Yasso 800s

With running being such a competitive sport, it is rare that we can congratulate someone on a win. Even rarer are the occasions when we can congratulate someone on winning a marathon. When I saw the results of the Fargo marathon, I was truly in shock and awe. Eric, congratulations, Champion.

On Thursday evening I must have decided that running 17 miles at race pace isn't punishment enough and signed up for an hour of football after work. I did that, and then still had to cycle home for 5 miles. Maybe that was a bit too much, because on Friday my legs were extremely stiff and sore. The hip flexors especially were moaning a lot. In addition I slept really badly, Maia woke a few times during the night, and when she did sleep she was basically snoring into my ear. I had originally planned on running 6 miles, but at 6:20 I had enough of staring at the bedroom ceiling and got up for a run, and since I had all that extra time I added 2 more miles. To get rid of the stiff legs I did several short acceleration sprints, and gradually the feeling in the legs returned. I didn't count them, but looking at the charts of the Garmin afterwards I must have done 16.

I felt stiff and tired all day, and I wondered if I should move Saturday's planned interval workout to Sunday. But last week I had felt almost as bad and than the workout on Saturday had been good, so I decided to stick with the original schedule. I had a Yasso 800 workout in mind, not because I think it's a great predictor for your marathon time, but because it's a good workout. 10x800 means there will be 5 miles at interval speed, which is definitely a lot. I wanted to run each in about 3:10, and that's how it went:

3:08, 3:11, 3:08, 3:14, 3:11, 3:17, 3:11, 3:09, 3:01, 3:05

After the first 3 I decided to stop looking at the Garmin every 10 seconds and run more by feel. The “reward” for that over the next 4 repeats were 2 sub-standard and 2 half decent ones. After each of those intervals I felt I could and should have run a little bit faster, and over the last 3 I went pretty much all out, which is why the times were coming down for those. The way I understand it, the last few intervals are the most important ones, and according to that it was a good workout. I was surprised that I kept feeling fully recovered after each rest period, even during the last ones, but the last 2 were definitely tough, and I was glad to be finished. And for the record, the average time was 3:09.5; even though I don't really think much of the accuracy of that particular marathon prediction method, I'm happy enough to see it under 3:10 all the same.

The weather is supposed to turn nasty again today, but luckily it held off long enough to have another run in the morning sun. I ran towards Glenbeigh, following the Kerry Way, though it is almost all on roads for that section. Just after Glenbeigh, though, it leaves the road and goes on a single track trail steep over a hill through some magical woodland. Unfortunately that section is only one mile long, and then it was back to asphalt road. I was meant to turn around after 6 miles, but followed it a bit longer because I was curious where it would come out. Eventually I ended up where a railway station called “Mountain Stage” used to be 50 years ago, and yes, the name is justified. The road had been steadily climbing for the last 3 miles. I was surprised how well I felt, I ran as easy as I wanted over very hilly terrain, and still got close to 8:00 pace. I think the Cork marathon will be a good one, as long as I don't do anything stupid over the next 14 days. From today on, I'm tapering.

16 May

8 miles, 1:08:17, 8:32 pace, HR 140
incl. 16 accelerations

17 May

11 miles, 1:26:27, 7:51 pace, HR 151
incl. 10X800 @ 3:09 avg.

18 May

12.25 miles, 1:39:39, 8:08 pace, HR 139

Weekly mileage: 74