What Exactly is a Tempo Run?

The T-word describes a specific, and very useful, workout

• A Team Oregon running club definition: "One fourth to one third of race distance at race pace."

• From something called "The Bad Runner’s Bible": "A type of training run based on time instead of distance. Tempo runs are good for when you have no idea how long a trail is."

• From the training log of mountain maven Matt Carpenter: "Four-mile tempo run on a hill at approximately 12% grade." (According to Daniels: "Hills, rough footing and wind all play havoc with the ability to maintain a steady pace, and interfere with achieving the purpose of the workout.")

Tempo How-Tos

Maintaining a specific and consistent pace is the most important aspect of a tempo run. However, this doesn’t exclude variety in other respects, depending on a runner’s individual goals. Says Pfitzinger, "The tempo runs I use for my athletes most frequently are four to six miles at 15K to half-marathon race pace." For marathoners, Pfitzinger prescribes up to nine miles at between half-marathon and marathon race pace, or a 13-mile run followed by five miles at between half-marathon and marathon pace. He will typically have his runners perform two of these workouts every three weeks during a marathon build-up. This is a sensible guideline; as the goal race approaches (but before tapering) the runner might want to increase the frequency to one tempo effort weekly.

Pfitzinger adds that not all competitors benefit equally from tempo runs. "Athletes racing from 15K on up to the marathon receive the most benefit from tempo runs because the physiological adaptations are most specific to the demands of those races," he notes. "An improvement in lactate threshold is only a small benefit for a 5K race because that race is run well above lactate-threshold pace. Performance in races of 15K to the marathon, however, is determined primarily by the runner’s lactate-threshold pace." Tempo runs, therefore, provide a direct and important benefit in longer races for runners at any level, from novice to elite veteran.

Variations on the AT theme

Daniels mentions another workout, "cruise intervals," which are tempo runs interspersed at regular (say, one-mile or 10-minute) intervals by 30- to 60-second rest periods. This pattern diminishes the psychological difficulty of the workout while preserving the aerobic benefits, allows greater volume (five miles or even more for elite marathoners) and may help guard against excessive speed. He also recommends inserting periods of AT running into long runs—say, two 20-minute tempo runs bookending an easy one-hour run—something a marathoner might do bi-weekly in the latter stages of race preparation.

Of course, any coach would strongly discourage the "accidental" tempo run that results from melting down in the middle of a race. As for another practice that has become common, deliberately planning races as tempo runs, Pfitzinger is almost as disapproving. "I don’t like the idea of my runners giving anything short of 100% effort," he opines, "and even if the plan was to go at tempo-run pace, any motivated runner would likely go too hard once the gun fires."

Remember, the one real requirement of tempo running is that you stick to a steady, specific, planned pace. Beyond that you have many options. Of course, if you’re still unsure, you can always resort to the tongue-in-cheek prescription set forth by the Tahoe Mountain Milers: "Tempo run: Running to the beat of your favorite song should be done at least once a week."

Kevin Beck runs to his own beat in Concord, NH.