I've decided it's time to become a faster runner. I had such a good year after The Lorax was born, but my running has not gotten significantly better since moving to Denmark.
One fun way we've just found to train is to run Yasso 800's (named after Bart Yasso). I'm sure a lot of you are already familiar with this, but the idea is you run 800 meters (2 times around a track) 10 times with a little break between each one and your average time in minutes can predict your marathon time in hours. Ex: avg. 3:15 minute 800 meter equals 3 hour 15 min marathon.
Here is what we ran tonight (before it started raining and The Lorax started crying):
My 800 meter times
#1 2:58
#2 2:53
#3 2:47
#4 2:48
#5 2:48
#6 2:55
SR's 800 times
#1 2:24
#2 2:21
#3 2:18
#4 2:18
#5 2:18
#6 2:22
#7 2:19
Despite having seen a lot of people write that their Yassos can predict their marathon time to the minute, I don't think I'm anywhere close to running at 2:51 marathon. But one can dream. Plus, it is a really fun way to get speed training. And if you can make it a date, you may be surprised what a turn on it is, but that is a different story all together.
Running Song of the Day: Laughing With by Regina Spektor
9 comments:
Those are fast 800m times!
You have the speed to run a marathon that fast, but not the strength to pound out 6 1/2 minute miles for hours.
When I ran a 2:40 marathon, my 800s were done in 2:12-2:15. Now that I run about 3:15, the 800s would probably be about 3:25-30, as I'm out of practice.
I love 800s myself, but they are notoriously bad predictors of marathon times. But good speedwork. And my old coach insisted on these rules: a key element is how much recovery you're allowed -- it should be active (at least a dead shuffle, no standing around), and no more than half the time it took you to run the interval itself (so, if your interval split was 2'50, your rest should be 1'25). And consistency/pacing is key -- they should all be the same or decreasing, no slower splits. But nice work!
gah! correcting myself because I posted, then doubted, then checked: recoveries are supposed to be the SAME as the time it took, so 2'50 jog for a 2'50 interval. I thought that was sounding particularly brutal...
I have found that the accuracy of the Yasso 800 m work-out depends to a large extent on your background as a runner. A middle distance runner will typically wind up with a predicted marathon time that is way faster than they can actually run whereas an endurance runner marathoner/ultramarathoner type can wind up with an under-predicted (i.e. slower) marathon time. But it is a mentally challening and fun work-out and beneficial for racing from 5 km to marathon.
Thanks for the great comments!
I am just surprised that since I consider myself a middle to long-distance runner (and ran 800's for the first time right before this post) that I would actually be BETTER at 800's than marathons. But I think the key is that I am far too spiritual on my long runs and, like Steve Q said, really don't have the strength to run fast for an entire marathon.
Hi sea legs..according to yasso its 10x 800m with 1-2 min rest, any more rest will not simulate Aerobic endurance needed for marathon. 6 x is just too few...build up.
Good luck
Hi Sea Legs Girl
what happened with your prediction on the marathon? Was close enough ''Mr. Yasso''??
Did you repeat it later in your training?
Thanks
Hi Lee -
Well, as you can see from my marathon PR 3:27, I never even got close! So Burt Yasso and I have some talkig to do.
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