Pace To Race

When you mention the phrase “tempo run,” it means you are really getting into your running. But while a tempo run is a key staple in the training diet, very few people actually know what exactly how to create or follow it, but not to worry our app takes the pain out of a tempo run.

Alot of people mislabel a sub-par race performance a “tempo run”. Racing and tempo running differ greatly, and doing the latter incorrectly can compromise its training benefits. But learning how to incorporate it into your running routine can bring you lasting benefits—especially on race day.

A tempo run—also known as an anaerobic threshold or lactate-threshold run—is a pace about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than your current 5K race pace.

Tempo pace is the effort level at which your body is able to clear as much lactate—a byproduct of burning carbohydrates—as it produces. Your body’s lactate clearance is at the same level as its lactate production, meaning the dreaded dead-leg sensation doesn’t set in.

That’s the key difference between a race and a tempo run. In an all-out session, your body bypasses this limit, allowing for fatigue to develop rapidly. A tempo pace, on the other hand, can be held steadily (albeit not too comfortably) for at least 20 minutes.

Tempo running not only improves runners’ physical fitness, but their mental strength, too.

“I really believe in tempo running because it helps the athlete feel that sense of toughness they experience when they compete,” says Bob Williams, former Pac-10 steeplechase champion and distance coach at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon. “I think it’s a process of adaptation, psychological as well as physiological.”

Training at speeds that aren’t quite all-out efforts—in other words, holding your hand just above the flame—taps into the concentration required to develop mental toughness for racing.

The plans generated in our app consist of the correct amount of tempo runs to reach your goals, but you can also enter your own as shown in this article. https://blog.pacetorace.com/how-to-create-and-follow-tempo-runs/