Becoming elite

Zara Piergianni is an elite Hyrox athlete and online coach. She won her first pro race in London in April 2023 and finished third overall in her age group at last year's World Championship in Manchester. This season, Zara qualified for the Elite 15 and finished with a personal best of 1:03:59 at the major race in Stockholm in December 2023. Last weekend in Glasgow, she partnered with Kate Davey in Hyrox Pro Doubles and recorded the second-fastest time ever (59:03).

The Hybrid Letter spoke with Zara about transitioning to the elite races, impostor syndrome, preventing burnout, and her goals for the rest of the season.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

The Hybrid Letter: What motivated you to start competing in Hyrox? 

Zara Piergianni: Growing up I was always in team sports. I was one of those girls at school that would literally try everything. I was on the football team, the netball team. Through sport, I got into running and found I was quite good at it or really good at engine-type sports. As I grew up, I joined a local gym. I started practicing strength training with just some older friends and fell in love with how that made me feel, both physically and mentally. After that I dabbled into a bit of CrossFit. I loved the workouts with the wall balls and box jumps and running, but soon found that the Olympic lifts didn’t suit my body type. I wasn't able to snatch a lot or back squat. When I found Hyrox, it was just a perfect blend of everything. For me, it played into my skills of running, a little bit of strength in terms of the sleds, and then actually a really gritty engine endurance workout.

THL: How has your training changed as you have transitioned from general running and strength work to preparing for a very specific competition? 

ZP: It’s changing all the time. For me, I do work in periodized training blocks. What I do is use each race to analyze where I'm at and what improvements I need to make. For example, if I take you back to the start of the season, I was really looking at focusing on increasing my running volume and doing a lot more Zone 2 work. That would be slow and steady, to increase my time on my feet. Strength was still a focus but not necessarily a priority. And then what I found is I went into my first race in Madrid and the sleds were really tough. And I also struggled with the ski and the row. Looking back at that race, I thought, my running felt great, and my times were really consistent. That allowed me to move into my next focus, which was strength. I transitioned into improving my top-end strength on compound lifts, really thinking about what areas might translate into the stations. 

My training is transforming all the time, which is the best thing about Hyrox. There are so many different modalities and areas to focus on, from strength to power to running. You can’t afford to neglect anything. But you also can't focus on everything all at once and improve all at once because there's just too much. It's important for me to think about what I want out of the season. To understand what my A and B races are and then align my training around what needs improvement.

THL: You made the leap last year from the pro field to the Elite 15. How was that transition, and what were the biggest changes you noticed moving into the Elite field? 

ZP: I remember in the Manchester World Championships on Friday, I was watching all these women compete and thinking, one day, I would love to be able to join. In all honesty, I didn’t really expect to get in the Elite field within this season. Obviously, it’s always been a goal of mine, but it happened quite quickly. There’s certainly a feeling that you have, imposter syndrome, when you move into the Elite races. Thinking, am I ready? Am I strong and fit enough? Racing in open, you realize the conditioning side of running and the engine work is super important. When you go into pro, you actually find that a lot of girls can run really fast, but they are also quite strong. When you go into Elite, they can do everything! Their strengths are across the board. I did feel a little bit out of my depth in my first race. 

The other big difference is the grid formation which takes some getting used to. I was very used to doing normal tracks and going back to a central place to do all the workouts was interesting. But it’s an incredible experience. I have learned so much through the Elite races, not only about myself but about the importance of the community. 

THL: You've talked about your physical training. But what about the mental side of the sport? How do you approach an Elite 15 race mentally?

ZP: If I'm honest, I think the mental side is something that I'm still working through. I know in a race when it gets really difficult, I think you have to look at the evidence and remind yourself why you deserve to be there. Every single one of us in that start line has to put so much dedication into our training, into our recovery, and into our nutrition. You have to have the confidence that all of those hours mean you deserve to be in that race and you are there to perform. But also, sometimes, I have to be quite realistic with myself. I'm not a full-time athlete. I work full-time as an online coach as well. And I do this for fun. When I'm sweating and when it's really hard, I have to remind myself that I chose to do this. 

Sometimes I don't think there's enough material research out there to help athletes going into big races.  Some people perform so well when they go into a training simulation, but it's completely different when you're on that start line. It’s something I'm figuring out myself.

THL: You work with a lot of first-time Hyrox athletes and newer Hyrox athletes. How do you guide them around nerves for their first race? 

ZP: I always so you have to go and just enjoy it. The first race is about getting your data. It is the foundation that you can start building from, really. You will see where you are at. There is nothing quite like the atmosphere at the race or the stations. You have to experience it. 

For returning athletes, we think about the mental side of things. How can I support them with studying the course so they know exactly what to expect? How can I support them with the right fueling? So they know they have all the energy they need. That way, the only thing they need to think about on race day is lacing up their trainers and relaxing into it because we've already spoken about those tactics. You know what it's like when you go into a new situation. Your body goes into fight or flight mode. The idea is that in training, you try to do as much as you can to prepare the body. So during the race, you can be flow state and not have to worry because you already know what to expect. 

THL: What aspect of the race do you work on with your clients that results in the most improvement? 

ZP: It tends to be compromised running. When people look at the race, they look at every station individually and think this is manageable. I’ve got this. But the race is about actually being able to do the 1K run after a station, particularly the sleds, when your legs are burning, and the lactic acid is building up. A lot of people have not really felt that level of discomfort before. That’s the whole point. That's why we do tough simulation workouts. Not all the time. But they are absolutely necessary to understand how it feels going into a race. 

THL: You mentioned earlier that there is so much you can do to train for this type of race. How do you prevent burnout for yourself and your clients?

