Interval training for Hyrox: the sessions that move your time

Interval training for Hyrox has one job: make the pace you need for eight kilometers feel less expensive, so there's something left for the stations. Easy running builds the engine. Intervals raise the ceiling. And because Hyrox runs always start on tired legs, some of your intervals should include a station between the reps.

This post covers why intervals matter so much in Hyrox, the four types worth doing, sample sessions, how hard to run them and how to fit them around strength and station work. If you'd rather not juggle that by hand, an app that builds your Hyrox plan does the scheduling and adjusts it every week.

Why interval training matters for Hyrox

Running is the biggest single chunk of a Hyrox. An analysis of Pro and Elite results across the first seven seasons found running consistently accounted for about 50% of total race time, and that improvements over those seasons were largely associated with faster running (Rappelt et al., 2026). In a simulated race with recreational athletes, faster finishers had a higher VO2 max and more endurance training volume (Brandt et al., 2025).

So the running engine is the lever. Intervals are one of the most direct tools for building the top end of it, alongside the easy volume that builds the base. That balance, mostly easy with a little hard, is the shape of a Hyrox plan for your first race as much as an elite one.

What pace are you actually racing at?

Hyrox running isn't all-out. A study of 24 Pro men at an official event found their average intensity across the eight runs and the Roxzone was about 84% of their second ventilatory threshold speed and about 76% of the speed at which they reached VO2 max (Gutiérrez-Hellín et al., 2026). Their running speed declined across the race, and the authors concluded that sustaining a higher relative intensity appears central to a shorter total running time.

In plain English: you race below your threshold, but you have to hold it for eight kilometers while being repeatedly interrupted by sleds and lunges. Raise the threshold and the same race pace becomes a smaller fraction of what you can do. That's the logic behind intervals, and it's a big part of a smarter way to train for Hyrox than simply doing more circuits.

The four types of Hyrox intervals

The zones and RPE numbers follow the five-zone model used across this blog: zone 4 is threshold, hard but controlled; zone 5 is very hard.

Threshold intervals

Threshold intervals chop a tempo run into pieces, so you get more total time at a hard-but-controlled effort with less fatigue. Since Hyrox runs sit below threshold, raising it is one of the most useful things you can do. Examples:

• ›3 x 8 minutes at threshold, 2 minutes easy jog
• ›4 x 1.5 km at threshold, 90 seconds easy jog
• ›2 x 15 minutes at threshold, 3 minutes easy jog

You should be able to say a few words, not sentences.

VO2 max intervals

These are the classic hard intervals. In Helgerud et al. (2007), moderately trained men did 4 x 4 minutes at 90–95% of max heart rate with 3-minute active recoveries, three days a week for eight weeks. That group improved VO2 max more than groups doing the same total work at lactate threshold or as long slow distance.

For Hyrox, one VO2 max session a week, in phases where it fits, is plenty:

• ›4 x 4 minutes very hard, 3 minutes easy jog
• ›5 x 3 minutes very hard, 2 minutes easy jog
• ›6 x 800 m at around 5K pace, 2 to 3 minutes easy jog

Race-pace kilometers

Simple, boring and very specific: 6 to 8 x 1 km at your goal Hyrox run pace, with 90 seconds to 2 minutes easy between. You're learning what your race pace feels like so you don't guess on race day. Your run pace times eight is a large share of your finish time, so it earns a dedicated session.

Station intervals

This is where interval training for Hyrox stops looking like a running plan. Put a station, or a substitute, between the running reps:

• ›4 rounds: sled push (or plate push), then 1 km at goal pace, 2 to 3 minutes rest
• ›5 rounds: 20 wall balls, then 800 m at goal pace, 2 minutes rest
• ›4 rounds: 25 m sandbag lunges, then 1 km at goal pace, 2 to 3 minutes rest

The station effort should be controlled. If the run is falling apart by round three, the station was too hard. These sit right next to the other race-specific Hyrox workouts, and they're the bridge between your running fitness and your race.

How hard should Hyrox intervals be?

Hard, but repeatable. Most sessions should finish with you feeling like you could have done one more rep.

• ›Run the first rep slightly too easy. The last rep should be the hardest, not the slowest.
• ›Stop when quality drops. If a rep is clearly slower despite more effort, the session is over.
• ›Use the right gauge. On short reps, use pace or effort, because heart rate lags. On 4-minute and longer reps, heart rate becomes useful by the second half.
• ›Recover properly. Easy jog or walk. Recoveries at tempo pace turn an interval session into a mess.

