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Tempo workout (Read 143 times)

MohMinnesota


    Hey Folks,

     

    I have a question about tempo workouts. I'm a newbie at this! I probably started doing these last year.

    I would call mine a classic, 4-5 miles (or 32-40 min) at HMP after 2-3 warm-up miles.

    For the past few months, I keep reading about a tempo workout integrated into a LR; aerobic then LT then aerobic then LT then cool down.

    I also read that some folks like to do a progression tempo instead of one pace.

    I guess my question is to you, what sort of tempo workout are you currently doing? And do you vary your tempo workouts?

     

    Thanks,,,

    10K: (44:33)   13.1 (1:41:48)    26.2 - TwinCities17 (3:49:07) 

    ilanarama


    Pace Prophet

      I like a combination! :-)

       

      I mostly do the sort of tempo you do.  But sometimes I like to split it up, i.e. instead of 40 minutes HMP I do 2x20 with a 3 minute jog in the middle, or even 2x25 - that lets me do a longer workout.  Sometimes I do tempo intervals (cruise intervals) such as 3x1 mile with jogs between; this is a good way to transition from shorter faster intervals to tempos. Sometimes I do Magness-style lactate clearance tempos, which involve (after a warmup) alternating slightly faster than HMP with slightly slower than HMP.  Sometimes I do workouts including both HMP and MP (one of my sharpening pre-marathon workouts is 3 easy, 4MP, 2HMP, easy).   Lots of ways to do threshold work!

      T Hound


      Slower but happier

        I have used daniels as a guide in past, but this block doing Pfitz. I dont run HMP because he advises the pace to be what you would run in 60 minutes, if u are racing, and, well, lets just say im not quite there with my HM time. ( Pfitz say 15k to HMP as the zone w HMP for elites and 10-15 sec slower than 10k pace for us mortals Wink.

         

        I would do straight tempo runs 30-50 minutes sandwhich by general aerobic miles as youve said maybe 2-3 each both sides.  Also what daniels calls cruise intervals where you do tempo pace intervals with 5:1 recoVery in between.  I dont know hown long he says but I usually did these intervals 1 mile and more recovery (1:2-1:4).  x 4-6 reps.

         

        This cycle im following Pfitz plan which has more straight tempo runs in his plan. Yesterday for me was tempo was: 10 miles, 2up, 5 miles tempo, 3 down, with constant pace for tempo portion.  I also did his 16, 12 ,8 min with 4 min recovery.  Thats comparatively easy one.   His alternating pace ones alternate 5-15 sec fater with 10 sec slower:  he does a longer lead in 4 min fast/4slow then 2 fast/4slowx  4 reps.  I do 3-4 strides prior to tempos just to loosen up and make the pace feel easier.

         

        I think the straight tempos have more of a mental challenge w the physical  but im not above changing a straight to an interval one if i need to if effort/hr are not behaving.  I did this w my first couple this block when i was rusty.

        2020 goal:  couch to 5K, currently working on the couch block

         

          I follow the Jack Daniels HM plan and I haven't seen any tempo's within the long run. The long run is mostly run at an easy pace - some weeks have a portion of it at marathon pace. But not at the lactate threshold.

           

          Typical workouts in phase 2 (out of 4), which is a base building phase, at LT are 1 or max 2 mile repitions at T pace with either 1 or 2 minutes recovery for every 5 to 6 minutes at T pace and some 200@R/200jg reps at the end of your workout before cool down. I believe he recomends not to do more than 10% of weekly mileage but a minimum of 4 miles per week.

           

          My legs are tired afterwards - a good sign I guess.

          HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

           

          2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!

          GinnyinPA


            I'm currently marathon training, using Pfitz. The LT workouts have been 4-7 miles at my 15k pace (about halfway between 10k and HM pace) with two miles warm up and two miles cool down. My previous marathons, I did Higdon style tempo runs which were progressive runs that gradually worked up to 10k pace then back to an easy pace with only a few minutes at 10k pace.  I think his longest tempo was about 40 or 50 minutes in all.


            On the road in MN

              I like to run a mix of different tempo/threshold workouts - either shorter faster Tempo intervals (8-13min hard) above lactate threshold (so fast side of tempo pace or faster)... with 3-4min recoveries. Usually hope to spend maybe 25min total at a faster pace.  Once you've been training for a while stronger paced efforts have been shown to really increase lactate adaptions - versus longer steady efforts.

               

              Otherwise the standby classic of warmup followed by 20-40minutes of 'tempo' pace.  Start workouts at ~20minutes, building to maybe 40minutes over maybe 5-8weeks.  Often I like to throw some surges in here and there (20-60sec) to get lactate levels above threshold for a bit if I feel like the tempo run is maybe a little 'easy'.

