Finish your next race fast with these progression workouts

Whenever I round the corner and hit the last kilometre of my run toward home, my legs automatically pick up the pace. No matter how hot, thirsty and tired I am, the thought of nailing another workout is enough to make me run just a little bit harder.

A progression workout is one where the last portion of the workout is faster than the first. Progression runs teach your legs to move fast when you have already built up some fatigue, and they can mimic race paces without the duration and recovery of an actual race. There’s a variety of ways to adapt and incorporate them into almost any training plan. Try one of these this week, and on race day your legs will remember how to finish with a kick.

Threshold progression run

A threshold progression run consists of an extended warmup, or a longer “easy pace” section of running, and then a slightly shorter section of threshold-pace running. To approximate your threshold pace, aim for the fastest pace that you could sustain for an hour-long race. Feel free to adjust the distances of this workout to make it appropriate for whatever race you are training for.

8 km run at an easy or comfortable pace, 5 km run at threshold pace.

Marathon-pace progression run

A marathon-pace progression run is useful for most runners, not just those training for a marathon. The second or faster part of this type of progression run is generally longer and at a slightly slower pace than the others. Most of us have a tendency to do all our long runs at the same pace, but once you’ve built up enough endurance to sustain those runs, your body needs variety and challenge to improve. If you’re training for a shorter distance, like a 5 or 10K race, throw some marathon-progression-style runs early in your training–and a reasonable amount of time in advance of the race. As you get closer to the race, focus on race-specific workouts. If you’re training for a half-marathon or marathon, you can keep these workouts in your routine right up until your taper.

3 km easy, 16 km marathon-pace (for a marathon-focused training plan)

2 km easy, 6-8 km marathon-pace (for shorter distances)

Fast-finish progression run

In a fast-finish progression run, the second (faster) portion of the run is fairly short. This can be tweaked depending on what training effect you are looking for: if you want a more challenging run, make the first slow part even longer, so that you’re more tired as you pick up the pace for the fast finish.

20 km easy, 5 km at half-marathon pace (for a marathon-focused training plan)

8 km easy, 1-2 km at 10K race pace (for shorter distances)

The first section of a progression workout generally includes your warmup, so there’s no need to tack on extra easy kilometres. If you usually include a cooldown post-session, feel free to add that, but it doesn’t need to be long. As always, when tackling a harder running session or long run, make sure the day after is a rest or very easy day, and hydrate well.