Yasso 800s: Accomplished

Happy Friday!  It's been a good week of running so far (and a good past couple weeks of running), but I think last night's workout was my favorite in awhile.  I met Mac at the track to try the Yasso 800 workout.  Any of my past few attempts at speedwork have been short tempo runs or mile repeats on the treadmill, so it was definitely nice to get out to a track with and do this.

The Yasso 800 workout was created by an executive (the Chief Running Officer - doesn't that sounds like an awesome job?) at Runner's World, Bart Yasso.  The basic idea is that you can predict your marathon time based on how fast you can run 10 800 meter repeats with an equal time of active (jogging) recovery in between each.  For example, if I want to run a 3:20 marathon, I should be able to run 10 800 meter repeats in 3 minutes and 20 seconds with a 3 minute and 20 second jogging recovery between each one.  He specifies that you don't need to be able to do this the very first time you try it in training and recommends starting with 4 repeats and gradually building up to being able to do 10.  You should be able to do the complete workout of 10 repeats about 3 to 5 weeks out from your marathon to predict what time you could run the marathon in.

Here's how we did:

We did all 10!  The goal for each was 3:20.  I'd say we nailed it.  After the 4th repeat, we decided that if we did one over 3:20, we'd give ourselves one more chance to get back under 3:20 or else we would stop.  We never let it get to that point though!  After 7, it was pretty clear that we were going to finish the 10 repeats.  Repeats 7-9 felt the hardest and then we cruised on the last one to finish strong.  For the most part, this pace felt fairly comfortable (as much as it could) for the 800 meter distance.  It was definitely hard, but not to the point where I felt like I was sprinting or giving every single last ounce of my energy.  I don't think I could have gone much faster and still been able to do 10 though, so this 3:20 (or slightly under) pace was perfect.

I was curious to see if there was any research on how effective this workout is in predicting a marathon time.  In the video on the Runner's World website (linked to above), Yasso says that he travels to races every week and runners tell him how accurate it was.  I hit the Google machine and found a bunch of blogs and forums with stories of the successes or failures of the workout to predict a marathon time.  Some indicated that the workout should be used as a negative predictor, meaning if I can't run the Yasso 800s at 3:20 pace, I can't run a 3:20 marathon.  But even if I can run the 800s at a 3:20 pace, that doesn't mean that I necessarily can/will run a 3:20 marathon.  Most of what I read said that you should do the Yasso 800 workout during marathon training, but you should also do other types of speed work like tempo runs, mile repeats, and some shorter speed work instead of only relying on doing the Yasso 800 workout each week.

I'm glad this workout went so well and it definitely helped to have someone else to do it with!  I feel like I say all the time that I couldn't have done it alone so maybe I don't give myself enough credit for the workouts I am able to do alone, but it really is a million times easier to have someone there running the whole way with me to push through it and make it more fun...so thanks Mac!  We even got in a little core workout after the run!

I REALLY wanted chocolate milk when I got home after the workout.  After staying at home in los suburbios the past few days, I got used to this diet:

What is your favorite speed workout to do during marathon training?

What is your favorite thing to drink after a workout?

Week 4 Recap and Week 5 Plan

I'm not even going to do a real week 4 recap because (a) I don't have access to my Excel file with my plan (and won't for about 2 weeks - but I'll probably make a new make-shift one for now) and (b) there were extenuating circumstances throughout most of last week that caused me to not run at all Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday.  I had a decent run on Monday which I wrote a bit about right after the run but never got around to posting it.  Maybe I will add to it after tomorrow's normal run and then post about both.  Thursday and Sunday I did races, which went as expected and Saturday I did the 10.5 mile long run.  So all the runs I did were good, but I also took 3 days off which was more than I would've liked and felt very exhausted all week.  I finished the week with 29 miles, so for 4 days I'd say that's decent.  If I would've gotten in the extra 1-2 days of running I definitely would've hit 35-40.  So it really was a true step back week and now I need to step it up.

Here's the plan I came up with for this week.  Once again, I don't even know what my original plan had, but I think it might even be better if I just make my plans week by week anyways.  I do already have my long run mileage figured out for each weekend leading up to the marathon, but the other days maybe I'll just go by how I feel each week as it comes.

If I do all these runs, that would put me at 45-50 miles which would be pretty high for what I have been doing the last couple weeks.  I put the long run on Thursday because as of now I am planning to visit Kristin and Tim in Cincinnati this weekend.  I am sure we would go out on Friday night and not be in long-run condition Saturday morning and I also don't want to do a long run there by myself (on hills) or risk not doing it at all.  I think I can convince Kristin to at least do a normal run with me ;)  So, goal is to do the long run Thursday evening.  I think I'll go to the Elk Grove Forest Preserve where there is an 8.3 mile loop and just go for it twice.  My plan for tomorrow actually is to go there and do 1 loop.  I just hope it isn't TOO hot in the evening.  I do imagine I'll ending making Friday a rest day so I can sleep in before driving to Cincy and being active all weekend, but maybe I'll have more energy this week and really want to get in another run.

Mac was talking about meeting up to do the Yasso 800s on a track this week and I said Tuesday would be the perfect night for me to do them.  Not sure yet if he'll be able to, otherwise I will plan to go and try to do them myself.  I've never done the Yasso 800s before and am a little nervous for them, but especially after today's 5K race I know that some speed training would really help me right now.  In case you were wondering what the Yasso 800s even are, I will post about them after I actually do the workout but in the meantime you can Google if you are super curious.

And now since this has been all boring running talk, I did at least do a few fun things besides run this weekend.  My favorite was after Saturday morning's long run, I met Steph and Catherine for brunch at Honey n' Jam in Lincoln Park.  I hadn't been there before but I would definitely recommend it.  I love all breakfast food though so I'd really recommend going for brunch anywhere, anytime.  Catherine and I had both done long runs that morning so after brunch we decided to go for a little walk to stretch out and talk.  Then I walked home...so much walking...but I stopped and treated myself to ice cream on the way.

So I leave you with a nice picture of my omelet (with bacon, cheese, and onion), potatoes, and toast.  What a great post-long run meal.

Do you like to plan out your days/weeks way ahead of time or just do what you feel?