Yasso 800s

Time: 84:30
Distance: 12.5 mi.

Target: 8 x 800m in 2:35 down to 2:25 with 320m jogging rest (one lap on Georgetown's Ellington Track)
Workout: 2:22.5 (96 sec), 2:26.3 (92), 2:23.4 (93), 2:25.1 (93), 2:24.1 (102), 2:25.0 (97), 2:24.4 (105), 2:23.4 (110); average: 2:24.2


The Ellington Track, next to Georgetown University (photo from 1960)

I headed out to do a medium-length track workout without even thinking about the "Yasso 800" workout, a marathon preparation workout that Bart Yasso developed and running experts like Amby Burfoot and Greg McMillan tout as a great predictor of marathon time. McMillan describes how the workout should be run:

The theory behind Yasso 800s is that your time in minutes and seconds for a workout of 10 times 800 meters (two laps of the track) with equal recovery time is the same as the hours and minutes of your marathon time. For example, if you can run 10 times 800 meters in three minutes and 20 seconds with three minutes and 20 seconds recovery, then this predicts that you can run three hours and 20 minutes for your marathon. Run 2:40 for the 800s and you can run 2:40 for the marathon.

As it turned out, my workout was fairly close to this (without planning on it) though with shorter rest and only 8 intervals. When I felt so good running way too fast on the first interval, I decided to just stick with 2:25s throughout the workout, trying to keep the rest between 90 and 100 seconds for one lap of Georgetown's Ellington Track, which is 320 meters (or 7:30 to 8:20 pace). My legs got tired (I'm still running in beat-up Elites), but aerobically I felt great. McMillan thinks this workout over-predicts by 5 minutes, but I tend to think that I race better than I workout, so I'm fairly happy with today's effort.

800s

Time: 60:45
Distance: 9 mi.

Target: 4 x 800m near 5k race pace (2:25 down to 2:20), 3-4 min jogging rest (~600m)
Workout: 2:24.0, 2:20.1, 2:21.4, 2:15.9

I was thinking of doing 6 x 400 in 68 here, but Tom suggested that I do some more "race pace" work to try to turn the legs over and feel comfortable there. The ARHS track was nearly deserted when I got there and empty by the time I left. After being all over the place and feeling unsettled on the first one (38, 76, 68) I decided to forget the watch (meaning no splits) and just concentrate on running this relatively easy pace smoothly. I hit it right on and didn't look at my watch for the rest of the workout. I figured the last one would be a little bit fast, but I was feeling very good covering ground.


Downtown Amherst at night

The sun was almost completely down as I started my first interval, and by the last one I could barely see the start and finish lines. I warmed up in Wildwood Cemetery and cooled down through town and Amherst College.

Half Miles

Time: 77:00
Distance: 12 mi.

Target: 8 x 800m in 2:30 with 200m rest in ~60 - 5 miles total
Workout: 2:30.7 (58), 2:31.3 (62), 2:28.6 (61), 2:30.2 (58), 2:30.8 (65), 2:28.5 (68), 2:28.5 (62), 2:27.2 (56) - 28:06; 2 x 200m untimed

Decent workout for the first time I've been below tempo pace in a long time. I headed down to the Amherst Regional High School track to relive the memories. My legs felt pretty uncomfortable from the beginning which I attribute somewhat to running on dead shoes, but I did recover aerobically fairly quickly. I settled in somewhat, but had to get back in the mindset of doing intervals, focusing through each one, taking one at a time, etc. I threw on two 200s at the end just to try to clean out my legs.

I did finally got a new pair of Nike Elite 4s which I finagled for less than cost a FinishLine.com.