I was thumbing thru this months Runners World when I came upon the article about running a marathon PR on three runs a week. Fine, great, whatever. AS I was scanning the article I saw the chart of workouts. Workouts were listed as “Speed”, “Tempo” and long run. The one that really grabbed my attention was “Tempo” under which they had a 10 mile run.
Well ok, until this point my understanding was that a “Tempo” run was at a pace around ones 10K pace, I hesitate to use the letters “LT” knowing the problems those two letters always bring up. Also typically tempo’s run form 20 minutes to a MAx of 50 or so. Seemed to me that not to many people are running 5minute mile 10 mile training runs, so I read on.
Well in the article they explain “We do tempo runs differently” They have short, mid and long distance “Tempo’s” They run at different paces ranging from fast to marathon pace.
Well WTF!? since when is “Marathon pace” a tempo run? And why in the hell do people insist on redifining words for their own personal use?
Am I missing something or are these people dumbasses? (Could be I’m the dumbass here…in fact likely) Do they do this so people can read the article and then not be able to communicate with others? I can just see the mass confusion now as people are explaining about how they did their 90 minute “Tempo Run” today.
It seems you’ve defined tempo runs as runs at 10k pace. That’s not what it means. You’re the one that defined a term according to your personal use.
In running circles there are a lot of definitions, including:
15k- 1/2 mary pace (edit: 4-6 miles)
about 1/3 of race distance at race pace
20 min at LT threshold
10 miles at marathon pace goes just over the 1/3 at race pace definition, so its not entirely out of the box. Short answer is that it has many definitions and is based on the distance you’re training for, not an absolute correlation to your 10k pace.
The problem with Runner’s World, and why I don’t subscribe anymore, is that there are only so many ways you can reinvent the wheel. They do very minimal race coverage, except for really big things like the Olympics, so they have to fill the pages with tips and plans for runners. Everyone has a new thing that worked for them and the “plan of the week” is a huge filler in their magazine.
Most running coaching today is based off Arthur Lydiard’s philosophies and they haven’t changed much in 30 or 40 years. You can only say “run more miles” in so many ways before you sound like a broken record. Lydiard believed in running as many miles as each individual could physically sustain (up to about 120-150 a week) and from there you work toward a specific event from 1500 meters up to the marathon. In his mind, all training was marathon training. I suspect he would have scoffed at running a PR on three runs a week and all the crazy plans that are out there. He likely would have said, just go run.
Which is pretty much what Eddy Merckx said when they asked him what young riders should do to improve; “Ride your bike a lot.”
You don’t sell magazine with traing plans that say “run as much as you can and when you are running 60, 70 or 100 miles a week then let’s talk about the next step.”
until this point my understanding was that a “Tempo” run was at a pace around ones 10K pace, I hesitate to use the letters “LT”
This is odd. I find myself in the position of defending RW. I’ve always thought of “tempo run” as a sort of generic term, meaning about race pace.
But yeah, generally speaking, they’re dumbasses. This is exactly the sort of article that demonstrates the fact- a marathon PR on three runs per week, huh? That was right after the articles about how to go from couch potato to marathoner in six weeks, and how to walk/run yourself to a fast marathon, right?
They ought to just be honest, and title all of these articles, “How to Feel Like You’ve Accomplished Something Without Really Working.”
It you for reading a magazine about running. No one as ever got faster from reading these silly articles. One book like the Lore of Running will supply much more information than 5 years of these adverts and gimmics. Typical cover story - lose weight and improve your 5k in three weeks. Then, an article that tells you how faster you could be if you replace mayo with olive oil and train a bit more.
there are many definitions to what a “tempo” run are, but typically to me it meant about 20 minutes of running at 10km race pace effort. If you look in Jack Daniel’s 2nd edition (new) Running Formula on page 114 he gives the pace adjustments based on distance for what he calls threshold runs, which it a good term for tempo runs.
“So just for review, let’s see how the experts define the term. Also known as an anaerobic threshold (AT) run or lactate-threshold run, the tempo run was popularized by Jack Daniels, Ph.D., about a decade ago. Here’s his definition, taken from Daniels’ Running Formula (Human Kinetics): “A tempo run is nothing more than 20 minutes of steady running at threshold pace.” (He goes on to say that 20 minutes is ideal, but may be varied to suit the needs of a particular course.) Without getting too technical, threshold pace is the effort level just below which the body’s ability to clear lactate, a by-product of carbohydrate metabolism, can no longer keep up with lactate production. Daniels states that this pace is, for most people, about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than current 5K race pace.”
Is what I thought a tempo run was.
What you’re describing is what I’d call “Race pace” running, Till this point I’ve always used Daniels definition of “tempo run”…since supposedly he came up with it shouldn’t we stick to his definition?
Yeh 99% of it. I skipped over some of the “Womens health specific issues” Particularly “The choice of an appropriate sports bra” and other neat stuff…
I also remember not really reading, more skimming, some of the history stuff. Runner “X” ran 15 miles in the AM, 20 miles in the PM on the first day of his 20 week training program…On day two…yeh that got old quick.
I tried to actually read it when I got it, but then decided it would make a much better reference book than bedtime reading. There’s so much good info - just too much to take in all at once.
yeah I can see how the female-oriented section of the books would get boring if they don’t apply!
Does Jack offer “Tempo runs” for longer distance like mentioned in RW? Seems strange that he would define “tempo run” so specifically and then later open it up.
I just find it cumbersome when words have multiple meanings. Tempo has always meant to me what you initially expressed. Typically a 15-25 minute run at or around LT or 10K effort. Opening that up to “Well a tempo run is anu run that is near your rce pace for that race” seems very wishy washy and communicates very little. IOW you can’t just say “Do a tempo run” You have to say “do a tempo run based on “X” distance race”. Overall counterproductive…IMHO. Especially when you can just say “Do your goal race pace” or ““X” Race pace” effort.
Just listening to you makes me confused. Just run more miles. Tempo or any other kind of hard run get in the way of your day-to-day recovery. You don’t really need them if you are racing in triathlons. As desert dude used to say “There is no such thing as junk miles.” Truer words were never spoken.
