Tempo Run

Yesterday as part of my training schedule I saw I had a 3mi tempo run to do today.  A tempo run you say??...hmm should I be trying to run at a similar tempo to the tunes blasting out from my playlist?
Again I'm still a bit of newbie to all these running terms.

Thank goodness for Google and twitter for saving me from the embarrassment of attempting a running dance along the boardwalk. :P

Tempo runs are similar to high-intensity intervals, but with this strategy you don't sprint as fast as you can. Instead, you hold at a fast (but not too fast) pace for a longer time period, like 10 minutes, before slowing down. This helps you get past your running threshold. I've been running several times a week, and noticed I've been slowing down and my endurance waning, esp on my long runs Saturdays. Why is this happening?

Your body eventually acclimates to a particular pace and/or distance. So overtime, you won’t get what you used to out of that regular 5-miler every other day. Stagnation sets in. Active.com

Tempo runs help push out your lactate threshold (that burn you feel in your legs when you run fast). Tempo workouts teach your body to more quickly clear out the lactate buildup delaying or preventing that fatigue-causing burn. The goal of this type of practice run is to improve your race pace and help improve your overall efficiency.


So how did I do?

MILE	TIME	CHANGE	AVG PACE
1	11:06	--	11'06"/mi warm-up
2 *Fastest	20:08	- 2:04 (18%)	9'02"/mi tempo run
3	30:53	+ 1:42 (-19%)	10'45"/mi cool down