Pacing is the Skill: How to Train Slower to Race Faster in Hyrox and Running

I bore people to death with this, but slower is better. Especially for people new to a sport, an exercise, or a particular movement pattern. But given the nature of Hyrox and running, I completely understand why people think an all-out effort is the way to train and why ‘slow’ could seem counterproductive.

We all have an internal pacing gauge, but prior to doing this type of intense training, it’s never had to be used. Most people who start Hyrox or running have come from some sort of gym background where everything is already pre-controlled in a sense you either lift the weight or you don’t, and that’s that. Everything’s set up in reps and sets, and you just go until the end. But now, all of a sudden, there are crazy workouts, intense group sessions, everyone running crazy mileage every week, and the only approach people know is ‘all or nothing.’ But it often leaves people just exhausted and possibly not getting the progression that they would like.

You are better off doing 300 good reps than 300 good reps and 100 bad reps.

For me, pacing is not intuitive and is a skill that must be practiced and developed.

We have all been there—an hour-long session is planned for us, and we go out of the blocks too hard. By the last 15 minutes, you’re just fighting to survive, every effort is 50% slower than the first 15 minutes, and every rep doesn’t even resemble the movement pattern you were doing at the beginning. And for those last 15 minutes, our bodies are not really gaining much other than learning how to survive that little bit more (which has its benefits sometimes, but not every session). Imagine you do this 4 times per week, and the last 15 minutes of every session you are just surviving—then you are potentially leaving 25% of all your training window in the bin. And do we all have that much spare time?

Let’s look at it in an exercise and rep specific example:

If over the course of a week there are 400 wall balls programmed in, but the last 25 of every 100 is a no-rep or a ‘survival rep,’ that’s 100 wasted wall balls over a week and 400 over a month. But this is not just about wasted time. The way your body learns motor patterns through neural pathways, basically the message from your brain to the muscle telling it how it’s supposed to move and it takes thousands of repetitions for your body to master a movement for it to become ‘automatic.’ But if you’re sending the wrong message for 25% of your movements, then you can see how much the progress is delayed. And when you are fatigued, your body will automatically try and do the ‘easier’ way, which is often the survival no-reps. You are better off doing 300 good reps than 300 good reps and 100 bad reps.

This might have seemed like a digression, but if over time you learn your pacing and to go that bit slower at the beginning, then you will be able to work at a much more sustainable pace throughout the session to enable the most benefits for you. As at the end of the day, we are all training to get better, not to exhaust ourselves. Let’s talk more running-specific:

The Benefits of Running Slower for Aerobic Base Building

When it comes to running and building your cardiovascular fitness, the counterintuitive truth is that most of your running should feel easy. Elite endurance athletes typically perform 80% of their training at what’s called “conversational pace” a speed where you could maintain a conversation while running. This isn’t because they’re taking it easy; it’s because they understand that aerobic base building is where the real magic happens.

Running slower builds your aerobic system more effectively than constantly pushing hard efforts. Your aerobic system is your body’s most efficient energy production method, and it’s developed through sustained, moderate efforts rather than brief, intense bursts. When you run at an easy pace, several crucial adaptations occur:

Mitochondrial Development: Your muscles develop more mitochondria—the cellular powerhouses that convert oxygen into energy. More mitochondria mean more efficient energy production and better endurance.

Improved Capillarization: Your body grows new capillaries (tiny blood vessels) that deliver oxygen to your muscles. This increased network means better oxygen delivery and waste removal during exercise.

Enhanced Heart Efficiency: Your heart becomes more efficient, increasing its stroke volume—the amount of blood pumped with each beat. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort.

Reduced Stress Response: Constant high-intensity training elevates stress hormones like cortisol, which can actually impair your body’s ability to adapt and recover. Easy running keeps stress hormones in check while still providing training stimulus.

The beauty of aerobic base building is that it allows you to train more frequently with better recovery. You can run more kilometres per week at an easy pace than you could ever manage at a hard pace, and this higher volume of easier training creates greater fitness gains than lower volume, higher intensity work.

For Hyrox athletes specifically, a strong aerobic base means you can maintain your pace across all eight stations without relying heavily on your limited anaerobic system. You’ll have more energy reserves for the strength components and won’t experience the dramatic drop-off in performance that comes with poor pacing.

Remember, your easy runs should feel genuinely easy think 6-7 out of 10 effort. If you’re constantly breathing hard or unable to hold a conversation, you’re going too fast. Trust the process: by going slower in training, you’ll be able to go faster when it counts.