Tempo run

A tempo run is a sustained run at threshold pace, which Jack Daniels calls “comfortably hard” and manageable for 20 or 30 minutes in training.^{1Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula, 4th ed., p. 91.} For well-trained runners, that pace is about 85% to 88% of VO2 max, or 88% to 92% of maximum heart rate; for less-trained runners, it is nearer 80% to 86% of VO2 max.^{1Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula, 4th ed., p. 91.} The aim is to improve blood lactate clearance and sustain a slightly faster pace for longer.^{1Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula, 4th ed., p. 91.}

The NSCA places pace/tempo training at or slightly above race intensity, matching lactate threshold, and says it improves running economy and raises the threshold.^{2Haff and Triplett (eds.), Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed., p. 584.}

In practice

• Daniels advises using a pace the client could hold for 30 to 40 minutes if needed, slowing down if they couldn’t.^{3Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula, 4th ed., p. 92.}
• If the workout feels easy, the NSCA recommends adding distance rather than intensity.^{2Haff and Triplett (eds.), Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed., p. 584.}
• The NSCA prescribes one or two sessions a week, starting clients who can’t sustain threshold intensity with 3 to 5 minute bouts and 30 to 90 seconds of rest, then progressing to a steady 20 to 30 minute bout.^{4Schoenfeld and Snarr (eds.), NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training, 3rd ed., p. 453.}

Tempo runs and cruise intervals

Daniels reserves “tempo run” for a steady run of about 20 minutes entirely at threshold pace and calls the broken-up version cruise intervals.^{5Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula, 4th ed., p. 93.} A “10-mile tempo run” that gradually builds pace is only tempo during its final portion by his definition.^{5Daniels, Daniels’ Running Formula, 4th ed., p. 93.} The NSCA groups both steady and intermittent formats under pace/tempo training.^{2Haff and Triplett (eds.), Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, 4th ed., p. 584.},^{4Schoenfeld and Snarr (eds.), NSCA’s Essentials of Personal Training, 3rd ed., p. 453.}