Part of my training plan includes Tempo Runs, which is a term with a mysterious definition. After way too much research on the topic I settled on the following from Daniels’ Running Formula (Human Kinetics):

“A tempo run is nothing more than 20 minutes of steady running at threshold pace.” (He goes on to say that 20 minutes is ideal, but may be varied to suit the needs of a particular course.) Without getting too technical, threshold pace is the effort level just below which the body’s ability to clear lactate, a by-product of carbohydrate metabolism, can no longer keep up with lactate production. Daniels states that this pace is, for most people, about 25 to 30 seconds per mile slower than current 5K race pace.

This may seem a little technical or too much information for some, but these are the runs that are the difference makers. The runs where you push yourself to the next level of running and hopefully get me closer to a BQ.

Tonight I ran 7.5 miles with 2 tempo runs at 10 minutes each with a 1 minute slow run in between. I feel like I really worked tonight and convinced myself this is what I need to do.

As always your mileage may vary but I think these are worth a try