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Anybody wanna Yass-O?

First of all, I want to say "Hello and welcome!" to anyone coming over from SkinnyRunner's site! Thanks for checking out my lil' blog!


And, SR said I'm from Boston, the Beantown. Not exactly... I'm from a small town in Ohio named after a bean, hence the "Bean Town". 


Here are a few links to some of my race recaps, if you're interested. :-)


BBO 4-Mile (3/12/2011)
Indianapolis Monumental Half-Marathon (11/6/2010)
Run Clark Lake (8/7/2010)



As I've just got 6 weeks to go until the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon... I decided I'd better pick up the slack on my speed workouts. I started out the training cycle super-strong, with a tempo workout and interval workout each week. That slowly faded to just a tempo run, and then now, just easy runs. Not cool.





Source


So yesterday I decided to give Yasso 800's a try. The idea of the workout is that you take your goal marathon time and run it as an 800m interval. Then a 400m jog recovery. Repeat times 10. Yikes.


Using my "Marathon Pace" from this workout, I decided to do my Yasso's with a goal time of 3:20. According to the workout, if I can run 10x800m @ 3:20, then I should be able to run a 3:20 marathon. Riiiight.


I decided to just do 6 for my first try, and build up to 10 in the upcoming weeks.


I had to help out with track practice yesterday afternoon, so I decided to do my workout while the kiddies did theirs. I actually ended up running with the high school guys on a few of the reps which was fun!


Here's my splits:


3:17-- Well, I didn't quite hit 3:20. But close enough.


3:15-- Okay, not getting closer. I guess it's better to be fast than slow? But what if I can't hold this pace?


3:18-- Getting tired but the third rep's always the hardest, right? At least that's what my coach in college told me.


3:15-- Ran with the boys and picked up the pace. Those high school boys don't want their teacher beating them I guess. And I don't want them beating me either. Ha.


3:15-- Attempted to slow down a bit, but oh well, just went with it.


3:15-- Last one! I must have looked pretty tired, because one of my students hollered at me, "Man, Mrs. A..... you be doggin'!" Haha... nope, just workin' hard.


Overall, I think it was a successful workout. Could I have done 4 more reps yesterday? No, probably not. However, I think if I could find my 3:20 pace and maintain that for all the intervals, it would be much easier. 


Goal for next time: Run the actual pace! Don't race the high school boys!


Did I mention it was 70* and sunny today? In Ohio? In the middle of March? It was wonderful! I actually produced some sweat when I ran! It reminded me of this lovely day below... 


We were on vacation in Wisconsin a few years ago... I just finished a 5km race. My Business Man was obviously distracted by something. Hmmm... I wonder if he was deciding if he really wanted to pop the question later that night. Good news! He did!




I'm off to replenish my muscles with some BLT Mac & Cheese... yummy! Can anyone guess what the B, L, & T stand for? Recipe to come at a future date!



Comments

heisschic said…
named after a bean, aye? i went to college NEAR a bean town... made frequent trips into town for walmart and cheap chinese food.

i've been trying to stalk your pics to see if your bean town looks familiar at all, but i havent come up with much. hm hm hm


(and yes- the 70* weather was fantabulous and sweat inducing. i'm from cle- so it was equally absurd in these here parts)
The Blakewoods said…
I live in Dayton, Ohio so I think I know which bean town you are talking about! I am enjoying reading your blog so far!!
Stacy DeBruyne said…
I live in Toledo! And it was definitely freezing here yesterday =( You must be south of us!
Running Girl said…
Love the blog, and that picture is hilarious!
Sara said…
heisschic-- Where'd you go to college? There's several near here... my Bean Town starts with an "L" if that helps. And yes the weather was amazing. And now it's freezing. That's the Midwest for ya.

Esquire-- Yup we're pretty close! Thanks for reading!

Stacy-- It is freezing here today now! It must be a day behind.

Running Girl-- Thanks!

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