Tempo Runs 101 For Marathoners, Including Workouts By World-Class Athletes
Article by Chelsea Ho of Sweat Elite
What is a tempo run?
Also known as a lactate threshold run, this is done at a pace that sits between your aerobic and anerobic energy systems. In other words, this is the highest speed you can maintain aerobically, whereby your body is just able to clear the acidosis it produces and prevent any buildup.
3 common definitions include:
1. Comfortably hard. Faster than a steady run such that you can hold brief conversations. If you prefer running “by feel” (aka perceived effort), this may be the most helpful definition for you.
2. The pace you could race for an hour: For most runners, this is equivalent to their 10-15k pace.
3. 85-90% of maximum heart rate (maximum heart rate = 220 – Age)
How is it beneficial to me?
- It improves your anaerobic threshold.
- This particularly benefits athletes racing 15K to the marathon because the physiological adaptations are most specific to the demands of those races, according to exercise physiologist Pete Pfitzinger.
- Simulates the experience of emotions (e.g. grit, perseverance) you would encounter in a race.
What types of tempo runs can I do?
While tempo runs can come in a variety of flavours, there are two major categories.
- Sustained Tempo Runs – defined as one “block” of running at tempo pace. Such runs should be capped at roughly 40mins as longer efforts do not necessarily lead to a proportional improvement. Beginners or recently recovered athletes should begin with 10-15mins and work towards gradually increasing the duration of the run.
- Tempo Repetitions: This workout is similar to intervals, except that they are done at your tempo pace and for a longer duration. The recovery is kept to a short 60-90 seconds.
Most programs will have you progress from tempo repetitions to sustained tempo runs. Once you are comfortable doing a certain tempo repetition (e.g. 2 x 10min efforts), the next goal is to do 20mins continuously as a sustained tempo run. Most athletes ensure that tempo runs feature regularly during their base phase.
Here are some examples by elite athletes and coaches focusing on the marathon:
1. Lorraine Moller, a marathon specialist and an Olympic Games medalist. One of her key workouts was the 3 x 2 miles at a hard intensity (10 km pace) with a 2-mile jog back to the start as her rest interval. Moller always ran her workouts on the same course and used it during the base phase of her training.
2. Alan Culpepper, a two-time Olympian. He mentioned that tempo runs longer than 6 miles are necessary when preparing for a marathon. Culpepper ensured that his heart rate stayed at 165-166bpm over the required time.
Four different sessions of Culpepper’s are listed below:
3 x 10mins at half-marathon to marathon pace with 2:30 rest between intervals
4 x 8mins at half-marathon pace with 2:00 rest between intervals
2 x 20mins at half-marathon to marathon pace with 3:30 rest between intervals
2 x 3-miles at half-marathon pace with 4:00 rest between intervals
3. Ronaldo Da Costa, former marathon world record holder.
He would perform 4 x 5km, sub 15mins per rep. Each rep would progressively get faster. This session was to simulate the second half of a marathon. He took a recovery of 5 – 10 minutes between each set and used this type of workout during the last phase of his marathon build up.
4. Peter De La Cerda, who placed 2nd in the 2000 US Olympic Marathon Trials.
Early in his preparation, he would complete 4-10mile tempo run @ 5min/mile pace.
As the marathon got closer, De La Cerda used a 4×3 km roughly at 3:00-3:10 minutes per km or 6×1 mile at 10 km race pace.
Just before his marathon he uses a 20 x 400 m in 65-70s to complete his training.
He would measure his pulse at the end to ensure that he does not run too hard.
5. Rod DeHaven, who won 2000 US Olympic Marathon Trials.
He does a 6-mile workout when resuming training after a break on the road.
The first couple of miles are warm-up miles with a pace of 5:10-5:25mins/mile.
The third mile drops to a 5min pace.
The final three miles are run at a ‘comfortably hard’ pace at 4:45 – 4:55 minutes.
6. Linda Somers-Smith, an Olympic marathoner.
One of her toughest workouts featured 2-3 sets of a 3-mile run.
Within each 3-mile run, this is further broken into 400m alternating between 5K and marathon race pace (like a fartlek). Somers would perform this workout only a couple of times in the lead-up to a marathon. The first session averaged 76-66s for 400m (5K pace) and 90s for 400m (marathon pace). A month later, her times decreased to 75s and 85s respectively.
Source: Sandrock, M. (2000). Running tough. Human Kinetics.
