How fast should a tempo run be?

Fast. Like mitigation-station fast. Like a peach on a pontoon boat fast. Like a bear eating a biscuit fast. Like a cheese puff on holiday fast. Like a horse hooker on the moon fast.

REAL FAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Faster than a moose on roller skates, Jack.

mile + 50-60 = 5k + 20-30 = threshold

It depends on what distance you're training for. If you're training for the half marathon or marathon, a marathon paced tempo of around 7-10 miles will be optimal.

If you are training for distances 800m-3k, then 3-4 miles @ 1 hour race pace (barely faster than half marathon pace) or 5x1 mile at the same pace with short rest will be optimal.

If you're training for 5k-10k, then a good mix of both will be best, with longer tempos earlier in the season and shorter tempos later on.

Just plug your times into the vdot calculator and it will give you a sense of what pace. Also tempo is a pretty broad term and many people use it differently.

Tempo is probably 5:35-5:45, threshhold Id put around a 5:20-5:30, 5k youre good for a 16:00-17:00 based on your half time.

Feel kungfu; don’t think it.

As someone already said, "tempo" is a non-specific term that has lots of different meanings and interpretations.

To answer your question, it depends on what you want to achieve with a particular workout. Daniels vDOT T-pace is a good starting point. You might just try it for a few workouts and then make adjustments to suit some specific goals.

I always go based on feel, fast enough I could do another mile at the end if I needed to. I don’t worry about pace especially the first mile. If I feel good I cut down. If I still feel good I go longer. I call anything from 6 down to 4:50s a “tempo” and can be anywhere from 4-16 miles. Just run baby. Listen to your body not your watch. 8 miles at 5:30 is better than 4 miles to hard at 5:15 and having to stop short. Remember tempo is just a word!!

The best way to describe a good tempo run is that it's hard, but you're always in control. Meaning, the workout is painful for at least the second half, but you could always run faster at any point if you wanted, or like you could have continued after the workout is done. It should feel like an 8/10 on the effort scale, if that helps.

Run a few tempos without a prescribed pace - but not faster than at least a minute slower than 5k pace - and see what's comfortable. I asked someone what they thought a good 20 min. tempo pace for me would be an I blew up and had to take a break 10 minutes in. If at any point you feel like you're going all out just to hang on to the pace, then that means the workouts over or you need to take a break (and if you take a quick break and hit the wall within a couple minutes then the workout is really over) and reassess for next time. Hope this helps!

If someone only has time to run 25 miles a week, there's an argument to be made that all non-workout runs could be "tempoish".

There is the threshold pace, which is for most people the pace you can hold for around 60 minutes. And there is the tempo pace which is slower than that, typically Marathon/HM pace. So there is a difference between 10k and HM pace.

All these workouts train the aerobic system and make the fast twitch fibers more aerobically to shift the LT2 level to a higher pace. If tempo or threshold pace is more effective is highly debated, but you can do more volume at tempo pace, however threshold pace is more effective but you can't do so much volume there.

If you get gradually faster, keep what you are doing.

Just remember, you can’t spell “tempo” without “poem”. Think about it.

5k pace for 5 miles is a bit too fast

This

I tend to run tempos around marathon heart rate. I averaged 155bpm in my last marathon, so I aim for that after around a mile. If it climbs a bit from there, that's fine, but if it climbs much above 160 it's getting too hard and I back off a little. It's a balancing act. The pace is whatever comes out - it has been as fast 5:55 and it can be 6:40 (recent marathon pace is 6:05). Tempo is term that works better as a description of effort than it does pace imo.

Absolutely not 5 k pace. Depends of length of the run. I prefer Lactate threshold interval " tempos" 2- 10 min reps around half marathon pace in my DANCAN system coaching.

tempo pace

Yes, you shouldn't be able to hold 5k pace for 5 miles. There's a place for a fast 20:00 tempo @ 10kish race pace. But I like longer tempos, straight or broken, in the 30:00-40:00+ range. Threshold (1hr race pace) to marathon pace. In my experience, I see a lot of people take their tempo runs too fast & not get in a good amount of volume -- probably because they're taking their tempo runs too fast & they're closer to race efforts.