobic threshold training. A good aerobic base can be layed in 8-10 weeks of consistent running. Obviously depending on our previous running background. If our experience is more in the strength and fitness world, we should probably allow a bit more time to get comfortable with running than someone who has running in their background.

Once we are happy that we can comfortably run for long periods at low to moderate heart rates we should start adding intervals into our run sessions. How well we run at or near our anaerobic threshold HR depends on our bodies ability to handle lactate. This is produced during energy metabolism at high intensities where oxygen intake is not matching oxygen utilisation. So, Hyrox run training is not about speed. We are not trying to become faster 8km runners although this will obviously happen without us focusing on it. What we are trying to improve is our ability to run at a consistently high effort for the duration of the eight, one kilometre repetitions. We need to train our body to utilise and manage the rising lactate levels in our muscles and the way to do this is to produce lactate and then keep the pressure on so that the body is forced to deal with it under load.

This means every increasing lengths of intervals as we improve, with short recovery periods of active rest. So, no standing around for long periods between intervals. The intervals should not be so hard that they force us to stop and rest between reps. Ideally, the recovery to interval ratio should be no more than 50%. For example, a set of two minute intervals with no more than one minute recovery in between. That recovery should have us continuing to move rather than stopping and standing or even sitting. Brisk walking or slow jogging is the best so that we can quickly get back up to our interval pace for the next repetition.

Interval pace should feel comfortable for the first few but holding it should result in a hard effort but the end of the set and our heart rate should reach our anaerobic threshold heart race somewhere after about two thirds of the set is done. Obviously, if we were to get to our anaerobic threshold too early, it will mean that we are going too hard and actually working too far above our threshold. This is because of the phenomenon called ‘heart rate lag’. Our heart rate takes a while to ‘catch up’ with the effort we are producing so we need to use perceived effort to manage the intervals at the beginning of our set or running power, which is more of an instantaneous measurement.

One session like that a week should be combined with what runners call, a tempo run. This is running at about 85-95% of our anaerobic heart rate for extended periods. For our purposes we should aim at 25-35 minutes but we can build to this over a training block. Here we are again aiming at working at a level that produces an ever increasing amount of lactate in our muscles while forcing the body to deal with it while under load. We don’t want to go too hard because we will not be able to sustain the effort for long enough and it will also be too hard for the body to adapt sufficiently. We want to add enough stress to produce a training stimulus but not too much stress that the body just grinds to a halt. Another 8-10 weeks of this threshold work and we will be ready to race.
So, to answer our question – running is very important in Hyrox competition but not for the reason some may think. We are not necessarily trying to gap our competitors during the run segments. We are looking to run comfortably and efficiently so that we can recover and prepare for the functional work that comes in between, which is where the real damage is done.