Tempo run
One unbroken block at threshold pace — the effort you could hold for about an hour in a race.
Also called: threshold run, continuous tempo.
The tempo run is the most misunderstood session in distance running, mostly because "tempo" gets used for everything from marathon pace to a hard parkrun. Here it means what Daniels means by it: a continuous block at threshold, the pace roughly matching the effort you could sustain for an hour of racing. It should feel comfortably hard and controlled, and you should finish thinking you could have gone a bit longer. If you are gasping in the last five minutes, you ran it as a race, and the adaptation you were shopping for is not the one you bought.
The session
Shown at a 4:00 marathon reference — 48 min total, about 8.1 km, including 26 min of quality work.
Warm-up
- 12 min easy (6:43–7:24/km)
Main set
- 26 min @ 5:14/km (T)
Cool-down
- 10 min easy (6:43–7:24/km)
Why this session works
The classic tempo: one continuous block at threshold teaches the body to clear lactate at race-relevant effort and the mind to sit with "comfortably hard" without surging.
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 tempo run?
One unbroken block at threshold pace — the effort you could hold for about an hour in a race. The tempo run is the most misunderstood session in distance running, mostly because "tempo" gets used for everything from marathon pace to a hard parkrun.
How long is this session?
At a 4:00 marathon reference it comes to 48 min and about 8.1 km, of which 26 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
- Cruise intervals — Threshold pace broken into repeats with short jogs, so you accumulate far more time at the ceiling than one continuous block allows.
- 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.