Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: 2013 Georgia Navigator Cup & Extreme-O
 

From Rte. 28, the Seneca Greenway Trail to the Mink Hollow Trail, to the Lake Shore Trail (at Lake Clopper), then back onto the Seneca Greenway Trail to Riffle Ford Rd., then to Black Rock Rd. and onto the Seneca Greeway Trail back to Rte. 28. I ran this with Jon Pifer and had a great time. The early miles were a little hilly but they went by fast. It was probably just above freezing but some potentially muddy spots on the trail were frozen over. Jon and I had planned 14 to 15 miles but crossing Riffle Ford Rd. the first time we were only out about 5.5. I thought the loop nearest to this road would be too short to get our mileage and so I thought to run up Mink Hollow. That turned out to be a little longer since I probably didn't calculate correctly with the many zig-zags that the Seneca Ridge Trail does. We'd stopped at the trail head on Riffle Ford Rd. for the Seneca Ridge Trail for some Gatorade and I ate a nutty bar. Jon told me that I picked-up the pace after that but it was less evident to me conciously. Throughout the run, I never felt that strong. Initially I moved pretty slowly over the hills and broke out a sweat. I focused on flowing like water over much of the route. Overall, there were few on the trail. We saw several cyclists going back and about 5-6 other runners. Jon tells me that the Seneca Greenway Trail Marthon and 50K are being planned to be run in the reverse direction compared to the route last year --starting low at the Potomac River, and finishing high in Damascus. I'm not yet fully committed to running it and don't like the change in direction so much. However, I'll give it some serious thought. I'd still like to do the training to prepare me for it since that's just fun and gives me a good base for other races.

C • climb 5

45 situps. I'd planned a short run but working late and going out to dinner cut that out of the day.

From Northfield Rd., to Elm St. and Arlington Rd. through neighborhood streets and back through different streets. I went out to mail some letters and get some groceries, running with a backpack.

Washington D.C. From 14th & Independence Ave., SW, over the 14th St. Bridge into Virginia, then on the Mt. Vernon Trail to Key Bridge, then on the C&O Canal Towpath through Georgetown to the Rock Creek Trail, then to Connecticut Ave. and the Woodley Park Metro Station. The rains had stopped but it was wet outside and 43 F. I wore my Goretex jacket and tights but got too warm as I plodded along, not very smoothly. I had to take off my jacket after 3 miles and that was much better. With a lot of clouds, there was a lot of light reflecting back and lighting up the trail. I could avoid most puddles but there weren't too many of them. The exception was when I got onto the towpath and splashed right on my first step. I did feel much smoother and even better for the last few miles. That's perplexing. I'm still surprised about my weight.

I had the opportunity to do a little indoor training on another wet and rainy day. Odd weight gain. I didn't really eat much.

Spinning and watching Monty Python on rollers. It helps to use the closed captions but it's more fun to hear it. It always suprises me how it feels so awkward and like a struggle starting out, but then gets much easier (except for my butt).

I would have done some running but it was cold and rainy out when I got home. I figured it be better to take a break.

Event: QOC Fountainhead
 

Fountainhead Regional Park, VA. Warm-up from the parking lot to the Start of QOC's event with one false start--I had to go back to the car part way to the Start to get my glasses.

QOC: Fountainhead Regional Park, VA. Nice terrain on the southeast side of the park--we hadn't been there in a long while so I was happy that course setter Victor Lin took us there. The reason we hadn't been there in a long time was that the map is far out of date. The coutours were not sharp, the new biking trails weren't on the map, and the vegetation mapping wasn't representative. I started off going down the trail to #1 and that was probably a good thing. I probably should have done it going to #2 too. I didn't make an error going there more directly but stopped a few times along the way being unsure which reentrant/ditch I was at. It went like this for several controls. I figured I'd go slower and not make any errors. I went direct toward #10 instead of backing up and using a trail route. When I finally did hit the trail, it wasn't what I expected--instead of being in a clearing, it was intermittant under forest. I turned incorrectly, stopped watching my compass and went down the wrong side of the big ridge/spur. I actually recovered from this pretty well but the damage was done. I lost about 6 minutes. I was a little off going to #11--off to the right. I went directly from a "trail" intersection toward #13. Crossing the many ridges, it was really evident that not enough was on the map. I passed Kathleen Lennon who was looking around one ridge short. After popping over into the right area, I didn't see the control but saw someone in orange running up the reentrant. I figured she was leaving the control but after going down that direction and not seeing it, I ran back up. Still not seeing it, I ran back down again but further and found it. Soon after the person in Orange showed-up and it turned out to be Peggy. I ran through the rest of the course fairly well. I was just over from the control on the other side of an unmapped reentrant but saw #14. I crossed the ridge at the saddle going to #17 and almost got sucked down one reentrant too soon. I wasn't running that fast for much of the race, being somewhat tired from other workouts but I was finishing strongly, passing two others in the last 4 controls which were common to most advanced courses. I felt that I was getting more used to the increased running and recovering some speed that's been lacking lately.

Blue - Splits