I can’t figure out whether I’m doing Tempo completely wrong or not. I’m doing 200m reps x 6 with approx 2 mins rest in between each, but I’m holding sprint form or trying to for the entire length. Is that wrong? I’m nearly dying by the end where my form starts to break down.
yes slow down don’t worry about form
Oh seriously? So basically just run as if you had no idea what sprint form was?
I would say run each distance at 70% of your personal best and for rest walk 100m or jog the distance you ran
Should I be driving with my arms and ‘stepping over’ though? This is also somewhat a cardio workout for me to drop bodyfat so I do want to break a sweat, but I feel like my aerobic level is aweful when I try to hold form. When I don’t, it’s not bad.
You’ll not likely be going fast enough, if you are doing it properly, to be stepping too much over or to come close to replicating sprint tech. Just relax and slow down(probably)-you are, as I understand it, thinking too much and working too hard.
Also, we never took as much as two minutes between reps, only sets-possibly. Typically used either push-ups/ab work between reps or perhaps a 25m walk between reps with longer walks between sets.
Reduce recovery, (so you) slow down (70% yes, but not taken from Track times, when tempo is run on Grass), relax at shoulders and forget about sprinting technique. At present 50 - 100 m reps could work just fine for you… Hope it helps!
A large part of sprint form will depend on factors such as power output and the height of the hips off the ground which will not be present at the slower speeds used for tempo. Like the others said, just relax. If you try to hold sprint form you’re probably running faster than you should for tempo, which will hurt your recovery not help it.
Thanks guys! That’s what I thought - it was feeling more like a high intensity day then recovery based.
I was running barefoot grass tempo at 70% of track times holding sprint form (running on toes, stepping over, arm drive, etc) so as you can tell it was quite intense. I was doing 200/2 min rest/200/2 min rest, etc for about 6-8 200m runs…2 min rest was not enough!
Tempo is tomorrow so I’ll lose the form and just run 
well you would want to lower those %s a lot or go off different times for extensive tempo because:
- on grass
- barefoot
A good rule of thumb that Charlie has mentioned a few times is that you should be able to talk to someone running along side of you. If you’re huffing and puffing too much to talk, slow down.
sounds like a jog.
Sure does.
Fast jog. If your last run is slower than your first, you ran too hard.
If you look at the girl on the GPP Download you can see she is working hard! Form doesn’t have to be perfect but I usually try and make sure they work on arm action a little.
I don’t know about that… Tempo shouldn’t be that easy. I think timing the runs would be a better gauge. Although, after a while, it becomes instinctive at what pace to run.
I’m with you Top Cat, the woman in the video demonstrates great form executing tempo ones and twos. We’ve been over this somewhere before on this forum.
I believe practice makes permanent, so I personally try to look as good as I can doing tempo runs. 2000m tempo reps compared to 600 fast seems a little heavy on the ugly side if I run tempo ugly.
The woman in the video was also in very good shape. Trust me, she can talk while doing those runs. This isn’t just coming from me. Charlie has stated several times it should be at a conversational pace. As your fitness increases you can still be working hard and able to talk. I’m not talking about an in depth conversation, but if you’re huffing and puffing too much, you’re probably running too fast relative to your fitness levels.
To put it in another prespective, if calesthenics (push-ups, sit-ups, etc.) are performed between each run, the runs actually serve as recoveries between the calesthenics. Again, this is coming from Charlie. Do a search, we’ve been over this topic hundreds of times.
This was a mistake I made for years…trying to run tempo too fast. Since backing off on my tempo speed I have been able to have much better times on my speed days.
If you try to run the big circuit at 75% of best time (which was achieved with a +2m/s wind and a kilo of caffeine) then you might be in for a hell of a workout.
Hey Everyone,
Had my tempo workout today after a speed session yesterday (where I felt blazing fast). I did 200m x 6 with a 2 minutes walk (1 mississipi counting scheme) in between each run, and slowed down a ton and kept the arms moving as someone mentioned. I was breathing heavy by the end of each rep but I was running the last just as fast as the first. I think I still ran it too quickly - I usually get DOMS and never same day and I’m feeling it right now…but it did feel a lot better. Didn’t try to hold sprint form other then the arms as I said and relaxation of the shoulders, jaw, neck etc. Felt a ton better though!
I have a end of season Rugby game tomorrow and then a speed session on Monday so we’ll see the effects soon enough. Mortac…precisely why I wanted to make sure!