Yasso 800s ?

[mish123]

I'ver just read about the Yasso 800's-
Does anyone have experience with it?
any thoughts on it?

[Konstantin]

Like all intervals, these are a good training exercise, but I think they are very ineffective at predicting the full marathon time. It's a good workout because you're working on the basic principles of intervals - a structured period of effort and rest.

When I was running intervals I would usually do 8 repeats off a shorter rest, maybe 1:40, and would consistently record times of 3:15-3:20. Given that the exercise plans equal rest (eg 3:15-3:20 for me) I'd comfortably expect to do the whole 10 repeats at that pace. But I've never had a lot of long runs behind me and my 2 marathons are both very close to 4:00. The thought of doing a marathon in 3:20 is way beyond me. This makes sense to me too - the marathon is 52 times the 800m distance, yet this calculation only multiplies the time by 60, despite the obvious differences running such a long way will make.

Race predictor programmes and tables also have a role, but your best bet is to train, run a few races, and try to improve. You know whether you ran well, I wouldn't place much faith in these type of calculations.

[skoptic]

Yeah - I've done them for years, although I agree they are not a perfect way of predicting marathon time. But they are simple sessions to get me into intervals without needing much brain power.

To be honest the recovery period is a bit long for me and I found it 'easy' to finish 10 or 12 reps. Still they were great for getting into intervals if you've never done any, and then I adjust recovery etc. to induce vomiting hard sessions later

[DC Runner]

I think the idea for Yasso 800s is that you do them during the middle of a peak week. You should already be tired going into the workout, due to heavy volume. Clearly, you don't need to be in marathon shape to run this workout well. There are assumptions built into it. You should already be doing speedwork and long runs. I think that it can be a very useful tool, assuming you're doing plenty of long runs and other marathon specific workouts. But in that case, you probably have a very good idea what pace you can handle for a marathon.

Maybe more realistic is this: If you want to run a 3:00 marathon, you'd better be able to do Yasso 800s with a 3:00 average. But if you can do Yasso 800s with a 3:00 average, don't expect to be able to run a 3:00 marathon.