Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Fountainhead
 

QOC: Fountainhead West. I enjoy this area with its challenging terrain and increased technical requirement for navigating. I'd been worried about being tired a lot, going into this. However when I got started, my feet felt relatively light. I moved well, but not strongly, for a good while.

S-1 - The first control was a very short leg in the same area that I'd started the US Ultralong Championships from in 2015. I got sucked into the reentrant that I'd started people from in 2015, rather than the larger one, further down the larger reentrant. The map didn't show the upper one (close to the road) very distinctly. I think a few others did the same as I did.

1-2 - This was very close to a leg I'd set in 2015 so I had no problem with it. I stayed on the road side of the stream until crossing the power line ride. Reading contours as I jogged and walked up the steep ridge, I hit the diagonal ride a little past where it intersected the trail on the ridge, so I was sure about coming down to the control on the correct spur.

2-3 - I started well crossing the bridge and sticking to the trail until it bent back east with the creek. I hopped over to the main trail again to get me up the hillside. From there I got on the ride. It was messier than I remembered it. Deadfall kept forcing me left or right. I'd come back only to find more. As I hit a good speed on an open stretch, I should have read my map and compass. I was under the memory impression that the ride too me to an inlet but it bent left as I followed it. Nearly getting to the water before realizing it, I had to cut right sharply. This cost me about 90 seconds or more. From the inlet, I ran up straight and spiked the control--it came up a little sooner than expected so I'm glad I saw it.

3-4 - I ran straight at it and recognized the correct spur. It seemed hung in a flatter place than expected but I was happy I found it.

4-5 - I thought for a second to go around, having remembered the reentrant before but then I thought that'd be silly. Some deadfall did get in my way though.

5-6 - I ran to the trail and only stayed on that for a brief moment. Going further, I lost contact with how high and low I was, but now which reentrant I was crossing. I could see the reservoir too close on my right so I cut up a little. Recognizing the light green helped me zero-in on it.

6-7 - I got a little too far right but corrected without much lost, if any.

7-8 - I ran straight and eventually planned and executed well, coming up the reentrant south of the control. I wasn't sure getting into that reentrant, since I had to climb before seeing it--the formline helped.

8 - 9 - Straight, and it was visible from a good distance. Some trash was distracting me but I kept going where I needed.

9-10 - I went straight but used a gully and ditch while climbing to keep me on track. With the slope change after crossing the trail, my tendency was to be off-line but a compass check and visual inspection of the reentrants ahead kept me true.

10-11 - I backtracked to the main trails, then turned left. I turned left again and eventually left the trail to be on the ridge all the way to the control.

11-12 - I dog-legged rather than cross the reentrant--I was already tired. As I got near the top, I kept to reentrant tops but came over too far left. I got close to one reentrant I hadn't expected to see so my count was off. I hadn't seen the ride to my left but in the next reentrant I stopped short and started searching. I realized that I hadn't crossed the main trail yet, so I went on and hit it well. The time lost, looking early was probably 2:20.

12-13 - Straight but I paused at the trail intersection where there were several other orienteers. I followed more a short distance to the control.

13-14 - As I was running, I read the map poorly. I expected the control to be lower and was familiar with this reentrant from setting a control in it earlier myself. I lost time climbing back up.

14-15 - crossing the hill, I went right over the dot knoll so I thought my line was going very straight. However I ended up having to cut left at the end.

15-16 - I got to the trail and followed it from intersection to intersection. I left it at a bend but ended up much more to the right of the ditch. Fortunately I'd stopped at the right distance and didn't have to climb back. I just had to cut over and did so.

16-17 - People were ahead of me and I was catching them. Seeing the big reentrant, I paused when it seemed like others hadn't found it. I looked a bit more to the right and saw the ditch.

