By Karyn Guidry, Karyn Guidry Fitness
You’re training consistently.
You’re pushing hard.
But your pace has not changed.
This usually is not an effort problem.
It is a structure problem.
For a lot of hybrid athletes, the issue is not that they are not working hard enough. It is that too much of their training falls in the wrong place.
The most common mistake I see is this:
too much intensity, not enough structure.
Most runners and hybrid athletes spend too much time in the middle.
Their runs are:
- Not easy enough to help them recover
- Not hard enough to create the right adaptation
This middle ground is often called the gray zone, and it is where progress starts to stall.
You finish runs feeling tired, but you are not actually getting faster.
You are working, but not moving forward.
If you want to get faster, your training needs to have purpose. Speed does not come from constantly going hard. It comes from building the right systems.
1. Aerobic Base and Zone 2 Training
This is your engine.
Zone 2 training helps improve:
- Oxygen delivery
- Mitochondrial efficiency
- Fat utilization
What that means in real life is simple: you can hold faster paces with less effort.
If you skip your aerobic base work, every run starts to feel harder than it should. You end up relying on effort instead of efficiency, and that catches up to you fast.
For hybrid athletes and HYROX athletes especially, Zone 2 matters more than most people think.
2. Threshold Training
This is where a lot of performance is built.
Threshold pace is the fastest pace you can sustain without completely falling apart. It teaches your body how to handle discomfort, clear lactate more effectively, and hold strong effort for longer.
Threshold training improves:
- Lactate clearance
- Sustainable speed
- Race pacing
This is where most HYROX athletes should spend the majority of their quality run work.
If your goal is to improve your speed without burning out, threshold training usually gives you more return than constantly hammering high intensity intervals.
3. VO2 Max Training, Used Sparingly
VO2 max work is your high intensity training.
These are short, hard efforts designed to improve:
- Max output
- Speed ceiling
This kind of work has value, but most athletes do too much of it.
That is where problems start.
When every week becomes a grind of hard intervals, hard conditioning, and hard strength work, your body never gets the chance to adapt. You just stay tired.
VO2 max training should support your program, not dominate it.
For most hybrid athletes, a better running week looks something like this:
- 2 to 3 Zone 2 runs at an easy, conversational pace
- 1 threshold session, like intervals or tempo work
- 1 optional VO2 max session with short intervals
- 1 longer aerobic effort
This setup gives you enough easy volume to build fitness, enough quality work to improve performance, and enough recovery to actually absorb the training.
- Easy days build capacity.
- Hard days create adaptation.
- Recovery is what allows progress to happen.
That balance is what helps you get faster.
Without it, you are not building momentum. You are just accumulating fatigue.
More effort does not always mean more progress.
Better structure leads to better results.
If your running pace has plateaued, it does not automatically mean you need to train harder. In a lot of cases, it means you need to train smarter.
If you are not getting faster, start here:
- Pull back your easy runs so they are actually easy
- Be more intentional with your hard sessions
- Stop chasing exhaustion as proof of a good workout
Train with purpose, not just effort
That is how you build speed that actually lasts.