If you’ve always wanted to finish a race with a negative split, or if you’re looking for a way to increase your overall speed, progression runs might be the missing link in your training. This type of run also works perfectly for anyone who has started a race too fast and blown up by the end – or halfway through, for that matter.
Learn how to pace yourself – and get faster – with this fruitful type of workout started a race too fast and finish faster than you started – and it’s a workout that suits any pace, level or goal. Here’s how to make the most of this type of training run.
What is a progression run?
A progression run involves starting at a relatively slow or easy pace and getting progressively faster throughout the run. As running coach Jess Heiss says, it’s a pretty broad term, so you have lots of options for how to make it work for you.
At the same time, progression runs perceived effort, which means either increasing your pace by a very specific speed or going off easy, moderate and difficult effort. You can also end up with a huge difference in your start and finish pace, or only a moderate increase in your speed by the end.
That’s the beauty of a progression run – there are no hard and fast rules on how to accomplish it, besides finishing quicker than you started. Plus, run coaches say that you can do these types of workouts at any point in your training. Just think of them as a solid option for moderate effort run days – not your easy pace, of a run, rather than feel like you can’t wait to stop top-level effort Why threshold heart rate training is important.
‘I love using these as a kind of transition between the base-building phase and focused speedwork,’ says Heiss. ‘It’s kind of that middle ground.’ Although progression runs get you playing with speed and exploring what different efforts and paces feel like, they aren’t as complex or as physically and mentally taxing as, say, interval sessions.
Danny Mackey, head coach of Brooks Beasts Track Club, also suggests incorporating the progression run into a long run to improve the quality of those longer distances. Here, you start at your easy effort or pace, then work your way up to a punchier pace or effort.
Mackey also uses them as a bridge workout, for those days when you want to get a run in to maintain your aerobic fitness but have a hard workout on the horizon – one that you want to feel rested for. He says that you can also apply progression principles to a tempo run, where you start 15 seconds slower than your tempo pace, then work up to it. You could even end at quicker than tempo pace if you’re feeling confident.
No matter how you do it, all you have to do is make sure that you’re starting slow and getting faster.
What are the benefits of a progression run?
So, why would you choose a progression run over a run where you hold a steady pace or do actual structured speed work? This type of run comes with a handful of benefits.
1. It’s less intimidating
‘Sometimes, beginner runners are new to or just intimated by the idea of speed sessions,’ says running coach and physiotherapist Alison Staples, who notes that even experienced runners can dread speedwork. Progression runs, however, can take away some of the anxiety that comes with these fast-paced interval workouts.
Progression runs can also feel gentler on the body than those faster-paced interval sessions – and, as Staples says, you don’t have to worry about recovery time as much as you would with harder, faster runs.
Speedwork is typically both mentally and physically tough and you must give your body time to rest and recover afterward. With a progression run, you’ll likely spend most of your workout at a pace that requires an easy or moderate effort. You may choose to really push the speed at the end (or even just at the very end), but it will be for a shorter portion of the workout as opposed to the entire workout being all about intensity and speed.
At the same time, progression runs do help you to tune into your speed and get you more comfortable with pushing the pace, just without taxing your body quite so much.
2. It builds in a warm-up
‘It’s important to warm up your body before you get into a hard and fast pace, so a progression run is a nice way to ease your way into those harder efforts,’ says Staples. Think about those first miles or minutes of a progression run as a way to get your body and brain on board for the workout. When the time comes to push the effort and pace a bit more, you’ll be warm and it’ll feel easier – or natural, even – to progress things.
3. It teaches you to pace smarter
‘Starting a little more conservatively helps to make sure that you’re keeping the workout in that moderate-to-intense zone,’ says Mackey. Figuring out your moderate effort pace is challenging, though – especially on a long run. Most of us know what going hard feels like, but ‘moderate’ is harder to figure out, he says. It’s easy to start too quickly out of the gates and suddenly be at a race pace that’s unsustainable – and too taxing – for a long run.
If you’re doing a progression run based on effort level, Heiss says that it can help you to stop relying so much on your fine-tune your pacing: A coach’s guide to speedwork and build your confidence in knowing what different paces feel like. Over time, in training, you’ll learn what easy, moderate and hard efforts look like to you. Then, on race day, you can start at a pace that leads to a strong finish, without any bonking.
4. It’s mentally refreshing
The mind plays a big role in running. As mentioned, progression runs can seem easier than straight speedwork, which makes them mentally easier to do as well. It’s reassuring to know that you’re starting off easy, rather than running the whole thing at a challenging pace. ‘It’s a lot easier, mentally, to bite off segments of a run,’ says Mackey, who adds that progression runs are particularly good when you’re gearing up for a hard race and feeling mentally fatigued from your training.
5. It get you more comfortable with pushing at the end of a run
It’s fine to feel totally spent at the finish line of a race, but you don’t want to feel depleted at the end of every long training run, says Staples. Progression runs are great for learning how to conserve energy so that you have some left to give at the end. It’s also a nice mental boost when you find that you can successfully speed up at the end of a run, rather than feel like you can’t wait to stop.
5 ways to do a progression run
of a run, rather than feel like you can’t wait to stop.
1. The 80/20 breakdown
fine-tune your pacing.
2. The thirds breakdown
For a 45-minute run, run the first 15 minutes at an easy pace, the second 15 minutes at a moderately easy pace, then the final 15 minutes at a moderately hard effort. ‘Think about going from a conversational pace to ending at a tempo run pace,’ says Staples.
3. The final push
Go at an easy or moderately easy pace for 90% of the run, then do the last 10% at an all-out effort. This last part could be the final two or three minutes, or even the final mile, depending on the length of the run. ‘This one is good for practicing a faster finish and learning how to conserve energy until the end,’ notes Staples.
4. Play with 10s
Every mile, try to take 10 seconds off your pace. Or every 10 minutes, speed up by taking 10 seconds off your pace.
5. Faster every mile
Mackey sometimes challenges his athletes with a tempo run progression. He tells them to run each mile faster than the previous one – that’s the only rule. ‘If this means that you go really slow at the start, that’s fine – but if you go really hard, you have to pay the price for that,’ he says. ‘You really have to check in with yourself mentally and be aware of how you’re actually feeling and how to pace.’
