Not Half-Yassed

It's Tuesday, time for track. A Half-Yasso is done, and everyone else is leaving. Now, Dan is all alone. Just him and the track. And a second Half-Yasso. 

Last week, Dan did only a Half-Yasso, so this week it's time to get serious. Yes, it will be a full Yasso, or bust. Most likely, the latter. 

Had you asked, Dan would have said that all of the 800s need to be under four minutes in order to indicate readiness for a possible sub-four-hour marathon. Cleveland, you see, is less than a month away. But things aren't going quite as well as that. Some of the 800s had been over four, and others had been under. That trend continues for this second set of five. At least he finishes strong.

Dan's average? 3:59. He still has a way to go. Hey, here's an idea: more Yassos!

Never been closer

The business manager asks the project manager about the status of the project and when it will be completed. "Never been closer {{to being done}}," comes the smart@ss answer. And so it is {{also}} with Dan's race fitness. He has never - at least in the past few weeks - been closer to being in tip-top race shape. Based on Dan's last post about a long run, things were beginning to look somewhat not-so-great. But Dan has since started to claw his way back.

It started with an eighteen-miler on the Towpath with Larry Orwin last Thursday. The pretty-good pace caused Friday's run to be not-so-great. But Saturday's seven was okay, and then came today.

Today's route is the newly completed Brunswick Marathon course. Dan arrives at 5:45 and runs his first 6.55-mile loop. Luckily, Rick Roman had shown up and run with him for part of it. That kept Dan honest. The second loop is with Sharon Sibilski and Julie Boggs. These two keep Dan even more honest. Now comes the most honest part of all: the third 1/4-marathon loop. This time, it's only Sharon and Dan. 

Guess what? It goes okay. Surprisingly, they pick up the pace some more, and Dan winds up with a decent long run. He and Sharon even go one more mile around the lake so that Dan can call the run a 20-miler.

Cleveland is three weeks away. Is Dan ready? That's unclear, but he's definitely never been closer.

dol·drums

Doldrums is defined as a spell of listlessness or despondency. When capitalized, it can also refer to a part of the ocean near the equator abounding in calms, squalls, and light shifting winds. The latter definition surely gave rise to the former. And that's the state that I've been in for the past few days. Or should I say, decades? Hard to say, but I sure felt like I didn't have much mojo for my past few runs.

It was the same today, except worse. And worse yet, it was Tuesday, and time for Tuesday Track. Not in the least what my lazy body had in mind. 

Time for running friends to the rescue. This is also known as peer pressure to the rescue. Anyway, I had to get moving. Everyone else was doing it. The workout was only a half-yassed Yasso, five eight-hundreds, rather than the ten that's required in order to call it a full Yasso. A Half-Yasso is better than no Yasso, so I'll take the win today.

Zone 1.2

The multi-heart-rate-zone approach to training is quite popular. Here is one typical description of the different zones:

Zone 1 (recovery/easy)	55%-65% HR max	Used to get your body moving with minimal stress and exertion. This zone might be used for an easy training day, warming up or cooling down.
Zone 2 (aerobic/base)	65%-75% HR max	Used for longer training sessions, you can sustain this basic-effort zone for many miles, yet still chitchat a little bit with your workout partner.
Zone 3 (tempo)	80%-85% HR max	This is a zone where you push the pace to build up speed and strength; conversation is reduced to single words.
Zone 4 (lactate threshold)	85%-88% HR max	In this zone your body is processing its maximum amount of lactic acid as a fuel source; above this level, lactic acid builds up too quickly to be processed and fatigues muscles; training in this zone helps your body develop efficiency when you're operating at your maximum sustainable pace.
Zone 5 (anaerobic)	90% HR max and above	This maximum speed zone (think closing kick in a race) trains the neuromuscular system—your body learns how to recruit additional muscle fibers and how to fire muscles more effectively.

The percentage of HR Max can be determined using various wearable products, physically checking heart rate the old-fashioned way, or by perceived effort as I do. Modern approaches often recommend spending 60 to 85 percent of your training in Zone 2. When Zone 1 is mentioned at all, it's usually lumped in with Zone 2, often resulting in an even greater amount of time in these easy zones. The time spent in higher zones becomes progressively smaller.

I am firmly in favor of employing a large amount of Zone 2 training. For me, the percentage is probably on the order of 80%, but it can be higher or lower depending on where I'm at in my training cycle. Here's the thing about my Zone 2 training: a lot of it is about as slow as you can go. In fact, my Zone 2 should probably be reclassified as Zone 1. Or maybe, it's something in-between.

