Yasso?

Ah the Yasso 800s. What a session.

The session was named after Bart Yasso, an American who worked at Runner's World as a sort of roving marketing ambassador for the magazine. 

Here's how he approached the session:

"Want to run a 3:30 marathon? Then train to run a bunch of 800s in 3:30 each. Between the 800s, jog for the same number of minutes it took you to run your repeats. Training doesn't get any simpler than this, not on this planet or anywhere else in the solar system."

It's an extension of the consistent pace that Roger has been trying to get us to appreciate since January. As you train more and you put in the effort during the Tuesday intervals you start to learn about pacing. It's work, hard work at times.

In addition as your overall endurance and fitness level rises, you will be able to hold a faster pace for a longer period of time.

So how best to add the Yasso 800s to your training schedule. Here's what Yasso said:

"Bart begins running his Yasso 800s a couple of months before his goal marathon. The first week he does four. On each subsequent week, he adds one more until he reaches 10. The last workout of Yasso 800s should be completed at least 10 days before your marathon, and 14 to 17 days would probably be better.

The rest of the time, just do your normal marathon training, paying special attention to weekend long runs. Give yourself plenty of easy runs and maybe a day or two off during the week.

But don't skip the Yasso 800s. This is the workout that's going to get you to the finish on time."

For the complete Runner's World story, click here.

You can read about Yasso in an autobiography called:  My Life on the Run. It's a good read and even better, it's in the Squamish library.