I could have run yesterday when I came home from the agility trial but instead I just ate Chinese food.
Today I did another Yasso workout at Lunken. I thought about doing 7 or 8, but it was hard enough to get myself in the mood for 6. The schedule says 6-8. I counted back from the race date to see what it would be if I was just doing Yassos every week, and it would be just 6 this week so that settled it for me.
I'm feeling better than two weeks ago when I did the last set of Yassos---no hangover or headache---but I am just a little tired. Did not get out for the dog walk until 10 am. So it was almost noon before I started on the Yassos.
The weather is great for a mid-day run, fortunately, and once I got going I felt pretty good. Like last time, I wore my fanny pack with the water bottle and brought along some GU.
I started around the loop in the same clockwise direction as last time, but I didn't do as long of a warmup as last time. I jogged from the parking lot out to the first mile marker that you hit after the top of the hill. Well, actually, I jogged for a mile, then stopped to stretch a little bit at the benches at the top of the hill, then walked for a minute, then jogged up to the mile marker. So, the warmup was just 1.1 miles in 11:59.
Here are the splits for the intervals:
1) .49/4:02 recovery of.31/3:19
2) .49/4:09, recovery of .34/3:31
3) .49/3:58, recovery of .34/3:41
4) .49/3:54, recovery of .30/3:41 (had the GU pack during the recovery)
5) .48/3:57, recovery of .31/3:23
6) .51/4:03, recovery of .96/10:01
For the recoveries, I did the same thing as last time. I walked for 30 seconds, then jogged for a minute, then turned around and jogged back to the marker, then jogged about 15 seconds or so past it and then back to start the interval again at the mile marker that was my previous end point.
The only difference was after the fourth interval, I walked more. I had the GU at that point, and I walked for over a minute, then jogged for a minute, then jogged back.
To keep myself occupied during the intervals, I counted to 60 three times, checking my watch each time I hit 60. For the first two intervals, I had to run a little more before I hit the marker, but on the later ones, I was getting to the marker just about the time I hit 60 for the third time.
I had the watch set to show lap time in the main display, and distance in the smaller display. That seemed to work out okay.
I passed one woman who was doing possibly multiple laps at a slower pace even then I was going on my recoveries. She asked me how long I was running and I told her that I didn't know for sure because I was doing intervals and going back and forth. I wondered if she was looking for someone to run with. That would be nice, but not today.
There was also some guy who was apparently walking around in the same direction, who started around the same time I did, and somehow even though he was walking and I was running (and I kept passing him during my intervals), we finished our loop around at about the same time. He never did say hello to me. I couldn't figure out how he got ahead of me, but maybe he had ducked into the bushes for a pee during one of the early intervals, then came back out? Anyway, that was a little weird.
Overall, I have to be satisfied with this workout. I think it felt a little easier than last time. Probably good that I didn't start as crazy fast.
Showing posts with label Yasso 800s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yasso 800s. Show all posts
Monday, September 24, 2012
Monday, September 10, 2012
Week 9, Day 1
Today's workout was supposed to be 6-8 Yasso 800s. Yasso 800s are a marathon-predictor workout popularized by Bart Yasso of Runners' World. The theory is that the amount of time in minutes and seconds that it takes you to run each of a set of ten 800 meter repeats translates into the time in hours and minutes that it will take you to run your marathon. So if you can run ten 800 meter repeats in 4:00 each, then you can run a 4:00 marathon.
I've done these before. If you are using them as a weekly speed workout, you start out about ten weeks before your race, and you just do four repeats the first week. Then you add a repeat on each week until you get up to ten, and you do that last workout 10-14 days before your race.
I've had some success with these. I haven't always made it all the way through the 7 weeks of doing them. When I qualified for Boston, I did my Yassos on the indoor track the Cincinnati Sports Club.
I've always done them as half-mile repeats instead of 800s. A half-mile is a little further than an 800, so I figure, all the better. If I can run that time but go a little farther, maybe it's even more likely that I'll achieve my goal.
Greg McMillan says that in his experience, the Yassos tend to predict an actual time that is about five minutes slower than the repeat suggests. So, that's another reason that my little farther, little faster half-mile isn't such a bad thing, I assume.
Most recently, I've done my Yassos on the treadmill. But it's always better if you can let your body dictate the pace instead of relying on a machine. And it is a gorgeous day today. So after the dog walk around the park, I packed up my gear and headed to the Lunken bike trail.
I decided to wear my fanny pack with a bottle of ice water, and at the last minute I threw in a GU pack. It was about 11 am when I started running. The bike trail is just about 5 miles around, mostly flat, with markers every half-mile.
I really wasn't feeling all that great today and had a hard time making myself get out there for this one. I am tired from the weekend of dog showing, and also probably the gin & tonic followed by the beer last night and not getting as much sleep as I need didn't help. But I have to make myself do the key workouts if I want to qualify for Boston or at least run better than I have the last few years.
