Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC: Fountainhead
 

CSU Pine Hill A-Meet at Middlesex Fells Reservation, MA. It was already in the mid-70's F at around 9am. I jogged around the high school parking lot, up the trail to the start, then back and forth. It didn't take much to warm-up.

CSU: Pine Hill; in Middlesex Fells Park, MA. I started out fairly well on this but faded gradually. With my sprained left ankle taped but still swollen, it held up pretty well. The worst error I had was in the #6/#7/#8 butterfly loop. I spiked #6 and on the way to #7 I was surprised to find a pond on my route. I took it to be one that was further to my right mapped in blue but really it was a small depression clearing that had filled-up with water just a little bit to the right of going straight. Attacking from the pond to #7, I spiked it but was again surprised to have it come up so soon. It was fortunate that neatly enough for this to work. These two surprises should have clued me in to an error but didn't. Going to #8, I figured half unconciously if it was so short to get to the pond, I should just go straight at it from there. I never really noticed the trail option to the left. The unfortunate part was that attacking from the false pond did not line up well enough as attacking from the mapped pond would have. I came up short and was confused seeing the trail. I went back to the pond and tried again but eventually I relocated on the trail and went straight to it. This cost me about 4-5 minutes. I made another eggregious error while running well over the ridge to #11. I read the curved cliff near it but kept on past it down toward the highway before realizing I should have been up near the top. I tired in the warmth after that. I made small errors which were probably induced by lack of physical conditioning. Some were bad route choices but some were just bad. I should have paused to drink at the second road crossing since that time was not on the race clock but since I'd just caught up and passed a bunch of folks and thought the end was near, I was reluctant to. I rushed off with a bad bearing and had to cross the stream off-trail for some more time lost. It was greener the last loop or so but I wasn't reading things very well toward the end. I even flubbed getting to the Go control by passing a turn. It took almost another minute to figure it out. Overall, I feel that I could do much better. I was not overly disapointed however. It was a fun weekend altogether and I did run some legs well. I continue to look forward to getting in better physical shape through better training. My left knee hurt some more but not as much this time as it did after the Flying Pig.

After a nice lunch and ice cream Peggy, Max and I spent some time at Stone Zoo which was very near the Middlesex Fells Reservation. It was surprising to find the variety they had in such a small place. Some of it was depressing but most of the facilities were pretty good. The bears, coyote, wolves, moutain goats and big cats were the best. After this, Max and I saw and enjoyed the movie Bolt in our hotel room.

Sunday Red (raw) - Splits

Sunday Red - Splits

Event: CSU Pine Hill A-meet
 

CSU: Pine Hill; in Middlesex Fells Park, MA. I had been running on the trails in this park almost 2 years ago with Kristin and Andy Hall so I knew it would be a place that I'd have to be careful. It was a warm day (in the 80s F) and it didn't take long to feel it. I started to go on the wrong trail on the way to #1 but backed up and corrected that. Leaving another trail from pretty close to the right elevation, I attacked, recognized some small areas of mapped medium green amidst some light green and spiked the control. My mapping experience helped here and I felt a bit more confident. The epunch box didn't beep so I stayed there longer than needed trying to punch it again and again. Going to #2 was quick after that so I rushed a bit going to #3. I went left around the green going to #3 and lost my mind. I'd never corrected to the right and when I got to a pine needle laden area, I didn't realize I was crossing a trail. I saw some features ahead which I incorrectly recognized as a spur on the map. It wasn't on the map at all. Attacking from it, I succeeded in running off the map. The area was marked as settlement and showed no contours or other features. It was not really settlement area but just out of bounds woods. The losing my head part was interpreting the green as some sort of changing shoreline for the lake beyond. I lost 10 minutes findng the control and didn't figure all this out until getting my map back after the run. Oh well. I didn't give up from there and proceeded to do pretty well. I had some slight bobbles at #12, #14, #15, and #16 but these were small errors on short legs. Going down from the water tower (the only place that I could recognize with assurity from my run with Kristin), I was looking ahead and stumbled a bit on something. It was enough for a twisted left ankle, but not bad enough to stop me.

