How fast do elite college guys run their tempo runs?

Most of the comments by the D1 guys are spot on. I ran a 13:48 years ago in college. We also had two sub-4 milers/1:46 800 guys who trained similar (sans track workouts). We would run long on Sunday (15-18 miles) often dipping below 10 mins. for the last two miles depending on how we felt. D1 guys like to test each other a bit, and we would often run with alums with much faster times. Monday's we typically ran a ten to eleven mile loop "tempo" run, our coach never really called it a tempo, he just kind of let us sort it out. We normally would run the first mile around 7 or even 8 min. pace, by the third mile we would be rolling along moving close to 5 min. pace, which I would describe as the low end of "comfortably hard." The last couple miles we would often dip below 5 and at times under 4:30 for the last mile if someone needed to let it out, it was pushing a bit and most likely a touch too fast for tempo. Nonetheless, I never felt tired or worn out from these runs and we were all on the track the following day for a "hard" day. The guys on the team that ran around 15 mins. for 5K would typically get dropped both near the end on the long run and on the tempo runs. Looking at my old logs we went as fast as 52 and as slow as 55 for these runs. Typically 53 or 54 mins. for the ten milers, it was all really done by feel--we never used a heart monitor and our coach was not the most scientific guy. I remember the slower guys (14:30-15:30 guys) coming in two to three mins. after on the tempo runs. Many times the walk-on level guys were pretty wiped. I remember the runs being for the most part very refreshing, which I think is a key for a tempo run. Hope this detail helps and I wish I could go like this just one more time!

Leo Manzano posted as his facebook status a while back his first tempo run of the year was a 5 mile tempo done in about 25:30. Take from that what you will.

.. Bump

I remember reading an article where Symmonds did a tempo similar to Leo's. I mean when you are only running 2-4 laps around the track you probably dont need anything farther than a 6 mile tempo. The tempo is usually the weak point of the miler types, which is probly why they are milers and not 10k guys. On a side not I remember seeing a flotrack interview with Abdi where he said him and Lagat did like a 6 mile tempo at 4:40 pace. Now thats hauling!

Run them as hard as you can and less frequently: every two to three weeks. Rotate 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, and 60 min in a cycle.

I'm not big fan of once a week half-assed.

Tempesto wrote:

Run them as hard as you can and less frequently: every two to three weeks. Rotate 15 min, 30 min, 45 min, and 60 min in a cycle.

I'm not big fan of once a week half-assed.

Do the opposite of what this guy says. Running as hard as you can is called a "race."

Yes, "do the opposite": Run them as slow as possible and more frequently.

Then call it a "tempo".