{"id":965250,"date":"2026-05-16T21:07:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965250\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T21:07:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T21:07:16","slug":"critical-velocity-workouts-help-you-get-faster-without-going-all-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/965250\/","title":{"rendered":"Critical Velocity Workouts Help You Get Faster Without Going All Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the running world, there are lots of workout options to have at the ready if you want to get faster: race-pace repeats, tempo and threshold<\/a> runs, and VO\u2082 max efforts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s another option lots of runners tend to overlook. It\u2019s called critical velocity training\u2014and it\u2019s key to boosting your speed without beating up your body, according to exercise physiologist Tom Schwartz<\/a>, PhD, a running coach and founder of Tinman Coaching who popularized the approach.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to slot it into your training.<\/p>\n

What Is Critical Velocity Training?<\/p>\n

Critical velocity training raises your lactate threshold<\/a>, the level at which a byproduct of exercise called lactate accumulates in your blood faster than your body can clear it. Improving this metric is important, because it can help hard paces feel easier, which allows you to run faster, and it helps you hold those faster paces for longer.<\/p>\n

The general rule of thumb for lactate threshold is that it\u2019s a pace you can sustain for roughly 60 minutes. It\u2019s not something you can hold all day, but it\u2019s also not a pace that\u2019ll leave you totally breathless.<\/p>\n

Schwartz read about lactate threshold training when he was in college, and decided to give it a shot in an attempt to improve his own running.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that it did okay,\u201d he tells Runner\u2019s World. \u201cI felt that it gave me good endurance, but I just didn\u2019t have the leg power<\/a> necessary to sustain the kind of pace [needed] in a race. I felt like I had one gear, so to speak. I couldn\u2019t move any faster.\u201d<\/p>\n

So he decided to dig a little deeper into something he was already experimenting with, a metric he called critical value but would later refer to as \u201ccritical velocity\u201d when he started using it in coaching.<\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n

Critical velocity running feels a little harder than running at lactate threshold. If lactate threshold is the pace you can maintain for one hour, critical velocity is one that most runners can sustain for 30 to 35 minutes, a little longer or shorter depending on fitness levels and distance experience, Schwartz says. \u201cCritical velocity is about 4 to 5 percent higher,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

In effort level, CV falls between lactate threshold pace and your all-out VO\u2082 max pace. To find it, you can input your race results at distances ranging from 2,000 meters to the 10K in the calculator<\/a> on Schwartz\u2019s site to find your critical velocity pace.<\/p>\n

The crux of critical velocity training is that it has you running at the hardest pace you can maintain before your body starts to struggle due to the fatigue-related byproducts of exercise. Another way to think about it: CV is the fastest you can run comfortably and in control without having to gasp for air.<\/p>\n

Related StoryThe Benefits of These Workouts<\/p>\n

A bunch of beneficial physiological changes occur when doing critical velocity training, including recruiting your fast-twitch muscle fibers<\/a>, developing more energy-producing mitochondria, and stimulating more capillaries that can help bring nutrients and oxygen into your cells and take exercise byproducts out of them, Schwartz says.<\/p>\n

By running slightly faster than your lactate threshold, you can also efficiently improve that metric: \u201cCritical velocity improves your lactate threshold more than running at lactate threshold,\u201d Schwartz says, based on his experience. It can boost your VO\u2082 max<\/a> and running economy<\/a>, too, he adds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s tricky to dig into research on critical velocity because many studies don\u2019t use the term \u201ccritical velocity,\u201d but the intensities tested in some studies overlap with what CV looks like in practice, according to Schwartz.<\/p>\n

For example, a study<\/a> published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise looked at performance outcomes for four groups of runners performing different training protocols lasting eight weeks: long and slow (70 percent of max heart rate), lactate threshold running (85 percent of max heart rate), short and fast intervals of 15 seconds on, 15 seconds off (90 to 95 percent of max heart rate), and longer high-aerobic intervals of 4 minutes on, 3 minutes off (90 to 95 percent of max heart rate).<\/p>\n

The interval groups improved their VO\u2082 max more than the long and slow and lactate threshold groups did; the longer-interval group\u2014a protocol that closely mirrors the physiological responses seen in CV training, per Schwartz\u2014did so to the greatest extent.<\/p>\n

Another study<\/a>, published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, found that runners who trained with hard-but-sustainable 3.5-minute intervals for 10 weeks improved their speed at lactate threshold<\/a>, whereas those who performed 30-second sprints and those who did recovery runs didn\u2019t experience an increase. This supports the idea that high-aerobic interval work triggers a broader endurance-development stimulus than sprints or slower running<\/a> alone, according to Schwartz.<\/p>\n

Critical velocity training seems to work your body in a highly effective “middle zone,” per Schwartz: You\u2019re going hard enough to help with oxygen delivery and utilization, but it’s still controlled enough so you can put in your reps without burning out too quickly.<\/p>\n

If you stick with slower work like lactate threshold, \u201cyou\u2019ll still demand a lot of oxygen at a given pace,\u201d he says. \u201cSo you\u2019ll be a one-trick pony; you\u2019ll have a pace that you can sustain, but you can\u2019t go any faster than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

All in all, in comparison with lactate threshold training, \u201ccritical velocity provides more return on investment,\u201d Schwartz says. And because it has you running more slowly and controlled than you would in very high-intensity workouts<\/a> like VO\u2082 max routines, it\u2019s a more sustainable practice for runners in the long term, he believes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not gasping for breath, their legs are not heavy, and they can do enough repetitions of it, enough minutes of it [to elicit change],\u201d he says. \u201cThey can repeat it week after week and basically the body starts transforming.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related StoryWhich Race Distances Does Critical Velocity Training Work Best For?<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can improve the speed at which you\u2019re running along at a submaximal heart rate or submaximal lactate, it\u2019s very likely that pretty much everything that you\u2019re racing will improve,\u201d Schwartz says.<\/p>\n

In fact, he\u2019s seen runners have success with critical velocity training in racing distances from 3,000 meters all the way up to the marathon<\/a>\u2014and even with some ultramarathoners, too.<\/p>\n

So whether you\u2019re racing a 5K, 10K, or going longer, critical velocity is something you can consider adding to your training.<\/p>\n

The Workout You Need to Try<\/p>\n

The amount of total time you spend running at critical velocity pace during your workouts depends on your fitness level, per Schwartz. Beginners may want to stick to 12 to 15 minutes; intermediate runners 18 to 21 minutes; and advanced runners 21 to 24 minutes, up to 27 minutes or so.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what this could look like for an intermediate runner:<\/p>\n