17-map exchange - I had a good line on getting to the trail at the reentrant before the map exchange "control". I was getting excited about finishing the main course, and getting sloppy, partly because I was too tired. I got right to the control but I was a little unsure it was the right one since I hardly used the trail at all. I also didn't understand why there was no epunch box at the control I found. I concluded that it was a White or Yellow course control or something else. Just about any other map exchange I can remember had a control that one had to punch. I t concluded this wasn't the map exchange when it really was. I went on looking for a control with a punch but got confused as I ran off the fold of my map. I turned back and as Peggy came through, she confirmed that there was no punch at the control I'd just been to. My question was bad and she wasn't sure what my course was doing anyway. I went further back where Craig Sheldon and companion were, and had caught up. Eventually, with them I understood that there was no punching needed at the map exchange and I went on sheepishly. With the "Connector" map looking so different (vegetation on the regular map was not shown on the Connector map) I got more confused. I did go directly to the control but did so very slowly, trying to match contours with the formline hill. At the end, I expected the control to be on top of the knoll instead of the side as indicated in the clue. However with the numbering being off, that only further confused me.

Getting to the Go control, I went on and off trail. I felt really slow on the steep parts but did manage to be going faster than others who stayed on the trail. I came to the control going across the hill rather than attacking from where the trail is nearest. I spiked it.

I used the trail and took the second right turn. There was un-mapped deadfall so I thought I'd be slower than going left, but it worked out well. Somehow I'd passed Peggy.

QOC: Fountainhead West. After my run, Samantha was game to go out so I walked part of the White course with her. She was having some trouble with orienting the map but did seem to get the direction right most of the time when I helped her.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. via Woodmont Ave. It was the annual Bike to Work Day in the metro area. I detoured to the Bethesda pit stop to get my free t-shirt. I scanned the swag that many vendors and service groups had brought out but I didn't feel like waiting around for discussions or to enter raffles to get any of the items. On the trail, I rode alone and steadily. I passed A lot of other riders. There was a slight headwind with grew stronger. I felt tired but much better than I had when running yesterday.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to the Bethesda Metro Station, then to Northfield Rd. I had a nice tailwind heading home and got through most of the traffic efficiently. I focused on keeping a good cadence and that worked well. No on passed me, even when I slowed down. At Falls Rd., I stopped to talk with David Onkst, who was running the other direction. I also stopped in Bethesda to get dinner. Rain had been approaching and it broke just as I was inside getting dinner for Peggy and Samantha. It was still raining when I left to finish-up but that was much lighter. Our dinners were in a paper bag, so I wondered if I would have a minor disaster. After getting home safely, we did discover that the paper bag had been starting to break. I'd just made it home without losing dinner on the road.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. There was a lot of traffic along the way. I had to detour onto Lambeth Rd. since a heavy crane was blocking Custer, presumably to remove some large trees.

