30 Min Swim, T'Mill Yasso 800s

Good hard swim. Then some core weights. But the highlight of the morning was a workout I've wanted to try for a while now... Yasso 800s. Paul's been blogging about them. Marshall blogged them last year.

Not a good idea to run hard intervals and a new workout on wet leafy pavement in the dark on a chilly morning. So I did them on the treadmill. Which isn't the same as doing them outside but it serves as a test to see how this workout feels.

3 min @ 10 mph (6:00min/mi)
3 min @ jog/walk (5.5 mph)
Repeat ten times.

I liked the 10mph pace for a number of reasons: At 10mph 800m (1/2 mi) is done in 3 minutes so it's easy to keep track of the workout without a fancy heart rate monitor workout function... just switch between work and rest every three minutes. 10mph is the lowest speed with two digits (or three if you're tracking tenths.) The workout is done in exactly one hour. And the Yasso predicted marathon time is 3hrs, a nice even number.

The most important reason to choose 10mph is that I have a long-running mental block about 10mph. Lucho advised last year, paraphrasing, "pace is nothing" and that's been rattling around for a year. Last year it helped me up my interval game. This year I was back to mental blocks with 10mph but remembering Lucho's comment has helped bring me out of it. His point isn't that pace isn't important... simply that any preconceived notions we have about it are artificial.

The first interval felt fast but I settled into it quickly and didn't feel bad at the end. The next few felt easy. By the halfway mark I was feeling some fatigue but gaining confidence that I could make it to the end. At the 7th I felt some fear that I wouldn't make it. The last two were icing on the cake... once I was that close to the end I knew I'd finish and finished strong.

Good workout. Would like to do it on the road or track to see what my real Yasso 800 predicted marathon time is. The treadmill does a bit of work for you... it's just not the same as real running. But it does force specific and consistent leg turnover rates. And it's warm. And I can people watch.

No heart rate monitor or iPod today. Or synthetic shirt for that matter. Simple cotton, shoes and running sticks.

I just wish I had as much bike mojo as I have run mojo right now. I'm interested in new run workouts, willing to push limits, excited to run. I'm disinterested in biking, abandon most rides and don't want to try anything new. Window is closing. Got to open it back up and make something happen.