Do You Yasso?

As mentioned on the Perpetually Rungry Facebook Page, this  week I ran Yasso 800s on the track. Invented by Bart Yasso (coincidence?), Chief Running Officer for Runner's World magazine and an accomplished runner. Yasso 800s are 10 x 800m with an easy jog recovery equal time as the interval between 800s.

The theory is that the time of your SLOWEST 800m interval of the 10 is a good predictor of your marathon finish time. For example, if you complete your slowest 800m in 3 mins 59 seconds = 3 hour 59 minute marathon finish time (my goal).

There is some debate as to it's accuracy as a predictor and also about its benefits as a marathon workout.  As I have never used Yasso 800s to predict my marathon, I thought I would give it a shot this training cycle and see if it predicts MY finish time. I plan to run this workout 2-3 more times before CIM. 

Yasso 800s Splits:

1. 3:54 (7:51/mile)
2. 3:51 (7:45/mile)
3. 3:54 (7:51/mile)
4. 3:52 (7:47/mile)
5. 3:50 (7:43/mile)
6. 3:49 (7:41/mile)
7. 3:50 (7:43/mile)
8. 3:44 (7:31/mile)
9. 3:47 (7:37/mile)
10. 3:43 (7:29/mile)

Thoughts:
My slowest split was 3:54, well below my goal marathon finish time. This workout is meant to be a VO2max workout and I did not run my splits at a VO2max pace. My split times based on VO2max should be between 3:27-3:36, but I paced myself using split times for my goal marathon finish time. 

It was still hard. I'll run it again in 6 weeks or so. Maybe a little faster. 

{base training: week 8} My base is BUILT

In case you have not figured it out, this week is my last base building week. Next week I start FULL-ON marathon training. I feel strong and I'm ready to rock. 
And I just found out that Nate the Great, a local friend and Ragnar teammate just registered for CIM 26.2! I'm excited to have a local friend training for the same race.

Last week was full of travel running/runcation activities and I only ran once in my usual locale. The first part of the week I was in San Jose with Paul to follow Manchester United on their pre-season tour in the United States. We were lucky enough to stay in the team hotel. I grew up in San Jose and was able to meet up with friends. I also was lucky enough to meet up with Paulette, fellow Oiselle Volée teammate and blogger, TWICE. Once for beer and once for a group run at Rancho San Antonio. I'm definitely running there when I return for my high school reunion later this year. 

Paul and I flew home on Wednesday. The very next day I traveled to Scottsdale for a fabulous girls' resort weekend. Running in July in AZ was HOT (even at 6 am temps were mid-80's), so I would run 3 miles outside and then move inside and run 4 miles on the treadmill. 

Although travel running is loads of fun, I'm glad to be home to sleep in my own bed (& recover dry-out/detox).

Base-Training: Week 8

Goal Mileage: 40+

Monday: 1.4 mile warm-up jog + tabata
Tuesday: 4.5 miles on treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 6-7 miles 10.8 miles, Yasso 800s speed work on track
Thursday: 8 miles+ 5 x 20 second strides 4.4 miles treadmill + cycle class+ TRX
Friday: 1 mile warm-up + tabata + 4 miles easy + TRX 1 mile run with Nani
Saturday: 5 miles 6.4 mile run with Nani + TRX Rip Trainer cert course
Sunday: 11-14 miles long run 1.2 mile warm-up, 5.3 miles track work out with the Lab Rats, 0.6 mile run to meet weekly mileage goal

Total Mileage: 40 miles

{base training: week 7} Hit the road, Jack.

As I start the last two weeks of the base-building phase of my marathon training plan, I'm feeling stronger and ready to dive into full-on, no-holds barred marathon training. I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge and to develop my marathon racing skills. Which, to be honest, have been severely lacking.

This week, I'm on the road. The first part of the week Paul and I are in San Jose (my hometown, yay!) following Manchester United on their pre-season tour. The last part of the week, I'm in Phoenix for a girls' weekend. I tend to run more miles while I travel because: 

1. Shiny new (to me)places to run
2. No cross-training activities (cycle class, TRX)

Exciting news!  If you are interested in running for Oiselle, new team spots are opening up on July 31. Click HERE for more info. 

Base Training: Week 7

Goal Mileage: 42 miles

Monday: 5 miles 6 miles recovery run (Downtown San Jose)

Tuesday: 5-6 miles 6.2 miles group run (Rancho San Antonio, Los Altos)

Wednesday: 7 miles progression run on Guadalupe River Trail, speedwork (San Jose)

Thursday: 4 miles on treadmill + cycle class 4 miles easy run with Nani

Friday: 9 miles tempo run (Phoenix) 3 miles run + 4 miles on treadmill (Scottsdale)

Saturday: 5 miles (Phoenix) 3 mile run + 4.2 miles on treadmill (Scottsdale)

Sunday: 7 miles (Phoenix) 3.3 miles (Scottsdale)

Total Mileage: 41 miles

{base training week 6} It's official: I'm IN.

Well, I did it. I bit the bullet. I pulled the trigger. I pressed the button. Choose your own cliche, it all boils down to this: I finally registered for the marathon I've been training for. Yep, I'm starting my 6th week of training and I finally decided to register and race another marathon. Plagued by self-doubt and fear (yes fear), marathons intimidate me. I love training for them. I've trained for more marathons than I have run. My mantra for the year is: I want it more than I fear it. And it was about time, that I put that mantra to the test and act on it. 

I had a great training week. I hit my paces and workouts, two group runs and two runs with Nani. It motivated me to finally make it official (and prices increase tomorrow). 146 days from now I will be towing the line at my 4th marathon. Mind over matter and knowing in my core that mindset makes a difference. It will be a good race. 

