The tempo run continues to help build as you get fitter and fitter. If you consider that your 5k current race time was 19 minutes when you began training, and now you are say, thirty seconds better, then your tempo running is getting tougher and tougher.
The hard parts in middle distance running are the third quarter and last quarter of races. How do you stay on pace? How do you build yourself to be in the thick of it with an 800 meters to go? Tempo runs are one of the weapons in your training arsenal.
FootLocker 2011, photo by PhotoRun.net
Tuesday: 1-mile warm up, 20-minute tempo run, 1-mile cool down.
To determine your tempo run pace, add a half-minute to your present mile pace for a 5K. For example: if you currently run 19 minutes for a 5K, that’s 6:10 pace. Add 30 seconds and your tempo run pace is 6:40-per-mile.