Tempo runs are the bugaboo workout for me. They never feel right, they never give me confidence, they hurt like hell. If I attempt them on my own I can never settle into a pace, and if I run them with a group I am always annoyed and shamed by the stronger runners who pass me, or who have more kick/less gasping the final half a mile. I hate the way tempo runs make my lungs burn and my heart pound so hard I can feel it pulsing in my chest. Theoretically, tempo runs should be tough enough to wear me down, but not so hard that I am humiliated, and yet, I always feel like a schmoe at the end of a tempo.
Take Matt. He loves tempo runs because he gets out there and lets ‘er rip, running hard and fast while enjoying the zipzipzip. Then there are runners like EG who are so talented at locking into a rhythm that others call them a “pace master.” I want to enjoy the zip, I want to lock in, but I am starting to suspect it won’t ever happen for me.
Oh and: did I mention that Coach Kate had us scheduled for a tempo run along the West Side Highway this evening at Nike Speed? Did I also mention that my buddy DT who pulls me along on these workouts thought he was being clever and went straight to the track on the Lower East Side, leaving me with no fellow tempo schmoe? (He ended up fartleking around by himself.) Oh and did I mention that I had to pee so badly that I left Paragon Sports after the rest of the group, so I actually got in a 1.5 mile faux tempo (do you like how I’ve found a few rhymes with the “oh” in tempo for this post?) as I trotted across West 20th Street with one of the pacers to catch up with the rest of the group?
All things considered–including the fact that I didn’t always get in three runs a week in March as I’d been planning so my base fitness is, shall we say, shallow–I am satisfied with my effort in tonight’s speed workout. There is, however, a big difference between satisfied and elated.
Coach Kate paced the 8-minute-5k-race-pace group tonight, and since Mile 1 was the only full one I ran under her guidance, I give her the credit for the nice 8:13 pace. That felt “comfortably hard.” After 1.5 miles, I peeled off from the rest of the pack, which was planning on a 4-mile tempo, and headed back on my own. So I was partially responsible for the pace of Mile 2, which was 8 minutes flat. By the time I started the third mile, I had cramps in both sides (is that even possible??), was hacking wetly, my heart felt like someone was squeezing it in a fist, and my lower back and shoulders were so tense and malformed I could hear my Pilates instructor’s voice scolding me. “Shoulders down! Tailbone tucked!”
Dudes and dudettes, this is what’s called “I Haven’t Done a Fucking Tempo Run Since October.”
The only thing I remember about the last half mile was the clamorous noise in my head as I tried to psych myself up to complete the entire mile. At 42nd Street I got real, and promised myself that if I continued to give it my all through 36th Street (completing the half-mile) I could walk a little then trot it in. Hi, yes, I feel humble. Hi, yes, I have a lot of work to do. Hi, yes, I am up for the challenge (7-minute pace group, I’m gonna get you!). The last 0.52 miles of the tempo were run at a 7:51 pace, which makes the workout more of a progression run than a true tempo. Yeah, progression THIS, suckers!
Related: I have officially put these speed workouts in the No-Go Zone, which means I skip them only for some other running-related event, or a death in the family. I backed out of a work obligation next Wednesday because I didn’t want to miss my speed workout. NB: this work obligation involves a cookbook, a cookbook author, preparation of recipes in said book by said author, all while surrounded by elegant and esteemed foodies–normally I’d cancel a date with Daniel Craig* to be in such esteemed culinary company. The intractable prioritizing of my training has begun its slow, merciless takeover of my life. Bring it!
*Not that he’s asking. I mean, it’s likely that if he met me he’d so totally want to date me. But, we haven’t met. Yet.
Pigtails Flying 
I think this is the appropriate cliche: “Its the hard runs that you struggle through now that make the biggest difference in the end”. I happen to agree with it.
Satisfied is a good starting point, no? Speed will always be a little ugly after a long layoff. Sounds like you are moving in the right direction, and I’m sure you’ll get to elated in no time…
Those first few hard runs back are always awful. Sometimes I think they’re harder mentally than physically. Also (unsolicited advice/criticism): 5K pace is not tempo pace. It’s 5K pace. That’s way too hard for a tempo run.