Here's what I did:
Started with a slow warmup until I hit the 1.5 mile marker. This got me up the big hill---there is just one short, steep hill heading up to the back side of the loop, and another less steep one coming back down to Wilmer Ave.---so I would be able to do the repeats mostly on the flat. That was about 1.6 miles of running, which I did in 16:54 or 10:31 pace, a good warmup.
.
First repeat, .49 mi. in 3:49 (too fast!)
Recovery of .35 mi. in 3:51
I was looking at my watch a lot during that first repeat, thinking I was not going fast enough! But actually, it was much too fast.
For the recoveries, I walked for about 30 seconds past the marker, then jogged for a minute, then turned around and jogged back to the preceding mile marker, then jogged maybe 15-30 seconds past it, then turned around and jogged to the mile marker, where I started the next repeat. So after each half-mile fast repeat, I was doing a recovery a little bit out and a little bit back, and starting up again where the last repeat ended. This enabled me to get all 6 repeats plus the warmup in over the five mile loop.
Second repeat, .48 mi. in 3:56
Recovery of .36 in 3:54
I was stressing out because it seemed like every time I looked at my watch I was going slower than the 8:20 pace that would be optimal, but in the end I was still faster than I was supposed to be.
Third repeat, .49 mi. in 3:57
Recovery of .31 in 3:20
I finally stopped looking at my watch and tried to just gauge my effort as what I should feel like in a 5k, since my experience is that Yasso 800s roughly translate to 5k race pace. I think this is the one where I caught up and passed a woman who had gone by me at what I thought was a pretty brisk pace on my way back for the recovery.
Fourth repeat, .47 mi. in 4:03
Recovery of .39 in 4:12
Funny about the slight variations in distance according to the GPS. I wonder which is more accurate, the road markers or the GPS?
I really wanted to stop at this point. Besides the not having felt so great at the start, there was the effect of having run the first three repeats at a pace that was probably too fast.
Fifth repeat, .52 mi. in 4:22
Recovery of .34 in 4:01
This one was slow but I missed the half-mile marker (or there wasn't one) so I ended up running a little further than I was supposed to. This one ended near the airport terminal where you run down the hill and cross the street. Maybe there isn't a marker there? I can't remember. So I just stopped when I realized I'd gone farther than a half-mile per the GPS.
At this point I decided that it was time to have that GU after all. Better late than never! On the recovery, since I did not know where the half-mile marker was supposed to be, I just kept going forward until I hit four minutes, and then decided I would do the last repeat...wait, I don't even really remember what I decided now. Did I do it based on distance? Or time? Or did I keep going until I hit the next marker and then start? Probably not since the recovery was only .34.
Sixth repeat, .47 in 4:06
This one was a little short but I thought that made up for the last one being a little long. I think I did it based on counting, since I had noticed during the previous repeats that if I slowly counted to 180, it roughly came out to a half-mile of running. I'd see the marker when I got to 180. So for this one I just counted to 180 and stopped running when I hit it, since I was now so out of sync with the mile markers. So it came up a little short but close. Actually, it was the same distance as the fourth repeat, so maybe it was about right anyway.
This put me pretty much back to the start of the loop, so I just kept going until I hit the first half-mile marker, then turned around and jogged back to the car. I took a couple of walking breaks in there, too. When I got to the car, I was close to 7.5 miles so I kept going a few feet so I would get that. No real reason to do that but I did. So the cool down was 1.17 miles in 13:33, or 11:33 pace.
Total workout was 7.51 miles in 1:13:57. One thing I should have done was packed a little cooler with another water bottle or Gatorade or a Picky Bar or something to have right when I finished. Yes, it is only a three mile drive back home, but it would have been nice to have a little something before I had to get in the car.
Back home, I had my chocolate milk and then I had a frozen meal for lunch. Didn't ice my knee. It's not bothering me, but really, I just forgot about it. I'm feeling pretty wiped out. It was a hard workout. But, it's not supposed to be easy. The main thing is, I did it.
I'm not sure if there are any more Yasso workouts included in this training schedule, but if there are, next time I will remember to have a GU a lot sooner, I will spend less time looking at my watch, and I will remember to bring a little something to drink before I drive home.
I've done these before. If you are using them as a weekly speed workout, you start out about ten weeks before your race, and you just do four repeats the first week. Then you add a repeat on each week until you get up to ten, and you do that last workout 10-14 days before your race.
I've had some success with these. I haven't always made it all the way through the 7 weeks of doing them. When I qualified for Boston, I did my Yassos on the indoor track the Cincinnati Sports Club.
I've always done them as half-mile repeats instead of 800s. A half-mile is a little further than an 800, so I figure, all the better. If I can run that time but go a little farther, maybe it's even more likely that I'll achieve my goal.
Greg McMillan says that in his experience, the Yassos tend to predict an actual time that is about five minutes slower than the repeat suggests. So, that's another reason that my little farther, little faster half-mile isn't such a bad thing, I assume.
