Friday, April 23, 2010

Lassoing the Yassos

Ideally this final pre-Eugene bout of unmitigated masochism known as Yasso 800s would have happened earlier in the week, giving me a tad more recovery time. But I think I'll be OK. Ninety minutes later I feel fine.

Not that they didn't hurt like the dickens. You know how it is. Midway through the fourth in the planned set of 10 and you're coming up with rationalizations for trimming the workout to eight reps, or maybe six. Hell, five might do. You ponder, you mull, you flirt with the idea. That's OK. It's a nice distraction. Like imagining cheating on your spouse, it's the kind of very private contemplation you engage in to get you through some painful times, but you'd never actually do it. You're just not that kind of person. You do the whole workout.

Below are my Yasso times for August 2009, before Berlin, where I ran 3:09:52; for February this year; and for today, with the difference between the pre-Berlin splits and today's splits noted.

Aug 09 / Feb 10 / April 10
3:00 / 2:58 / 2:51 -9
2:50 / 2:59 / 2:47 -3
2:56 / 2:53 / 2:47 -9
2:57 / 2:53 / 2:48 -9
2:56 / 2:52 / 2:50 -6
2:57 / 2:54 / 2:49 -8
2:55 / 2:52 / 2:53 -2
2:55 / 2:54 / 2:53 -2
2:56 / 2:54 / 2:53 -3
2:57 / 2:53 / 2:51 -6

So my average split before Berlin was 2:56 and my average split today was 2:50. That's good, but ... well, I'm just going to leave it at that for now.


Bonus Content: Thoughtful Perspectives on Yassos:

Why they're meaningful vs. why they're not.