Today was my last workout effort before Boston. I wanted something that would boost my confidence but not overly stress my body so I opted for yasso 800s. Now there are some that believe Yassos are a predictor workout which would approximate your goal race like 800 at 3:30 pace with equal rest would indicate the potential to hit a 3:30 marathon given you have the endurance behind you. Some say it is not a great marathon specific workout. For me, I know that I really can not gain much fitness in the next 2 weeks and doing anything terrificly hard would do more harm than good so my goal was to run 8 X 800 @ 3:30 pace.
I set out and did this work out at my beloved local track with 2 miles of easy running, strides and some dyanmic warm-up drills. Feel okay but it was much hotter than it has been (65-75) and windy so I was not feeling overly ambitiuos and was just hoping to hit 3:30 pace for the 8.
I went out in the first 800 feeling like it was fast but controlled. And the first repeats of any workout always feel fast as you ease into a workout. I was super surprised when I looked at my pace at the 400 -Yikes - 5:50 pace. I was like girlfriend you need to slow this down big time or you will not be finishing all these intervals. I managed to slow it down to an overall 6:16 pace. I was shocked as that is a 3:08 split. I regained my compoure in the rest and made the mental note that I must keep rain in this effort as I wanted to be sure to get the entire workout in. The following one was a bit more controlled but still came in 6:25 pace = 3:13. It was crazy because my legs literally were going with or without me. I felt them trying to get faster and I was needing to pull back so I thought if I could get the next 4 slower than I had a decent chance of finishing this workout.
I was able finish the workout and surprised that they got faster and smoother. I could have even done 2 more but I knew I did not want to go to the well and this needed to be an medium effort workout. I did what I set out to do run fast, build some confidence and recover quickly.
My 8 went like this 3:08, 3:13, 3:14, 3:14, 3:12, 3:14, 3:11, 3:11
So I had this thought as I was cooling down - my speed is there and definitely have the endurance but I am still slightly concerned about the stamina or the marathon specific fitness. I have NO idea what I am capable in the marathon at this point. I literally have no expectations for a goal time with having no idea. I actually think there is freedom of not having a goal or expectations. Just go live in the moment and see what is there. Let go expectations and let god determine my day. Sort how I have been handling my running over the past weeks. It seems to be working out for me so that is just how I am going to roll into Boston.
I am going to rest for a few days just to be sure I recover from this workout and hope that keeps the TSH level in the normal range. Not that I know what the current number but today was a good indication of it being at a happy place.
Happy Day!
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