ZP: It is really about working in specific training blocks and having a clear structure around what you are aiming to achieve within those 5-6 week blocks. I am a massive believer in listening to your body. That’s kind of a throwaway comment, but genuinely you have to because, especially with females with cycles and hormones — it impacts how we feel in terms of exercise, what we eat, etc. 

I try to avoid burnout by looking at my week. I know the sessions that are going to be intense, where I am going to get a lot of fatigue, and where I am going to need longer recovery. I’m careful and balanced with that. For example, if I have a heavy intense strength workout in the morning, and I have a double session, it’s going to be a nice easy run in the afternoon where it doesn’t require a lot of brainpower. Something that will flush out the legs rather than build up more fatigue. 

That is the approach I take with my own athletes. We have regular check-ins. Everything is individual in terms of how many sessions their body can handle. It is why it's important for my clients to have an onboarding poll to find out their background, what their goals are, and what their training tolerance might be going into a block. 

THL: How do you warm up before a race?

ZP: Knowing your warmup is super important. You want your body to be in a flow state. Everything needs to be really structured so you don’t have to make any decisions on race day. I think sometimes people fall short because they feel they need to touch every station, and do so many reps to feel warm, which is really not the case. All you’re trying to do is prime your body for the main event.

I love to do an 8 to 10-minute easy run, just to find my legs. I do like to touch the ergs and do some kind of short, sharp intervals at close to race pace. I may even touch the sleds. But I wouldn’t need to go around to all the stations. The days prior to the race I always encourage myself or clients to touch their stations, which is where you get confidence.

It is really important that you have 5 or 10 minutes before you go into the start tunnel to think about your strategy and relax yourself. You only need a maximum of 20 to 25 minutes to warm up, unless you have any mobility or injuries that might need more attention. 

THL: What about a cooldown? At the end of the race, we are so hyped up and relieved to be done. 

ZP: I don’t have this nailed down. The adrenaline is going, and you want to shower and get back to the event. I really like to use some kind of erg machine to flush out the legs. I always tell my clients to bike — something that doesn’t take too much brain power but can get your legs moving.

Recovery comes in all forms. Nutrition is something that I work quite closely with myself and my athletes. So making sure they are getting enough protein in for the day and actually refueling.

THL: What is something you can’t live without on race day? 

ZP: My Built for Athletes bag. 

THL: What’s next for you this season? 

ZP: I have my biggest race of the season next, which is the last-chance qualifier in Cologne. There are seven spots for the Elite 15 World Championships that will be split between the upcoming races in Cologne and Anaheim. I need to podium in one of those. I’m backing myself that I will podium in Cologne and hopefully grab my Worlds ticket.

You can follow Zara on Instagram and learn more about her online coaching program.  

Study of the Week: Running economy 

Hyrox and Deka are at least half running. As a result, many competitors are interested in improving their running economy, which allows you to go faster with less effort. One way that your running economy improves is simply by spending a lot of time running — which is why many top Hyrox athletes log so many miles each week.

But can you make specific changes to your biomechanics that will improve your running economy? There are plenty of running coaches on Instagram who claim to have all the secrets. 

A new paper published this month in Sports Medicine reviews 51 studies that evaluated the impact of biomechanics and running economy. Collectively, these studies had 1115 participants. Many running gurus claim that landing on your forefoot is more efficient. (And many top runners do land on their forefoot.) But the paper found that landing on the forefoot versus the rearfoot had no impact on running economy. Other frequently discussed areas, like stride length and contact time, also had no impact on running economy. 

A few changes, such as increased cadence, did increase running economy. On X, one of the study authors suggests that "most recreational runners self-select a step frequency that is below their mathematical optimum frequency" and that most runners might "improve running economy by increasing step frequency, for example using a metronome or by running with music." 

If you want to nerd out more, you can read the full paper here. 

Hybrid Athlete of the Week: Kara Mobly

Name: Kara Mobly 
Age: 34
Hometown: Fort Worth, TX

When did you start competing in hybrid races? I started hybrid racing in November 2021. I was a competitive jump roper on and off for 25 years, and about six months after I retired for good, I started getting bored. I reached out to a coach friend of mine about the Spartan races he was doing, and he told me about HYROX. I initially brushed it off due to the running. After watching the CrossFit Rogue Invitational in October 2021, I left too amped up to continue not competing in something. So I called my best guy friend and told him that I was signing us up for HYROX mixed doubles. That was two and a half weeks before the race.

Favorite race to date?: Hyrox Fort Worth 2023. It was in my hometown and my first race with my mixed doubles partner, Chris Balven. There is something to be said about running in your hometown with your friends and family all around and one of your best friends going through the race with you. We went into the race with no expectations. I was just hoping I could keep up, and we somehow ended up coming in third and got to share the podium with my former coaches and good friends Lauren Rantala and Marc Howe. 

Do you have a race goal? Chris and I have been hunting down a sub-60 minutes mixed doubles time all season. We have been close, but just haven’t snuck in there yet. We have two more opportunities with Houston coming up on March 16th and Hyrox World Championships this summer.

Favorite station? Wallballs! There’s just something special about chasing that unbroken set of 100. 

Least favorite station? Burpee broad jumps are the WORST. I don’t know if it’s my height or what, but I really struggle here. There has been a lot of improvement since my “burpee nap” days, but it’s always a fight for survival. 

Something you wish you knew when you started racing? I wish I knew how much running I needed to do to build my endurance base. If I could go back two years and tell myself one thing, it would be to be patient and trust the process. I think it would have led to a lot less early frustration on my end.