Posts Tagged ‘yasso 800s’

A Mass o’ Yassos

First, I have to note that many of my fellow bloggers seem to have hit the summer doldrums. Here are a few of the blog post titles that greeted me today:

Insult to Injury

Mindf*ck

Ouch

A Giant Sack of Crap

Feet of Fleeting Frustration

Not all of these turned out to be as bad as the headlines would indicate, but come on, people! Cheer up!

This week’s Carnival of Running melted away with the rest of my hard drive, so the carnival will return next Wednesday. In the meantime, you can enjoy my training progress (because I know you’re dying to know): 16-miler last Sunday, three 8-mile tempo runs 15 seconds per mile above goal pace, and this morning’s speedwork:

Intervals: 8 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:26.55
Lap 2: 3:21.41
Lap 3: 3:23.43
Lap 4: 3:23.97
Lap 5: 3:28.91
Lap 6: 3:25.53
Lap 7: 3:26.87
Lap 8: 3:26.11
Average: 3:25.35
Total distance: 7 miles

Now back to computer file reconstruction.

Lucky 7

Continued my progression of Yasso 800s yesterday, this time shooting for 7 x 800 at sub 3:36 pace. Here’s how it went:

Intervals: 7 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:22.36

Last week my first interval was nearly a big red fail, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t cut it so close. While it was gratifying to go at that speed, I was already worried about how I was going to do six more.

Lap 2: 3:22.58

Uh, I thought I had slowed down, but no. Now I’m really worried.

Lap 3: 3:22.25

This is where I check to make sure my watch is working. I realize I don’t know how to slow down 13 seconds over 800 meters. What does that even feel like?

Lap 4: 3:29.64
Lap 5: 3:26.54
Lap 6: 3:28.87
Lap 7: 3:27.39
Average: 3:25.66
Total distance: 6.25 miles

Hooray for me! I could have squeezed an 8th one in but decided to stick with the plan. With luck, by the end of next month I’ll successfully complete 10 x 800 at goal pace, then I’ll graduate to mile repeats for the rest of the schedule.

The one downside is I couldn’t face an 8-miler in the heat today, so I settled for a recovery run of 4 miles. Tomorrow’s Croissant Day!

Six Appeal

First, an apology. I’m a little swamped this week so the Carnival of Running will appear tomorrow. Instead you get yet another report of my Yasso 800 awesomeness. Having churned out successful 4 x 800s and 5 x 800s the last two weeks, it was time to go for – what else? – 6 x 800s. Here are the results:

Intervals: 6 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:35.67
Lap 2: 3:25.59
Lap 3: 3:22.78
Lap 4: 3:26.23
Lap 5: 3:28.69
Lap 6: 3:28.07
Average: 3:27.84
Total distance: 6 miles

Yes, I nearly blew it on the very first interval, but once again I emerge without a big red FAIL. Next week is a step-down week, so I’ll probably do 8 x 400s before resuming my Yassos the following week.

5 x 800s Are Five by Five

Speedwork went well this week under cooler temperatures in Sacramento. I had to dodge a soccer team doing laps a few times, but things could hardly have gone better.

Intervals: 5 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:29.00
Lap 2: 3:25.50
Lap 3: 3:27.37
Lap 4: 3:34.13
Lap 5: 3:31.25
Average: 3:29.45
Total distance: 5 miles

No red fails for the second consecutive week, so I’ll have to keep adding a repeat until I get one. Next Wednesday it’ll be 6 x 800.

Today I did a seven-mile tempo run at 8:39 average pace. I eventually have to bring that down about 30-35 seconds, but I’m making good progress.

Yasso Surpasso (Barely)

I’m about 21 weeks away from my marathon, so I have the luxury of increasing mileage gradually. I did a 12-miler last Sunday and will do another this Sunday before bumping up to 14 in a week.

In the meantime I went out in the heat for my Yasso 800s yesterday with, as always, a target of sub 3:36. There was a large PE class using the track for laps, so I had to run in in lane 4 the entire way around, but that’s the way things go.

Intervals: 4 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:35.25
Lap 2: 3:35.62
Lap 3: 3:29.86
Lap 4: 3:34.86
Average: 3:33.90
Total distance: 4 miles

Ha-ha! Talk about skating in on the razor’s edge. But no big red fails. Next week I’ll try 5 x 800 and see if I can squeeze another sub 3:36 in.

Today I did a six-mile tempo run at 8:30 pace. Things are looking up.

Yasso I’m Out of Gasso

Yesterday I went for my second track workout, this time going 4 x 800 with 400 meter recoveries. And since I have only one running goal – a BQ – I can have only one goal for my 800 meter intervals: the corresponding Yasso 800 time.

I’m sure most of you are familiar with Yasso 800s, but for the uninitiated, the concept is that to reach a marathon goal expressed in hours and minutes, you should be able to run 800 meter intervals in that same time expressed in minutes and seconds. For example, if you want to run a 4:05 marathon, you should be able to consistently run 800 meters in 4 minutes, 5 seconds.

As with any predictor of marathon finishing times, Yasso 800s have severe limitations. But the goal is easily determined, easily remembered, and any other computation would be just as arbitrary.

To qualify for Boston, I need to go sub-3:36. So my aim is to work my way up to 10 x 800 at sub-3:36 pace. After my 8 x 400s last week, I knew I would fall short, but I still needed a benchmark. A one-mile warm-up and off I went.

Intervals: 4 x 800 meters
Goal pace: sub-3:36
Lap 1: 3:36.02  FAIL
Lap 2: 3:31.37
Lap 3: 3:37.87  FAIL
Lap 4: 3:47.29  FAIL
Average: 3:38.14
Total distance: 4 miles

Though the last one was worst, I’m proudest of it because I had absolutely nothing left before I started it. As I was completing my recovery lap, I was staring at that starting line with dread. As I puttered around the track, I was glad that people can’t read your mind while you’re running, because my brain was whimpering “waaaaaaahhh!” I was thrilled to come in under 4 minutes.

Anyway, I’ve got a long way to go, and this morning’s crummy six-miler in the heat didn’t build much confidence. But I have to say charging around those turns at the track makes me feel more like a real athlete than just trundling through the neighborhood. It was cool.