Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., Greenwich Park, to Old Georgetown Rd. to W. Cedar La. to Rockville Pike, to Woodmont Ave. to St. Elmo Ave. to Wilson Ln. to Custer Rd. Peggy was out this morning course setting and I visited my parents, taking them and Max to the Air & Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. All of that mixed with the arrival of rain meant that I could not go field checking as planned. I was a bit loath to run in the rain and I felt a bit chilled before going out. Most of the rain I encountered was light or steady. I wore a gortex jacket but took it off after about the first mile. Starting out, I could still feel lunch in my stomach and I had some more left knee pain which has frequented the start of many of my recent runs. I also noticed in two places that not only are the acorns falling now (they didn't grow last year in the area prompting some scares of squirrel starvation--when running the previous night, I heard some falling), but some walnuts have been falling too. I noticed some walnut balls on the sidewalks in two places on the run today and was glad that I hadn't twisted an ankle running near them recently in the dark recently.

From Northfield Rd., Greenwich Park, to Old Georgetown Rd. to Beech Dr. to to Singleton Dr. to Bulls Run Pkwy., to the trail along the school to Bradmore Dr. to Folkstone Rd. to Hartsdale Ave. to Heampstead Ave. to McKinley St. to Garfield St., to Roosevelt St., to the trail at Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. I had intended to ride to and from work this morning but since it was raining, I went to plan B. Having left work late again, I ran after dinner. I had an uncanny repeat of a route that I did just on September 9th, a little over two weeks ago, except that I ran it backwards. The weather was similarly breezy and cool but less humid. What was odd was that I ran the exact same time, down to the second. I wasn't trying to do this (I couldn't remember the actual time as I was running) though I worked harder for the last mile which had more uphill. I had run the route backwards because overall by distance, the way I went tonight has more downhill.

From the Friendship Heights Metro Station (at the DC/MD border), I ran from Western Ave. to Friendship Blvd. to Willard Ave. to the trail in Willard Park, to River Rd. to the Capital Crescent Trail to Dorset Ave. to Kennedy Dr. to Bradley Blvd. to Huntington Pkwy., to Irvington Ave. to Madison St. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. Though I still left a bit late, I was ready this time to run after work. It was still humid but cooler than I thought it would be--only in the mid to upper 70s F. I took it at a steady pace and added on the loop at the end to get closer to 5 miles. I was fortunate not to have to pickup my car or bike today after the run since after meeting with our builder in the morning, Peggy dropped me off at the Bethesda Metro Station.

From Northfield Rd. to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to Cheshire Dr.. to Grosvenor Rd. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail at Fleming Ave. to Old Georgetown Rd. to Northfield Rd. via Greenwick Park. After chatting with my neighbor who was walking his dog, I got running a little before 10pm. All during the day earlier I had been feeling very tired. My thighs even felt a soreness which was absent on Monday. Perhaps it was a delayed reaction, my run the day before or not getting enough sleep. However once I got running on this night, I felt fine. I took it at a comfortable pace. Even with it still in the mid-70's and being humid, enjoyed it feeling cooler than the during the daytime. This was a nice little flatish route even though most of it is along what most would consider a busy road. At 10pm it's almost quiet.

Today didn't go as planned in many ways. As far as my workout, I had planned a longer run but once again left work too late to do that. My parents also stopped by and dropped off some holiday food so I couldn't run home with that. I finally ran after eating dinner. I got out at around 11pm, having waited until I digested. I often do that with this run. Before the run I'd been watching the first half of "The Meaning of Life"; Monty Python's often crude yet still cleverly funny attempt to bring some sense of our existence.

From Northfield Rd. I ran up to Custer Rd., to Wilson La., to Exeter Rd. to Glenbrook Rd. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to the NIH grounds, to Maple Ridge Rd. to Georgetown Pike, to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd. to Northfield Rd. It was warmish, in the mid 70s F and humid. I felt some soreness fromt he weekend but I think most of my lethargy was from not getting enough sleep fretting about home addition progress. My legs wouldn't move very fast but once again it was probably the fastest that I've done this route.

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