🎙️ Episode 11 | HYROX Racing, Heart Rate Training, VO₂ Testing & Our Weekly Split

So it's just basically now the fine-tuning as you're coming towards race, isn't it? You're basically fine-tuning what you're doing.

you're sort of dialing in with more specific stuff, getting a bit more used to the sort of faster paces.

I think that's maybe a little bit something that people don't recognise with regards to training because they might try and tackle those sessions 52 weeks of the year, you know, where they're trying to work maybe a little bit above race pace or they're trying to work out doubles pace all the time in the sessions and they're trying to do like really, really hard high rock session once or maybe twice a week all through the year rather than keeping some of that stuff for getting close to the race you know the most more specific stuff like i think this is just just my opinion there is a lot of talk about like whether vo2 max stuff has a place in as a place in high rocks training and is it more beneficial to do vo2 max and less volume is it more beneficial to do more volume you know more specific pace that you that you're going to work at I think it comes down to timing, really.

So I think with the harder stuff, as you get closer to the race, that's when you want to start putting that in.

You don't need to, and your body can't really tolerate massive 16-week blocks of VO2 stuff or really, really hard 5K plus effort stuff.

So I think as you get closer, as obviously Aaron knows what he's doing, that's where you want to start putting that in so you can really just sharpen up, feel confident, and not run the risk of overspilling too much or overprescribing too much of that hard stuff where you get to the point where you're missing paces or missing sessions.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, I think you've got to protect them quality sessions a little bit.

Listening to that Linda Meyer on the podcast with the lads, Aaron and Chris, and when she become world champion, she said one of the things she changed was putting that VO2 working very closer to when she went to, was

it Nice or

Chicago that she went? Yeah, so she was just saying that one thing she changed was adding in the VO2.

But as you say, you can't be doing your VO2 max work consistently throughout the whole year.

You just end up cooked.

So one big thing that I like to do near the races is I just like to...

You know, the transition, so you'll know yourself, I train quite alone, like alone quite often.

So when I'm training, if I'm coming off the treadmill and going straight into burpees, I'm probably guilty of having that little extra couple of seconds and then when I finish my burpees, I'll stroll over to the treadmill.

So I think one thing I do is when I know I've got a race coming up, the six weeks or so or four weeks even, I just make sure that those transitions I'm feeling a little bit more of a stinging and Getting back on the treadmill as quick as I can and getting into my burpees and just to feel that little bit more of the high intensity that I will do on race day because otherwise I'm just going to, I'll have that kind of attitude in the race then.

I'm used to taking my time here and I'm used to kind of relaxing and obviously it just saves a couple of seconds, I suppose.

Yeah, you're right, because you do get used to them little breaks, don't you, where you're mentally thinking, oh, I'm going to have a little three seconds here after the burpees where I can walk to.

to the treadmill.

Because in reality, you don't have to sprint from whatever station it is.

You don't have to sprint off the station, but you need to fucking get moving, don't you? You haven't got time to be adding three or five seconds to your rock zone every single, you know, eight times, 40 seconds.

So those little things do make a difference, mate, yeah.

And just all sharpening up doesn't mean that it's got to be...

Often I'll prescribe sessions where you're having a little bit longer rest so you can keep the intensity up during those sessions, you know, because they're slightly harder efforts.