Base Training: Week 5 Recap

Monday: Cycle class (AM); 3 mile recovery run (bpm<143) PM
Tuesday: 4.6 miles on treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 6-7 miles 10.3 miles, 10 x 1000m @ marathon pace,track speed work
Thursday: 6.5 miles with 5 6 x 20 second strides at end with Nani+ TRX class
Friday: 5 miles 4.2 miles
Saturday: 3.2 miles with Nani and 2 miles + 90 min yoga with LA Oiselle Flock
Sunday: 8 miles 7.2 miles (progression pace run) + 5.3 miles with Lab Rats

Total Mileage = 43.5 miles

Base Training: Week 6

Goal Mileage = 40 miles

Monday: 1 mile warm-up jog +Tabata
Tuesday: 4.5 miles treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 7.3 miles (200, 400, 800, 1600, 800,400, 200), speed work on track
Thursday: 8 miles with 5 x 20 strides at end 7.0 miles Recovery run (bpm<143) with Nani+ TRX class
Friday: 1 mile warm-up jog + Tabata + 3 miles with Nani +TRX class
Saturday: 4-5 miles
Sunday: 13 miles long run in San Jose

Need for Speed (Part 1): Figuring out Pace

I truly enjoy speed work. I enjoy the challenge and I enjoy the feeling of completing a tough workout. I also feel it's helping me develop a sense of pace. Learning to pace myself is a continuous process and not something I can do by feel {yet--it's a goal}. It is something that will help my racing skills and have a better race experience. 

Although track and speed workouts have been a part of my weekly running rotation for almost a year (newbie!), I've only recently started using my Garmin to provide pace alerts. Prior to the realization that I could do this, I would either run the first few intervals too fast and bonk during the latter intervals or I would not push myself {just running through the motions} to maintain the proper pace. Now that I'm properly pacing myself, I feel like I'm getting a lot more out of my workouts (d'uh). 

What's a proper pace? Good question. This took me awhile to figure out as well. Is it my current pace or my goal pace? What's my lactate threshold pace? I've talked to other runners and have researched googled the topic. I've discovered that the McMillan Running Pace Calculator is a great tool to figure out what pace to use. Using a recent race time/distance and a goal time/distance, it gives me times/paces for specific distances. My workout paces:

• 1 mile: 6:32 min/mile
• 3k: 6:55 min/mile
• 5k: 7:18 min/mile
• 10k: 7:35 min/mile
• 1/2 marathon: 8:00 min/mile
• marathon: 8:35 min/mile
• lactate threshold: 7:43 min/mile
• VO2 max: 6:39 min/mile

These are the paces (+/- 5 secs) I use when a workout description says to run an interval at 5k pace (for example).

Coming up in Part 2: My favorite track workouts. 

Time to Reassess my Goals {base-training: Week 5}

As last week was finishing up, feeling tired and burnt out, I came to the realization that I shouldn't be feeling this way during a base-building phase. It's been tough to meet my mileage goals the last couple of weeks. The marathon training plan I am starting in August has 3 different levels depending on base weekly mileage. 

The first level is for those who run less than 40 miles per week and starts off at 33 miles per week. The second level is for those who run 55 to 70 miles per week and starts off at 54 miles per week. The third level; I'm not even going to go there. It's for super-high weekly mileage runners (not me).

I run an average of 40 miles per week. Sometimes more, sometimes less.  I run more during weeks leading up to a marathon or when I'm travelling and don't have go to work. It's not tough to fit 40 miles with my current lifestyle and I can run more without injury on the weeks when my life schedule allows more miles.

Because I was in-between the first and second level plans, my goal for my base-training phase was to slowly build my mileage to 55 miles per week and start at the 2nd level which eventually builds to a peak of 70 miles per week. Yikes. Let's reassess this...

My goal is to run a marathon in less than 4 hours. I don't need to burn out on high mileage weeks to reach that goal. I need to make my runs count (make each run purposeful) and focus on fun (because this isn't my job. Reminder to self:  I'm doing it because I enjoy running). 

Coming to this realization and giving myself permission to step back my goals for base-building and deciding to follow the first level of my marathon training plan, has taken a significant (and self-imposed) weight off my shoulders. I think sub-conscious stress of not meeting weekly goals or worrying about finding time (lose sleep; quit my job ;) ) to {barely} meet goals was taxing me. As soon as I made this decision, I felt less tired and more excited about this coming week. On to the final 4 weeks of base-building!

Base-Training: Week Four Recap

Monday: 5 miles recovery run (bpm<143) Or not! I took a day off. :)

Tuesday: 4.4 miles + 45 min cycle class

Wednesday: 6.4 miles, 3 x (1000m, 200m) at 1/2marathon pace & 5k pace speedwork on track

Thursday: 7 miles + 4 x 20 second strides 4.5 miles (treadmill) + cycle class + 2.5 miles (treadmill) + TRX class

Friday: 7 miles, 10 x 30-second hill repeats +TRX class

Saturday: 4 miles for the 4th of July, easy

Sunday: 14 miles long run with 4 x 20 second strides  10.5 miles long run

Total Mileage: 39.5 miles

Base-Training: Week 5

Goal Mileage: 40 miles

Monday: Cycle class (AM); 3 mile recovery run (bpm<143) PM
Tuesday: 4.6 miles on treadmill + cycle class
Wednesday: 6-7 miles 10.3 miles, 10 x 1000m @ marathon pace,track speed work
Thursday: 6.5 miles with 5 6 x 20 second strides at end with Nani+ TRX class
Friday: 5 miles 4.2 miles
Saturday: 3.2 miles with Nani and 2 miles + 90 min yoga with LA Oiselle Flock
Sunday: 8 miles 7.2 miles (progression pace run) + 5.3 miles with Lab Rats