Cruise intervals
Threshold pace broken into repeats with short jogs, so you accumulate far more time at the ceiling than one continuous block allows.
Also called: broken tempo, threshold repeats.
Cruise intervals exist because the total volume of threshold work matters more than whether it came in one piece. Chopping the same pace into repeats with 60–90 second jogs lets most runners hold two to three times the volume they could manage continuously, at the same lactate concentration. The recoveries are deliberately too short to clear lactate fully — that is the point. Resist the temptation to run them faster than a continuous tempo just because they are broken up.
The session
Shown at a 4:00 marathon reference — 56 min total, about 9.5 km, including 31 min of quality work.
Warm-up
- 12 min easy (6:43–7:24/km)
Main set
- 3 × 2000 m @ 5:14/km (T) — 10:28, 126 s/400 m lap, 60 s jog between
Cool-down
- 10 min easy (6:43–7:24/km)
Why this session works
Cruise intervals deliver big threshold volume at "comfortably hard" — short breaks let you hold T pace far longer than one continuous block, raising the lactate ceiling with modest strain.
Source: Daniels 2014. Training phase: build.
Run it at your own paces
Open the workout generator and enter a recent race time — every rep length, recovery and target pace is recalculated for your fitness, and the session exports to .fit for a Garmin watch.
Frequently asked questions
What is a cruise intervals?
Threshold pace broken into repeats with short jogs, so you accumulate far more time at the ceiling than one continuous block allows. Cruise intervals exist because the total volume of threshold work matters more than whether it came in one piece.
How long is this session?
At a 4:00 marathon reference it comes to 56 min and about 9.5 km, of which 31 min is prescribed quality work. The generator scales both to your own paces, so a faster runner covers more ground in the same time.
Who is this workout for?
It is written for the build phase of a marathon build. The distances shown suit a 4:00 marathoner; enter your own recent race time in the generator and every rep length and target pace is recalculated for you.
More threshold and tempo sessions
- Tempo run — One unbroken block at threshold pace — the effort you could hold for about an hour in a race.
- Threshold alternations — Alternating threshold and marathon pace with no standing rest, training the body to clear lactate while still running fast.
- Tempo sandwich — A threshold block, a marathon-pace middle, then a second threshold block on tired legs.
- Progression run — A run split into thirds, each faster than the last, finishing at or near threshold.