[tweetmeme source=”luau” only_single=false http://www.URL.com]
…the Need for Speed.
The primary training tool in the marathoner’s tool box is mileage. The more miles you put in the bank, the more likely you will be able to successfully complete a marathon. Logging 60 miles a week (something I’ve never done) will force your body to adjust to the concept of 26.2 miles much more aggressively than running 20 miles a week. That’s not to say that you can’t complete a marathon on 20 miles per week training, it’s just makes the task a bit more painful.
That said, my goal really has never been to just complete a marathon. Don’t get me wrong. Completing a marathon is huge. HUGE! But from the very start, I wanted to eventually be able to call myself a Boston Qualifier. As much as I have improved over the past 8 months, dropping 24 minutes on my marathon time, I am still 9 minutes and 12 seconds short of accomplishing that goal.
As banged up as I was at the end of both Boston and Providence, my legs recovered quickly and I was upright and walking down stairs within a day. Fitness is not the issue.
Speed is.
I have a need and the need is speed. At both Boston, but especially at Providence, I had opportunities late in the game to pick up the pace and finish close to 3:20. As much as I tried, the speed just wasn’t there at the end. I never stopped running, but in both cases, the last three miles proved to be my undoing.
Enter Yasso & Galloway.
My hopes are that this fall, Bart Yasso and Jeff Galloway will take me to the promised land.
Both are running experts and both have “discovered” certain indicators that can tell you if you are ready and able to hit your desired marathon time.
I plan on using their methods as part of my speed training this summer to help me get to where I want to be.
You can find their indicators here & here, but in a nutshell they work as follows:
Yasso 800’s: Once a week you go to the track and run a series of 800 meter intervals. Starting with 4 intervals and adding one each week, you try to run each 800 in minutes and seconds in the time that you would like to run your marathon in hours and minutes. I would like to run a 3 hour 20 minute marathon or better, so I will run 800 meter intervals in 3 minutes and 20 seconds or less. In between each interval you walk the same amount of time. Eventually you build up to 10 intervals, and if you can do that, you should be ready to run your marathon.
Galloway’s Magic Mile: Once every 2 weeks or so, you run a mile about as hard as you can. Galloway says that at the end of the measured mile you shouldn’t be able to maintain that pace for more than another 100 yards, though he does emphasize no puking. Over the course of you training, you do 4 magic miles, eliminate the slowest, and average the remaining 3. From there he has a program that calculates what your magic mile average indicates. I need to average a 5:53 mile or better to run a 3:20 marathon.
The indicators alone won’t be enough speed work by themselves, so I plan on throwing in some shorter intervals along the way (some 400’s and 200’s). If you have any suggestions, please let me know. My goal this summer is to do Yasso 800’s once a week, running 3:20 splits or better and check my Magic Mile at least 3 times. Hopefully come October (I’m looking at the Smuttynose Marathon on October 3rd) both of those indicators will tell me that I am more than ready to break the 3:20 barrier in the marathon.
Stay tuned!
Run Luau Run 
Luau, while I agree that the Yasso 800’s are a good workout, I think that 1600’s are a better choice for marathon training. There was a good discussion some time back on dailymile as well that the Yasso’s don’t necessarily predict the marathon time as well as some are led to believe. You may want to target, for example, 3:10 to give yourself some cushion.
My approach is to alternate 800’s one week and 1600’s the next, getting up to 10 of the former and 5 of the latter. I think the 1600 is also a better marathon predictor – for example, if you are targeting a 3:20 marathon, you should feel pretty good if you are doing your 5 x 1600 intervals at around a 6:40 average.
And honestly, I’m not a big believer in the 400’s and 200’s for marathon training, unless you do 400’s as hill intervals. I’d look to tempo runs instead.
Just my two cents, but I was planning a blog post on this very topic shortly too, so thought I’d practice here ;o).
Greg – thank you for the two cents. I will definitely keep that in mind. Question – when running the 1600’s, how much time do you use for recovery between intervals?
Love the “no puking” addendum by Galloway in the “magic mile” portion.
Hope to see you on October 3rd!!
Instead of trying to piece together a program using bits and pieces from different coaches, why don’t you just grab a proven program from someone like Daniels or Pfitzinger and roll with it? That way you work in your speed training in a more holistic way. Following a program will also help keep you from overtraining like you did last summer. The Pfitz 12/70 program looks right up your alley for a fall BQ attempt.
Ever my running compass! Going to the bookstore today!
Hey Luau, I’m not nearly in the same category as you in pretty much all the stats (mileage, speed, etc.) except for loving the sport. The fact that I do “speedwork” every Tuesday night with our local track club is sort of an oxymoron (but it has had results for me personally compared to where I started). The point I’m getting to is that for me it makes a huge difference doing this speedwork WITH OTHER RUNNERS. I know sometimes that’s not feasible, desireable, or possible, but I push my self differently when I am with a group than when I am by myself.
Good luck!
It’s like you’re trying to remind me what I’m not doing in my training. Thanks! This post is just the kick in the pants I need to get back on track with speedwork, or, more specifically, measuring myself against some sort of repeatable indicator other than a full-on race.
Good luck with your training! I’ll have my spies at Smuttynose to push you on to a 3:20 finish. 😉
Hey Luau,
I definitely think Yasso’s are a great workout. When I got my BQ (by 1 minute) I ran about 3 weeks of Yasso’s and then did mile repeats the last couple weeks leading up to the marathon. But, just for reference sake, I needed a 3:20 as well (got a 3:19) and was doing my yasso’s at 2:48 to 3:00 (the 3’s were my last reps) :). I also cut down the time between reps as I graduated to the 10. Started at 2:30 rest, and the last time I ran them I think it was 90 seconds. Brutal, but awesome. All this hard work got me the BQ, (and 2009 finisher medal) but just note my time compared to the 800’s.
So, my advice… Use the 400’s to increase your foot speed to work into faster 800’s and faster miles. Use those at the start of the training and then use the 800’s and mile repeats the further you get into your training. I think my issue is that I fall back into long run pace as I get tired so you might want to work on that by doing more “longer” tempo runs.
Good luck!
Dave Allen (Dave A. in Seattle on dailymile)
thanks for the advice Dave! Will definitely keep it in mind.
Good luck, man! You can do it. I’d add to the Yasso and Galloway tests, one of my favorites – the marathon pace long run. About once every four weeks, hammer out a long run with some portion of it at marathon pace. Then maybe five weeks out, do an 18 with 14 at marathon race pace. Or a full 16 at marathon race pace. The Pfitzinger plan incorporates this, but it also matches up with the marathon simulation workout I’ve seen described a number of places: http://runningtimes.com/Print.aspx?articleID=13666. I’m looking at Smuttynose for a half this fall – hopefully I’ll see you there!