Yasso's glass is half full

Introduction

The marathon is now just 4 weeks away, and I still have no idea what pace to run it in. Ideally, I would find a local half marathon to race, and then plug the 13.1 time into some race result predicting calculators to figure out what to shoot for in the marathon. But I couldn't find a good half to do, so I resorted to a gimmick workout that I read about that have been used to project marathon times -- the Yasso 800's.

Method

Basically, "if you want to run a marathon in 2:45, 3:29 or 4:11, you should train to the point where you can run 10 repeats of 800 meters in the same time 2:45, 3:29 or 4:11. The only difference is that your marathon time is hours:minutes and your 800 time is minutes:seconds... Between the 800s, take a recovery jog that lasts as long as your 800s...." (Bart Yasso, Runners World)

Results

So, on Saturday, I went to the track to do 10 x 800's with a 400 jog/shuffle between each interval. Here's how the whole thing went down:

1. 3:08 (went out at 1:23 the first lap and then overcompensated)
   
2. 3:01
3. 3:03
4. 3:04
5. 3:03
6. 3:03
   
7. 3:00 (started to feel tired)
   
8. 3:01
9. 3:01
10. 2:59
11. 3:28 (to feel out 7 minute pace, too fast for a marathon)
    

Discussion

It was a good workout -- it became increasingly hard to maintain pace, but it was nice to get those fast-twitch fibers going for a whole hour. But there's no way that I am running a 3:03 marathon. I wondered if I did these correctly. To that end, I would like to ask Bart Yasso:

• How fast are "recovery jogs" supposed to be?
  
• Does it matter that I didn't jog for a full 3 minutes? (shorter recovery vs. more time on feet)
  

I searched the web for answers, but I mostly found anecdotes from people who've tried this workout -- basically this works for some, but not for all. One expert advised adding 5-10 minutes to the Yasso time. Another person thought that this works well only for well-trained, experienced marathoners.

Conclusions

• I can probably run a 3:10 marathon one day if I run 50-70 miles per week for a couple months leading up to the marathon.
• For the Philly Marathon, I might aim for 3:15, but I will be satisfied with anything better than 3:28. My ideal pace is still a guess.
• I have learned to use the split/recall function of my wrist watch.

Directions for Further Research

• Should I join the 3:10 or 3:20 pace group, or run on my own?
• It's time to do some shorter runs at 7:15-7:30 pace to see what that feels like.
  

5:52 mile

I am too lazy to write a race report for last night's Wissahickon Wanderers track meet. I will just report my results:

In the 1600, I got a time of 5:52. Not my best time, but I'm fairly certain that I have not broken 6 minutes since 1995. The splits were something like 1:25, 1:30, 1:30, 1:27; all credit for the pacing goes to Irene.

I stood in the cold and timed races for the next hour and a half, and then I ran the first leg in the Distance Medley Relay. Our team consisted of me (1200), Irene (400), Dan (800), and Polly (1600). My time in the 1200 was 4:21. I came in fourth, and our team also came in fourth, out of four teams.

It was fun to run fast and short, but it'd be nice to have brought a burst with me.

HOT

It was 90 degrees with 70% humidity at 6pm today, but 12 people showed up for track practice. One of the half-wits was me. I'm not sure why I went, given that I am tapering and given that I hate being in the heat. I guess I was just curious about who would show up, and I could use the camaraderie (apparently not spelled like "comrade"). Anyway, I was there at the track.

Sharon and I ran the intervals together, and we did:
2 X 400 at 1:30 followed by 30 seconds rest
1 X 1600 at 6:25 followed by 3 minutes rest
2 X 400 at 1:30 followed by 30 seconds rest

It wasn't as tough as I had anticipated as we hit all the times we wanted to. I felt good. Sweat was oozing out of our every pore and flowing, dripping and soaking the track beneath us. After the workout, we stood there chatting, each amused that the others had shown up. On a day like this, I tend to ask myself- Why do I run? (And also- Why haven't I moved to California?) I run because there are still people out there crazier than me, and I like them.

iTrack

One day I will break 19:00 in a 5k, but clearly I wasn't gonna do it yesterday. At lunch, I went for an iTrack session, with my mp3 player as the timer*. For those new to iTrack, here's a guided tour: You start a song when you start an interval, and then when you cross the finish, you look down at the mp3 player to see what time your song is at. If your interval takes longer than one song, you may have to check the mp3 player when the first song ends too and add the time to the finish time. (Unless you like math, don't attempt the iTempo.)

So, back to my workout, I planned on 5 x 800s at 6 minute mile pace, which is just a tad faster than a 19 minute 5K pace. It was 90 degrees out, so I thought the short intervals make more sense than mile repeats. I ran the first 800 at 2:55. My face was flushed and on fire, my legs stiff, my lungs couldn't find air, and one minute rest was not enough. I tried to slow down for the second one, but after one lap in which I came in 1:30, I stopped. From then on, it was 400s at 1:30 with 30 second rest. I was still burning out there, but managed to do 8 x400s under 1:30. Then, an 800 at 3:20 that was meant to be a warm-down. When I was done, sweat was running off by body with every step. I felt accomplished, but I had to ask myself, "what was the point of all that?" Great, I just proved that I couldn't run a mile at my desired 5K pace.

Tonight, I am going for a real run in the Wissahickon, and it will be a run to enjoy.

This post is dedicated to rhubarb

I just finished the rhubarb strawberry crisp Noah baked last night. It was so good that I wished it is a chewing gun flavor so that I can taste it all day.

I woke up this morning unable to put my socks on. Again. My back was so stiff that it wouldn't curve just a little for my fingers to reach my toes even with my legs bent. I had the same problem with taking my socks off after the run last night. It wasn't fun but it was funny.

