THE BEST WORKOUT TO GET COMFORTABLE WITH THE UNCOMFORTABLE

STANDING ON THE starting line of the 2021 New York City Marathon, I had a goal I kept mostly to myself: break four hours. I had sort of trained for it, following a mix of plans I thought would get me there.

- ILLUSTRATION BY SÖREN SELLESLAGH

And I relied on the idea that because my 2019 PR was 4:09 and I had 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).

While waiting for hours on Staten Island for my noon start time, I definitely let my nerves get the best of me. 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 five boroughs 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 paces 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 checking off miles 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 realized I'll keep coming back to when I want to get faster and believe in my speed: tempo runs.