Yasso 800 Domination

Planned:
8 Yasso 800s @ 2:55

Actual:
1 mile w/u
12 Yasso 800s all faster than target
1 mile c/d
Total: 8 miles

Domination might be a strong descriptor, but the infamous Yasso 800 workout was way too easy yesterday.  The idea behind Yasso 800s?  You take your goal marathon time in hours and minutes (mine: 2 hours 55 minutes) and convert that to minutes and seconds (mine: 2 minutes 55 seconds).  The workout is then to rotate intervals and rest jogs in this time.  Pioneered by Bart Yasso who has run marathons on all 7 continents, the Yasso 800 workout is supposed to determine your readiness to run your goal time in the marathon.  Run 10-12 of these intervals and you're ready for the marathon - or MIGHT be ready.  Problem is it's one of those workouts that if you can't do it, you're not ready, but if you can, it doesn't really mean much as most people are better prepared for shorter faster events than the longer marathons...

My pacing wasn't particularly impressive as I was typically 4-5 seconds fast on the first 200 and then just cruised the rest of the interval.  All my intervals were fast (2:52, 2:49, 2:50, 2:52, 2:51, 2:52, 2:53, 2:52, 2:51, 2:49, 2:51, 2:50) but none felt like I was pushing for time.  The biggest struggle was going out slow enough to be on pace - only my 10th interval did I go through the first 200 in 44 seconds, only to complete the back side too fast.  I started the workout targeting 8 intervals, got there and decided to keep going.  I probably could have kept going all day as my legs still felt as strong at the end as I did at the beginning, but I was running out of water and needed to get ready for work and so headed home after 12 figuring that was sufficient domination of the workout.

Though I'm pretty happy I was able to cruise through this workout so easily, I have to say it probably wasn't as hard of a workout as I needed to do.  The pace was too slow, the interval too short and the rest was too long.  It feels good killing a planned workout every once in a while, but the remaining 2 Yasso workouts on the schedule are getting changed out for something a bit longer and a bit more challenging.