How can you build both your speed and endurance? You can do both at the same time by improving your body’s ability to clear lactate (also called lactic acid) from your muscles. The way to do this is with tempo runs. The technical term for a tempo is really a lactate threshold run because you run right on the threshold of aerobic and anaerobic running.
What does lactate do? As you run faster, your body produces more and more lactate. Lactate contributes to fatigue and the burning sensation at the end of a workout, hard run, training or race.
There is an important point where you’re running hard enough that you can’t clear lactate as fast as you’re producing it. This is when you’re performance is going to go way down. When you can’t clear lactate as fast as you’re producing it, you’re working anaerobically (without oxygen) and you only have a few minutes before need to slow down or stop.
A tempo run is done right on the threshold of aerobic vs. anaerobic running. So your goal is to have prolonged periods of running with high—but not too high—lactate to improve your body’s ability to clear it out of the bloodstream. This will boost your endurance. For anyone needing the ability to run, jog and sprint for long periods this is really important, and tempo runs are the perfect workout.
A tempo run is beneficial no matter what your goal is. Tempo runs will make you more able to run at a higher speed for a longer duration of time. Tempo runs make you faster by raising your lactate threshold. They increase work capacity, strengthen and reinforce running mechanics and build your aerobic endurance. So these great runs build both your speed and endurance. What athlete doesn’t want that?