The Best Workout To Get Comfortable With The Uncomfortable

STANDING ON THE starting line of my target marathon in 2021, I had a goal I kept mostly to myself: break four hours.

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I had sort of trained for it, following a mix of plans I thought would get me there. And I relied on the idea that because my 2019 PB was 4:09 and I'd been running consistently since, finishing under four was completely doable – even if my buildup didn't go 100 percent as planned (as most don't).

But while waiting for what felt like hours for my start time, I definitely let my nerves get the best of me. And with a queasy stomach and heavy legs, I ended up with my slowest marathon time to date, finishing in 4:30.

So when I got a chance to run the same event again in 2024, I knew I needed to build confidence in holding a speed that felt slightly faster for me, and for longer periods of time.

IT HAD TAKEN me years to get to a point where I really varied my pace in training. For a while, I'd run most of my workouts at a moderate intensity that always felt somewhat difficult. But by having a mix of speed workouts and slower-paced runs on my schedule, running fast started to feel not just exhausting but rewarding, and running easy began feeling truly easy, like I could keep ticking off the kays for hours.

I really zeroed in on those pace changes in my marathon buildup, and discovered a new appreciation for speed workouts. The kind I realised I'll keep coming back to when I want to get faster and believe in my speed: tempo runs.