May Your Feet Always Be Swift - Speed Training - Yasso 800's

Before we start, Jamoosh wrote a good post on training in the heat yesterday.  I laugh every time I see this chart though:

Temperature	Adjustment	Adjustment for Humidity > 60%
55°F-60°F	+5 sec/mi	+10 sec/mi
60°F-65°F	+15 sec/mi	+25 sec/mi
65°F-70°F	+30 sec/mi	+45 sec/mi
70°F-75°F	+40 sec/mi	+1:05 min/mi
75°F-80°F	+1:10 min/mi	+1:45 min/mi
80°F-85°F	+2:00 min/mi	+3:00 min/mi
85°F+	Not Recommended	Source

I mean really...We wouldnt run from May to September here in Houston if we paid attention to this!  Not run if its over 85deg?  LMFAO!

OK, now that I have that out of the way, let's talk about speed training and inserting it into your race training.

Regardless of what distance of race you are training for, having a speed workout once a week probably should be included.  In the Spring at Kenyan Way, we still do speed training but its more geared towards shorter races like 5k's and 10k's, and in half or full marathon training, its geared more towards that.  I love speed training in the Spring because its a lot of 200's, 400's and 800's.  Longer distances and it becomes 800's, 1200's and mile repeats.  Blech.  In the winter this is not so bad. 

In August it sucks donkey.

And somewhere in that training (probably once or twice) your coach or your training plan might have you do what is called "Yasso 800's".  A lot of folks out there will discredit this workout, but I think the majority lies with 'do it'.

Well guess who had Yasso 800s on her schedule yesterday?

This girl.

Now if I remember correctly I thought generally I only did these last year once, about 2 weeks out from marathon day (which was awesome because it was late September), but I might have had them another time and just ignored them.  Oops.  At least I dont recall seeing it x 10 so early on.

Basically the premise is that whatever your goal marathon time is (e.g. 4:20), then you run your 800m repeats in 4min20sec.  Generally you will see this to be done 800m x 4 early on, then it might go up to 6 x 800m, then ultimately 10 x 800m.  And let me tell you doing that 10 times is HARD.  I dont recall ever having been able to complete it.  Note: in between each 800m, you get anywhere from 1min to 2 min recovery.  1 min is best, but I have taken 2 min before just to get through the next one.

Yesterday morning, before work, I did in fact get up and get 3 miles in, doing what normally might be called 'poles' (more on that in another post), but since I wasnt at the park or at Rice, it was more like 'blocks'.  It was 90deg feels like at 5am.  But at least it was dark.

Then I had my Yasso's to.  5 miles of them.  What?!  Yep 800m x 10 at 4:20 (8:40pace).   And because we are in a severe heat emergency here (heat indexs in excess of 110deg) I knew that I would be doing these on the treadmill.

Or as many as I could.  I am not an idiot.  I knew there was no way I could do 10 of them.

What I did do was 'almost' 5 of them.  My recovery of 1min crept to almost 2min, and I knew I was done.  But I was still going to get my 5 miles of speed work in somehow.

So I did about 4x400 at the same pace (8:40) and did my 30sec - 1min recovery.  Then I got bored with that and finished it up with 2 rounds of Tababa.    As it reads its 20sec of intense/fast followed by 10sec recovery.  This is easy to do on the treadmill.  I cranked the treadmill up to a 7:31pace and got to work.  20sec on, 10sec off x 8 (4min).   For the record on the 10sec off, I just jump my feet to the side of the treadmill then get ready to go again (because 10 sec aint shit when it comes to time). 

In between round 1 and round 2, I ran easy on the treadmill for a couple of songs on the iPod before beginning again.

When I was done with round 2, I ran easy again for a song and called it a day.  The treadmill was about 5.25 miles and I was good with that.  8 miles today for the day.  And yes sometimes I think its ok to split up your long(er) runs and workouts.

And when it was all said and done, I ended up being that person I grimace at:  the one on the treadmill slinging sweat like nobodys business and its all over the base.  What makes me different is that I actually wiped it down when I was finished.

People can be so gross.

Do you do speed workouts?  Have you ever heard of Yasso 800's?  Do you know who Bart Yasso is?  (he follows me on Twitter and has even tweeted me!!)  Will you give them a shot?  Maybe just do 2 to start out!   Are you a sweat slinger?  I sure am.  Even when running on Saturday long runs, I have had friends say 'ew.  you just slung sweat on me'.  :O)

If you dont have a coach or a training program, a good site to use to determine what you should be running your speed workouts at (distances and times) can be found at McMillian Running Calculator.  Scroll down and you can select your distance of race, input some other data re: your current speed (or goal time) and it will return to you the data you can then implement.

Have fun! 

And if you do any speed work, let me know the results and how you felt!  I love hearing about others workouts, especially when trying something new!

Get ready, a giveaway is on the way!