Yasso 800s

Yesterday after working at the chilcare until 4 I headed over to North Park lake to try a marathon workout I read about awhile ago. It was 78 degrees and gorgeous. It made me smile to see so many other runners, bikers and walkers out enjoying the March heat wave. Totally different atmosphere then what it is like out there in the winter!

I will miss running around this lake

I read about this workout in Runner's World a few years ago but never tried it until now. The workout is Yasso 800s, developed by a runner/writer for Runner's World, Bart Yasso.

The workout is simple, but tough. If you are aiming to run a 4-hour marathon, your goal pace for the 800s are 4 minutes even. Your rest is the same as the goal time, so a nice, long 4 minute rest between 800s. The goal is to eventually work up to 10 of these 800s at your goal pace about two weeks before your marathon.
I decided to give it a try, using my ambitious marathon goal time of 3:10 to set the pace for the workout. I decided to start with 8x800 at 3:10, with 3:10 rest. I was definitely nervous for this workout, since my strengths are in longer workouts and I need to work on shorter, faster intervals. I decided to do it around the lake because it would prevent boredom that would probably occur on the track, and the rolling hills would be more accurate for the Boston course.

This workout was tough because it forced me to run at a fast (for me) pace at 6:20. There were 8 intervals, so it times it seemed never ending. Each repeat felt hard, and I really had to think positively and tell myself I could do all 8 to get through it. My legs were still heavy from my 20 miler on Sunday.  Since it was hot, I promised myself I could stop at the ice cold water fountain after repeat four and that really helped.  Water tastes ridiculously good when it is hot out.

The workout totaled 11 miles with the warmup and cool down and the interval times were as follows:
3:06, 3:10, 3:08, 3:09, 3:10, 3:10, 3:08, 3:09

I am curious to see if this really can help predict your marathon time. I would certainly be happy if it was accurate! I plan to do all 10 on the track when we are in Georgia and I will keep you posted!

Have you ever done a race predicting workout like this before?