Forums >General Running>Yasso's
> Run to the fridge and back for 5k training. But give it 101% effort. That's excellent, and it scales beautifully for 10K, because I can do doubles for 10K training, and I can conveniently practice hydration by drinking at the refrigerator end (because 10K is a long thirsty course).
I still think the concept is stunningly elegant! Consistent 400s in 2 minutes should predict a 2 hour half marathon. Of course building up an endurance base by getting long runs in once a week to 10 miles or longer would be icing on the cake........ 1:45 minute 400s = 1 hour and 45 min half marathon. Its so beautiful I could cry.
I've got a fever...
Yasso's basic premise is that if you can do the workout at a consist pace, then you have the fitness and ability to run hypothetically run a marathon with that as a goal time. It's a way to see if your goal pace matches your fitness. That's all.
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.
undue monkey
But even that's flawed. I once did 6x800 in 2:20~2:25. But plug any of my PRs into any racing calculator, and you'll quickly see that I could never ever ever run a 2:20~2:25 marathon. Plug a 2:20~2:25 marathon into McMillans, and all of the times for the shorter distances crush my PR's. So I personally am calling BS on the whole thing. Other than the fact that repeat 800's are a killer workout.
Jeff, using McMillan to equivalize a single, all-out 800 with a marathon is, in addition to being extremely imprecise, NOT the same thing as equivalizing 10x800 workout to a marathon. I wouldn't use McMillan to compare a marathon to anything shorter than a 10K, and even then it need to be taken with a grain of salt.
That's not how it works. You take your goal pace for the marathon, and run the 800s at that pace to see if you can complete the workout. If you can, then your goal pace is realistic. Otherwise, it's not. It looks like you're trying to go the other way.
True. But when i was super fit, I could have set a goal marathon target of 2:20~2:25, and successfully done Yasso's in 2:20~2:25. But that didn't make make my goal marathon realistic. That's my point, and the problem I have with Yassos.
Feeling the growl again
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
As for the value of the Yasso session as a predictor, I think of it as a "negative predictor". Just because you can run the 10 x 800 in the target time, doesn't necessarily insure success in your marathon. If you CAN'T do it however, your goal is most likely not achievable.
E-mail: eric.fuller.mail@gmail.com -----------------------------
But, you also wouldn't be doing them in 2:20 pace. You'd be doing them based on your actual goal pace for the marathon. And that would also be done close to your goal marathon to see if your training is matching your goals.
Nobody thinks that if I get all froggy one day and go run the 800s in 3:00 that I can run a 3 hour marathon.
True. But when i was super fit, I could have set a goal marathon target of 2:20~2:25, and successfully done Yasso's in 2:20~2:25. But that wouldn't have made my goal marathon time realistic.