← EXERCISE LIBRARYConditioning
Tempo Run
A sustained effort at comfortably hard pace, held long enough to raise the effort you can maintain for an hour. The classic threshold session.
- 01Warm up with ten to fifteen minutes of easy running plus a few strides.
- 02Lift to a comfortably hard effort, RPE 7, where you can say a few words but not hold a conversation.
- 03Hold that effort continuously for twenty to forty minutes on flat ground.
- 04Check in every five minutes and back off slightly if breathing turns ragged.
- 05Cool down with ten minutes of easy running.
- 01Comfortably hard, and it should stay comfortable at the halfway point.
- 02Relaxed shoulders, relaxed hands.
- 03Even effort, no surges.
- 01Starting too fast and fading, which turns a threshold run into an interval session with a slow finish.
- 02Running it on a hilly route, which makes the effort swing wildly around the target.
- 03Doing tempo work more than twice a week, which leaves no room for easy volume or recovery.
Note: Reference material, not a prescription. Load, volume and whether this movement suits you at all depends on your assessment — if something hurts, stop and get it looked at.