Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., I rode across neighborhood roads to Greentree Rd., then up Fernwood Rd. to Democracy Blvd. I picked up the Cabin John Trail from there following it all the way to Seven Locks Rd. Heading north on Seven Locks Rd. I used Bradley Blvd. to get to Huntington Pkwy. then back to Northfield Rd. Since I'd gotten my mountain bike back from storage and had a little time, I used it for the best. A lot of this was on paved roads but there were almost 3.2 miles of moderately difficult single track. The single track is what I chose the route for. An expert wouldn't think twice about cycling the Cabin John Trail but it was a fair accomplishment for me. I was happy to be able to get past many obstacles which I seriously doubted my ability on. I guess I've retained my balance and am in a moderate enough of a cycling condition to have pulled it off. I got snagged in a few places and needed to put a foot down. I only fell over once climbing out of an S-curve both rooted and rocky. There was a drop off to my right with some not so nice vegetation and in slow motion I lost enough balance to end up with the bicycle higher than my head. This was on the part of the trail between River Rd. and Seven Locks Rd. That section was rather overgrown and not so easy to get through. I rode with my GPS watch and on the roads home I kept trying to lower my average pace to get it under 6 minutes a mile. I'd been slow enough on the single track that even climbing, I lowered the average from almost 7 minutes a mile to the 5:55 range. It was a fun outing with more great weather.

Today before the ride I got Max a pumpkin. I sort of named it Max on the drive home since my son's shirt was orange too--this both chagrined and amused him. My parents finally gotten to see our new house this day too and after the bicycle ride I got very close to finishing the unloading of the storage crates that were delivered last Saturday. I guess that's not bad for a Columbus Day holiday.

Event: QOC: Pohick Bay
 

QOC: Pohick Regional Park, VA. I woke up this morning feeling rather positive about being able to run and for the most part I was successful. I ran without knee problems during the race. I created my own navigational problems but recovered fairly well from these. I guess it's to be expected to not have any problems, having been the course setter for the event. However, I hadn't actually been in the woods prior to the event. Kris Beecroft and Valerie Meyer did all the work of putting out controls, epunch boxes, and water. There were several areas of the map needing updating which contributed to a few of my errors. I made my first error going to #2. I was a bit careless relying on memory rather than reading the map when I crossed the power line ride. I turned on it thinking I was turning on a road which was ahead. After correcting I attacked that control from the stream junction well below and missed, hitting the road right of the control. Going to #6, I started to make a error when crossing the reentrant junction but turing up too quickly but I recovered from that almost instantly. I ran rather inefficiently toward #7 by starting low, then going high and finally overshooting the spur a little. In my desktop thinking about designing that leg, I thought a good way to go would have been going low to the trail/field corner, then in but one does weird things once in the woods. Going high all the way would have been good for that control too. Getting to #8 I made my worst error by getting too high. I had a hard time convincing myself where I was when I pulled up at control #139 just before the road on the Green course. I couldn't remember which course it was on when I was there in the woods but knew enough to recover quickly (about a 2.5 minute error?). Going to #10 I got a bit distracted by some wayward cadets who were yelling for help. After finding them, I could see that they weren't hurt so I gave them a safety bearing to relieve them of being lost. I came to #10 via a western approach but was a bit too far north and in the green. I tried to go straight to #11 thinking the green would be the same mountain laurel that I'd just run through but it was a blowdown fight. I ended up going through more green than necessary and eventually using the trail past the control to get there. The rest was pretty clean for me and enjoyable running. Sorry about #14 being a bit deep. The map seemed to not be so deep. The area around #15 seems to have been changed by some serious erosion. I think I'd map it with an earth bank. That control was down on the ground when I came through. I set it up again but lost a slight bit of time when I was above it and I didn't see it where expected. I was kind of happy to spike #18 but realized as I was leaving it that I would be just a bit too slow to better Dave Pruden's time.

C • Flying hands! 3

Pohick Regional Park, VA. After finishing the Blue course, Kris and Valerie asked for some help picking up controls. I figured that they really needed the help since and that I'd have just a bit of time so I acquiesed. I kind of missed picking up controls anyway. It's a good warmdown a both Kris and Valerie had suggested but it's also some good practice since it focuses me on reading more than running. As I started down the dirt road to my first control, my knee started complaining. It was just too hard for too long with my O'shoes still on. I walked a little before starting to jog again. I made a slight boo boo leaving a big reentrant. Also, as I look at the map now, I hope I didn't leave one which might have been assigned to me...

C • Don't worry 3

QOC: Pohick Regional Park, VA. As we got to the park, Max expressed interest in wanting to run the streamer-O course. He hadn't done so for a long time. I suppose my promting him sometimes sunk in. I quickly got him out there before he got distracted. I started to try to teach him about aligning the map to north but it was quickly giving him a glazed look. I navigated him to the first control and we picked up the streamers from there. Max was actually running for a lot of this. Crossing the disc golf area the trails seemed incorrect and the streamers followed an old trail that doesn't really exist at one point. Nicole Lennon passed us just after the 4th control with Kathleen Lennon right behind her. As we neared to finish, Max started to get distracted having seen Alex Merka. I made sure we finished. He got a certificate and two sticker for having completed this course and one from earlier this year.

