Major whining for 800 meters

I still love running, although this week I've decided that there are two days in each week when I do not like it very much.

I completed my first marathon barely standing, and the next couple weren't much better. So in a quest for speed and endurance, I visited a running coach who suggested I try speedwork. "Doesn't sound so bad", I thought to myself. "Might even be a fun change of pace." Boy was I wrong. Now, every Tuesday we do Yasso 800's and on Thursdays we do a tempo run. I'll explain....

Though named for Runner's World writer Bart Yasso, the Yasso 800 was actually invented by Lucifer himself. The theory is actually innocent enough. If you want to run a marathon in 4 hours, train to run ten 800 meter intervals each in 4 minutes, with a full 400 meter recovery in between each repeat. So, this insidious method of torture goes like this:
1) warm-up 1 mile at an easy pace
2) sprints (aka gassers, suicides, Herbies). 100 meters at a time at max speed, total 1 mile
3) 10 x 800m intervals, 400m recovery following each one
4) cool-down 1 mile at an easy pace.

The tempo run is only slightly less fun:
1) warm-up 1 mile at an easy pace
2) sprints (see above) total 1 mile
3) 5 miles at a pace 1.5 - 2 minutes faster than marathon pace, no recovery periods
4) cool-down 1 mile at an easy pace.

In warmer weather these workouts can be a challenge. The humidity levels make breathing extremely difficult for me, and sometimes I even feel like I have an elephant sitting on my chest. I've discovered that eating too soon before one of these is a very bad thing (reversals are not fun.... ever try to hurl and run at the same time?). I hate these workouts, but they are pure magic. Over the last couple of years I've lowered my marathon PR by 45 minutes. I've also noticed a dramatic improvements in both my endurance over the last 6.2 miles of a race and my post-race recovery.

I love to run, I just wanted to whine. I'll stop now. sorry...