Supra and Sub Threshold Run Training
Elite marathoners don’t just cruise at one pace like your treadmill or easy waterway flat run. They surge, they slow and they play tactical pacing mind games.
Same goes for you — weather gets hot, hills pop up out of nowhere, or a dog runs in front of you at the water station. Better train for those pace changes now than suffer later because you weren’t ready!
What Is It? A continuous medium to long distance run where you hit 10k tempo pace for a kilometer, then dial back to marathon pace for a kilometer. Repeat each set (fast/slow) between 3-6+ times depending on fitness goals.
How To Do It? Run at your current 10km race pace fitness (not goal!) for 1 kilometre (for metrically sensitive folks that’s about .61 miles or for most people between 4-7 minutes) then drop back to your marathon pace for the exact distance (1km/.61 miles). Every fast/slow pair is one “set”.
- Beginner runners or unfit folks do 2-3 sets.
- Intermediate do 3-4 sets.
- Advanced do 5+ depending on your upcoming race, etc.
Example For Me:
- My current 10k pace is 3:50-3:55 min/km (6:10 – 6:17 min/mile) – This is “fast”.
- My current marathon pace is 4:15-4:20 min/km (6:52 – 6:58 min/mile) – This is “slow”.
- Keep doing that for as long as I need.
Why it works: It’s sneaky metabolic genius. While you’re “recovering” at marathon pace, your body is still working to clear lactate from the harder effort. Unlike traditional intervals where you stop and wheeze, this teaches your system to process waste products (the extra lactate and hydrogen ions) on the fly, which is precisely what you need in races when things get spicy.
This is based on legendary running coach, Renato Canova and is bread and butter for elite Kenyans making those last few miles of a race suck approximately 37% less.
