Yassos? Yessir.

I had a great week of training last week. My plan called for this:

Monday: Plyo

Tuesday: 3 miles

Wednesday: 6 miles

Thursday: 3 miles

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 6 miles

Sunday: 13 miles

And here's what I did:

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 3.7 miles

Wednesday: 6.01 miles (ahem, at 8:01 pace)

Thursday: 3.89 miles & Plyo

Friday: Rest

Saturday: 7.02 miles

Sunday: 13.01 miles

Finally in week four, I did everything that I needed to do. Well, excluding doing Plyo on the right day. But at least I did it. Well, really I wasn't supposed to do Plyo at all last week. My plan calls for Core Synergistics. However, Joe really wants to do Plyo every week, so I think that I am going to just do that every week instead of Core. For what it's worth, I made Plyo my biznatch last week.

Given my great success (channel your best Borat), I decided to challenge myself for the rest of CLE training.

Cue the Yasso 800s.

If I am going to reach my bad-ass goal for the Cleveland Marathon, I need to do more than hit my weekly mileage and incorporate Plyo. I need regular speed workouts. I'm not sure if I buy it that Yasso 800s work, but I can't knock it before I try it.

Tammy and I hit the nearby middle school, hoping to trespass onto their track. They have that shit on serious lock-down, so we just ran the parking lots and sidewalks around the school. Once around was about a half-mile, it's more or less a rectangle, and at 6:00PM we didn't need to dodge crazy parents in minivans, so despite being denied by the chain link fence, we have a solid location for future speed work. After a one-mile warm-up, here's how our first attempt went:

.5 miles: 3:35

.25 miles: 2:08

.5 miles: 3:33

.25 miles: 2:10

.5 miles: 3:35

.25 miles: 2:08

.5 miles: 3:32

After the first interval, I think we both felt like keeling over. I was certain that the next .5 would be significantly slower, but as the numbers show, we were pretty consistent. During this workout I learned that I have a lot to learn about what a faster pace feels like--we intended to aim for 3:50, but clearly that wasn't enough of a challenge for Team Elite. I could have looked at my watch for pace, but running way faster than my "normal," I was too focused on breathing and not letting my legs just give up on me. I am definitely happy with what we did and it gives me hope for next time when we add two more intervals. If the Yasso 800s theory holds true, as long as I can maintain those 3:35ish half-miles as I increase the intervals, I should be able to reach my goal time for CLE.