How to pace your first 1 km

Every Hyrox race starts the same way. The horn goes, the adrenaline hits and the first kilometre feels easy. Ten minutes later you are at the SkiErg with your heart rate already in the red. Pacing run one well is the cheapest time you will ever save.

Why the first run matters most

Run one sets your heart rate for everything that follows. Go out 20 seconds per kilometre too fast and you will not feel it until station three or four, when the sled push suddenly feels twice as heavy. Those 20 seconds turn into two minutes by the finish.

The goal is not to run slowly. It is to run the first kilometre at a pace you could hold for all eight, then build from there.

The pacing ladder

Runs 1 to 2: settle in

Run at your target race pace plus 10 seconds per kilometre. Breathe through your nose for the first two minutes. If you can't, you are going too fast.

Runs 3 to 6: hold the line

This is where the race is won. Lock into race pace and keep your stride short coming out of each station. The Roxzone is where most athletes lose time, so jog it rather than walk it.

Runs 7 to 8: empty the tank

Only now do you push. Whatever you have left goes into the last two runs and the wall balls between them.

Practise it before race day

Pick one session a week and run 8 x 1 km with a 90-second station in between. Hit the ladder exactly. By race week, holding back on run one will feel normal instead of painful.