"Yasso 800s" Workout

Yesterday's Total Calorie Intake: 1770
(Exercise Calories: 200)
Total Net Calories: 1570

I've read that the most important workout in preparing for the marathon is the long run. This workout will build up endurance and get the body used to hours of pounding the pavement. However, a second important workout is speedwork - either interval runs or tempo/pace runs - which improves aerobic fitness.

One interval workout which is supposedly good for marathon training is the Yasso 800s workout. These are half-mile speed intervals (approx 800 meters) that you aim to complete at the pace in min:sec that you will race your marathon in hrs:min. For example, if I'm going to try an complete a marathon in 4 hours and 30 seconds, I'll want to run my half mile intervals in 4 min and 30 sec (a 9 min mile pace).

During my intervals this morning, I was not watching the pace, but rather my HRM and trying to stay below 170bpm. Here were my splits for the three intervals I did today: 4:24, 4:25 and 4:27. Pretty consistent (OK, I was on a treadmill, so it's not too hard to keep your pace consistent!). Based on the McMillan Running Calculator, my marathon time should be somewhere between a 4:16 and 4:46, so it looks like the pace for my Yasso 800s is spot on!

I took a break from music today and listened to the ESPN Mike and Mike Podcast. Since I don't have a commute to work, I sometimes miss sports talk radio and have to get my fix every so often.