Training Update

I was inspired by Carrie. I did my first set of Yasso’s last night. I loved it. I’m going to add them to my weekly routine. Yasso’s are named after Bart Yasso, marathoner and Runner’s World writer. The easiest explanation is speedwork. Running sets of 800 meters (or a half mile for us Americans). You base the time of your 800 meters on the time you want to run your marathon. For simplicity, I will use a 4 hour marathon. You would run your 800 meters in 4 minutes, then jog/recover for 4 minutes and then run another 800 meters in 4 minutes and so on. You start with a set of 3 and add them weekly till you get to ten. Theoretically you end up running your 4 hour marathon.

I got on the treadmill and I’m not really sure how fast I am right now. I’ve only been back running for two and half weeks after a twelve week break. I’ve been running outside in triple digit heat which means I have to take it slow. Last night I did the first Yasso conservatively at a 9.5 minute mile and it seemed to slow. So I did the second at a 9 minute mile and that seemed a little slow also. So the third one I decided to go for it and dropped it to an 8 minute mile. I was able to maintain that pace. I won’t say easily, but it didn’t kill me either. So next week when I have a set of four, I will start at an 8 minute mile and see if I can do all four sets that way and if I can, maybe need to speed up a little bit more. I’m not training for a marathon, just a 15K, but Yasso's were fun (yes, FUN). I enjoyed getting on the treadmill and seeing how fast I could run for half a mile.