C • losing ones mind 2

Warm-up at Middlesex Fells, off Fallon Dr.

Saturday Red Open - Splits

Woburn, MA. At our hotel, Max and I splashed around in the pool. Actually Max displayed his first trepidations at entering cold water. Perhaps I gave him too much or a warning. It was fine after a short while for me. Later in the day we joined the Hall children and Kristin Hall and observed real water creatures at the New England Aquarium--very nice. I find it amazing at how much life seems to be concentrated in cold waters.

Patuckaway State Park, NH. After flying up in the morning, Peggy, Max and I got to the park. Our plan was to find a playground for Max while Peggy and I took turns running. The park was open but the road into it was closed. While Peggy ran, Max and I hiked on the road to the area where the Sprint Champ Series Championships were started from in 2005. I don't think we'd been in the park since then. With a lot of windiness, it was cool enough for jackets and it occasionally sprinkled.

Pawtuckaway State Park, NH. Starting from a pavillion near Neals Cove I traded Max and my jacket for an orienteering map of Pawtuckaway. I followed a portion of The Mega world record course backwards, covering controls 180-175 and 156 - 130. Initially it was difficult. Some standing water and the disheavled needle floor made it hard to go straight. I stepped into a hidden hole in the first 10 seconds. It also made it harder seeing big boulders that would be mapped in most places but which were too abundant to be mapped in this park. At one point going to #175, I thought I'd found 3 distinct large boulders but they were different ones. However soon I got used to the map and was able to follow along pretty well. It helped that The Mega course had so many controls (the WR attempt was a total of 203 controls) and wasn't super long. The controls were usually spaced about 100m apart. It was a bit like following streamers but without actually having controls to aid me, this training was pretty good. I had to keep slow enough to read my way along. The distance is a rough estimate. I ran in trail shoes at a comfortable pace I left the mapped area to get to the Visitor Center. Discovering that Peggy and Max weren't there, I then I ran back down the hill to meet them.

Patuckaway State Park, NH. After meeting Peggy and Max on the park road near Mountain Pond, I picked up Max and carried him up the hill to our car at the Visitor Center.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Georgetown Branch tunnel. It was a bit damp out with more rain and cool temperatures expected. I could feel some soreness from the run yesterday.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail. I rode home late and it was getting dark.

Washington, D.C. From 14th & Independence Ave.. SW., to 15th St., then along the Tidal Basin to the 14th St. Bridge, to the Mt. Vernon Trail, onto Roosevelt Island, onto the Roosevelt Bridge, along Constitution Ave. and past the pond to 17th St. up to the Washington Monument, to 14th St., SW, to Independence Ave. and to 12th St., SW. After my late afternoon meeting at work I rushed back to check on the weather and decided it best to run a loop from work. It was already getting cool with rainy skies. I opted to go out over the 14th St. bridge because I thought it advantageous with the winds that were picking up. As I waited for my GPS to track satellites, I saw one runner go by rather quicly. Later after getting going myself, I continued to see him ahead. I couldn't tell if I was going to catch him but as I neared the end of the bridge I could see that he had turned toward the airport on the other side. I kept up the good pace that I started but I didn't feel like I was working hard to do it. On the one measured mile along my overall route, I clocked 6:58 and was surprised. It was overall slightly downhill and the wind was either behind or neutral. I figured I'd extend what was going to be a 4.5 mile route by going to Roosevelt Island. I didn't expect it to be 6 miles before finishing. As I was doing this, the first rain drops sprinkled about. As I got onto the island, the winds shifted in my favor such that they ended up pushing me all the way back--they were basically in my favor the whole route. As I climbed my way onto the Roosevelt Bridge at a very unofficial access point, I moved along fast. I could see a storm cell in its entirety moving toward DC. I was trying to stay ahead of it but the leading edge clouds had already drawn even. They were billowing downward and a distinct green lighting resulted. Lots of tourist were getting some great pictures. I had some traffic intersections which resulted in some fartlek going back. After getting in the building dry, I looked out and less than 30 seconds along everything outside was wet.