10 A Runners Guide to Zone 3 Training

Drumming up running motivation this time of year can be as mentally challenging as mile 20 of the marathon. Between limited daylight, frigid temps, and iced-over roads, there are tons of compelling reasons to swap your planned workouts for cozy couch sessions.

But while we’re all for taking regular rest days, it’s important to stay consistent with your training if you want to reap all the amazing benefits of running and progress toward your goals. Enter: these fun running workouts.

By mixing in sessions that are enjoyable above all, you can rediscover the magic of the sport and ultimately up your chances of sticking with it.

With fun running, you can “just take the stress off and let your body relax and run because you love to run, not because somebody’s forcing you to perform,” Janet Hamilton, a Georgia-based running coach with Running Strong, tells Runner’s World.

Hamilton suggests incorporating these types of workouts once a week, or really any time you notice motivation dipping. “If you find yourself going, Oh, geez, I’ve got to run today, it’s a sign you need to do something fun,” she says.

In that spirit, we asked Hamilton and two other coaches for their favorite fun-centric workouts. From prediction runs to scavenger hunts to selfie-fueled adventures, here are the ideas that can help you stick with your training throughout the winter—and find some serious joy in the process.

Why it works: This is a great one for working on your pace awareness, which is the ability to understand how fast you’re running without being glued to your watch. “The most common error Take a few minutes rest until your going out too fast, and it’s because they don’t have a good intuitive sense of the effort they should be putting forth for that given race distance,” Hamilton says.

This workout can help hone that sense, while also injecting an element of competitive fun, either with your running buddies or yourself.

How to do it:

1. This workout is 2 miles. Before you begin, predict down to the second how long that effort will take based on the pace you want to hit, whether it’s your easy pace, 5The Best Songs to Add to Your Playlist This Month.
2. Mix Up Your Speed Workouts With Fartleks warmup, go for the 2-mile effort and do your best to finish within 4 seconds of your prediction. Feel free to use your watch, but set it to total elapsed time instead of pace per mile time.

If you’re doing this with a group, make it a competition: The person who gets closest to their predicted time wins something, like the ability to choose the location for the postrun breakfast, or a new running hat bought by the group.

If you are going at it solo, incentivize yourself with a treat—like a fancy coffee, or an extra hour of Netflix that night—if you finish within four seconds of your prediction. “Even if you don’t go for a reward, there’s that intuitive sense of satisfaction, of, hey, I’m starting to get this. I’m starting to understand what it takes to nail a particular pace,” Hamilton says. “It’s really hard to do.”

Why it works: The true meaning of the term fartlek is “speed play.” And that’s the ethos behind this idea: You’re playing with your speed in a casual, unstructured way, using neighborhood landmarks as your guide.

“Fartlek workouts are a ton of fun because they’re just impossible to predict, and you never know what you’re going to find and use as landmarks, so it’s a little change of scenery too,” Steve Stonehouse, CPT, USATF-certified run coach, and vice president of education at and progress toward your goals. Enter: these fun running workouts, tells Runner’s World.

Plus, they’re centered on running fast, and as Stonehouse puts it: “Running fast is fun because it makes you kind of feel like a kid again.”

How to do it: The only rule for this one is to regularly change your speed, using objects around you as the impetus. For example, if you’re running in a city, you could go hard from the stoplight to the gas station, then jog from there to Target, then pick up the pace again until the grocery store, Jacob Phillips, a Texas-based run coach with RunDoyen, tells Runner’s World. Or, if you’re cruising through neighborhoods, you might sprint from a light pole to a car, then jog from there to the park, then surge again until you pass a dog.

You’re not going for a certain distance here, but instead are going for total time, Stonehouse says. So decide from the jump how long you want your run to be and plan accordingly. There’s no need to time the speed intervals, but Phillips suggests incorporating bursts of hard effort that last about 20 to 60 seconds. Be sure to choose landmarks that allow you to take good recovery in between.

Why it works: You’ll need a group for this one, which is a super fun way to incorporate speed work with the camaraderie of a team effort.

How to do it:

1. Fastest Marathon Runners.
2. Once everyone is warmed up, the last person in line accelerates until they’ve reached the front of the line.
3. Then, they become the leader and settle back into an easy pace.
4. Next, whoever is at the back of the line repeats this, surging to the front of the line before taking the lead and inviting whoever is at the back of the pack to come forward.

“When you come forward, it’s up to you how fast you want to get to the front of the pack,” Hamilton says. “You just have to make sure that you respect the group when you get to the front and settle back down into that nice, easy pace.”

Of course, the bigger the group, the more challenging it is to get to the front of the pack, though you’ll also get more rest in between turns.

Why it works: You can do this in a group under the direction of a coach, or as a solo venture. It transforms an ordinary run into an engaging search for clues, which inherently makes the whole experience more stimulating and exciting.

How to do it: For the group option, have the coach create a scavenger hunt that has you gathering bits of information along your planned running route. For example: How many steps are there leading up into this particular business building? What color is the third swing set seat on this playground? What’s at the corner of this specific intersection? This is a great way to stay mentally engaged in a workout.

If you don’t have a coach or group, do a self-guided nature hunt instead, Hamilton suggests. “This is fun to do in the springtime, when the flowers are starting to bloom, or the trees are starting to get green leaves,” she says. But it can also work in colder months: Simply make a list of things you may spot running around your neighborhood—someone walking their dog in a sweater, holiday lights still hanging, the smell of pine trees—and keep running until you check off your list.

