I came across an article in Amby Burfoot's Complete Book of Running about the incredible Yasso 800's after I ran the San Francisco Marathon in July of 2010. The article discusses how these 800 meter or 1/2 mile repeats are a remarkable predictor of your current marathon fitness assuming you are also doing your long runs. I shelved the idea back then to try out some other training programs, but Wednesday for the first time I set aside my normal speed training workout to try them out.
The idea is that if you can run 10 repeats of 800 meters in 4 minutes each, you are in 4 hour marathon shape. If you can do each repeat in 3 minutes and 45 seconds, then your marathon fitness would indicate a 3 hour, 45 minute marathon. Your rest between repeats consists of a recovery jog for the same time that it took you to do the repeat.
Wednesday I was able to run 7 repeats at 4 minutes each. Since my goal is to run a four hour marathon, I'm not quite there yet but I am also a lot closer than I thought. Next week I'll try for 8 and so on. Since the race is not until October, I may even be able to beat 4 hours!
By the way, this is an incredibly hard workout so be ready to give it everything you've got. Check out this link for a posting of the chapter (which is a reprinted Runner's World article): http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7120,s6-238-244-255-624-0,00.html. Wish me luck for my 18 mile run this Saturday!
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