But if you’re running “comfortably hard” then you’re not running 5K pace. So it all worked out. 🙂 And I’m just glad you’re running hard again.
See you Sunday!
Oh, wait. I see she was doing 8:13 for people who run 8:00 for a 5K. Well, okay then.
Right! Mile 1, at her pace, was tough but I could basically keep up. Mile 2 and 2.5 are the perfect demonstration of how I cannot find & hold a pace.
We seem to lock into a pace pretty well every time we run together. I just assumed you’re good at it because I cant to the same on my own. In conclusion, we should run together more often.
I had this problem on Monday, nothing was working for me. NOTHING! I think getting through those runs are worth it though, when you taper, and your legs have some pop, you will remember these hard workouts.
Great run TK, even if it wasn’t perfect.
I have no clue what pace I’m running either – I’m hopeless trying to run 400s on a track. I have to resort to the Dreadmill to hold a pace.
Not that tempo runs don’t still give me crazy anxiety but I’ve found that if I do the first couple (of a cycle) on a track and thereby keep my pacing more consistent (each 1/4 mi check-in) I learn more about what that pace feels like and can lock in to it more easily. You’ll be a lean-mean tempo pacing machine in no time!
No, I don’t recall you mentioning the Paragon Sports problem on Twitter.
So I take it the goal was to run 3 miles at 8:00 per mile pace — you started a tad slow then sped up to 7:51 pace. Maybe that’s why it hurt (besides not having done one for a while)? That’s sub-5 minute k pace, so better than your 10k PB pace and you haven’t been doing a lot of running. Just an observation. As the fitness comes along they’ll feel easier.
On ‘finding a pace’, this is tricky. Unless you’re running on the track and have the feedback of 400m splits. Running by feel, the first mile should feel relatively easy, next mile harder, next mile even harder – then you’ll end up with even splits.
Glad to hear your getting back into the routine. The tempo runs will get easier as you go along, discarding work and social events along the way.
Also, I too have a lot of trouble with the first mile of a tempo run. I’d always thought it was just because I live in East Harlem and so, my first mile of the park always includes Harlem hill. But, I’ve found that even when I run elsewhere, I just can’t settle in on that target pace right away. I’m impressed by stronger, better runners who can and I feel like I get better at it with each tempo I do. I guess it just takes practice to get there.
Despite my affinity for tempo runs, they are the most nerve- inducing workout I have on the schedule. Until I have a few under my belt, I vary about 20 seconds permile when outside. When I am running even splits (by my Garmin) I still feel like I am all over the place pace and effort-wise.
There is a reason I still do most of my tempo work on the treadmill. It removes the anxiety of not feeling steady. I realize that this would defeat the purpose of group speed workouts but it really works well for me. People may argue but I have found these runs translate exactly to road racing both mentally and physically
also 4 miles seems like a lot to start with. Daniels’ recommends simply 20 minutes and I think that is plenty when you are starting out.
WOW READERS!! There is such awesome material here for me to take away, thank you so much.
You’re right when you tell me these get better with practice–and even I kind of sort of acknowledged that for my first tempo run since October, this result was kind of expected.
When I peeled away from the pace group, that’s where I got into trouble with the pacing. I too thought 4 miles was really far for a tempo run at this point, but I guess everyone else was trying to be super tough or macho because I was THE ONLY runner to turn around for 3 miles. Everyone else did the full 4! Crazy kids.
Matt to your point, I think my tempo run ended up being around 20 minutes long.
I am definitely open to doing tempo runs on the treadmill, but when they are the workout for Nike Speed, I have to go with it. And I think Coach Kate plugs in one tempo run a month for us.
Watch this space for more gnashing of teeth, wailey wailies, and my eventual triumph over the Tempo run. I want to go from Schmoe to Pro!
My coach breaks up my tempo runs into either two segments of 10 (with 5 minutes of slower running as the “rest), or 7 mins each with 3-4 rest mins inbetween. So, as Matt notes, ~20 minutes tops.
She will probably get me up to 30 — broken up, not steady, but that’ll be it. You get about the same training effect (or so she claims), but in some ways it’s easier to handle 2-3 segments mentally than is a solid block of running. An alternative, if you want to go for the solid block approach, is to run a 5K at tempo effort.
All things in moderation. Including tempo runs.