800's... A Great Workout

For the past number of weeks I have been doing speed work of 800's on the track. By following the logic of Yasso's 800's, if I can do 10 x 800's at 3:50 pace, I can run a 3:50 marathon. 2 weeks ago I did 6x 800 around 3:40ish. With my recent 5K PR, I realized that I should be training at a faster 5K and 10K pace so I wanted to go for 3:30's.

I jogged over to the high school track a mile from my house and before I got there I saw the field lights were on. Since it was Thursday night I thought perhaps there was a JV football game and I would need to figure a different workout not involving the track. I was in luck and in for a treat. The marching band was practicing so not only was I able to run on a lit track, I had entertainment as well. The hard part was focusing on running and not watching the color guard and band as they moved across the field. At one point I was on a crash course with the water cooler cart in lane one because I was watching the band and not the track.

I ran my first 800 in 3:26 so I figured it was a little fast if I wanted to run the whole workout. I took a 90 second break and ran the next in 3:24. I was really going to need to run smarter if I was to do all 7. The funny thing is that even though I was working hard, I wasn't running them in an all out sprint. Next one 3:23. Ok, I guess I'm running them around 3:25's. Now to keep up the pace for all 7. I ran a 3:24, took a 3 minute break before the next 3 at 3:25 3:21 and 3:20. I sprinted the last 50 meters of the last one and I don't think I have ever felt my legs go that fast. I didn't feel like I was actually running. It was awesome.

So now I'm thinking...is it possible to run a marathon around 3:20? I'm going for a 3:50 but what if I blow away that time?