Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave., then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Georgetown Branch tunnel. I towed Max in his trailer. It was a nice calm morning and good for riding. Neither Max nor I were enthused about the start of a regular work/school week but I think it bothered him more than me.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave., to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail and Exeter Rd. It was dark and at first, a bit windy.

Event: QOC: Manassas
 

From Northfield Rd., to St. Elmo Ave. to Arlington Ave., to Northfield Rd. I towed Max on his Trail-a-Bike to lunch, a playground and the library for some books. He pedaled some.

With Peggy out vetting for the upcoming A-meet, the weather about average for this time of year, and feeling tired probably from a lingering cold, I didn't make it to the QOC meet in Manassas today.

C • QOC Meet 3

From Northfield Rd. to Custer Rd.to Huntington Pkwy. to Old Georgetown Rd. to Sonoma Rd. to Heampstead. Ave. to McKinley St. to Garfield St. to Roosevelt Ave. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. I had no lung power. My legs felt like jelly but it was good to get out. It was in the low 40s.

Lake Bernard Frank, MD. With my last day of use-or-lose leave, I had the day off again. One again I went to do more field checking. It was a bit colder but not so windy this time. Unless I've missed something in my notes, I finished-off the Smith Education Center areas. There was lots of detail with many manmade objects and buildings. I found a few thorns too but most of the area was nice. In one area there were two strange lines of debris made from trees--sawed-up trunks stacked 2-3 ft high, 5-8 ft wide and 10's of meters long. I'm not sure how to map them since they are manmade. Eventually they'll become dot knolls or small earth walls but I think I'm going to say they are a fence for now.

My knee was aching this morning until I was able to pop it. It's good most days but I haven't been testing it running on roads much. Since the condition is not likely to get a lot better, I'm going to say I'm "healed" for now.

C • Great News 2

2008 Training Totals:

Activity Time Miles
Orienteering 123:22:08 268.80 Control Accuracy: 77%
Bicycling 116:43:33 1,521.96
Running 38:37:26 271.98
Hiking 8:41:29 13.43
Weights 4:20:00
Swimming 2:46:30
Calisthenics 57:00
Skating 30:00
Other 15:00

Though my running miles were amongst the lowest that I can remember for a whole year, it was expected with lots of time out due to a torn meniscus and surgery. I made up for it with cycling more miles than any year since perhaps 2001 or before. My weight jumped up to the highest ever over the summer but was back down to historic levels by the year end. I look forward to better training and competition results in 2009.

Lake Bernard Frank, MD. I had the day off so I went out to make more progress on the Lake Frank portions of the Rock Creek, Rockville map that I've been making. Winds were gusting in the area with reports of up to 56mph. In the extreme cases, one person died and a two year old was critically injured in a back yard. I've got big trees at our house so in retrospect, I don't think I was in any more risk going out than staying at home. The woods I was in sheltered me. It was cold too but it only affected me in one small portion on the lake shore. The day was productive. I covered some spots that I'd missed earlier and re-checked some other areas that I had drafted. The area is so detailed that I made some corrections but overall, I thought my previous work was good. I also finally got into the Smith Education Center areas. This will be a great place for sprints or short courses. It has lots of trails, various rock features and is not terribly hilly. There was a big mix of white, light green and a few small green areas. I hope to do more later this week.

To bring in the New Year, I had a nice evening with the Onkst's, Ted and Darcy Good, Max and Peggy. We hiked around Brookside Gardens in Wheaton Region Park at night in the cold to see the lights displays. They were better than I had hoped for with wonderful creations. Among them were images of a wolf, a bear, a frog that croaked, the Loch Ness Monster with a baby that growled, a red bird that flew back and forth through white trees, and a storm setting that was complete with raining clouds, lightning and a rainbow.

C • The 2-year old 1

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to Maple Ave. with Max, then to C St SW, Washington, D.C. (via Independence Ave). I must admit that my motivation for riding all the way to work today was to bring my total cycling miles for the year over my 2004 total. It was nice but slow. Part of the slowness was my cool weather gear (it was in the low 30s F) and part of it was being weak from lack of training. Certainly part of it was still having a cold. After crossing under the Roosevelt Bridge that goes into Virginia, I noticed a bird on a high tree on Roosevelt Island. Even at 1,000 feet away from me it was clear to me that it was a bald eagle just waiting for something. One of the few other cyclists that I saw this morning had stopped and actually had field glasses to see it better. With the leaves off the trees, I saw many things better this morning including an old and very delicate looking ruined chimmney spire just off the trail near Georgetown.

From 13th St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Maple Ave., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I left work at dusk. It seemed like the days are getting longer already which is true but my perception was probably more due to spending last week further north. A beautiful sunset was in progress with glassy waters on the Tidal Basin and the Potomac River. Venus and the crescent moon were lined up too. It was supposed to be 50F but felt colder when I started. I had packed away my jacket and it seemed to help me cut through the air better. I was moving slowly again, even when I tried to go faster which wasn't often. Others were slow too. Leaving Georgetown, it took me all the way to Fletcher's Boathouse to make-up about 60m on a guy. With our miscule differential, I was surprised to have opened a gap on him for a while but the guy almost passed me again near Falls Rd. where he turned off. Pushing off from a traffic light stop in Bethesda with the trailer re-attached, I started to cramp so I slowed more for a while before finishing tired.