Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. I was tempted to drive-in for my work commute and run later but I thought a day of rest from running would be better in the long run. I clearly have been eating too much lately, first in preparation for the races last weekend, then afterward.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. I was feeling the winds from the south. They were making me sweat in my work clothes though I tried to avoid it.

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. US Ultra Long Championships. I was looking forward to running this but like the Middle Distance race the day before, I got off to a bad start. I had trouble adjusting to the 1:15,000 scale and completely didn't see the trail route to #1. I crossed through some green areas and eventually popped out onto the trail above the control. Dropping down, I passed it and saw one of the two rootstocks in the area before relocating much further down. I was 19 minutes in before getting to it and that was probably about 14 minutes too long. I just wasn't seeing things well enough on the map.

Dismayed, I slogged my way toward #2. I hung in there knowing it was going to be a long race and that others could have troubles later. I hit #2 and #3 pretty well (and I saw Sergiev Krum(?) around both of these) but I was still feeling a bit shaky with reading the map and navigating it. On the way to #4, I ended up being with Bernie Parker. We were descending most of the way to a tricky control and just being around each other seemed to help me gain confidence. As we attacked from one reentrant to another higher up, I climbed higher than a straight attack would have taken me and I did so to go around some green. Somehow I lost Bernie in the process as I spiked the control. I kept expecting to see him pop over a hill after I'd punched but never did.

In doing this, I lost focus and ended up doing a 180 back the direction that I'd come from. To recover, I did an abrupt u-turn and didn't focus on the best route. Instead of taking a road like many probably did, I ran straight at it. This did have the fortune of keeping me out of a marsh that was on the way to the road but also kept me off-route for the food stops that were on the road. The route felt fast. Spiking the control increased my confidence and I was also glad that I was running fairly strong still.

On the way to #6, I'd gone a fairly direct route and gotten to one of two green areas before a road at the top of a big hill. I used the edge of the green as an attack point and as I was descending toward what I thought was where the control would be, I saw Clint Morse and another guy coming up from the right. I realized then that I was too far left. I'd mistaken one green boundary for another and it was lucky that I crossed Clint's path when I did. Clint had started all 3 races this weekend ahead of me and the last two he started 2 minutes ahead. When I caught him, I felt somewhat relieved to know that I'd made-up a lot of my error at #1. I was almost 2 minutes behind again at #6 and as I was attacking #7, Clint said that I was gaining on him. I saw him again at #8, and just before #9; I'd spiked each of these.

On the way to #10, the best way for me was up a long road. I never looked back but felt I was pulling ahead. I passed Jeff Shapiro along the way. I was running mostly on the grassy part, next to some gravel and think I hear one of the namesake residents as I ran along--a rattlesnake. The road run was a slog. My left knee was hurting a bit but the road made for the easiest running with fairly a good attack point too. Just before #10 I started to cramp and tripped just after this started. It didn't last long and perhaps eating my second Gu at this time helped keep it away. I hit the marsh that the control was on about 30m uphill from the control.

Going to #11, I started straight then realized it would be best to go around a bit again, on a road to a field and an intermittant trail. I ran this leg pretty well, stopping only for a water stop. On the intermittant trail, I hesitated at just the right spot and the stopping let me see the control to my right.

The way to #12 was downhill at first to some marshland. I was running pretty well still. I didn't have a great plan except to get to a road on the other side. I'd skipped this marsh area earlier on my way to #5 via a more direct route. When I hit it this time it was easy to cross initially. However, I soon got stuck at a waterline surrounded by thick green. I knew where I was. I backed out and reasoned it best to go around on the right side to some white woods. I started to do this but cut in again too soon crossing the water on a beaver dam and again getting stuck in some thick green underbrush. After finally getting to the road and turning left for less than a minute, Clint Morse popped out too. We ran together to a water stop where he stopped to get some water. I felt good with only a little way left to go so I didn't stop. Since we were together, Clint knew that he was 2 minutes behind me and that it'd be difficult to make it up on me before the end. I spiked the last two controls and ran the downhill finish at a good pace.

I was mostly happy about the run despite the bad start. I'd gotten to some tough controls in a type of terrain that I'm less familiar with. A lot of the white woods were greener than expected. They were often bland too. It felt like a rogain for the first couple of controls. I also was happily surprised that I was able to run at a good pace for the whole race. Even when I was making errors, I was moving most of the time. I hope this will help me in the other longer races this Fall. My actual distance traveled was just over 12 miles according to my GPS track.

