by Larry Eder
This is Tuesday, August 9, 2022. It is day two of Week six of the 2022 RunBlogRun Summer Mileage Cross Country Program.
Today is a tempo workout day. Most distance runners, from 1,500m on up, use a form of tempo running. Our program is pretty simple. Take the mile pace that you can race a 5k at TODAY. Say is 6:00 a mile. Then, add 20 seconds to that pace, and your run will be at 6:20 per mile pace.
Now go to a track or a flat road with no traffic and run that pace, with your teammates who are at the same race pace, for 20 minutes, non-stop.
This was called threshold pace in my college days, and it is highly effective in making you a better racer. The tough part of a race is the middle to the end, where most runners are slowing down. Learning to run more efficiently at this pace will help you in racing.
Today’s workout is warm up, 20 minutes of easy running, a 20-minute Tempo run, at 20 seconds slower per mile pace than your current 5k race pace, jog for ten minutes, then, 6 x 150-meter stride outs,