But closer to 1 than 2. Maybe about 1.2.

I'm NOT shuffling. And don't call me Shirley.

Surely you're shuffling, Dan tells himself. His retort is, of course, I'm NOT shuffling. And don't call me Shirley. It's a lie. Shuffling is as shuffling does.

Today's Good Friday Lester Rail Trail run had begun fairly well. Dan had been joined by around ten of his best friends, several of whom had run with him for twelve miles. Too bad Dan still had six more to go. On some occasions, Dan manages to continue running well even after everyone else leaves. Today is not one of those days. 

Dan's pace becomes slower and slower. By mile 15, he's barely moving forward. He takes a gel in hopes that it will help him get through the final three miles. Three ain't so bad, right? Anyone can do three. And the gel ought to help. Or will it?

~ Brief Interlude: My First Time ~

Remember your first time? Of course, you do; everyone does. Mine occurred in the early 1990s. The occasion was the Detroit Free Press Marathon. It was late in the race, and I needed a pick-me-up, something to see myself through to the finish. Lo and behold, some volunteer hands me a gel packet. It was probably Gu, since there weren't so many different brands at the time. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I soon figured out that you tear off the top and shoot the stuff down your throat, followed by some water. And guess what? It worked! My pace improved enough for me to finish strong and have myself a pretty good race.

~ End Interlude ~

But would a gel work its magic when Dan is this far gone? There have been times when it didn't. As the shuffling gets progressively worse, Dan begins to understand that today, nothing at all is going to work. 

He does manage to get eighteen miles in, but only twelve of them were decent. Not a very good Good Friday run. 

2025 Towpath Half-Marathon Race Report

Ooey Gooey. Indecisive Dan's gloved fingers are sticking together. The gel that he'd been holding had unexpectedly opened, and now it's a mess. Not to waste valuable gel - you guessed it - Indecisive Dan licks some off the gloves before wiping the rest on his shorts. Now he's even more of a mess. 

Why is this incident significant, you ask? It probably isn't, but it does mark the time and place (about mile 8.5) when Indecisive Dan realizes that he may not achieve his 'A' goal of sub-1:50 at today's Towpath Half-Marathon. And why, you also ask, is Dan being referred to as 'Indecisive Dan?' Because even though he'd registered for this race, he had almost skipped it, nearly opting instead for a group run with friends in Medina. Yesterday, he changed his mind for the last time, and drove to Cleveland to pick up his bib and shirt. Sorry, Medina friends.

Dan doesn't usually over-dress for races, but he did for this one. Early morning temperatures were in the low 30s, but as the sun rose, it warmed up quickly. The race takes place in the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation, starting in Cuyahoga Heights. After the first screaming downhill mile, the course takes runners onto the towpath, which is entirely paved here in the North. It's not entirely flat, either; there are some hills, including two high foot-bridges. But what a beautiful Spring morning!

Dan abides. He didn't consider himself in very good shape (to the point that he almost didn't start), so he had only been hoping to break two hours today. Dan's stated goal for the year is to break one hour and fifty minutes in a half. That hasn't happened in a while, and it wouldn't, he reckoned, happen today. Until, that is, that he determined that he was running quite well; faster than expected.

How fast, you ask? It's hard to tell. The race mile markers are off, and Dan's Garmin watch is slightly haywire as well, possibly because of the woody, windy valley course. Let's just say that he hit halfway between 55 and 56 minutes. That's on the order of around 8:30 per mile.

Now, at mile 8.5, runners get to the Rockside Road aid station and turn back towards the finish line. Dan takes his time to ingest a gel, but he had grabbed a couple of others. One went into his pocket, but the other is now all over the darn place. Dan slows some more to get himself back together. The episode most likely doesn't cost Dan all that much time, but he now understands something that he should have done earlier: that he ain't gonna do a 1:49 or better today.

Dan tries to pick up the pace, but the two footbridges, traversed for the second time, slow him down some more. The final two and a half miles are flatter. He hits mile ten with a time of about 1:26, and then runs the final 5K in about 26 minutes. He crosses the finish line in 1:52. He wins his age group, and the award, a photo print of Cleveland from the Cuyahoga River, is pretty cool.

