01 / SPECIFIC
Compromised running
Run intervals that start immediately after a station. This is the only session that trains the actual race skill: holding form and pace when the legs are already loaded.
Training structure · reviewed August 25, 2026
A plan is a budget with weeks attached.
Most hybrid-race plans are a list of hard workouts. A useful plan starts from the finish time you are targeting, works out which part of that budget is least credible, and spends the next eight weeks attacking that one part.
Independent and educational. StationPace is not affiliated with or endorsed by any race organizer, and this is not individualized coaching or medical advice.
The four sessions
Every week needs these four jobs done.
You do not need eleven different workouts. You need four qualities trained repeatedly and measured the same way each time, so that progress is visible instead of assumed.
1× per week
02 / ENGINE
Aerobic control
Easy-to-steady continuous running. Raises the ceiling your compromised pace sits under, without stealing recovery from strength work.
03 / CAPACITY
Strength under clock
The station movements, trained for repeatable output rather than a one-rep maximum. Time each block so it becomes a number in your budget.
04 / REHEARSAL
Race-sequence simulation
A shortened version of the real order, including transitions. This is where your budget gets tested — and where most people discover the Roxzone.
Eight weeks
Change one variable per block.
| Block | Focus | What you are proving |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1–2 | Baseline and honesty | Your real fresh pace, your real per-station times, and a first full split budget. |
| Weeks 3–4 | The weakest budget line | Whichever category was least credible — usually stations or transitions, not running. |
| Weeks 5–6 | Compromised pace | That the running budget survives when every rep starts fatigued. |
| Week 7 | Full-order rehearsal | That the sequence and transitions hold together, not just the parts. |
| Week 8 | Taper and confirm | Nothing new. Confirm the budget you will actually execute on race day. |
Keep the plan and the budget in the same place.
StationPace for iPhone and iPad holds the eight-week structure against your split budget, runs each session on a live clock, and compares target versus actual afterwards — so week 5 starts from evidence instead of memory.
Download on the App Store →Common mistakes
Why plans stop working in week 4.
Training the strong thing. Runners add running; lifters add lifting. The budget tells you which category is actually costing you minutes — that is the one that earns the block.
Never rehearsing transitions. Roxzone time is real time. If it only exists on race day, it will cost more than you planned.
Changing three things at once. If you adjust pace, station strategy and volume in the same block, the result cannot be attributed to anything.
Testing instead of training. A full simulation every week is a race schedule, not a training plan. Every two to three weeks is enough to keep the plan honest.