Guide

How fast should you run your runs for your goal time?

Updated on 22 October 2026 · By Rick van de Ven, founder of Benchmrk, Pro athlete

How do you work out the running pace you need?

Start at your goal time and take off what isn't running. Divide what is left by 8 kilometres.

Required pace = (goal time − station time − Roxzone time) ÷ 8

An example from the Benchmrk engine, not a real athlete. Open men, threshold pace 4:45/km, goal 1:20:00.

The expected pace of 5:18/km is faster than the required pace. So this athlete has 10 seconds per kilometre of margin. How stations and Roxzone are estimated is covered in predict your HYROX time.

Why is your race pace slower than your threshold pace?

Because you run every kilometre after a station. In the example, the expected race pace is 33 seconds per kilometre slower than the threshold pace of 4:45/km. How big that gap is for you depends on how well you run when fatigued. Brandt and colleagues (2025) saw in their simulated race that heart rate was higher on the stations than during the runs, and that lactate and RPE were highest at the wall balls. So you step onto each running section with a high load. How to stay upright at the last station is covered in wall balls without stopping. How to train that is covered on compromised running.

Which runs decide your finish time?

Mostly the second half. A data analysis of more than 14,000 results in Open men, from 15 races in 2024 and 2025, found the strongest relation with finish time at runs 5 to 8. The highest correlation was 0.79. Whoever loses pace there loses the most time. Fast transitions help too, see save time in the Roxzone.

In the study by Brandt and colleagues, those were the long runs too:

Note: this study had 11 participants and the runs were done on a treadmill. The times say something about the pattern, not about what you should run.

How do you pace the race?

Evenly, with an easy start. HYROX itself warns that many athletes run their first kilometre as a personal best, carried along by the atmosphere. It calls the race an endurance effort, comparable to a half marathon. Brandt and colleagues refer to research in which controlled pacing worked better than giving everything from the start, and to triathlon, where swimming too hard costs you the rest of the race.

How do you train an even pace?

By comparing your last run with your first. The Benchmrk plan has two benchmarks for that. In benchmark 3 you log all splits of a sim. Benchmark 4 is the pace decay test: 8 × 1000 m with stations, with the goal that run 8 stays within 12 seconds per kilometre of run 1.

You practise it in your normal sims too. In the compromised running phase you run sections of 750 m at race pace, with a station in between. Your race pace in training is your goal pace, but in Benchmrk never more than 12 seconds per kilometre faster than your expected pace. That way you don't train at a pace you don't have yet. How to build a sim is in build a HYROX simulation. You find your threshold pace as the base with find your threshold pace.

How does it work in Doubles?

In Doubles you run together. According to the rulebook you must run the whole kilometre together, otherwise a 1 minute penalty follows. The pace is therefore the pace of the slowest runner. More on train for HYROX Doubles.

How Benchmrk does it

The app works out your required pace from your goal time, your expected station times and your Roxzone. You also see your expected pace now and your chance of hitting your goal time. Your training pace for race pace sections is your goal pace, but never more than 12 s/km faster than your expectation. Benchmarks 3 and 4 measure your splits and decay, and adjust your prediction.

Benchmrk is not affiliated with HYROX.