Yasso 800's

It's been a tough week again with work putting on extra strain and the body is also tired and having a hard time keeping up. I've known for a few months that this was going to happen as I prepare for our annual assessment meetings and at the same time try to peak for Boston. Many of the training plans suggest reducing the life stressors somehow but that's not going to happen short of a vacation or taking stress leave.

Sunday it was home alone because of the torrential storm we had on the weekend. Andrew and I had canceled the Boyden run the day before because of forecast conditions and with his flooded basement, the run would have been aborted anyway. As it was, part of our road was also washed away in the downpour.

I used the run to test/practice a number of things for race day including the start time of the run, the shoes, the hills and the drink. By running alone it was easy to schedule the start to 11am (10est) which is new this year for Boston. The traditional noon start is now history and we may get some better running conditions before it heats up as seems to happen most years. The shoes are also easy since I've got identical pairs and will save one mainly for race day. The drink, Gatorade Endurance, is more of an issue since it's been hard to find locally. It was used at last year's Boston and gave me cramps and nausea and so was unable to drink much besides water. I tried it again on one of our long runs with the same result and so the plan today was to try a diluted (by 50%) mixture. This worked a lot better so I'll be grabbing water and gatorade during the race and doing an in-run mix and drink.

The run itself went reasonably well with an ipod for very poor company instead of Andrew and his jokes and stories. Nothing really special, just a long 18 miles in 2:26 with the last 8 attempted with more effort managing to increase the pace to only about 7:45 pace. Was it the wind, hills or just the cumulative load?

Monday - rest day

Tues - easy 1 hour run and 8 miles at about 8:08 pace. I was 'feeling' tired, stiff, sore and with the windy conditions this was way faster than necessary for a recovery run. It's very hard to dial down the slow easy pace and to save it for when needed.

Weds - the plan said 10x800. Now where did that come from? I've been building up my intervals over the past month and decided to fit in the so called Yasso 800's as a bit of a test. There is some debate about how predictive this workout is for your marathon but this runner was prepared to give it a go and perhaps gain some confidence for my goal time. So after another long day at work and still not feeling much like running hard I ventured out very tentatively. The 1st 2 miles went by rather easily and a few easy strides got me safely to the starting line. Click! The 1st one felt very easy with the 1/2 mile in 3:07 (1/2 mile is about 808m) and then started with just a 2:00 jog before turning and starting again. Next one in 3:13, back to reality! My average was now 3:10, which coincidentally is also my marathon goal, but a bunch more to go. It was a struggle holding the pace and the 2 minute rest seemed short but I finished and the overall average was .... yes, 3:10 and a range of 3:09-3:12 for each repeat after the 1st 2. The reward was the end of the workout and the slow, slow jog home. Total of 11.5 miles in 91 min. I was tired before, now I'm very tired. More ice cream?

Have a great week, spring is finally here!