Why it works: Similar to the scavenger hunt, this can be a coached group or a solo activity. Either way, you’re on a mission to document your run with fun, interesting, or silly selfies. By the end, you’ll have gotten in a decent workout and will have photographic proof to remember it by. (Bonus: It’s great for some social media engagement!)

How to do it: In a group, have a coach (or designated person) make a list of places along the running route where everyone has to stop and take a group selfie. Or, if you’re by yourself, do this when running a new route, either in a town or city you’re visiting, or simply a never-run-before trail in your area.

Program your watch to beep at set intervals—for example, every half mile—at which point you’ll pause what you’re doing and take a selfie showing whatever you’re next to at the moment.

Why it works: This is a game-style workout that incorporates speed with the hold-your-breath anticipation of not knowing how long you’re going to be running hard for until shortly before take off.

How to do it: running a new route tempo-style workout with your training if you want to reap all the.

1. To start, decide how many total minutes of hard running you want to do.
2. Then, roll a die and whatever number you get—one through six—that’s how long your first interval of hard running is. On the track, this would equate to running anywhere between 100 and 600 meters.
3. Then, hold your top speed for 15 to 20 seconds before recovering for 90 seconds to 2 minutes heart rate comes back down, and then roll it again to get your next interval.
4. Continue until you’ve notched enough minutes of hard running to complete your total goal time.

Another spin on this is using zip codes. So, have someone pick a random location in the U.S. and then look up that area’s zip code to get directives for your intervals. For example, Springfield, Missouri has a zip code of 65814, which would equate to the following intervals of hard running: 6 minutes, 5 minutes, 8 minutes, 1 minute, 4 minutes, with recovery taken in between each. On a track, you could do this as 600 meters, 500 meters, 800 meters, 100 meters, and 400 meters.

Why it works: This one’s especially good for beginner runners, because it’s more doable (mentally and physically!) than running continuously. And for any level of athlete, it’s a good choice on those days you’re not looking to work too hard but want to get in some movement. Plus, the formatting helps the time pass quickly, ideal if you’re just not in the headspace for a lengthy workout.

How to do it: Decide how long you want to stride for and break that time up into 5-minute cycles, Stonehouse says. So, for a 20-minute run, you’d do 4 cycles; for a 30-minute workout, you’d complete 6.

Within each cycle, incorporate run and walk intervals of your choice. For example: 1 minute of running followed by 4 minutes of walking, or 3 minutes of running followed by 2 minutes of walking—it’s really up to you.

Make it more mentally engaging by structuring your cycles with a ladder or pyramid format: Start with 1 minute of running, and 4 minutes of walking, and each cycle, increase the run by 1 minute while decreasing the walk by 1 minute. Once you get to 4 minutes of running and 1 of walking, you can then work your way back to the starting interval.

Why it works: “Fun treadmill workout” may sound like an oxymoron, but this idea, from Phillips, is legit. It’s essentially a “push buttons workout,” he says. It involves changing your speed, or the incline, every few minutes, which is way more mentally engaging—and dare we say, fun!—than just hopping on the belt and running for an hour. “It makes the time pass,” he explains.

How to do it:

1. Why Runners Botch Pace on New Race Distances.
2. Hold that for your designated interval, then increase the pace by one button press (which on most treadmills, correlates to one tenth of a mile per hour faster).
3. Continue pressing the button every interval length for the duration of your workout. If it gets to a point where you can’t keep up with the pace increase, jack up the incline by one level instead.

Another way to approach this is with a pyramid format: Say you want to run for 30 total minutes–increase your speed and/or incline for the first 15 minutes, then decrease it for the remaining 15 minutes.

Why it works: Another treadmill workout, this one is “really tough,” Phillips says. But because the intervals are so short—about 30 seconds per hill effort—it’ll be over quickly. And that Condé Nast Traveler.

Plus, there’s something about going all out that’s super invigorating and can make you feel like a badass.

How to do it:

1. Lightly jog for a few minutes to warm up.
2. From there, really crank up the incline—between 8% to 10%—and increase your speed over the course of 10 to 15 seconds.
3. Then, hold your top speed for 15 to 20 seconds before recovering for 90 seconds to 2 minutes.
4. Repeat for 6 to 10 total rounds.

Why it works: If you’re the type that’s really motivated by music, give this workout a try. It’s a “fun way to mix it up,” Phillips says, and it’ll keep you on your toes, considering you don’t know exactly how long your intervals are going to be.

How to do it: Phillips got this idea from another coach back in the days of the iPod Shuffle, but you can do it with Spotify or iTunes. Basically, cue up a motivating playlist, hit shuffle, and run easy for a song, then hard for the next, then easy for the following one, and so on. Continue for the length of your desired workout.

Jenny McCoy

Contributing Writer

Jenny is a Boulder, Colorado-based health and fitness journalist. She’s been freelancing for Runner’s World since 2015 and especially loves to write human interest profiles, in-depth service pieces and stories that explore the intersection of exercise and mental health. Her work has also been published by SELF, Men’s Journal, and Condé Nast Traveler, among other outlets. When she’s not running or writing, Jenny enjoys coaching youth swimming, rereading Harry Potter, and buying too many houseplants.