Make the Tempo Run Simple and Fun

Explore creative ways to train at lactate threshold, an essential ingredient to becoming a better runner. [View in browser]( [PodiumRunner]( [Follow PodiumRunner Online][Follow PodiumRunner on Facebook]( [Follow PodiumRunner on Instagram]( [Follow PodiumRunner on Twitter]( Dancing around a threshold Talk to any [top runner]( or coach about what workouts they include most often and you'll hear long runs, strides, and tempo runs. Fit these three workouts around daily easy runs and you'll get consistently better as a runner. Each workout targets a different pace: long runs are easy and conversational, strides are as fast as you can turn over and stay relaxed, and tempos are, well, somewhere in the middle. [Exactly what pace is best for a tempo run]( and how to discover it is a subject of debate, complicated by the fact that it can vary daily, even hourly. As a coach and runner, I've found perception of effort as effective as any test: Tempo runs should feel fast but fun, riding that threshold where, if you sped up 10 seconds faster you'd be gasping for breath, but go 10-seconds slower and you feel like you could pick it up a bit. Hold this pace for 20 minutes and you've got a classic tempo run. I find, however, that I often end up alternating between those two sides of the threshold, upping the pace until it feels too fast, then backing off until it feels like I want to pick it up again. Fortunately, [running at this alternating pace](— dancing above and below threshold — not only isn't detrimental, it may be even more effective than a steady pace at improving your body's ability to deal with lactate. You build up excess lactate in your muscles, then give the body a chance to shuttle the lactate away, which improves its ability to deal with lactate on the run — enhancing your ability to sustain a faster pace. A [progression run](, starting easy and finishing fast, can also work effectively as a tempo run without worrying about the exact pace. You'll hit every definition of the threshold at some point as your pace gradually crosses over from slower to faster. And you'll likely surprise yourself at your ability to sustain faster-than-threshold pace at the end of these fun, motivating, negative-split efforts. This week, coach Richard Lovett detailed [another creative way of working the lactate-shuttling system](. In his Rat-a-tat intervals, you run slightly faster than threshold (so you're breathing a bit hard), but for only 400 meters, then take just long enough to do a quick circle back to the start and hit it again, up to 16–20 times. How do you know if you've got the pace right? You feel you want to stop when you finish each interval, but ready to go again in 15–20 seconds, dancing below and above the threshold by using a short rest rather than backing off in pace. I tried these by time on the road too: a fartlek using 90–120 seconds "on," 15–20 seconds "off," rolling along faster than I could have sustained at a steady pace, but able to hit it again after each short rest. The bottom line is to play with the point at which running gets significantly harder, and experiment with your body's ability to recover quickly from pushing a bit past that point. Do this once a week, in any fashion, and that point of fatigue will get faster. Combine this with with one day of exploring how far you can go, and a few days in which you hit your top speed very briefly, and you'll have the skills to run well at most distances, and the base to [fine-tune your fitness]( toward a goal race. Run Tall, friends. —Jonathan Beverly, Editor New Across Outside PODIUMRUNNER [Workout of the Week: Rat-a-Tat 400s]( Tempo runs are one of the best ways to improve your ability to run fast for a long time. But they don't have to always look the same. This variation uses short repeats — just 400m — to build up lactate in the blood, then even shorter recoveries to teach the body to shuttle that lactate away from muscles quickly. It's less stressful than the traditional steady runs at or near your lactate threshold, especially in the heat, but you can get even more volume. OUTSIDE ONLINE [Why Running Doesn’t Suck]( Outside's Editor in Chief lays out four practical reasons that running is a great sport, then reveals the real reason he changed his first opinion that running sucks: It's a drug. "On the days I run, I have less anxiety, think through problems clearly, and remain unflappably optimistic. On the days I don’t run? Best to keep your distance." [Join Outside+] Live Well. Live Active. Two yearly magazine subscriptions plus member-exclusive content from PodiumRunner and 18 Outside network brands. 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