Benefit of a short tempo workout

2/10 no such thing as a 10 minute tempo. Everyone knows that.

I’m an 800 guy so take that how you will but I really like 2x(10min Tempo, 300,200,100) as a base training workout

Yea I would try to get in at least 20 minutes, even if it's broken up, when you're coming back. It's ok if you're on the slower side. Just go by effort but 10 minutes isn't a ton of time. Better to hit 20, getting back to 30-40 when you can (long repeats w./ short recoveries are fine- 4 x 10:00 tempo w./ 2:00 jogs).

Disagree with the above posters. 2 miles or so of LT followed by a short rest and then some hills (or 400s or 800s) at 5k-10k effort also on short rest is a solid workout.

This is fine to start. You can extend it over time to i assume working towards longer tempos at marathon effort. Just remember that just because its 10min doesn’t mean you can go faster. Keep it at tempo pace based on current fitness. My high school athletes ill usually start with 10min then hill sprints instead of the 200s the first week especially if they haven’t been running much.

I can't run and I'm on the bike now and building back up. Last week I did 4 x 4 minutes at LT and the week before it was something shorter. In and of itself that's not a great workout but it's a step in preparation for the next one. I don't the endurance right now to sustain for 20 minutes at FTP and this was what I could do. I disagree with person who said to train sub-threshold for longer as I never get anything out of that, but maybe it works for them.

bfef wrote:

2/10 no such thing as a 10 minute tempo. Everyone knows that.

Tempo in my mind means 10-20 minutes hard. This workout would be fine for a 800/1500 runner in season.

The 2 mile tempo should probably be @ mile + 30-45s. So a 4:00 guy would be shooting for 9:00-9:30. Then the 200s should start @800 pace and then cut 1 second per rep. So a 1:52 guy would go 28-27-26-25

Thank you guys for the feedback.

I should have added that before the end of the year my local running club is doing a couple of mile time trials, so I'll be running those. I figured the shorter tempo/faster intervals at the end would help prepare me for that.

I might shoot for a little longer on the tempo, we'll see how things are going when I get to it. Legs have been feeling good thus far so I'm hoping I can get back into longer stuff sooner rather than later.

Mona Fartlek does wonders, especially if you keep the rest steady and honest you'll have what you're looking for.

I think that breaking up Tempo workouts early in a training cycle is fine and possibly better than straight tempo for some people for various reasons.

6 x 800@Tempo

4 x 1200@Tempo

3 x 1600@Tempo

If its a hot (90deg+) day i wont hesitate to break up the tempo especially if its within a long run.

Forgive my ignorance, what is a Mona Fartlek?

I'm in a similar boat. Hitting 30ish miles for the first time this week after a lot of time off, working back up to 50–60mpw. Last week I did a workout where I picked it up for 1 mile, that's it. Ran like 6:15 and it felt like a tempo. This week I did 6x20s hill with jog down and I'm going to do a 1.5 mile pickup on another run. I think it's perfectly fine, as long as you slowly increase the volume of workouts. It's definitely safer than just jumping into a 30 minute tempo.

Three major types of workouts for East Africans

20 x 1 minute on (5k pace) 1 minute off

10 x 3 minutes on (threshold) 1 minute off

25-30k “Tempo” (Americans would call this a hard long run or steady state run)

Point is they don’t do 10-20 minute “tempos.” It’s just too little of volume. They either break it into segments or slow down the pace to get more volume. So you might as well read a book then do a 10 minute “tempo.”

Hey man,

Appreciate the insight! Solid workouts.

Like I said in the original post, I'm building back from an injury. I was just looking for opinions on whether something short like this to get the legs moving faster early on in a build (like one following a couple months completely off of running) would be beneficial.

I know there are better workouts out there that everyone does, but I'm just not there yet. I'll get there eventually, and when I do I'll be sure to reference your incredibly condescending reply to this thread.

I get it, you're better than me. Queue the "hobby jogger" comments.

Benefit is huge compared to the effort. All adaptation from training (apart from very long runs) is that the adaptation is very high in the start and gradually decreases = the rule of diminishing returns. That means that a 10min tempo gives more adaptation per minute than a 20min tempo and so on. That does not say a 20min tempo does not give MORE adaptation than 10min, but not the double. And it means that thinking 10 is so short it should be skipped is foolish.

I would rather consider short workouts more often than longer more seldom while you are getting back. It is less taxing for the legs and can give more adaptation.

For sure, short workouts might not give the race pace endurance, but still build up the race pace capability. I would consider aerobic cross training to get fitness higher but low impact

During high school we did a 10min tempo everyday during XC. We just called it second warmup. I think we had a lot of success with it because it was so short and our weekly volume was low so we could handle a short tempo everyday. Cause at a given tempo pace you will reach a steady heart rate in the first three minutes then have 7mins where you are holding a solid heart rate (160-170). You will get something from that.

This thread is typical of LR input. (Not to mention, why many don't come here anymore.)

A few good answers with some good and helpful responses to the OP's serious and relevant questions.

And a few classic LR DH's who somehow had enough spare time between polishing their Olympic medals and shooting their next endorsement ads to cr@p on a guy beginning to work his way back from injury.

OP -- Pay attention to the intelligent replies. It's obvious which ones they are. Yes, of course a ten minute tempo is worth doing. Just like it's of course a step along the road to doing more, without setting yourself back into injury again. Good idea. And smart way to start getting back into threshold work without risking blowing yourself up right out of the box.

The Easy Interval Method fits perfectly to your purpose. I have a thread here for further reading.

The primary interval is the 1000m @ (marathon pace to half marathon pace (max)) followed by an easy interval of 800-1000m. The default number is 6x1000m.

But you had an injury and you can built up with 4-6 x 1000m, and you can also cut the 1000m down to 600m or 800m.

So in summary:

4-6 x (600-1000m) @moderate pace followed by 800-1000m easy pace. You you can do the easy interval longer, which gives you a more balanced pyramidal training.