Tempo Run vs. Steady State

That's a good question. A lot of people seem to use these terms interchangibly for 3-8 mile fastish runs, but on my university XC team tempo runs were shorter (20-30 mins or 4-5 miles) and usually got a little faster every mile, while steady state runs were (40-60 mins or 6-10 miles) and maintained an even "steady" pace throughout.

difference is with length and effort.

Tempos runs are at a distance closer to what your race distance is at and the effort is fairly high.

Steady state runs are longer obviously and the effort isnt as high. Also the pace doesnt need to be constant a lot of people do steady state runs where they gradually increase (basically progressive) and it averages out to a specific pace or effort.

When people talk about paces, I think this is what they mean:

Recovery - jogging; conversational pace

Easy - still quite comfortable, but no longer jogging, now we're running; I think of this as broken conversational pace

Steady - high end aerobic running; it's a pace that you could hold for a long time, but it's a workout; approx marathon race pace

Tempo - faster, shorter sustained running; on the short end, it would be 20 minutes at a pace you could hold for 10 mile to half marathon race pace; if you extend it out to 35-45 minutes you would slow down slightly

VO2 max pace - approximately 3k to 5k race pace; these will be done in the form of reps on the track

Different people may mean different things when talking about how fast they are running.

Steady State

Tempo

Threshold

MLSS

It only has significance to the person doing the training and it also the pace may mean one thing during one time of year and another during another time of year. In the end it's all about "effort".

While in very good shape a run at 6:30 pace would be easy, but while out of shape and/or depending on the conditions a 6:30 pace would be a bit difficult and more of a "steady state".

Effort levels:

1. Easy: Anywhere from 6:30-7:30 depending on above paragraph

2. Steady State: More a frame of mind. Anywhere from 6:00-6:30 but almost always for an extended period of time (at least 45 min)

3. Progression: Similar to Steady State but usually cut down even faster and usually a bit shorter, say the last 30-45 minutes of a run starting at 6:30 cutting quickly down to 6:00 or better, maintaining then faster and faster toward the end. Usually stopping around 5:30ish pace, sometimes very quick the last mile.

4. Tempo: Shorter faster version of Steady State. Based on effort, Anyway from 5:15-5:40 pace depending on fitness

5. Specific Pace Tempo: Depends on race. Marathon pace. Half-Marathon pace. 10k pace, etc.

Alan

I think that Barbarino is closest to my understanding of the two.

Steady State: Just below the intensity that lactic acid begins to accumulate in your blood. The limiting factor on these runs is usually fuel/hydration. You can do these runs pretty frequently as long as you don't go to long. Catch phrase "comfortably fast"

Tempo: Just faster than the intensity that causes lactic acid to accumulate in your blood. This pace will also feel pretty easy at first, but by 20 min or so, it is starting to feel pretty tough. Catch phrase "comfortably hard".

I think that a lot of people use the term "tempo" to mean "hard run", when in fact, they should not be that hard at all. If a tempo is feeling like race intensity by the end, then you are running it too hard.

If you are curious what pace or effort steady state should be at, I would say it should be at marathon pace.