Whether you want to train for a Functional Fitness event, complete your first HYROX race, or simply train to be a better runner alongside your strength goals, there are a host of factors that all tie together to help you push your running goals in the right direction.
From improving your training to nailing your recovery, if you can master the following items, you'll be moving in the right direction.
Strength vs running: How to get the balance right
The first part of getting your training right when working towards a functional fitness goal such as a HYROX competition is finding the right balance between running and strength training.
Here, there is no black and white, right or wrong, so it'll very much depend on your goals and what you want to achieve with your training, as well as your overall experience and fitness level. Ultimately, try to find the balance that will make you the happiest - this is the most important factor in a sustainable training program in our eyes at Runna!
Below is a simple table to show our recommendations on how to split the running and strength conditioning based on different combination of training days (or sessions) in a standard week for a typical Functional Fitness athlete.
Training days / sessions available | Running | Strength training |
4 | 2 | 2 |
5 | 2 | 3 |
6 | 3 | 3 |
7 | 3 | 3 |
8 | 3 | 5 |
9 | 4 | 5 |
10 | 4 | 6 |
11 | 5 | 6 |
12 | 5 | 7 |
As you can see, we recommend a more or less even split with a slight focus on strength workouts.
That said, if you're preparing for a specific event, such as a running race, or a HYROX/CrossFit competition, you might want to increase the number of days you're doing either type of training, and dial down on the rest until your race is over.
For example:
If you're planning to run a long-distance event such as a marathon or an ultramarathon in a couple of months, focus on running and progressively increase your mileage and number of running workouts while reducing the number of strength training sessions slightly
If you're preparing for a HYROX competition, in your gym sessions, alternate running (at a treadmill, for example) and time at the different exercise stations (Ski Erg, sled push and pull, rowing, etc.)
This will enable you to prepare for the specific race and maintain your overall fitness for both types of training.
When you increase the intensity of your training program, you should also prioritize rest and recovery to avoid burnout or injuries. Make sure you eat well, sleep well, and hydrate yourself adequately!
Functional training and speed work
To run faster, you need to start practicing running at faster speeds. To do this you need to do two particular types of training sessions: tempo and interval workouts.
An interval session is where your run faster than you can run continuously for, with true rest periods (walking!) in between. This forces your body to adapt to running at these faster speeds. As a result, the pace you can run continuously for will increase proportionally.
A tempo session is where you run at slightly faster speeds than your "regular" pace, but for longer, and jog between faster stretches. This helps you build your tolerance for running at faster speeds.
Functional fitness workouts and strength training will help you build up your power and strength conditioning, which will translate into better running performance with time (and also reduce your risk of injuries!).
If you're preparing for a HYROX event, we'd advise you to train with that goal in mind. Alternate running with different exercise stations in your gym workouts, without stopping outside of prescribed rest periods. This will mean that sometimes you'll run right after performing an exercise that's taxing for your leg muscles, so you'll need to learn to run on heavy legs. This, in turn, will improve your overall running performance, especially during the last miles of your long runs or long-distance running events. Pretty neat, right?
Long runs and functional fitness
You might be thinking "why do long runs" when you're not training to run a marathon, but it's still crucial to build up your endurance alongside the faster training, too.
By building up your body's endurance to run longer at slower speeds, it'll help you run your faster paces for longer, too, and also improve your pace per km/mile.
You can do your long runs on days when you're not doing a CrossFit or HYROX workout.
Easy runs and functional fitness
Easy runs are often the most neglected part of runners' training regimes. Running slowly when you're aiming to run faster feels counter-intuitive, however it's a part of any high-quality training plan for a good reason.
Running fast and training intensively can be very taxing for your body, with heightened injury risk and longer recovery times. So, to build your endurance and cardiovascular fitness, you need to do lots of easy runs, too. There is no set pace for easy runs, but the slower, the better!
By spending most of your runs running slower and easier, it means you can still build your leg strength and endurance but also feel fresher for your quality speed sessions. Like they say, it's quality over quantity. A popular rule to bear in mind is the 80/20 rule: Spend 80% of your time doing easy running and only 20% of your time training at or above threshold pace.
You can combine easy runs with functional fitness training, but be mindful of the overall intensity of your training program.