Most recently, I've done my Yassos on the treadmill. But it's always better if you can let your body dictate the pace instead of relying on a machine. And it is a gorgeous day today. So after the dog walk around the park, I packed up my gear and headed to the Lunken bike trail.
I decided to wear my fanny pack with a bottle of ice water, and at the last minute I threw in a GU pack. It was about 11 am when I started running. The bike trail is just about 5 miles around, mostly flat, with markers every half-mile.
I really wasn't feeling all that great today and had a hard time making myself get out there for this one. I am tired from the weekend of dog showing, and also probably the gin & tonic followed by the beer last night and not getting as much sleep as I need didn't help. But I have to make myself do the key workouts if I want to qualify for Boston or at least run better than I have the last few years.
Here's what I did:
Started with a slow warmup until I hit the 1.5 mile marker. This got me up the big hill---there is just one short, steep hill heading up to the back side of the loop, and another less steep one coming back down to Wilmer Ave.---so I would be able to do the repeats mostly on the flat. That was about 1.6 miles of running, which I did in 16:54 or 10:31 pace, a good warmup.
.
First repeat, .49 mi. in 3:49 (too fast!)
Recovery of .35 mi. in 3:51
I was looking at my watch a lot during that first repeat, thinking I was not going fast enough! But actually, it was much too fast.
For the recoveries, I walked for about 30 seconds past the marker, then jogged for a minute, then turned around and jogged back to the preceding mile marker, then jogged maybe 15-30 seconds past it, then turned around and jogged to the mile marker, where I started the next repeat. So after each half-mile fast repeat, I was doing a recovery a little bit out and a little bit back, and starting up again where the last repeat ended. This enabled me to get all 6 repeats plus the warmup in over the five mile loop.
Second repeat, .48 mi. in 3:56
Recovery of .36 in 3:54
I was stressing out because it seemed like every time I looked at my watch I was going slower than the 8:20 pace that would be optimal, but in the end I was still faster than I was supposed to be.
Third repeat, .49 mi. in 3:57
Recovery of .31 in 3:20
I finally stopped looking at my watch and tried to just gauge my effort as what I should feel like in a 5k, since my experience is that Yasso 800s roughly translate to 5k race pace. I think this is the one where I caught up and passed a woman who had gone by me at what I thought was a pretty brisk pace on my way back for the recovery.
Fourth repeat, .47 mi. in 4:03
Recovery of .39 in 4:12
Funny about the slight variations in distance according to the GPS. I wonder which is more accurate, the road markers or the GPS?
I really wanted to stop at this point. Besides the not having felt so great at the start, there was the effect of having run the first three repeats at a pace that was probably too fast.
Fifth repeat, .52 mi. in 4:22
Recovery of .34 in 4:01
This one was slow but I missed the half-mile marker (or there wasn't one) so I ended up running a little further than I was supposed to. This one ended near the airport terminal where you run down the hill and cross the street. Maybe there isn't a marker there? I can't remember. So I just stopped when I realized I'd gone farther than a half-mile per the GPS.
At this point I decided that it was time to have that GU after all. Better late than never! On the recovery, since I did not know where the half-mile marker was supposed to be, I just kept going forward until I hit four minutes, and then decided I would do the last repeat...wait, I don't even really remember what I decided now. Did I do it based on distance? Or time? Or did I keep going until I hit the next marker and then start? Probably not since the recovery was only .34.
Sixth repeat, .47 in 4:06
This one was a little short but I thought that made up for the last one being a little long. I think I did it based on counting, since I had noticed during the previous repeats that if I slowly counted to 180, it roughly came out to a half-mile of running. I'd see the marker when I got to 180. So for this one I just counted to 180 and stopped running when I hit it, since I was now so out of sync with the mile markers. So it came up a little short but close. Actually, it was the same distance as the fourth repeat, so maybe it was about right anyway.
This put me pretty much back to the start of the loop, so I just kept going until I hit the first half-mile marker, then turned around and jogged back to the car. I took a couple of walking breaks in there, too. When I got to the car, I was close to 7.5 miles so I kept going a few feet so I would get that. No real reason to do that but I did. So the cool down was 1.17 miles in 13:33, or 11:33 pace.
Total workout was 7.51 miles in 1:13:57. One thing I should have done was packed a little cooler with another water bottle or Gatorade or a Picky Bar or something to have right when I finished. Yes, it is only a three mile drive back home, but it would have been nice to have a little something before I had to get in the car.
Back home, I had my chocolate milk and then I had a frozen meal for lunch. Didn't ice my knee. It's not bothering me, but really, I just forgot about it. I'm feeling pretty wiped out. It was a hard workout. But, it's not supposed to be easy. The main thing is, I did it.
I'm not sure if there are any more Yasso workouts included in this training schedule, but if there are, next time I will remember to have a GU a lot sooner, I will spend less time looking at my watch, and I will remember to bring a little something to drink before I drive home.
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