Why Tempo Workouts should be Run by Feel
Learning to pace within your body is the highest skill in running – Run tempos by feel.
By Coach Chris Knighton
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Tempo Running: Learning to Run by Feel
Tempo running is the heart and soul of performance distance running.
While easy mileage lays the foundation that allows you to run, tempo runs are what transport you toward your potential.
Tempo runs, commonly defined as moderately hard-effort running, are best performed at roughly 65 to 75% effort. This is the sweet spot for accumulating quality time during workouts when training for the half marathon or marathon.
Because the physical cost of running at tempo effort is relatively low compared to the high physiological stress of VO₂ max and anaerobic training, tempo running allows athletes to spend more time at higher intensities while placing minimal stress on the body.
Because tempo running is typically run at or slightly faster than half marathon and marathon race pace, it is also highly race-specific and can even be considered a form of speed training for these events.
Distance runners can consistently accumulate about 20% of their weekly training mileage at tempo effort with relative ease. In some cases, they can even exceed 20% of their weekly mileage at tempo effort when the intensity is carefully controlled.
Over time, tempo running greatly improves endurance at faster paces, making race pace feel increasingly comfortable by marathon or half marathon race day.
One of the biggest mistakes I made during my running career, however, was obsessing over my pace on tempo runs.
Tempo is not a specific pace. It is a range of effort that targets a fluctuating biological point in the body, often referred to as the lactate threshold. While we can estimate threshold pace using running calculators, our true lactate threshold is not a fixed pace. It changes throughout our training and even throughout the day based on numerous environmental factors that are outside our control.
I always come back to the importance of knowing why you’re performing any given run. With tempo runs, we are trying to learn how to sustain a moderate intensity for a long period of time, become more comfortable at race pace, and develop the ability to run by feel.
Running by feel means intentionally ignoring your GPS watch. It means learning to sense where your threshold lies through cues such as your breathing, your ability to speak while running, and the gradual buildup of fatigue throughout your body.
Tempo pace is never a target to exceed—it is a zone to settle into. It is always better to run slightly below your lactate threshold than above it. But when we become obsessed with pace, we unintentionally turn “tempo pace” into a number we must hit. If we reach it or run faster, we feel like we’ve succeeded. If we struggle to hit it, we push even harder and leave the workout feeling frustrated.
When we obsess over pace, we begin to believe that a tempo workout should be hard. But a tempo workout should never be hard. It is, by definition, a moderately difficult workout. It only becomes hard when we chase a specific pace instead of relaxing into the steady rhythm of effort-based running.
While there is a time and place for targeting specific paces on tempo runs, such as a marathon-paced long run, tempo runs should generally be run by feel.
When you forget about pace, run by feel, and stay below your threshold, you perform a tempo run correctly. But when you focus on your watch, run so fast that a tempo effort becomes difficult, and stress about the workout beforehand, you’re no longer respecting the purpose of the run or receiving its intended training effect.
I used to stress before every tempo run because I worried about hitting the right pace. Now I ignore the pace and simply run by feel. I stay within the appropriate tempo effort, get more from the workout, and enjoy it tremendously.
When you keep tempo runs moderate and below your lactate threshold, as they are meant to be, you consistently gain the performance benefits, recover predictably, and are ready to stack healthy workout upon healthy workout. Over time, that consistency is what ultimately leads you to your running performance goals.
