Have you ever wanted to know how fast you could run a marathon without actually running a marathon? Well, there is no way to truly know how fast a marathoner you are without actually running the full 26.2 miles. There is a workout, however, known as Yasso 800′s, that may provide a pretty good estimate of your marathon potential.
The term “Yasso 800′s” was coined by Runners World editor Amby Burfoot. Named after an employee at Runners World, Yasso 800′s involves running 800 meter repeats in order to predict your marathon time.
Specifically, a runner runs 10 repeats of 800 meters on the track. The time for each of the 800 repeats is derived by taking your goal marathon time (i.e. 4 hours) and converting it to minutes and seconds. For example, a four hour marathon converts to 4 minute 800 repeats. Between the intervals, runners have a jogging rest equal to the 800 meter time (i.e. 4 minute rest period). Therefore, if your goal marathon time is 4 hours, your goal Yasso 800′s workout would be 8 X 10 800 meter intervals at 4:00 with 4:00 rest.
Many runners have confirmed that, if completed, the workout does a great job predicting marathon times. It’s not really clear why this workout works so well, but it must have something to do with holding a fast pace for a long period of time. Give it a try!