The Glossary

The following is a glossary of running terminology and language you'll often run. Some of these are general terms used throughout the running community, and some are internal lingo we use here at Uptempo Running. No matter your level of experience, we hope this serves as a useful guide you can refer back to whenever you need it.

In some cases, we’re providing a definition of a term as it relates specifically to us here at Uptempo Running. A lot of running terminology is employed or defined with particular nuances depending on who you ask.

Tempo Run is a good example of a term that has a wide latitude of accepted definitions and which is interpreted differently based on who you ask. The definition we’ve provided in our entry for Tempo Run is how we choose to understand it.

This doesn’t mean our definitions are better or worse than another. The goal rather is to set a common language among our internal community here at Uptempo Running. That way when we talk about Tempo Runs, we’re all on the same page on what exactly we mean.

We’re continuously adding to our glossary. If you see anything that's missing from this list you think we should add, let us know using the form at the bottom of this page. If you’re currently an Uptempo Running member, you can also let us know on the Basecamp Glossary message board.

A specific type of run workout designed to train at an effort near, or just below, your lactate threshold. Classic Tempo workouts are often described as steady or long interval runs between 20 to 60 minutes done at “Tempo” pace, but they can also be designed any number of ways so long as the desired training effect is achieved.

For our purposes we use Tempo when referring to a specific effort level rather than a particular type of structured workout.

Warm-ups describe the “preparation” process or initials stages of a workout, generally meant to ease and prepare the body physiologically and psychologically prior to any high demand effort and reduce the risk of injury.

Warm-ups typically involves low effort activities meant to raise our heart rate, increase blood flow to our muscles, and progressively develop the necessary biomotor abilities required for a given activity.

This can be achieved any number of ways, but in general for us refers to:

• The first 10 to 20 minutes of a run, done at a very easy, or conversational, effort level or pace.

• A specific series of exercises, drills, or dynamic stretches done prior to a run or track workout. Example: Run mechanics drills such as A-Skips done prior to a track workout.

Initialism for Warm-up, used mainly in workout descriptions and details. For instance, we might describe a workout in your Training Peaks calendar this way:

WU 15’ jog + Mechanics Drills
2 x 100m sprints with 60s rest

See Warm-up