How Tempo Running Exercise Can Make You Faster
When you first started running, your running routine might look like this: Put on the best shoes you own, hit a fast pace, and hit the road for a set time, distance or route. Running a few times a week and speeding up and slowing down clearly can be enough to improve your fitness – at least at first. Once you’ve decided to graduate from trot around your neighborhood to the world of more serious training, you’ll need to approach your training with purpose and precision.
Another common training method used by hobbyists and world-class runners alike is the tempo run, a protocol where you run at close range. Using these exercises you will increase muscular and cardiovascular endurance, learn to maintain a high-speed machine, and teach your body to circulate lactic acid (which causes the burning sensation) through success.
We are hungry Jes WoodsNike Running coach and Head Trail & Ultra Coach at Brooklyn Track Clubteaching you all things tempo runs so you can better understand how to implement a tempo that matches your running schedule. We can’t say you’ll be thanking us (at least in the middle of the race)—but you might be the fastest guy in your race.
What is Tempo Run?
According to Woods, a tempo run is a hard but controlled run that can be run as timed, or a steady pace covering 10 miles to make you a better runner. Tempo runs should feel, ‘nicely hard,’ according to Woods. ‘If your running buddy asks you a question during your tempo run, you can answer them if you have to, but it can be very boring.’
Woods says tempo runs can have many different meanings but, simply put, they are runs designed to improve lactate threshold. That is, the final point between aerobic running (your body has enough oxygen) and anaerobic running (your body does not have enough oxygen to produce the energy you want), ‘ he says. ‘You want to run where you don’t cross.’
In short: Tempo running isn’t easy, and it’s by design. This type of exercise is a training tool that pushes you to increase your heart rate, helps you get used to the fast pace of race day, and improves your body’s ability to clear lactate.
How to do a Tempo Run
Tempo running is hard, but easy to do. Woods says a proper running program (especially for events like marathons and half marathons) should include one to two running sessions per week. The first is a straight run or interval run and the second is what he calls a ‘power run,’ which includes hill workouts, Fartlek runs, or tempo runs. For his athletes, Woods averages one tempo each week.
Calculate Your Speed
There are several ways to find your speed for a tempo run. The smallest thing in science is running at such a speed that you cannot comfortably communicate with another person. Woods says this should be between your 10 to 10 mile pace.
You can also maintain a pace that keeps you between 75 and 85 percent of your maximum heart rate. The easiest 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 will need a fitness tracker or heart rate monitor to use this method.
In the end, Woods likes VDOT calculator. ‘Just plug in a recent location and time, and the tracker will estimate your speed at all other locations (and click the Coach button to see your predicted speed),’ he says. explain.
Warm yourself up
Energy Tablets
These types of movements will condition your body for better performance than static holding. ‘Hold each of these for a few seconds before switching to the other side,’ says Woods. ‘You can do these on the go or I like to use the ‘stuck at stoplights’ for intense stretches instead of looking at my phone or running around .’
Stretches Woods likes: Knee hugs, quad pulls, hamstring scoops, table tops, lateral lunges and air squats. Do five repetitions on each side of your body with each movement.
A warm jog
Never jump straight into your tempo work, even if you’ve done some vigorous stretching.
‘Before a race, whether it’s fast times around the track or hill repeats in the park, easy running is the most important activity,’ says Woods. Run for 10 to 15 minutes at a leisurely pace before entering the gym.
Hit the Road
The classic tempo run is straightforward enough. After you warm up, aim to run for 20 to 30 minutes at a moderate pace. If you’re new to tempo training or at the beginning of a new training cycle, Woods suggests running at your own tempo at intervals to work up to an unbroken run. Here are two temporary methods:
Vertical Phases
“Start with five five-minute intervals at your running pace, with a 90-second break after each,” says Woods. ‘That’s 25 minutes of tempo work, but broken down into bite-sized chunks. You can gradually increase those tempo intervals over time until you hold your tempo for 10 minutes, 15 minutes and finally 25 minutes.’
Flowing Phases
Think of this method as the next step in long-term exercise.
Woods explains: ‘Floating is good, but it’s not as easy a run as you would run on a track to run your next time hard. ‘If you were to put a pace on it, the ‘float’ is close to your marathon pace plus 15 seconds, so you’re trying to get your tempo time back at an easy but respectable pace. A specific example would be: three 3-mile intervals at your pace and a 1-kilometer recovery interval between each interval.’
Benefits of Tempo Runs
No one will argue that tempo works when it comes to getting you faster (and faster). That said, data matters, so here are three specific ways this tried-and-true protocol makes you better.
Patience is Good
Running is a sound game. Typically, you’ll become a better runner by running—especially by racking up more miles and running steadily at a faster pace. Tempo running helps build your heart rate by forcing you to maintain a relatively vigorous pace for a moderate amount of time.
“Improving your tempo or improving your lactate threshold is like improving your miles per gallon in your car,” Woods says. ‘You want to be able to go (run) more than one tank of gas (same power).’
Any type of running will improve your VO2 max, which is a measure of how much oxygen you can use during intense exercise. Naturally, fast-tempo, high-intensity exercise will improve your VO2 max and, therefore, your ability to run fast for long periods of time.
In particular, your heart rate should be beating between 80 and 90 percent of your maximum (putting you in what is considered heart rate Zones 3 and 4), which is associated with improving your anaerobic and aerobic capacity. Endurance in both areas is necessary for high-intensity running.
Improved Lactate system
Once you enter Zone 4 in your workout, which you’re guaranteed to do during a hard sprint or race, your body goes into your anaerobic system, where it uses glycogen and ATP ( adenosine triphosphate) for energy. The lactic acid, produced by that process, will begin to accumulate in your muscles – and is responsible for the burning sensation anyone who has ever run or done 20 squats o know very well.
You can’t stop the production of lactic acid, which can hinder you during the run – but you can get used to the burning sensation and, as you get better, clear the lactate faster. Because tempo running puts you in that anaerobic training zone, it’s a great way to train by accumulating lactic acid and mimicking what you’ll feel like on race day.
‘You’re pushing that lactate rate up a little bit faster, it still feels like the same effort,’ explains Woods. ‘By raising that threshold, everything gets faster—your marathon, your easy runs—as you become a better runner.’
Andrew Gutman is a journalist with ten years of experience covering fitness and nutrition. His work has been published in Men’s Health, Men’s Handbook, Muscles and Fitnessand Gear Patrol. Outside of writing, Andrew trains Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, helps coach his gym’s kickboxing team, and enjoys reading and cooking.
Jes Woods is a New York City running coach who works as a Nike running coach, Brooklyn Track Club Ultra and Trail head coach, and Chaski Endurance coach.
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