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- What are Tempo Runs?
What is a Tempo Run & How Can I Do It?
If you want to improve your fitness and running performance, tempo runs are a great way to do it. The definition of a tempo run is simple: Run at a challenging pace for a challenging length of time, with an easy warm-up beforehand and an easy cool-down afterward.
Like all types of running, tempo runs improve your strength, stamina, and endurance over time. However, they also help your body adapt to the challenge of pushing yourself beyond your perceived physical and mental limits. By improving your physical performance and mental resilience, tempo runs can make you a much stronger runner. Always consult with your physician before starting a new exercise program.
The Benefits of Tempo Runs
Tempo runs improve your running economy, which is your body’s ability to use oxygen and overcome fatigue. A number of factors influence your running economy, and together they go a long way toward determining how you’ll perform. Tempo runs make you a better runner by improving each of these factors. Here’s how.
Running Fitness
In running, fitness is your body’s ability to use oxygen to fuel performance over a period of sustained effort. By training your body to use oxygen more efficiently, tempo running helps you increase your pace and endurance.
Lactate Threshold
When doing tempo runs, runners push their bodies until it feels uncomfortable but sustainable. This is known as a threshold pace: a pace on the border between aerobic running (which uses oxygen as fuel) and anaerobic running (which uses the easily-depleted sugar stored in your muscles).Burning the sugar in your muscles generates lactic acid, which produces soreness and fatigue when it builds up. Running at a tempo pace improves your lactate threshold, meaning it’ll take longer before your body starts producing lactic acid. That allows you to go longer and harder, with less and less fatigue.
Running Cadence
Cadence is how quickly your legs move as you run. A faster running cadence means you take more steps per minute. Experienced runners work to maintain a high cadence because it’s more efficient and associated with lower injury risk. By challenging your legs to move faster for longer periods, you can increase your body’s ability to sustain a faster cadence.
Max Heart Rate
While tempo running, you should be at 80-90% of your maximum heart rate. This trains your body to use oxygen more efficiently, which correlates with a lower heart rate overall. By improving running fitness with tempo runs, you may see improvements to your heart rate, even when at rest.
Mental Toughness (or the “Pain Cave”)
The pain cave is a tunnel-vision-like feeling that some runners get when they focus on continuing forward despite their exhaustion and soreness. Most elite distance runners routinely find their pain cave. They build the mental toughness to push through it by becoming familiar with the discomfort. Because tempo running has you run at a set pace for a specific amount of time, it’s an excellent way to practice mental toughness. Knowing you have to reach the 20-minute mark challenges your mind to stay calm and focused.
How to Do Tempo Runs
Tempo runs should be at a pace that’s slightly uncomfortable, but not impossible, to maintain for at least twenty minutes. That means you shouldn’t sprint at any point. Instead, run at a sustainable, yet difficult, pace. Your breathing should be heavy, but not so much that you can’t catch your breath. To execute a tempo run, especially for beginners, it’s best to find a flat path, road, or trail that isn’t too busy with other traffic. Ensure you have a long enough uninterrupted path for your run, with no stoplights or obstructions along the way. Then, get started, and don’t stop until 20 minutes have passed. It’s also important to adapt your tempo run to your abilities and goals. Remember, the goal is to stay at your lactate threshold for sustained periods of time. If you’re an advanced runner, you might have to go farther or faster. On the other hand, aging, physical disabilities, or an uphill route can all make a shorter run reasonable. Each runner will benefit from a tempo run regimen that aligns with their level of skill and goals. If you’re a beginner, start your tempo runs on a flat path, road, or trail with minimal traffic. Ensure you have a long enough uninterrupted path for your run, with no stoplights or obstructions along the way.
Tempo Run Pacing & Length
A race like a 5K or a half or full marathon is different from a tempo run, but tempo running is a great way to train for these types of races. If you’re training for a race, it’s helpful to set a training plan and calculate the pace you’ll need to hit to reach a specific finishing time. You can train your body to sustain your race pace by tempo running at a slightly faster pace. This kind of training requires maintaining a steady pace during your tempo runs. Maintaining your pace can be difficult, but several tools can help. Many runners use a fitness band or GPS smartwatch that keeps track of their pace, distance, time, elevation, and heart rate. Others use a digital coaching app to receive cues throughout their run. Consider running on a track if you just want to run a specific distance. By sticking to a specific number of laps, you’ll be able to ensure you don’t stop too early.
Sample Tempo Run Workouts
Tempo Runs for Beginners
The classic tempo run starts with a 10-minute warm-up at a pace you feel you could sustain forever (even if it’s walking). Then, run at a pace that’s challenging, but not impossible, to maintain for a solid 20 minutes. Finish it off with a 10-minute cooldown in which you jog slowly or walk.
Training for Half Marathons
Training for longer races requires longer tempo runs. If you’re training for a half marathon, increase the length of your tempo run. Warm up for 20 minutes at an easy pace, then move into a 30-minute tempo at a pace slightly faster than you’ll need on race day. Finish off with a 20-minute cooldown.
Training for Marathons
Warm up for 15 minutes at an easy pace, then move into a 60-minute tempo that’s slightly faster than your marathon pace. Finally, cool down for 15 minutes at an easy pace.
Tempo Runs for Trail Runners
Trail runs and races come with a lot of uphills and downhills, so trail runners should do tempo runs along a hilly route. Warm up for 20 minutes on a flat trail, then move to a challenging pace for 20 minutes on a hilly section of the trail. Follow this with a 20-minute cooldown on a level or downhill section of the trail.
More Ways to Improve Running Economy
Sustained Tempo Runs vs. Tempo Repetitions
While sustaining your pace is the most important part of a tempo run, breaking it into two or three different 20-minute tempo repeats can have a similar effect. Here’s what a 70-minute tempo repeat might look like:
- 10-minute warmup
- 20-minute tempo run
- 10-minute cooldown
- 20-minute tempo run
- 10-minute cool-down
Threshold vs. Tempo Runs
Threshold runs are similar to tempo runs, but a little faster and shorter. While tempo runs put you slightly below your lactate threshold pace for an extended period, threshold runs keep you at your threshold period for a shorter period of time. While tempo runs delay the point at which your body produces lactate, threshold runs train your body to clear the lactate it does produce.
Tempo Runs vs. Interval Training
Interval training is shorter but more intense than tempo running. Interval training is good for improving maximum speed for experienced runners. While tempo runs are meant to be difficult but sustainable, interval training involves alternating between fast and slow paces. An interval workout might involve a warmup, followed by a period of alternating between a set time of sprinting and an interval of walking or easy jogging. After several intervals, you should cool down.
Using Music for Tempo Run Training
Conveniently, listening to music has been found to alter running cadence. Runners who listen to up-tempo songs tend to match the music’s beat, which increases their pace and cadence. Creating a playlist for tempo or interval running can help you focus on sustaining the pace.
How to Incorporate Tempo Runs Into Your Schedule
It can be hard to slot tempo running workouts into a busy schedule, so it’s important to pick a time slot each day and stick with it. Many runners make time for a run immediately after work or school. If your commute is short, you could even run to and from work. Don’t do a tempo run every day. Tempo runs are meant to push your limits, and doing them too frequently can result in overtraining, fatigue, and injury. Tempo runs should be done no more than twice a week, with easy runs on days in between. Lastly, be mindful of your body on the day of your scheduled tempo run. It’s always okay to move it to another day if your body hasn’t recovered from the last one. Instead, try a workout that could benefit your future tempo run instead.