90% of Runners Get The Most Important Marathon Workout Wrong

0:00 Okay, everyone throws around the term tempo run, but what do they actually mean? Is it a threshold pace, marathon pace, something in between? And why do different coaches and runners define it differently? Today, we're going deep. Because if you're getting this wrong, you might be missing the single most important workout in your marathon training. I'm Lee Grantham, a coach and a professional ultr runner who went from running a marathon in 4 hours and 25 minutes to running a marathon in 2 hours and 21 minutes. And I focus on a period of time between my second and third marathon where I went from running 3 hours and 25 for the marathon to running 2 hours and 37. That's a 48 minute jump forward in just 11 months. And I did that by stepping back and looking under the bonnet at every single aspect of my

0:46 running game, improving all the areas and moving forward massively in such a short time. And now I help runners to do exactly the same. So, if you're looking to move forward 10 15% with your marathon time, please get in contact by booking a call in the link in the description. So, where does the word tempo actually come from? The word tempo is an Italian word that means time. And in music, it's the speed or rhythm in which a piece is played or performed. In running, the concept was borrowed to describe a workout that's controlled, rhythmic, and just about uncomfortable enough to build stamina without tipping you over into full-on suffering. But here's the issue. Runners use tempo to mean wildly different things. Some mean

1:31 threshold, others would mean marathon pace. I've even seen it described as a 10k interval session, and that's your tempo session. And that's not just semantics. It's completely changing the training stimulus that you're attacking. So, more importantly, what is a tempo run actually supposed to do? The tempo run as defined by exercise physiologists defined in sport science is a lactate threshold workout. So, what is that? It's the effort you can hold for about 1 hour, your 1 hour race pace, which is usually about 88 to 92% of your max heart rate. when we look at a lot of data from a lot of runners and usually trained runners which is very important. Now of course it's hugely different depending on the runner the training experience and the pace that they're

2:17 trying to run a marathon in but it can be 10 to 30 seconds per kilometer or roughly your 1 hour pace. Now there's where it gets tricky because 1 hour pace could be 10 km for one runner to your 10k pace and it could be a half marathon for an elite runner. So, if we try to put a pace on that compared to your marathon pace, it's going to be a massive range, which is almost irrelevant. Let's look at what five of the most influential running coaches actually mean when they say tempo work and how they use lactate threshold workouts to improve marathon performance. Jack Daniels defines tempo pace as tpace, which is lactate threshold pace. In the Daniel's running formula, threshold or tpace running is one of the most productive types of training that distance runners can do.

3:03 And he would prescribe steady 20 to 40 minute T- runs or cruise intervals. An example of that could be 5* 6 minute with 1 minute jog in between. Why? Because this pace would improve your body's ability to clear lactate efficiently. It would give you more endurance without the need for more V2 max. Renato Canova, massive on specivity. Now, all you need to know about Kenova is he doesn't use the word tempo often at all, but he does train to lactate threshold and he trains around it. So, above that level, below that level, plays with that level. He says top runners are able to run the full marathon at a blood lactate level very much higher. So, they have the ability to run with high lactate for a long time. For marathoners, he uses progressive long runs, race pace

3:50 intervals, and his special blocks that hover just under or just over threshold, often when glycogen is already low. So, at the end of runs, goal is to build resistance to fatigue while hovering around that threshold area, even deep into a long run. Alberto Salazar used threshold training extensively with Mo Farah and Galen Rob and he says the idea behind tempo runs is that by being right at lactate threshold you can consistently nudge it down and his sessions would include the classic 20 to 25 minute threshold runs one mile repeats at threshold with short rest alternating paces around threshold to build tolerance and that pace feel. And for me, the fascinating thing about Salazar was threshold training wasn't

4:36 just about the physical and physiological adaptations. It was also the mental side as well. If you can lock into and live with that discomfort, stay composed and not panic, you're going to be a good marathon runner. How many of us can relate to that? So, let's go back to the question of what is a tempo run supposed to do? For me, let's remove all that ambiguity and just remove the word tempo. It's a lactate threshold run. Why is it so important to work on your lactate threshold? Your lactate threshold is one of the most important factors and for most of you the most important factor when it comes to marathon success. Your marathon pace is just a bit slower than your lactate threshold. And to put that into seconds and minutes for you, my marathon pace is 320 per kilometer or 520 per mile. My

5:23 lactate threshold is 10 seconds per kilometer faster than that or 15 seconds per mile. In simple terms, the faster I can run an hour all out, my 1 hour race pace, the faster my marathon pace. The higher my lactate threshold pace, the better I'm going to be as a half marathon or marathon runner. So now it should be pretty clear to see why it's important to either remove that term tempo or get it right. If you're calling it a tempo session, but it's actually a marathon pace session, you're doing specific endurance work, specific race pace work, not threshold work. If you're doing intervals at 5k race pace for most runners that's going to nudge your V2 max up, but it's nowhere near threshold pace. And again, this is back to the point where it's not just semantics. We're attacking a completely different

6:09 training stimulus. And as I said before, as long as we get in our nutrition right, as long as the body's conditioned and you're ready for that final third of the marathon, and as long as you're mentally ready for the entire race, then, as I said, the biggest indicator of marathon success is your lactate threshold level. That's what you need to work on without neglecting all the other parts of your game. And again, it goes back to the endurance triangle. We've got to have that aerobic base can build on top of that. We got to nudge our levels up, but also pull them up as well, the faster stuff. Going back to the music example, remember what I said, not too fast, not too slow, just steady. And if you can apply that, as Jack Daniels prescribes, 20 to 40 minutes at

6:55 our 1 hour race pace, actually quite a comfortable workout, and you want that to feel as comfortable as possible. Recently had a runner, new marathon runner I spoke to, and at 8 miles he felt like he hit the wall. not hit the wall, just gone beyond his threshold. And a great tip here, just like your race pace, just like your marathon pace, you want to get in tune with that so you can forget the watch completely and be running at marathon pace and be comfortable and and be confident within 5 10 seconds either way that you're at marathon pace. Exactly the same for your threshold running. You get to a point where you know exactly where that threshold is, exactly where that point is before you start accumulating too much lactate and you cannot clear it. It's exactly where you want to be. And as Canova says, you want to play with

7:42 that level. So you're pulling it up and pushing it up at the same time. And don't listen to your watch too much. The the estimates on the watch out by 5 to 20 beats, which can mean you're in a completely different zone. You're beyond it. You're below it. But most importantly, you're not where you need to be. So, it's not you're running with intention. I'll put you a couple of great sessions, long runs on the screen right now that will attack that lactate threshold pace and below and above. [Music]