“Quick,” “Strong,” “Controlled,” “Push,” “Focused,” “Conversational,” “Uptempo”

There are a million words used to describe running. But it’s just running. One foot in front of the other, breathing in and out. Our aim is to settle on similar language for these ever-elusive efforts.

There are three ways to describe the speed of movement, 

• Exertion - A general 0-10 scale, from shuffling to sprinting all out

• Effort - A level based on how fast you could run a given distance on that day

• Pace - An exact speed of distance/time measured with a watch

I generally avoid prescribing specific paces until close to a race day event.

Why?

Because most often, neither you nor I know what you are capable of. Everything from relative fitness level to weather, to time of day, to fueling can impact the pace that results from an effort level.

That said, these are the definitions for training that I typically assign. As always, if you have questions, please ask.

Effort - Relative Exertion Levels

Easy / Recovery (3-4/10) – “Forever pace”

“Conversational pace”: speaking and breathing fluidly without any resistance in your chest. The technical term is “below the second ventilatory threshold,” meaning you do not have to push your breathing to supply enough oxygen. It’s almost impossible to run too slowly while recovering. That said, moving with intention is important so your stride feels fluid and not slogging. We all know the sensation of running someone else’s easy pace 2-3 minutes slower than we’re used to. This often results in aches and pains in awkward places. 

Since the #1 goal for these days is recovery, it’s even alright to incorporate assertive walking breaks to ensure that you’re not working harder than is productive. This is especially true on the trails and when going up steep hills.

Strong/Uptempo (5/10) – or “Slow Marathon Effort”

Once you’ve recovered from a hard session it’s possible that the following run can be done at a slightly harder effort. This is a fun pace to run that we don’t often get many chances to practice because this effort level is generally less productive or specific to our goals when pointing to a race. Think of this as an “uptempo” run, which means faster than easy but not so hard that it requires the focus or intent of marathon effort. 

This pace is far from below the Threshold effort.

“Quick and in control” (7/10) – Around Half Marathon Effort

This is a super vague phrase I like to use for intervals in the 1-3 minute range, meaning you’re having fun pushing the pace because you won’t be doing it for that long, and you’re not ending the interval gasping with hands on your knees. This should feel “comfortably uncomfortable,” like you are riding a line and could go faster. The benefit of training at this level is that it induces helpful adaptations without creating excess fatigue because you’re working right below the level that causes true exhaustion. Because of this it’s important NOT to overdo these efforts, since the whole goal is to get in the work without beating yourself up, so that you can do more work soon.

Hard Effort (8/10) – 5k to 10k pace

These paces take practice to run at effectively and consistently. We often aim for intervals to progress from 10k effort to 5k effort throughout a session for two reasons. 

1. To begin the session under control to ensure that we don’t end up exhausted, hands on knees, needing to take extra time for recovery between reps. And 

2. So that we practice moving faster and working harder as the session progresses, we become accustomed to pushing late, a helpful skill on race day. You should mostly be able to shuffle/jog between these types of reps unless I specify standing rest.

Almost All Out (9/10)

This is a sustained sprint, the second half of an all-out Mile effort. We rarely practice this pace for longer than 400-600 meters. This is the fastest that we train outside of short sprints under 20 seconds.

SPRINT! (10/10)

Nearly max effort to MAX effort, practiced several times per week when doing strides. The key to this effort is building into it smoothly, not aggressively, to save your body from potential injury. 

Strides are done as,

– 5 second smooth acceleration

– 8-10 second holding close to max effort, focusing on form cues and speed without strain

– 5 second smooth deceleration 

Paces - Duration-Based Effort Levels

“Tempo”

This is a catch-all term for everything from Marathon pace to half marathon pace to 20-30min races, which makes it so general that it’s not very useful because it is too broad.

Threshold 

A bunch of science points to the importance of training at the effort level that equates to running at the fastest pace that you could hold for 1-hour. This relates to the “lactate threshold,” meaning the level at which your body can process the lactic acid that’s produced from hard running. Since elite runners can cover a full half marathon in an hour, for them, Threshold training becomes synonymous with Half Marathon Effort; however, for most of us, Threshold training is faster than their Half Marathon pace. 

That’s alright. 

In fact, it’s freeing. Threshold training is often referred to as “annoyingly fast, but not that bad.”

A general rule is that you should be able to say a short 3-5 word sentence to someone or yourself while moving at this pace.

10k - Critical Velocity

This is significantly faster than Threshold - about the pace you could hold for a 30min.

This is intended to be *just below* an effort that will quickly lead to exhaustion. Part of the reason the 10k is so tiring is that it requires athletes to dance along this level of effort. Go too slow, and they finish feeling like they could have gone faster. Go too fast, and they often fall off pace half way through, finishing feeling frustrated.

A general rule is that you should be able to say a word or two to someone or yourself while moving at this pace.

5k – (8/10) 

Anything faster than critical velocity is descending into depths of increasing discomfort. The 5k is a very difficult distance when run well, which is why it’s fun and why we practice. Workouts including 5k effort help push up the body’s V02max, or the maximum amount of oxygen the body can process.

3k – (8/10) 

The 3k or 2-mile effort is rarely run, but a seasoned track athlete can develop a level of effort faster than 5k and slower than a sprint without falling off mid-race. This takes practice and is something we typically only focus on during summer track seasons.

Mile (9/10) 

A controlled sprint. The truth is that the mile race is mostly aerobic, meaning you need to be able to breathe throughout the first three quarters, but it often doesn’t feel like that. This effort, when well-practiced, often feels like magic, like you’re dying from a minute in yet somehow not slowing down.

SPRINT!

The kick! The final bit of a longer race, or spurts of maximal effort. We practice this routinely because it aids your body's efficiency at breathing and moving, making slower efforts feel easier.