Monday, June 8, 2009

My first go at Yasso 800s

One of the workouts I've heard much about is called Yasso 800s (named after Bart Yasso - Chief Running Officer of Runner's World Magazine). The idea behind it is that you can estimate your ability to run a marathon in a given time based on this work out. I.e. if you want to run a 2:50 marathon, you need to do repeated 800s (2 laps around the track) in 2:50. Doing 6-10 of these in a row (with 1 lap repeats) has proven to be a good indication of your marathon time. People have sworn by it for years, so I figured today would be a good try for it.
I ran 2 miles to the track at the high school - the perfect warm-up distance. Then I did 6 800s with a lap in between each with a goal of 3:40, since that is my marathon goal. I hit 3:40 each time (actually around 3:36 for each one), but I was starting to feel it during the 5th and 6th Yassos. It's pretty hard to be so so consistent, but I started to settle into a groove. I found a bunch of songs on my playlist that were about 3:40 so that I would be occupied while doing the 800. So, I hit all 6 800s under 3:40, and will be working my way up to 10 800s later in the training. Then I ran the 2 miles back to my house. It was definitely a challenging workout, but I'm sure I'll be reaping the benefits of it too.
On a related note, this morning I spoke with 2 people from Runner's World. They are putting together a new training program for marathoners and want feedback for it. So, I get to use the new program for free! It looks pretty cool - it's a 16 week program and you log your miles and they have suggested workouts. I went through the installation with them, and gave feedback based off my initial viewing of the program. The two guys were really helpful, and I'm looking forward to using the training program.
So all in all, a good day for running!

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