How You Can Use Tempo Runs to Get Faster and Improve Your Fitness

WHEN YOU FIRST get into running, your routine probably looks something like this: Lace up the best running shoes you own, hit a quick warmup, and then hit the road for a set time, distance, or route. Simply running a few times a week and intuitively speeding up and slowing down might be enough to improve your fitness—at least at first. Once you decide to graduate from a trot around your neighborhood into the world of more serious training, you’ll need to approach your workouts with more intention and specificity.

One common training technique used by hobbyists and world-class runners alike is the tempo run, a protocol where you run at a near-maximal intensity. Using these workouts you’ll increase muscular and cardiovascular endurance, learn to maintain running mechanics at a faster clip, and teach your body to cycle through lactic acid (which is what causes that burning sensation) more efficiently.

We tapped Jes Woods, a Nike Running coach and the Head Trail & Ultra Coach at the Brooklyn Track Club, to school you on all things tempo runs so you can better understand how to implement tempo runs into your running routine. We can’t say you’ll be thanking us (at least mid-run)—but you may just become the fastest guy in your local run club.

What Is a Tempo Run?

According to Woods, a tempo run is a hard but controlled pace that can be run as intervals, or a steady run spanning one to 10 miles meant to make you a more efficient runner. Tempo runs should feel, “comfortably hard,” according to Woods. “If your running buddy asked you a question while running your tempo run, you could answer them if you had to, but it would be pretty annoying.”

Woods says tempo runs can have a variety of loose definitions but, put most simply, they’re threshold runs meant to improve your lactate threshold. “That is, the tipping point between aerobic running (your body has sufficient oxygen) and anaerobic running (your body does not have sufficient oxygen to create the energy you are demanding),” she says. “You want to run at that tipping point without crossing over.”

In short: A tempo run is not easy, and that’s by design. This type of workout is a training tool that pushes you to your limits to increase your cardiovascular capacity, help you acclimate to a faster race day speed, and improve your body’s ability to clear lactate.

How to Do a Tempo Run

Tempo runs are challenging, but they’re simple to execute. Woods says that a proper race program (specifically for distances like marathons and half-marathons) should include one to two weekly speed sessions. The first is a straight speed or interval session and the second being what she calls “speed and strength,” which consists of either a hill workout, Fartlek runs, or tempo runs. For her athletes, Woods programs one tempo run every other week on average.

Calculate Your Pace

There are a few ways to find your pace for a tempo run. The least scientific is to run at a pace at which you can no longer comfortably hold a conversation with another person. Woods says this should be between your 10-kilometer and 10-mile race pace.

You can also sustain a pace that keeps you between 75 to 85 percent of your max heart rate. The simplest way to do this is to subtract your age from 220 (although there are other more accurate methods, for most runners this will do). You’ll need a fitness tracker or heart rate monitor to use this method.

Lastly, Woods likes the VDOT calculator. “Simply plug in a recent race distance and time, and the calculator will best guess your equivalent race pace at any and all other distances (and hit the Training tab to see your predicted threshold pace),” she explains.

Warmup

Dynamic Stretches

These types of movements will get your body primed for running better than static holds. “Hold each of these stretches for a few seconds before switching to the other side,” says Woods. “You can even perform these while walking forward or I like to use those ‘stuck at stoplights moments’ for dynamic stretches instead of checking my phone or jogging in place.”

Stretches Woods likes: Knee hugs, quad pulls, hamstring scoops, table toppers, lateral lunges and air squats. Do five reps on each side of your body per movement.

Warmup Jog

Never jump straight into your tempo work, even if you’ve done some dynamic stretching.

“Before any speed run, whether it’s fast intervals around the track or hill repeats in the park, an easy jog warm up is mission critical,” says Woods. Run for 10 to 15 minutes at a conversational pace before diving into the workout.

Hit the Road

The classic tempo run is straightforward enough. After you warm up, you’ll aim to run for 20 to 30 minutes at your calculated pace. If you’re new to tempo workouts or at the beginning of a new training cycle, Woods suggests running at your tempo pace in intervals to work up to a longer unbroken run. Here are two interval methods:

Straight-Up Intervals

“Start with five 5-minute intervals at your tempo run pace, with 90 second breaks after each,” says Woods. “That’s 25 minutes of tempo work, but broken into smaller bite-sized chunks. You can gradually increase those tempo intervals over time until you’re holding your tempo pace for 10 minutes, 15 minutes and eventually 25 continuous minutes.”

Floating Intervals

Think of this approach as the next step up to a continuous tempo workout.

“The float is an active recovery, but not an easy shuffle jog like you would on the track in order to run your next interval hard,” explains Woods. “If you were to assign a pace to it, ‘float’ is around your marathon pace plus 15 seconds, so you’re trying to recover from your tempo interval at an easier but respectable pace. A specific example would be: three 3-kilometer intervals at your tempo run pace with a 1-kilometer recovery run between each interval.”

The Benefits of Tempo Runs

No one will argue that tempo runs work when it comes to making you faster (and tougher). That said, details matter, so here are three specific ways this tried-and-true running protocol makes you better.

Better Endurance

Running is a volume game. Typically, you’ll become a better runner by, well, running—more specifically, by accumulating more mileage and progressively running at a faster pace. Tempo runs help bolster your cardiovascular capacity by forcing you to sustain a relatively intense pace for a moderate amount of time.

“Improving your tempo pace or improving your lactate threshold is like improving your miles per gallon on your car,” Woods says. “You want to be able to travel (run) farther on the same tank of gas (the same energy).”

Any form of running is going to improve your VO2 max, which is a measure of how much oxygen you can utilize during intense exercise. Naturally, a tempo run, an intentionally strenuous running workout, will improve your VO2 max and, therefore, your ability to run faster for longer.

More specifically, your heart rate should be beating between 80 to 90 percent of your max (putting you in what are considered heart rate Zones 3 and 4), which are associated with improving your anaerobic and aerobic capacities. Having endurance in both zones is imperative for running at a high intensity.

Improved Lactate Threshold

Once you enter Zone 4 in your workout, which you’re all but guaranteed to do during a hard run or race, your body taps into your anaerobic system, where it utilizes glycogen and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) for energy. Lactic acid, a byproduct of that process, will begin to accumulate inside your muscles—and it’s responsible for the burning sensation anyone who has sprinted or performed 20-rep squats knows all too well.

You cannot stop the production of lactic acid, which can hinder you during a run—but you can acclimate to the burning sensation and, as you get fitter, clear the lactate more quickly. Because tempo runs put you into that anaerobic training zone, it’s a great way to train through lactic acid build-up and mimic what you will feel like come race day.

“You are pushing that lactate threshold pace to be a little bit faster with it still feeling like the same effort,” explains Woods. “By raising that threshold, everything is getting faster—your marathon pace, the easy runs—as you become a more efficient runner.”