UltraLong: Red X - Splits

Event: US Sprint & UltraLong champs
 

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. Warm-up from the parking area to the start area. I cut the time a bit close thinking I had a 10:06am start but it turned out okay. I actually was to start the race at 10:09am.

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. US Sprint Championships. I started out okay but made too many bobbles and was probably just running too slow too. None of my errors were huge but amounted to half a minute here and there. Along the way, I'd caught Clint Morris and Jeff Shapiro. Clint passed me back when I made an error and did not recover with a poorer route choice going around instead of crossing some rough open. I felt just enough winded along the way that I didn't feel I was able to run fast when needed. Whenever I got off course a little bit, the 1:4,000 wooded map also had me appearing to make a much bigger error. I guess this is a baseline for a return to A-meet racing.

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. Middle Distance. I started out getting drawn off my line by a control that I shouldn't have gone too. I think the switch from 1:4,000 in the morning to 1:10,000 in this race contributed to that. I was feeling better when I spiked the next two and caught-up to Clint Morris who had started two minutes ahead of me. However, as I was leading Clint toward #6, I got confused by a trail that I couldn't see on the map--it was partially obscured by the course leg line to the control. Clint got away and made-up the time I'd caught on him after that. Also from that point on, it seemed like most of the trails on the map confused me. For a while I started ignoring the trails--my eyes aren't as good as they were. At least some of what I saw were newly created elephant trails from orienteers going to various controls. I was hesitant and made errors in the rough open areas too. I had hoped to do better but it will have to be another day.

Middle: Red X - Splits

Sprint: Red - Splits

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. I returned in the middle of the day to pickup Max and head out for the ROC A-meet.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was much cooler this morning. We got a late start and also ran into much more traffic along the way.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was nice and cool returning to home and drier than it was in the morning. I ran into some traffic again getting through downton Bethesda. I came pretty close to running late this evening but I had too many errands to do and spent a while inspecting construction at home.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. This day just started off wrong. After I got the scale to work, I weighed in heavy somewhat inexplicably and nothing else seemed to work either--not even the toaster. I wanted to run later but I couldn't locate both my work shoes and running shoes. I gave up on that but still planned to drive to the metro station and I found that the interior lights had been left on, killing the battery. I finally got my bike and trailer ready and endured the chain skipping while trying not to sweat in my work clothes again.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. After dinner out and another trip to the store to pickout building materials for our house addition work, Peggy and Max dropped me back at the Bethesda Metro Station in the dark so that I could get my bike and trailer. It was pleasantly cooler.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was yet another nice cool morning. I was a bit sore this morning. Had it not been for the ROC US Sprint and Long Champs races coming up, I would have liked to have ridden all the way into work.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. I left work with clouds in the sky and by the time I reached Bethesda on the metro train, the rain there was over. I had intended to run on the way home but I'd left too late for that. The result was having to ride home in my work clothes with it still warm out and the humidity being very high. I sweat a bunch more than I'd wanted to :( To make matters worse, my bike chain, which had been skipping a lot for a while now, was getting worse. Just starting from a stop to cross a road popped it off the crank today--I thought I'd broken it. I had tried derailer adjustment before the ride yesterday but it's something like a bad chain link that squeaks and skips with two different cycle periods yet it is still regular. Being stuck in the busy intersection and having my fingers get greasy while sweating in my work clothes wasn't fun. I managed to push myself and the trailer across.

One other development that's a bit disconcerting is the development of some foot pain. As I was going to lunch after getting off the elevator and while walking across a flat lobby my left foot gave some sharp pain below and in front of what I'll call my elbow (outer side ball-like joint). I hadn't tripped or anything. My left knee had also been feeling uncomfortable before this, like it needed to be popped but it wouldn't. The pain on my foot felt similar except a lot more intense--like something was going to pop outward from the top left side of my foot if I put too much pressure on it. I was worried I'd have to turn back but I shook it off. It hurt a few more times like that during the day but with less intensity. Maybe it was the result of pushing too hard on the ride yesterday. I'll have to just watch this for a while.

C • foot 8