Blue - Splits

From Northfield Rd. to downtown Bethesda where I had lunch. I later went to some of the parking lots to checkout potential future locations that I might want to use when there's bad weather. I also detoured past our old place on Rosedale Ave. before returning along the NIH grounds. Our old place looks a little different from the outside already. A big chime is hanging on the porch and the west garden has begun to subside. Before all of this I had spent several hours unloading two 5'x8'x6.5' storage units that had been delivered this morning. It was a lot of lifting.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD to Montgomery Ave. via Bethesda Ave. and the Georgetown Branch Trail, to 13th St. SW, Washington, D.C. via the Georgetown Branch Trail and the Capital Crescent Trail. It was a bit warmer this morning with temperatures around 55F. I felt sluggish perhaps from not commuting much lately or the extra running this week. I rode mostly alone with it being calm for winds but I did get some help with a pull the last mile into Georgetown.

From 13th St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. Pace varied a bunch. Initially I caught a perfect draft off a double decker bus as I rounded the Jefferson Memorial and moving at about 25mph. The bus was old and the exhaust nearly did me in. I was still tasting it a mile after the bus had stopped. I kept a good pace from there moving through up the trail to about the MacArthur Blvd. tunnel, only slowing where there was a lot of pedestrian traffic. I must have had the wind with me because as I turned with the trail toward Bethesda, I slowed a good bit. I was 39:13 at Max's day care facility where I picked up his trailer.

Bethesda, MD. From Northfield Rd. to Montgomery Ave., via the Exeter Rd., Bethesda Ave. and the Georgetown Branch Trail., then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the tunnel again. This morning it was damp and sort of muggy from rains last night. With the recent running training, I felt it best to have an easier day. I rode with my work clothes.

From Bethesda Metro Station to Montgomery Ave. to Northfield Rd. Going home it was already at the end of dusk and the beginning of night. I was wearing my work clothes again. Towing Max's trailer, it was still nice riding the quiet streets in the dark but I was starting to get hot. It was kind of muggy. A couple blocks from home I got tangled in a lot of pedestrian traffic. Many observing Yom Kippur were returning to their cars after services.

Silver Spring, MD. From Rte. 29, north on the old trail on the east side of the Northwest Branch creek. This trail had been newly named the Rachael Carson Trail. I took it to the wooden bridge near Kemp Mill Rd. and Wheaton Regional Park, then returned south on the west bank of the Northwest Branch creek, on the Northwest Branch Trail. Off work early again this day, I had sought to captialize this time by this trail run. The last time I ran a similar route, the trail on the east bank of the creek was not maintained. It's now been rerouted in a few places and has been blazed. The trail forks a lot so despite the blazes, I took a few wrong turns heading up stream. There was a lack of consistent trail markings at various intersections and other less obvious places. Like before, I once again imagined mapping this as a practice map, good for just doing map reading and running while on a trail. There was lots of rock detail, contouring and vegetation changes. The first part of the Rachael Carlson Trail was more rugged than the Northwest Branch Trail. It went up and down more as well as in and out of many smaller reentrants. It took me about 34:45 to reach the turn around point. The run back usually seems to have more reentrants than I could remember and this time was no exception. I'm a bit surprised that I was able to keep up this pace since it's faster than I had been doing on roads recently. Though my measurement was only an estimate using GMaps Pedometer, it was possible. I was working steadily with my lighter trail shoes and the softer ground helped me from hurting too much.

After getting through the traffic and driving home, Peggy and I went out for a rare night without Max. Our realtor had invited us to a customer appreciation night and private showing of the old Jack Lemmon but colorized version of "How to Murder Your Wife" at the American Film Institute. It was funny, a bit farcical and not too kind to women--an odd choice for a varied audience of home buyers but it was our realtor's favorite movie. I hadn't had time for dinner before the movie so I ate a bunch of popcorn and peanut butter cups--the beginning of Halloween munching?

From Northfield Rd. to Moorland Ln. to Grant St. to Sonoma Rd. to Hempstead Ave. into Arlawn Park, to Lindale Dr. to Melvern Dr. to Tulsa Ln. into Wyngate Woods Park, to Marywood Rd. to Fernwood Rd. to Bradley Blvd. to Huntington Pkwy., to Northfield Rd. Due to some off site meetings at work today, I got home early and was able to get out for a run around the neighborhood. I'd done a variation of this loop a long time ago but had sort of improvised this time as I went. I found a small tangle of trails in both of the parks as well as welcome relief from the paved roads. As I ran, I realized that part of my slowness is that my stride has changed. By focusing more, I could stretch it out and carry momentum too. I could have used a toilet.