               

              If longer then 40min, usually will throw in a few sections of HMP to MP in the middle.   So maybe 30 hard... 5 at MP...20 hard... etc.  Especially late in marathon training I really like to see what heart rate and effort does after a longer tempo run... when I settle into a mile or two of Marathon goal pace.

                      5k: 19:29  Oct'17      26.2:  4:03 Oct'15  3:22 Grandmas June'17       Upcoming: Grandmas Marathon June'18 

              MohMinnesota


                Sometimes I do Magness-style lactate clearance tempos, which involve (after a warmup) alternating slightly faster than HMP with slightly slower than HMP.  Sometimes I do workouts including both HMP and MP (one of my sharpening pre-marathon workouts is 3 easy, 4MP, 2HMP, easy).   Lots of ways to do threshold work!

                 

                This one sounds fun and challenging. I have my marathon on April 8th. This might be a good rehearsal for this week or next week workout. Thanks for sharing Smile

                10K: (44:33)   13.1 (1:41:48)    26.2 - TwinCities17 (3:49:07) 

                MohMinnesota


                   

                  Typical workouts in phase 2 (out of 4), which is a base building phase, at LT are 1 or max 2 mile repitions at T pace with either 1 or 2 minutes recovery for every 5 to 6 minutes at T pace 

                  How many repetitions does he usually recommend?

                  10K: (44:33)   13.1 (1:41:48)    26.2 - TwinCities17 (3:49:07) 

                  MohMinnesota


                     

                    If longer then 40min, usually will throw in a few sections of HMP to MP in the middle.   So maybe 30 hard... 5 at MP...20 hard... etc. 

                     

                    This looks like a very challenging tempo workout. Almost an hour worth of quality miles. How do you usually feel afterwords?

                    10K: (44:33)   13.1 (1:41:48)    26.2 - TwinCities17 (3:49:07) 

                    paul2432


                      I like mixing it up as well with an overall trend of increasing the total time at tempo pace and reducing the easy pace.  One of the benefits of mixing it up is you avoid racing yourself week over week and inadvertently getting out of the tempo zone.

                       

                      Like others have said there are tons of ways to do these"

                       

                      Warm-up and a cool down a coupe miles before and after each of these.

                      6x5 minutes with 1 minute jogs

                      4x10 minutes with 2 minute jogs

                      2x20 minutes with 5 minute jog

                       

                      You can also do a Temop-Long-Tempo (TLT):

                      2-3 miles easy, 2-3 miles tempo, 10 miles easy, 2-3 miles tempo, 2 easy

                      These really force you not to go too fast early.

                       

                      You can also mix in marathon pace and tempo:

                      Warmup, 5 MP, 1 tempo, 5 MP, 1 tempo, Cooldown

                       

                      You can also substitute hill tempos (either on a TM or a longer hill if you have one) for a regular tempo.  Make the effort tempo effort by running up hill rather than faster.  I'm training for a hilly trail race, so hill tempos have become a regular part of my routine.

                      kcam


                        I follow the Jack Daniels HM plan and I haven't seen any tempo's within the long run. The long run is mostly run at an easy pace - some weeks have a portion of it at marathon pace. But not at the lactate threshold.

                         

                        Typical workouts in phase 2 (out of 4), which is a base building phase, at LT are 1 or max 2 mile repitions at T pace with either 1 or 2 minutes recovery for every 5 to 6 minutes at T pace and some 200@R/200jg reps at the end of your workout before cool down. I believe he recomends not to do more than 10% of weekly mileage but a minimum of 4 miles per week.

                         

                        My legs are tired afterwards - a good sign I guess.

                         

                        This is a workout that I got a lot of benefit from.  I started doing it with an older running friend who was coached by Tinman (where he got it from).  Tinman did wonders for this guy who ran 1:23 for the 1/2, 38:36 for 10K and 18:59 for 5K ... at age 63!

                         

                        Anyway the 1 mile or 2 mile reps with 3-5 200's were this guys bread and butter.  We'd do 6X1600 with 200 jog recovery or 3X3200 with 400 jog recovery, at 10mile pace and then finish with 3-5 200's at maybe 40sec/200.  I'd lead one rep and then he'd lead the next.  Tinman called them "Big" workouts because in addition to the 6X1600/200's we would do about 4 or 5 warmup miles before and another 4 or 5 cooldown miles after.  I think these sub very well for true tempo runs.

                          Kcam: holy cow your big workouts are heavy duty. My wheels would fall off. That's when I looked at my schedule and realized I have something close to that coming up this Friday...

                           

                          Moh: the quantity of reps follows your mpw. So the greater of 4 miles/ 4 repetitions if its single miles and 10% of mpw. So if you run 50mpw it would be 5 reps. But if your mpw is 30 then do a minimum of 4 reps.

                          HM: 1:47 (9/20) I FM: 3:53:11 (9/23)

                           

                          2024 Goals: run a FM & HM + stay healthy!