Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC: Little Bennett
 

From Northfield Rd., I towed Max on his "new" trailer bike to/from a playground at Bradley Hills Elementary School.

QOC: Little Bennett Regional Park. My race today was a bit better than the one the previous night but not by much. I did feel tired earlier than normal however, I just made too many mistakes again. I had trouble keeping a straight bearing several times. I'm not sure the reason why. My compass had a bubble in it but it's been there many times before. The mistakes from the previous night also gave me enough uncertainty about what I was doing that I didn't I lacked confidence to make good decisions. Some of all this might come down to now being able to run faster than before and over-running my map reading ability in this terrain. I ran fast enough to the point of where oxygen debt helped me orienteer badly. Despite being tired early on, I trudged through well enough to the end.

Blue - Splits

Event: QOC: Little Bennett - Night-O
 

From Northfield Rd. I road the streets around Bethesda with Max. Max was happy to be able to use the fold away tow bike which we'd purchased from Clint Morris. At first, it was a shakey ride but Max got the hang of it quickly. The weather was great and in the 70F range. Rounding through the edge of the NIH campus, I looked over at a pond below surrounded by reeds. I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first. A man was sitting and seemed to be mixing something with the water. I understood later that he was homeless and sipping it. I guess times are getting worse. Max and I rode to the Lynbrook playground and then looped through downtown Bethesda for lunch.

QOC: Little Bennett Regional Park, MD. I had a lot of problems on this run. There were many ways in which I didn't do things right. Some of it I'll chaulk-up to being excited and trying to run too fast. Some of it had to do with not doing any night training or racing in a long time. I had some issues with my light too. The battery died on the one I used to use about a week ago. My Black Diamond Solaris is a good light but I've only previously used it for rogaining where I run slower. The headband was loose and so the beam was sometimes not pointing straight and sometimes pointing too high. I used medium power because I was unsure how long full power would last. A longer beam would have helped. I should have known to slow down. Working before the event, I saw Ken Walker finish in 50+ minutes and talked with Sam Listwak about the course being set easier. Even the cool air had me reved-up. I tried to stick with safe routes but even when I did, I missed on bearings. A lot of people were in the woods so their lights were sometimes distracting me from seeing the controls a few times when near. I tripped and stumbled a lot but thought I was running fairly well for the times when I wasn't lost. My GPS track shows that I covered 6.81 miles. The worst error was on #12 where I came across what I thought was a ditch. The only ditch I saw on the map in the area was past the control so I turned around only 30-40m from the control. That was a 7-8 minute errror. This race was disappointing but perhaps it'll spur me on to doing more training at night like I used to.

Long Advanced - Splits

Lake Frank, Montgomery County, MD. From the southern parking area I field checked mostly north of Lank Frank. Covering three reentrants and a broad hillside, I mapped a lot of vegetation and small cliffs. I found some more cairns but they are less frequent in this area. Vegetation was mostly a mix of light green to wide open.

45 situps. Rain was expected, work was busy and Peggy away so I ended up not having time to do much.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was supposed to rain today so I was planing on walking. After dropping Max off by car and going home it had already started drying off so I rode doned my helmet and rode around the construction to the station.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Northfield Rd. For the second night in a row with very short rides, my charged light didn't make it on, all the way home. I guess it's had it.

From Northfield Rd. to and around Arylawn park, up to Old Georgetown Rd. to Huntington Rd. to Custer Rd. and to Northfield Rd. I had gone out at around 10pm. It was breezy and damp but very nice--probably in the 60's F still. I'd been feeling bloated in the last day and thought the the run would do me good. It did.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda metro station. With rain coming and voting later on, I had driven Max to his day care facility and then gone back home before my short ride. There were still some construction detours. Perhaps I'll run a little bit tonight.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Battery La., then to Northfield Rd. On the way home in light drizzle, I stopped off to vote and am happy with the result.

Bethesda, MD. From Northfield Rd. to Montgomery Ave., then back via the Bethesda metro station, then back to the metro station again. I had gotten Max ready and to school, then I went off to work. It wasn't until I'd been most of the way to work on the train that I remembered I was on travel last week and had left my laptop. I had to go back and get it. My work and home life are so different that I compartmentalize my thoughts about them. I hardly think of work when I'm home but I do think of home when I'm at work... I was pretty tired from the long weekend. I had several detours for neighborhood street work in Bethesda. My knee was hurting while walking around too.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail. It was dark and I was in my work clothes but it felt pretty nice outside. Some of the roads which have been under construction were paved with a final smooth layer of asphalt. The lower part of my right hamstring is very tight. The left one is unaffected. I suppose it's a leftover effect from The Stumble since I was starting to cramp in that same spot. I also guess that my left leg didn't feel the cramping or after effect of tightness because I've often been favoring my right leg since surgery.