08/31/2026
If you follow my stories, you know those are full of my weekly running chronicles. If you don’t, well welcome. I just forced it on you 🤣. Last year was my comeback year. This year in my growth year. Probably, maybe, definitely a Half Marathon end of 2026. It went well last year, so if I can repeat or be a little faster it’s a win. Anyway…
3 Mile Tempo Benchmark.
Beginning of August to end of August.
You can’t train the same energy system all year and expect your body to keep adapting.
I cycle my training throughout the year, and after about three months of mostly base work, August became my transition month.
That meant gradually bringing intensity back in: TEMPO work plus one Norwegian 4×4 session each week.
The goal? Shift from almost exclusively easy aerobic work toward harder efforts that challenge a different part of the system—improving my ability to tolerate and clear lactate, sustain faster paces, and build both speed and endurance.
Base work builds the engine.
Tempo teaches you to hold more speed.
Hard intervals challenge the ceiling.
The body adapts to what you repeatedly ask it to do—which is exactly why the training stimulus eventually has to change.
Build the base. Change the stimulus. Keep adapting.