Yasso 800s
I came to a good realization as I did my Yasso 800 workout today. Not everything is a test. Sure this is something I should have figured out long ago, but I simply hadn’t. Through all my schooling, I’ve been trained to focus on achievement, which is often correlated with testing and validation. I’m the girl who “doesn’t like” anything she’s not good at. However, I need to realize that not everything can be learned without practice and failed effort.
Today’s workout was a doozy: 15-30min warm-up, 8-10x(800m in 3:23), 15-30min cool-down.
I found a track at a local school, but decided to use my garmin for the distance rather than relying on the marks on the track. As a result, my 800m became 0.5 miles (the actual distance is 0.497), and my target pace was 6:46mm.
For anyone not familiar with the Yasso 800 pace predictor (and not interested in clicking the link above), this is a pace predictor workout devised by Bart Yasso. The idea is that if you can run 10x800m in 3 minutes 23 seconds, you’re in shape for a 3:23:00 marathon, if you can run them in 2 minutes 50 seconds, you’re in shape for a 2:50 marathon. There has been plenty of criticism on this method of prediction, but the final word I’ve read on it is that it should be seen not as a sign of what you’re capable of, but what you’re not. That is, if you can’t run them, you’re probably not ready for that pace.
It was a gorgeous day out today, and after a relaxing morning and some Black Friday shopping, I set out to the school around 3pm, in a t-shirt and shorts. I arrived at the school and found it rather windy and a bit colder than I expected. I knew right away that this wasn’t going to be easy. I started my warm-up, and my knee gave a bit of a twinge, reminding me of its fine performance in the race yesterday.
So, ready for the results of the workout?
Y1: 3:07 – avgHR: 165 – maxHR: 189
Y2: 3:12 – avgHR: 179 – maxHR: 189
Y3: 3:18 – avgHR: 179 – maxHR: 187
Y4: 3:25 – avgHR: 180 – maxHR: 186
Y5: 3:24 – avgHR: 165 – maxHR: 189
Y6: 3:18 – avgHR: 179 – maxHR: 185
Y7: 3:25 – avgHR: 178 – maxHR: 185
Y8: 3:19 – avgHR: 179 – maxHR: 186
Average: 3:19 – avgHR: 176 – maxHR: 187
The reflection and the lessons came around the 3rd and 4th interval. After the intervals I had to breathe deep.. there is this moment sometimes when my heart feels like it is beating right out of my chest, and I need to take a huge breath to try to expand my lungs to harness my heart back in towards my body. During the intervals I felt my spirit and my legs start to abandon me, and I was cursing myself about it. In the middle of the 5th interval I actually stopped my watch and considered quitting. And that’s (thankfully) when I had a revelation. Yes, the Yasso 800 in intended to be a predictor, but today wasn’t a test. It was how I was going to prepare for the big day. Stopping because it was hard and saying “I couldn’t” wasn’t going to get me there. So I forced myself to keep going. And lo and behold, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to end up! After the first few intervals (which were way too fast), I was worried that I’d pushed myself too fast at the start and would pay for it later. I may have, but in the end I still managed the average I was aiming for, and I trust that I will start to get to know the pace better and be able to moderate it better next time.
I’ve never been a great fan of speedwork, because it does tack on that added pressure of meeting a certain pace. But today I gave myself permission to just go out and train and have that be “enough” and I think that should help me mentally manage this moving forward. As I debated quitting today, I thought about the speedwork I’ve done with Meredith over the years, and how I never would have quit if she and I were both on the track; we would just do the best we could because it would have been a training exercise. That’s how I have to see my runs on my own, as well.
I say I love to run, and I do better when I have a plan. I think that is because I am very achievement-motivated and it helps me to have something to check off at the end of the day. Yet I have to recognize that some workouts aren’t going to be easy, and it’s ok not to hit the target every time. That’s the point of training: so that step by step, I can reach those goals. But stopping a workout just because it’s hard ain’t gonna cut it. It’s like what Mike said to me during my first marathon in 2004, “if it were easy, everyone would do it”.
