Training Log Archive: Nadim

US Team Trials: Lake Welch in Harriman State Park. Warm-up jog to the start of the Classic event. My heart rate looks to be kind of high for as easy as I was taking this jog. I hardly felt any strain.

US Team Trials: Classic. Rockhouse in Harriman State Park. I had some hopes for a decent navigation day though it didn't quite materialize. I started second to last and was caught by Jeff Saeger at the first control. I had stopped at the first set of rocks and done circles there before moving on. On the way to #2, I stayed a bit more right than Jeff did though he had decided his route faster and was ahead. As we neared the hill, I knew I needed to be more to the right but Jeff was still to the left. When I saw a control, I took-off for it even though I knew it was too far left still. I recalled that Peggy had done a similar thing. I knew enough not to run all the way to #3, and instead, used it to attack #2 which as only a short way away.

After punching #2 and #3, I took off ahead of Jeff. I wanted to stay in the open woods as much as possible so I ran through a valley rather than head for a trail to go over a hill. This meant that I'd have to get through some green which kept pushing me right. I got through most of the way on a deer trail which really helped with all of the blueberry and mountain laurel. I was able to correct by coming left and once I got over a ridge and saw some rocks, I felt I had a pretty good idea of where I was. Just ahead 100m, I saw Jeff with Phil Bricker in chase. They were just leaving the trail. I quickly assessed the flatish terrain and thought I was reading my way in to the control pretty well. Phil went left and Jeff went right at some point. With a nice reentrant and cliffs, I thought I was reading my way into #4 pretty well and got to a control just behind Jeff. I commented how I'd taken a different route here and felt it was neat getting there at about the same time again. He answered back about having not wanted to go through the green like I did and while listening I suppose, I didn't take a good look at the control code--this must have been the only one that I didn't read carefully all weekend and it appears to have been my downfall--I probably was never at #4. I took off heading for what I thought was #5 but (I'm still not 100% sure). I stayed high while Jeff fell back and as staying lower. The contours weren't that distinct and I wasn't too worried about it not matching up until I passed what I thought was a knoll and got to a clearing. I wandered back low to a reentrant where I saw Phil Bricker and found #6. I was perplexed at how I'd gotten so far past #6 and #5. I kept hugging the cliff tops and worked my way back to #5, the ran back to #6. As I was descending the reentrant to #7, Phil was still hunting around. I went to a spur to the left but right over to the control after that.

Going to #8, Phil got ahead a bit. We started hitting thick mountain laurel so I ran right more, and around it. Eventually I crossed a small intermittant trail and a marshy stream before hitting the main trail that I was looking for. We'd run through the woods more than we should have. On the trail, I moved out well. Leaving it near the lake, I ran right past #11 and a bit above #12 w/o seeing it. I felt good about my line but started second guessing myself when I didn't see it. I also got drawn off to the left by a Blue coures control. I ran higher, then u-turned at a reentrant. Doubting myself, I also thought I should come back to the Blue control to re-check the code. Eventually I found #8 lower than the Blue control and just past it. I ran the butterfly loop pretty smoothly. I was only off a little on #10, going to the lower spur to my left first. Back at #9 and #13, I spiked #14 and wondered a bunch about what to do with #15. I ran to the left a bit hugging the steeper hillside and cliffs after the saddle. I was running well despite the blueberry bushes. I crossed the intermittant trail and dismissed using it as it would have taken me down unecessarily. I crossed the streams at a bend where they were splitting an popped out on the trail just at a tiny kink, right where I wanted to be. I attacked from there and spiked the control.

I made a bad choice about leg #16. I started to go up the steep hill and past the radio tower. Once there, I chickened out about crashing down through the green on the hillside, even though I'd laid out a route with a lot of white woods on it. Wishy-washy, I noticed that the trail leading just under #16 came out near the long road down the mountain so I ran for it. I moved well but this little maneuver was unecessary had I seen the route earlier--I would have saved about 4 contours and some distance. After coming down the road and up the trail, I spiked #16. With #17 near a gate that I went past on the way to the start, I wasn't worried about hitting it, but I hit it efficiently too. In the process, I'd closed distance on a junior. Going to the finish, I tried to chase him down but only managed to get to his heels. We'd both left the pavement. My spikes were bothering my feet but the sand slowed us too. I'd seen Sergei Zheik several times on the course as he picked-up controls and saw him on this run-in with a bag full of controls in tow and I was barely going faster than him while working hard myself.

After downloading, I didn't immediately realize that I had no split time for #4. My other splits were wierd and I show punching #5 twice so I probably did mistake #5 for #4--sad but true. I can at least take away from the weekend that I was able to run better than expected, given my poor training. I rubbed my calfs before the race this morning and can definately feel soreness in my right calf and achilles tendon that is not present in my left leg. I'll just need to keep being careful while trying to get in some running and bicycling training.

Event: 2010 US Team Trials for WOC
 

Harriman State Park, NY. Warm-up from the Lake Welch parking lot to the start of the US Team Trials on the Rockhouse map.