Cross training
If you incorporate cross-training within your running plans, will not only help you to optimize your training, but can also reduce your injury risk.
As someone approaching their running from a functional fitness perspective, you already know the importance of cross training, so we're not going to discuss that in length here. In fact, by doing functional fitness workouts, you are already cross training, so you might not need to add anything else to the mix.
However, if there are any other sports you particularly enjoy doing, such as hiking, kayaking, climbing, or cycling, there's no need to remove those from your training program! Just be mindful of overall intensity and allow for sufficient rest between workouts.
Ultimately, you should do what you enjoy the most and what best supports your running and fitness goals. Plus, if you get injured, cross training will enable you to stay active while you recover and support your running from a cardiovascular perspective.
Functional fitness and your weekly mileage
Your weekly mileage is another important area to consider while training towards your running and functional fitness goals.
First of all, you should start with a mileage that your know your body can tolerate; do not jump in all-guns-blazing! Start with a volume that works for YOU; this is key to reduce your risk of injury.
Avoid jumping up significantly in the number of runs per week, even if you're already in a very good shape. This is because running is taxing for your muscles, joints, and tendons in a very specific way that's different from other types of physical activity, so your body needs to adapt to it, and adaptations happen with time.
As you build up your mileage over time, don't increase it by more than 10% weekly, and less, if needed. Otherwise said, if you can comfortably run 40 km per week, next week run no more than 44km.
And, as with everything else, be mindful of overall training intensity when increasing your weekly mileage. If you're training for a HYROX event, for example, focus on that first, without looking to always run more.
Additionally, while you should look to increase your mileage over time (unless you're training for a different goal), you should also add in deload weeks. A deload week is where you'll drop your weekly mileage every 3-5 weeks to allow your body to recover from, and adapt to, all of your recent training. This will reduce you injury risk and help you to feel both physically and mentally fresher into your training moving forwards.
Recovery, running, and functional fitness
To help your body adapt to the hard training and also recover properly to avoid injuries, there are some essentials that you should be doing on the recovery side of things, too:
Firstly, sleep: Aim for a consistent 8 hours of sleep every night.
Secondly, mobility workouts: Whether it's Pilates, Yoga or simply stretching, you should look do to at least some mobility work each week.
Both will help enormously with your running and your HYROX and functional fitness goals.
Other ways to optimize your recovery include sports massages or even using at-home massage tools such as massage guns or a foam roller. Listen to your body throughout your training and be prepared to take an extra day of rest or move the sessions around within a week if you find that you need a little extra recovery, especially if you've been training hard during your strength workouts, too.
To get faster and stronger, you also need to make sure you're fueling your recovery and making health-conscious nutrition choices, too.
Keep your protein high, take on plenty of carbs before your tougher sessions, and, if you're looking to really push the pace or distance, don't be afraid to experiment with caffeine, too.
Training and accountability
Accountability is a major component of any training program, regardless of your specific goals. Whether you're preparing to run your first race, looking to do an ultramarathon, or planning a HYROX competition in a few months, you need to stay consistent and hold yourself accountable.
Perhaps one of the hardest parts of training is being consistent and holding yourself accountable. Try to start off by developing a routine around your running and fitness workouts and get used to simply getting out that door three, four or more times per week.
You can even add your workouts to your calendar to help integrate them into your day-to-day life. We'd also suggest tracking your progress as you go and using this as a tool to look back on how far you've come and motivate yourself to embrace those harder sessions.
Look to make your training social, from telling your close friends your goals, to joining a CrossFit gym, to signing up for a functional fitness classs, and finding a local running club or a community of runners.
Additionally, what better way to hold yourself accountable than signing up to an event, knowing you have a deadline when you can put all of your hard work into practice?
Find out Runna's top tips for staying motivated.
To become a better athlete, follow a training plan
Finally, maybe the best thing you can do to level up your running and your fitness is to follow a plan.
A good plan will take care of everything that we've mentioned in this article, from setting out all of the running and strength training sessions for you to automatically adjusting your mileage and incorporating deload weeks.
Having a plan will also help hugely with accountability and mean that you can stay focused when chasing your goals. Whether you have signed up for an upcoming HYROX or running race or are just hoping to build a good base level of fitness, we have a plan for every athlete out there.
To check out our personalized training plans, join Runna today and get your first week free!