Thursday, July 23, 2009

W8D4

Today was the Yasso 800 day. There was another runner quandary associated with this run. The book schedule said to do 8 x 800. The magazine version said to do 6 x 800. This is the problem with trying to reconcile two versions of the same schedule. What's a guy to do?

First thing I did was choose my track. In years past on the rare occasion that I actually did speedwork I would go over to the middle school track near my home. The track at the local high school is locked up tighter than a drum. The middle school track is in disrepair, very rutted especially in turns 3 and 4. I decided to try a track in San Dimas that I'd seen for years. It was built by a joint venture between the city and the school so the track is open to the public.

I drover to with 1.5 miles of the track and began my warm up. Once I got to the track the temperatures were still near 90-degrees. I picked my starting point, hit the watch and took off. I completed the first 800 in a pace faster than intended. I jogged a lap between each 800 and ended up doing all 8 of them. My times were:

3:56, 4:03, 4:05, 4:06, 4:03, 4:02, 4:01 and the last one in 3:59:99!

I was pretty proud of myself for sticking it out for the entire 8 Yasso's. 9 miles total including the warm up and cool down.

This is what your shoes look like after 24 laps on the red dirt track.

3 comments:

Journey to a Centum said...

That's a tough workout but it will make you a tough runner! No doubt in my mind that you will greatly benefit from those torture sessions.

Unknown said...

I've been saying I need to dust off my brand new track shoes and get out there for a speed work out.
Can't seem to bring myself to do it.
Yasso's always worked for me.

Wes said...

Way to bring it at the end! My lone track workout cracked the shell that has been holding me back running, I think... We shall see :-)