Uncancel

When you cancel your scheduled appearance for a run, then change your mind and actually attend, that's an uncanceling. I think more than one person did this today. The one that I'm sure of is Michelle Kelly-Daum. Frank Dwyer has been known to be on the fence for some runs as well, and he was a maybe for this one as well, but I'm not sure whether he officially canceled and uncanceled. Let's go ahead and add him to that latter category (the uncancelers) anyway, just because he deserves it. Chadwick and Ella Sunday and Sharon Sibilski were very solid maybe-attendees. It turned out that all those listed, and even yours truly, did indeed make it to Hinckley to start today's run.

There was a good reason to cancel today. The weather was particularly nasty. For anyone who would listen, I stated that thirties and rain is not high on my list of favorite running conditions. But once we got moving, things didn't seem quite so bad, especially as the rain and cold wind subsided. Or maybe we were simply lost in conversation and no longer noticed how miserable we all were.

As folks were leaving, I jogged around for another mile. That's when the rain resumed. Along with some sleet and freezing rain, just for fun.

Running Out West, March, 2025

The Lady Adventurer and the Old Geezer spent a couple of weeks visiting national parks in the Southwest. Here’s a brief story about Mr. Geezer’s running during the trip. There wasn’t a lot of it, since we were quite busy and always on the move. The runs were outside the parks, since that’s where we were staying. The exception was Big Bend National Park, where we stayed at the park lodge in the middle of everything.

In order to visit White Sands National Park, we stayed in Las Cruces, NM. I did a little four-mile jog there, but I didn’t do such a great job of finding a good running location. I was mostly on main roads, and the traffic began to build as my run progressed. I’m sure there are nice places to run here, but I just didn’t find them.

In Big Bend N.P., the location was stunning: it was in a basin, surrounded by the Chisos Mountains. There’s only one road, and I ran on it, stopping at times to enjoy the dark skies. I ran up and down a couple of more times in order to get us started on the Lost Mine Trail Hike. Everything was vertical. And slow. With all the jogging and hiking, I did spend over seven hours on my feet that day. Good ultra training for this former ultra runner.

So far on this trip, most of my runs have been “runs.” By that I mean just shuffles. But in Roswell (en route to Great Sand Dunes N.P.), what began as a “run” turned into a real run. I’d been looking for a track at New Mexico Military Institute. I found one, but it was locked up as tight as a drum. But there was another one across the street. Remember cinder tracks? Me neither. But this was similar, except it was dirt and sand rather than cinders, and it was ½-mile, rather than 440 yards. A few circuits later, I was really running. Too bad I only had time for five miles.

Alamosa, Colorado, is the town closest to Great Sand Dunes National Park, so that’s where we stayed for a couple of nights. It’s the home of Adams State University, nationally known for being cross-country champions. Little wonder – the elevation is above 7,500 feet. In the nearby park, it’s above 8,000. Also no wonder that my run here was not all that fantabulous. I did eventually get into a rhythm, although the whole 3 miles were still pretty slow. It was unexpectedly nice however - I found some great trails along the Rio Grande River.

Sunrise during Alamosa run

Alamosa run

I made another pleasant discovery in Montrose. There is a series of trails along the Uncompahgre River, and they start just down the street from the Fairfield Inn that we were inhabiting. Even though I stayed on the main paved trails, I still managed to get a little bit lost a few miles South. There are some nice parks here, and it turns out to be a nice place to run.

Uncompahgre River

In Cortez, Colorado, I started my run on the hotel treadmill. This wasn't a whole lot of fun, but at least I got 5 miles in. Then, it was time to go outside for another 5. Or so I hoped. I wound up running so darn slow that I only managed 4. So I continued to be unable to get up to ten miles. Oh well. Nice sunrise, anyway.

Finding myself on a roll (not as in running well, but in finding good places to run), I found a nice trail to explore in Show Low, Arizona. Once again, it was cool and the elevation was a factor, but there was a nice sunrise. Once again, I ran slow and not very far (four miles), but I enjoyed it.

Our last stop was Albuquerque. After warming up on the hotel mill, I ventured out into the cold. This time, I didn't find any place wonderful in which to run, but the area around the University of New Mexico and some nearby neighborhoods were okay enough. I didn't get lost too much, but if I did, I would have been able to say, "I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque." That's a Bugs Bunny slogan - he would say that whenever he became lost. This turned out to be my only double-digit-mileage run of the trip. Even so, it was as slow as the rest of them.

For the trip, I managed to run in each and every location. Unfortunately, I didn't run very well or very much. Blame it on the elevation. Or perhaps sloth, my favorite deadly sin. Upon returning home, I'll have some getting-back-into-shape to do.

 For the real story about the trip, check out the travel blog post about it.