How often should you do intervals for Hyrox?

Usually one pure running interval session a week, plus one station-interval session in the middle and later parts of a build. Not more.

The rest of the week matters more than people think. Across descriptive studies of competitive endurance athletes, Seiler (2010) found a typical pattern of about 80% of sessions at low intensity and about 20% dominated by high-intensity work such as intervals. Those were full-time endurance athletes, so take the direction, not the exact split: intervals work best as a small part of a mostly easy week.

And if you're new to running, plain consistent running will move your fitness a long way first. A meta-analysis of 28 studies found both interval training and continuous endurance training produced large improvements in VO2 max in healthy adults, with somewhat greater gains from interval training (Milanović, Sporiš and Weston, 2015). Both work. You don't need to skip the easy miles to get fitter.

A Hyrox interval progression across a build

In the late build, a partial or full Hyrox simulation can stand in for the station-interval session. Don't stack both in the same week.

Fitting intervals around strength work

Intervals count as a hard day. Schedule them like one:

• ›Never heavy legs the day before intervals. Squats or a heavy sled session the day before ruins both.
• ›Run first if you must double up, then lift later, ideally with several hours between.
• ›Keep easy days easy, so the interval day gets fresh legs.

Intervals for different starting points

If you're a runner: your intervals are probably fine. Spend more of your hard sessions on station intervals, and keep lifting.

If you're a lifter: you need the intervals most, but you need easy volume first. Start with threshold work and race-pace kilometers, and build up before adding VO2 max sessions.

If you're a beginner: keep it simple. A beginner Hyrox workout with short runs and light stations, plus easy running, is enough for the first few weeks. Short reps like 6 x 1 minute hard with 2 minutes easy are a good first interval session.

If you come from road racing: you already know distance-running intervals. The difference in Hyrox is the interruptions. A runner who holds an 11-minute-mile half marathon pace, about 2:24 for the distance, is close to the women's median half marathon time of 2:24:03 in RunRepeat's data, and has a solid base to build Hyrox intervals on. What's missing is practice holding pace straight after a sled.

If you train at home: threshold and VO2 max intervals need nothing but a road or a track. For station intervals, swap in plate pushes, backpack lunges and thrusters. The full set of substitutions for how to train for Hyrox at home keeps the run-after-station structure.

Common Hyrox interval mistakes

• ›Making every session a station interval. Pure running intervals build the engine faster. Station intervals teach you to use it.
• ›Running intervals the day after heavy legs. Bad squats, bad intervals.
• ›Racing the reps. The goal is the session, not the first rep.
• ›Skipping easy running. Intervals sit on top of easy volume. They don't replace it.

How exrsz plans Hyrox intervals

exrsz builds a periodized plan from your race date, schedule, level and equipment, and places interval sessions where they get fresh legs, away from heavy lower-body days. Running and station work sit in one plan, it adapts each week to how your sessions went, and it reshuffles missed ones without stacking hard days together.

FAQ

What is the best interval training for Hyrox?

A mix: one pure running interval session a week (threshold or VO2 max work) to raise your running fitness, plus one session with stations between running reps to practice holding pace on tired legs.

How often should I do intervals for Hyrox?

Usually one running interval session and, in the middle and later parts of a build, one station-interval session per week. In descriptive studies, competitive endurance athletes did about 20% of sessions at high intensity (Seiler, 2010), so most of your running should stay easy.

What pace should I run Hyrox intervals at?

Threshold intervals at a hard-but-controlled effort (zone 4, RPE 7–8), VO2 max intervals very hard (zone 5, RPE 8–9), and race-pace kilometers at your goal Hyrox run pace. Base paces on a recent race or time trial, not a wish.

Do intervals improve VO2 max for Hyrox?

They can. In one trial, 4 x 4-minute intervals at 90–95% of max heart rate improved VO2 max more than the same work at lower intensities (Helgerud et al., 2007). A higher VO2 max was associated with faster Hyrox times in a simulated-race study (Brandt et al., 2025).

Should Hyrox intervals include stations?

Some of them. Station intervals, such as 4 rounds of a station then 1 km at goal pace, train the transition the race tests. Keep pure running intervals in the week too, because they build the engine faster.