"Brian Jones" <[email hidden]> wrote
Quoted message said:Hey Gang: I am preparing for my second marathon (Twin Cities (MN) October
3). I have been intrigued by the whole Yasso 800 business, so I thought I
would use them in my preparation. Today was my first day, though I think
I
Quoted message said:am a week or two early. In my marathon training last year, and up to now
this year, the idea has been to have one long run per week and one speed
workout. If I use Yasso 800s for my speed work, am I OK doing no other
speedwork throughout the week?
Quoted message said:I love the uncomplicated nature of the workout. There's not much to count
and timing is easy. And even in my exhaustion, it is usually not a
problem
Quoted message said:finding my way home from the track. Do you think it is enough?
It is both too much, and not enough...see below. My thoughts as a
reasonably competitive runner a few years back (2:3x marathoner, etc):
1. 10 x 880 at 10-15 secs faster than 10k pace (which is what it works out
to) is too much work unless you run *big* miles. I never did more than 5 x
880 at 90 miles per week.
My rule of thumb: keep actual speedwork to less than 20 minutes per
workout. My speed workouts (twice a week) in my prime were only 12 to 16
minutes of actual hard stuff -- I did two/week. Nowadays I do about 20
minutes of work, but they're slower and longer distances due to the fact
that I race mainly trail ultramarathons these days.
I'd recommend no more than 5 x 880. You'll be able to run these at faster
than yasso pace. Speedwork is supposed to be hard and fast (but not too
hard -- don't go all out).
2. The Yasso thing is a gimmick. An interesting result of the human
time/pace performance curve. Not the way to get your best time. As
speedwork for low mileage (under 80) mortals, it is too much. Keep to the
20 minute rule and mix it up. If you want a report card / prediction, see
below.
3. As Donovan and Phil say, you need another kind of workout to maximize
your performance: the LT workout. Here's a way you can get a good LT
workout *and* a fair prediction of your marathon time.
Every other week (alternating with your 20 mile run), run a 10 k race
without tapering. Your times will be about 3-4% slower than if you did a
full taper.
Deduct that 3-4%, and look it up on one of the many 10k - marathon
prediction tables. Here's my favorite:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/purdytbl.html
(there are some on the list who hate these charts, but they worked pretty
well for most of my acquaintances)
Now you have a more balanced program, with the big three types of workouts:
speedwork (20 mins of various distances), LT work (the untapered 10k race),
and your long run.
4. Timing -- I would wait another week or two before starting speed, and
get one or two 20 - 40 minute moderately hard (LT) runs in per week to prime
you for it.
-- Dan