US Team Trials on the Rockhouse map at Harriman State Park. For this middle distance race, I once again started slowly. I used the trail to get a feel for the terrain but when the vegetation started looking high, I cut over and ended low on the first control. I would have to have been in white woods to have done that from the map but the mouthain laurel looked green to me. I got drawn-off going to #2 by a Blue course runner and a trail through the blueberries. It took some circling before I turned back and got to the control. For #3, I got very near the control, saw another person go to a rock and leave without punching, and then I ran further. I got back to the initial rock after much flailing. My way to #4 was navigated okay but through a lot of bad vegetation. I got to it just as Peter Gagarin came in from behind. I hit #5 a bit too far to the left and perhaps drew Peter off. Going to #6, I hesitated a long while once again to come-in behind Peter. Going to #7, I ran well and pulled ahead of Peter. Another woman whom I'd seen at #3 got to that boulder ahead of me and gave it away. Going to #8, I contoured around the hillside and recognized a flat area after crossing the power lines. As I got near, I again saw the woman at #8 punch but a lot of other people didn't see the control until I got there. I ran up the stream to #9, and hit #10 and #11 pretty well. On the way to #12, I followed the more flat runnable terrain until I got to the ridge where the control was, then I climbed along the ridge. Unfortunately, I pulled-up short and didn't figure it out until just long enough to get there in front of Peter Gagarin, who'd come from a reentrant rather than up the ridge. I got to #13 over a ridge pretty well. I was a bit to the right on #14 and Peter caught me to give it away. At #15, I started to the right but when I heard Peter yell it sounded like left to me. He was probably just yelling at himself but I went left only to waste time on a rocky ridge. I went back higher but past where I was before and had to come back. Peter and another guy got it before me. I closed the distance on them going to #16 and again going to #17 as they hesitated looking left before the control when I knew it to be further. It was downhill from there and more runnable than the rest of the course had been. I opened it up and got ahead but I got distracted after crossing a stream and seeing a Blue control. Peter passed me and I didn't catch him until he'd punched #18. On the run-in, I hesitated, looking at the map and fogetting it was streamered. I gave chase to Peter and closed the distance. It was too narrow to pass though I'm not sure I would have done that anyway. After the race, I jogged a little but walked most of the way back. My right quad was aching a bit and I thought it might be some new muscle injury. I eventually found that I'd only abraised it pretty well on what probably was some vegetation.

US Team Trials: Sprint. Lake Welch in Harriman State Park. I was the last starter so I'd seen some people running through a spectator control and at the finish. When I started, I ran up the trail but mistook an uncrossable fence as a black line to be the trail. It extended well past the start triangle on the so I figured I'd already past that and needed to navigate over a small knoll before crossing a field. I set a bearing and soon saw a control on the other side of the field, while still being careful about my bearing. The problem was that I'd come from the knoll and not the start triangle. After punching the wrong control, I ambled back in the woods and found the right one. This cost me about 1:30 but again was a bad way to start. I got to #2 just fine. I was good going to #3, the specatator control that I'd seen others go to--a big sign and tree gave it away. I hesitated just before arriving at #4. I was too high going to #5; I'd trusted my bearing across the grassy forest, instead of reading the contours. Since the course was fairly flat until this point, I hadn't adjusted to the 2.5m interval. I hit #6 well and saw #7 from far off. #8 was a bit further down than expected. I stayed high going to #9 reasoning that the field was better to run and more direct. I used the mapped trees to know how far to go before plunging down but it also gave me time enough to read the small trail dropping down. I ran on it and through what was mapped as green but never really bad, to the wall feature. I was fine on #10 though at speed, I hadn't seen the building on the map in the green. I ran straight toward #11 but pulled-up short at a Blue course control. Continuing straight, I ran to the control through what was again mapped as solid green and really very passable. I got on the road going to #12 and angled up when I saw the first wall. I didn't realize there were 2 walls but I knew I just needed to cross the road and I was also closing-in on Charlie Deweese as he punched. Going to #13, I used the road. Charlie was ahead still but I cut-in to use the little corridor of white between the green and I got to the control ahead of him. I was thinking that I'd need to hook left to the control at the end of the corridor but the control was right in front of me at the end of the corridor. I was on the road a bit to #14--I again enjoyed knowing that it was downhill toward the finish. I saw #14 from far off. I got my picture taken again going straight to #15 and spiking it. Going to #16, I would have liked to hop the fence but with it marked as uncrossable I didn't know if I'd get disqualified or not. I rounded the corner like everyone else. I didn't go all out to finish #16 nor the run-in but I did push. It was nice to have run better in this race. The error on #1 cost me a few places but I was mostly clean after that. I think it helped that with this being a sprint map, just about all the features I would have mapped in Rock Creek were mapped. The 1:4,000 scale did through me a bit too.

My feet felt pretty bruised after these 2 races. I had to use my thin worn out shoes since the new ones I had ordered had not arrived before I had to travel. At least some of the pain is due to my arches which seem to be shifting somewhat.

Red Middle - Splits

Red Sprint - Splits