Yasso Intensity Training Runs

While I will never get any closer to Michael Johnson's 400m world record (43.18 seconds!), the feel of sprinting as fast as I can always keep me wondering just how fast can I ever get (77 seconds, just barely under twice of Johnson's best time on the 400 meters).

Breathing my lungs out, I just consoled myself that beating the world record is not my aim after all.. hahaha! It's an intensity training run designed for speed, to increase my lactate threshold, to counter the effects of long slow runs on my marathon pace, and to correct my running form and posture.

In about 3 days time, it's the MILO FINALS!!!

So how's the intensity runs going?

I started with Yasso 800meters, doing 4 repetitions. I will then increase by 1 more repetition every succeeding week till I get to run 10 reps. Yasso800 is a high intensity training run where you get to run as fast as you can for 800meters and then recover (through walking or jogging) by the same amount of time you ran the 800meters. Say you sprinted for 4:00 minutes to cover 800m, then you get to recover for 4:00 minutes before you run the next 800m interval.

It's a fun training run. Put a kid's heart in you and you're all set.. running and chasing till you drop.

I've been running my 800m intervals in 3:20 minutes (4:10 minutes per kilometer pace). In a way, the Tuesday intensity training run prepares me to manage the Thursday Tempo runs at 4:40 - 4:45 pace. I am hoping that I could carry the 4:45 pace to this Sunday's marathon.

The last few marathon attempts, I would dash at 4:10 - 4:20 pace and then gas out after the 21st kilometer mark. Although this strategy helped me qualify for the Finals (3:43 hours), I opted to change strategy and run the Finals in an even pace all throughout. 

With this even-split strategy, I have ran my Intervals a little bit slower from my last marathon training. For the eliminations, I was at 3:00 to 3:16 minutes on the 800s. This time, I slowed down to a much more manageable 3:20 minutes.

The same goes for the Tempo training runs. Last marathon Tempo trainings was at 4:20-4:25 pace, now it's down to 4:40-4:45 pace.

Training is almost over.We have a Carbo Loading Party for the Milo Finals tonight. Get to relax, eat and chat with the fellow finalists before another grueling marathon run. Pray that I get to smash my personal marathon record down from 3:43 hours. More than that, I am running injury-free and pain-free on Sunday (unlike much of my previous marathons thanks to experience, strength training program, knee support during long runs and other precautionary measures) and I am just looking forward to run and have lots of fun.

See you this Sunday folks!