PR Pacer · Training Notes
What Is Threshold Running?
The effort right at the edge of comfortably hard and needing to stop.
"Threshold" gets thrown around in training plans without much explanation, which is part of why it's confusing. Here's the plain version: threshold is the effort where your body starts producing lactate faster than it can clear it. Below that effort, you could hold the pace for a long time. Above it, you're on a countdown. Threshold sits right at that edge.
In practical terms, it should feel like roughly a 7 out of 10 effort. Controlled, but working. Not a sprint, and not a jog you could hold a full conversation through. A simple gut check: at threshold pace, you could speak in short sentences — not comfortably chat, and not be completely silent either. If you can chat easily, you're not there yet. If you can't get words out, you've gone past it into a harder effort than threshold actually calls for.
Why it's worth training specifically
Threshold pace is trainable — with consistent work at that specific intensity, your body gets better at clearing lactate at a given pace, which is a big part of what lets you hold a faster pace for longer in a race. It's a different adaptation than what easy running builds (aerobic base) or what harder interval work builds (top-end speed and running economy). A plan that skips threshold work entirely is missing a piece that easy miles alone don't replace.
What a threshold session actually looks like
A real threshold workout is a complete structure, not just a pace label slapped on a distance: a warm-up, the threshold effort itself (sometimes one sustained block, sometimes broken into a few longer repeats with short recoveries), and a cool-down. The threshold portion itself is usually somewhere in the 20-40 minute total range of actual work, depending on the runner and where they are in a training block — not a five-minute token effort, and not an hour at that intensity either.
Most training plans just call this a "tempo run." Same idea, different label — whichever word your plan uses, the effort and the reason it's there don't change.
Ask your coach when your next threshold session should be.
Free to start.
Frequently asked
- What is threshold running?
- The effort right at the edge of comfortably hard and needing to stop — the pace where your body starts producing lactate faster than it can clear it. Feels like about a 7 out of 10 effort.
- How do I know if I'm at threshold pace?
- You could speak in short sentences, not hold a full conversation and not be silent either. Easy chatting means you're not there yet; unable to talk means you've gone past it.
- Is threshold the same as tempo?
- Most plans use the terms interchangeably — same idea, different label.