Is there any point doing tempo runs if your event is 3200m or shorter?

Yes, to get faster.

I couldn't imagine doing anything but tempo runs during the build up and base phase for 1600/3200. Yes, do them.

yes.

Yes.

My high school had a 4x800 set a national record and won ~6 state titles. Tempo runs were a huge part of their training.

So we'll presume your race distance of choice is 1500 / 1600. Tempo runs are not the end all be all. Some fartlek, some hill work, some relaxed time trials at perhaps 1000-1200 meters as well as some grass strides after your distance runs should suffice as the meat and potatoes of your base training. Tempo runs are over-rated, they are nothing more than a hard controlled distance run. If you feel you want to run harder one day a week during a distance run, then do so.

No evidence that tempo work is helpful for 800m.

Optional otherwise.

The distinction "tempo run" is a bit silly and outdated.

As a high school coach, I use them for a variety of reasons. All of the physiological benefits aside, I actually like them best for the mental side of running. It has taught my team how to push themselves for a longer amount of time and to keep track of their pace and effort over 20-25 minutes. I've noticed that almost the entire team's daily distance runs have gotten faster and I think learning their limits in tempoing, which I describe as a hard prolonged effort or "comfortably hard", has allowed them to find their true easy and normal paces.

I'd love to know the above two posters PR's in the 1500 and 800. Tempo runs are essential for 800m up. Clearly you do fewer of them and they are shorter for the 800 compared to the 10.000m, but if you are going to be the best you can be, they are essential.

dsrunner has the day off wrote:

No evidence that tempo work is helpful for 800m.

Optional otherwise.

The distinction "tempo run" is a bit silly and outdated.

It can't be too outdated. We had never heard of them in the early 80s. I was doing them at the end of a run and didn't even know it!! I had a 7 mile hilly route I would run and every so often I would see how fast I could finish the last 3 miles timing myself by the mile markers on the highway.

Yes, "tempo" running will help you race the 800-3200. You just need to figure out which of the hundreds of "tempo" running styles you are talking about. Are cruise intervals your tempos? Is 20 minutes at your 15k-20k race pace your tempo runs? Are 45 minute hard runs your "tempo" runs? I think your best bet would be to do some longer intervals (1k to 1500) at 5k-10k race pace with 200 to 400 jog recoveries very easy. That will probably give you the best bang for your buck.

Thanks for all the responses. Now, would you say the same thing about doing tempo for middle school track?

If you are that advanced with middle school children more power to you. I'd still go with tempo intervals though.

dsrunner has the day off wrote:

No evidence that tempo work is helpful for 800m.

as usual, canova disagrees with you...

I was a 1:52/3:47 guy in college and I would do tempo work during the whole year. In the summer it was long 8-10 miles at 85% Vo2max. Cross country it was 20 min/4 mile tempo runs and in track I would do cruise intervals ranging usually around 3 miles worth.

So with that being said, I think tempo runs are very important when placed at the right time and right volume.

I think the biggest thing to remember when dealing with athletes is to make sure that they don't go overboard and race tempo workouts.

No, physiologically speaking, something different happens in middle school track runners and they get much slower if they do tempo or lt work.

Really, middle school track runners should NEVER run more than three miles a week at any age. They will get much better by doing wind sprints and walking than anything else. Show this to your coach if he/she is doing fancy stuff like "tempo runs." Wind sprints are the way to go.

Always, always, no matter what kind of coaching you or your kid gets, question it. Question it on here, and show the coach all the responses you get. Do a mix of the responses instead. Make sure the coach does what you say because your coach can't be right; everyone else is always right.

Uh, not sure if the above poster was joking, but I hope so.

Middle school aged kids are still more similar than different to older runners. What's good for the goose is good for the gander . . . However, with the evidence that I have seen (just talking with other seasoned and successful coaches) that it's not the best idea to drive hard on kids going through their growth spurts. They should do the wide variety of speeds, but not nearly the same work loads as older teenagers.

Moreover, running comfortably hard for more than a couple minutes is the only way to really learn efficient running technique.