Last night's run was 4 x1200s with 90 seconds rest at 10K pace. Not having a 10K pace, Noah and I just used my Broad Street pace, since Renee Gunning ran Broad Street (10M) faster than the 10K PR she set on the track at the Penn Relays. The first two were hard but uneventful: 4:42, 4:34. On the third one, we decided to go around the track clockwise. This is my life on the wild side, folks. In my whole life of wandering, never once did I run around a track the wrong way (except during warm down on the outside lanes). Everything looks different in the clockwise world, and I was laughing on the first lap and got out of breath quickly. Once I settled down, I appreciated the curves being on my right side and people to the left and back of me. I felt that I can lean into the turns more. The third 1200 took 4:35. Good times.

Then, we all were kicked off the track. See, Chestnut Hill Academy closed the track to not use for graduation yesterday. So, we ran down to the Valley Green to do hills. Ran up hard for 2 minutes, jogged down, repeat. Noah totally kicked butt on these, whereas I was using the high knees approach, which was not as fast. I was wiped out on the ensuing jog home.

Yesterday's total: 7 1/4 miles.

Where have all the fast-twitch gone?

I went to the track for the Wanderer's Tuesday practice, the fast-twitch fibers did not come with. Today's assignment was 800-400 four times at 5K pace. I thought "okay." But I had missed the memo that said my 5K pace was 6 minute miles. 6mm is my dream 5K pace. Or my 1 mile pace. Not my current, realistic 5K pace.

Regardless, off we went. We = Sharon and I. The pace felt fast from the very beginning. Having missed two track practices in a row, my legs were clearly not ready for such intensity. I had a hard time with even the one lappers. But, good for us, we hit all the intervals a few seconds under 6 mm pace. I just had to dig very deep to overcome my sluggishness. Don't let anyone tell you that playing frisbee for two weeks will help you with speed on the track. It's a lie. Play frisbee to play frisbee, not more.

It was nice to catch up with people. Susan won the race she ran in on Saturday. Sharon is doing another triathlon next weekend. Megan is tapering for the marathon. There's a runners barbecue this Sunday in Roxborough after the bike race. And apparently, one fit runner (not a Wanderer) died or nearly died at the race on Saturday.

There were some new guys today... just as I thought I got everyone's name now. New guy Rob is distinguished by his lengthy stride, but you could say that about a lot of people in the club. I tried to unload my Applebees gift certificates, but there were no takers. Apparently, a whole round of unloading already occured. Boo!

Sore, sore, sore...

I've got some delayed onset soreness on my quads since Monday. On Monday, I went out for a a few miles to loosen up. The route I took -- Ardleigh to Valley Green, up to Rex, and back up to Seminole and home -- had a lot of ups and downs, and I thought if I go at an easy pace, this run would help me stretch out the different muscles that were sore from Broad Street. I was struck by how beautiful this simple run was -- Chestnut Hill and the Wissahickon are so green this time of the year. With the sunlight peering through the trees, leaves rustling, and flowers blooming, I felt like I was on vacation. It was awesome.

I was probably more sore yesterday, but went to the Wanderers track practice anyway. Several people there had raced on Sunday, so I knew we wouldn't run too hard. Mark had us do 5 X 600's at 5K pace with a 200 walking break in between. (The folks who didn't race did 5 X 1,000's.) On the first one, Mark and I came in at 2:15, which was faster than even my fake 5K pace. It felt very hard -- my legs were dead and I was breathing forcefully. Sharon joined us on the next four, and we all took turns pacing. Fortunately, I felt better and better at each successive repeat. I guess that was a good recovery speed session. Afterwards, we hung around and talked. I'm feeling a little more comfortable now in this group of people who were recently strangers to me. It's nice to have a community like that.

Mile repeats / Pace work

Today, Noah and I joined the Wanderers track practice for some pace work. The assignment today --- mile repeats at Broad Street pace. I've found it helpful to check out my speed during the week before an important race. That way, on race day, I would know how hard I should be breathing, how hard the race should feel, etc. Back to the mile repeats, we ran the first one at my probable race pace -- 7:00. The second and third were in 6:45 -- potentially doable but unlikely race pace. They felt hard. I had hoped to break 1:10 this year, but really I would be very happy with anything under 1:12. Maybe I will find a race gear on Sunday.

Noah's doing a half-ironman on Sunday, which includes a half-marathon as the third segment, so these paces were too fast for him, and unnecessary. [Clarification: Because it's a longer race, he doesn't have to run, and train, as fast.] I feel bad for setting the wrong pace when he came with to run. I hope he recovers well this week and somehow benefits from this speed work.

Several people from the group did a trail running + canoeing race on Sunday. That sounded fun, but I'd never try to race it. It's be cool for Noah and me to do it for the experience of it.

Today's total is 5 miles. I will continue to taper but I don't feel particularly fresh yet.

Sore shins withstand 400's

Ever since almost rolling over my ankle several times on Sunday, my right shins have hurt when I walk. So, even though I was in the mood for a longer run tonight, I knew I had to be willing to cut the run short.

I went over to the CHA track to join the Wanderer's track practice. The ten of us ran twelve 400's with 35 seconds rest between each. The 400s fell between 1:30 and 1:35, roughly 5K pace, though I only knew that because I ran a 5K last weekend. What I learned is that 35 seconds is not a lot of time to rest and 12 reps adds up quickly. My shins held up until the warm-down. Because I felt sore and tired then, I didn't tag on the 4 miles as planned. So, today, 6+ miles.

I stayed behind and chatted with people. There's an an off-road 10K in Delaware this Saturday, and I might be pressured into doing it. The main issue for me is the time and money costs and a secondary issue is that I'd rather get some LSD in before Broad Street next week. On the other hand, the race will probably be fun and running with a team is always neat. I'll see how I feel later in the week.