Warmup and cooldown protocol

If its a tempo run I'd say probably continuous. If a speed workout I'd say the w/u and c/d are separate from the quality portion of the session.

Good question. I've wondered, and I'd love to hear what others say.

My take: There's one version of "tempo" that is between M and HM pace. You may not want to do that without doing strides before, but that's individual preference.

But I also see "tempo" sometimes in plans referring to lactate threshold workouts. In that case, you'll see runners do a set or two of strides between the warmup and the tempo (and sometimes even strides and drills/dynamic warmup).

Here's a personal example: I ran what was basically a 35 min continuous LT session the other day, and I did a really short jog, dynamic warmup (leg swings, butt kicks, skips, grapevines, etc.), 3 mi easy, and then a set of 4 x 15-20s strides with at least 60s recovery before the LT. Then 3 easy leading into another 4-5 minutes of a really slow jog to wrap up. I probably did 30-60s between the LT and the 3 miles at the end (I stopped the watch, cooled the pace, turned, and so on).

Not sure whether that's standard or advisable. It's fairly common for me.

Unless you're an elite or training for a marathon, 25 minutes seems excessive.

I'd recommend doing 15 minutes of jogging (20 at most). Then stop, do some leg swings (back and forth, side to side), then a few drills (Buttkicks, A-Skips, B-Skips - 12 on each leg), and then 4 x 80m strides at 80-90 max pace, with a walk back in between. Give yourself a few minutes before starting your workout.

I do think the term tempo is flexible like you're saying. I tend to think of tempo as marathon pace or maybe a little below. Therefore LT would be quicker than that by say maybe 30-45 seconds per mile(roughly). Now my friend who is much faster than myself and more experienced, perceives tempo between marathon pace-and LT. Just some observations.