First Yassos

Tonight was a new track workout for me, my first Yasso 800s. I met Bart Yasso at the IL Marathon Expo in 2009.

Rob got a picture of me running my intervals when it was getting dark.

I had 8 x 800s. Based on Yasso’s theory this is a trial of predicting marathon times. The avg time you run Yassos is the predicted marathon finish time. For example: run a 3 minute 30 second average 800 set and finish the marathon in 3 hours and 30 minutes. Yasso 800s is just one method of testing marathon goal pace (MGP) so it’s not to be gospel, just a tool as a part of a whole training plan.

Ultimately 10 sets of 800s is needed to do Yasso 800s properly, but this being my first go around I went with the Coach’s option of starting at 8.

I have been training with best case working towards a 3:15 (knowing that race day and fueling will likely lower that time). My latest PR in the 5K now has me training with a MGP of 3:13.

Here were my results of the Yassos. At first I was trying to find the right pace. Overall I’m happy with how it turned out for my first time and it was a windy day. So I will call this workout a “W”.

1 – 3:07
2 – 3:11
3 – 3:15
4 – 3:15
5 – 3:09
6 – 3:11
7 – 3:13
8 – 3:13