My Life On The Run by Bart Yasso

Author:Bart Yasso [Bart Yasso]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781605298276
Publisher: Rodale
Published: 2008-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Having a workout that bears your name is both a blessing and a curse. The Yasso 800s aren’t a perfect prognosticator of marathon time; adjustments need to be made for a hot day or hilly course, but that’s just common sense. For the most part, adjustments depend on how extreme the temperature and terrain are. As a rule of thumb, runners who have done only three or four marathons should add about 10 minutes to their projected finish time, and more experienced runners should add 4 or 5 minutes. But again, it really depends on the individual runner and his or her ability to handle heat or steep hills.

Regardless, the Yasso 800s are a good barometer of fitness. Case in point: A runner I once met at the New York City Marathon told me he figured he could do no better than a 2:28 marathon. But a few weeks before the race, he did 10 Yasso 800s and averaged 2:21. So he ran a faster pace and qualified for the Olympic marathon trials, posting a 2:21 finish. His experience and that of countless other runners shows that the Yasso 800s could be less about science and more about confidence.

But they don’t work miracles. You still have to do long runs, hill workouts, and tempo runs. And you have to do more than one 800 to predict your marathon time. One guy found that out the hard way. He based his pace at the Chicago Marathon on running one 800-meter repeat instead of 10, went out too fast, and crashed and burned. He blamed me for his poor finish. “They should be called the asshole 800s,” he told me, red-faced.

“You have to do 10 of them in one workout five to six weeks before the race!” I said.

Other than that guy, I heard from a staggering number of runners who loved Yasso 800s. I was blown away that a two-time winner of the New York City Marathon had incorporated them into his Winning Training School in Italy. In 1995, Orlando Pizzolato told me at a Runner’s World party before the New York City Marathon that he had been using the Yasso 800s, which he calls the Yasso test, to train runners ever since reading Amby’s article. “It is wonderful,” he said, moving his hands as fast as he ran. He had brought hundreds of runners from Italy to that year’s race, and all of them expected to do as well as their Yasso tests had predicted.

“Will you come to Columbus Circle tomorrow to take a photo with my runners?” he asked. “They would love to meet you. You’re all they talk about. You are a superstar.”

How could I say no to my fans?

At 9:00 a.m. the day before the race, I made my way to the Upper West Side, wearing my best running clothes for the group photo op. As I approached the circle, Pizzolato gestured toward me: “There is Yasso.”

The runners started cheering. “Bellisimo, Yasso!” they called out in a chorus.

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