Washington, D.C. I fretted about what to run today. I found out yesterday that it was Bike to Work Day on Friday. We also have a slightly unusual orienteering event on Saturday so with all of that I was worried about having no rest. I ran from 12th & Independence Ave., SW, down The Mall along Independence Ave. and the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. I felt tired early on this run and it was mostly likely from increased training the last 2 weeks, and a lack of recovery time. I was worried that I'd end up running the slowest ever on this route. It turned out to only be the second slowest. I'd run slower under similar circumstance, including no lunch today, at the end of last August. Today was warmer at about 89 F starting out. Still, it was reassuring that I was going faster than the auto traffic on the Rock Creek Pkwy.--I actually caught and passed cars that had passed me earlier. As I ran down Independence Ave., I could see storm clouds fanning out across Maryland and Northwest DC. This got me cloud cover and it cooled a bit. There was a nice breeze keeping things comfortable. Samantha had called me during the run and told me that our male indoor cat was missing. In my tired slog, a young woman passed me just before turning off toward the waterfront. I made it up the hill at the end okay--when one is hurting on the flats, going uphill doesn't feel a lot different. My sweaty self scared people on the train on the ride homeward.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Dr. I was relieved leaving the station to find out that the rain had held off. As I got closer to home, I started calling for my cat in case he was lost. I thought I'd be slower on the ride bacl. After a bit of calling and searching inside and outside for my cat, I called through my bedroom window to the outdoors. He had come searching for my call, and was found in the backyard where I'd been shouting. My weight after my working out had gotten down to 182.5--probably a lot of water loss.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. The weather was very comfortable this morning. It felt cool without being cold. Willow trees along the river in West Potomac Park showed I was riding into a very slight headwind and I wasn't sure about it until I saw the trees. I rode alone until the last 3/4 mile going into Georgetown. A roadie passed me and I drafted off of him on the trail before passing him when he slowed on Water Street. Traffic was pretty good throughout with only a few brief slow-ups.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd. I got a good start with traffic and a tailwind leaving work. In Georgetown, there were many crew boats being loaded and other traffic which slowed things down. At one stop, a guy on a mountain bike caught and passed me as I kept guessing the wrong direction to go around the slowdowns. I passed him back and pulled him until the trestle bridge. He returned the favor until the long straight stretch toward Massachusetts Ave. I pulled again until we broke off at Falls Rd. I was getting pretty tired, partly from working out relatively a lot over the last several days. It was about 93 F starting out but that didn't bother me.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, East-West Hwy, to Chelton Rd, to Bethesda-Chevy Chase HS, to Lynbrook Dr., to Sleaford Rd., to the Georgetown Branch Trail. I was planning to do some fartlek running on the BCC track, but when I got there, I found out that the track was gone!. Instead, there was a big catch pond, piles of dirt and sewer fixtures. The high school is undergoing renovations. Steel girders were attached to the school and extending toward where the track had been. I moved on to do fartlek on the trail. The trail is a railroad grade surfaced with bluestone and I was tired going into the run. I was looking to use the track because there's less traffic and it should have been easier.

I started out doing fartlek on the Georgetown Branch Trail. I first headed downhill toward Silver Spring, but quickly turned around. Most of the sprint intervals were 100-150m long. I felt okay doing this and continued until I exited the tunnel before Woodmont Ave. From there, I'd forgotten that I'd already run almost a mile warming-up; I wanted to get at least 2 miles for this easier day so I ran around Bethesda (Bethesda Ave. to Denton Rd., to Edgemoor Ln. to the Bethesda Metro Station) until I had 2 miles.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Dr. I was carrying donuts for the kids (I ended up eating one when they accidentally charged me for 3), and double my usual work clothing.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. I probably had a tailwind but I was also a little tired.

From the Silver Spring Metro Station, Colesville Rd., to N. Portal Dr. to E. Beach Dr. to Kalmia Rd., to Beach Dr., to the Valley Trail in Rock Creek Park, to Candycane Park via the paved Rock Creek Trail, to Ellingson Dr. to the Georgetown Branch Trail via Susannah Ln. to Woodmont Ave. in Bethesda, to Edgemoor Ln. to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was cool and will be turning hot later in the week, so I thought it best to take advantage of it, and run. I started well but for as fast as I felt, I was still slow through the first mile, at about 8:20. As I was climbing gradually, and almost constantly after that, the rest of the miles were slow. My legs were tired.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Norhtfield Dr. It was still cool. I hit the first 2 traffic lights but got past the rest quickly.

Event: QOC Rosaryville
 

Rosaryville State Park, MD. I headed to the start triangle after registering (and forgetting to register my epunch). I went back for the restroom and returned. I didn't feel so good physically but was feeling better than I had started on my return trip to the start.

QOC: Rosaryville State Park, MD. Driving into the park I could see that the leaves were at their fullest. Even in the summer, they seem to thin out a bit with droughts after the kind of lush rains that we've been having. I predicted a lot of errors for all, including myself. Francis Hogle reinforced this thought after telling me he'd missed on every control on his Brown course. For others however, the day would prove to be just fine as they didn't seem to let the vegetation affect them. I figured I'd get what I needed just by doing some running with the map and getting the physical training. True it was that I made some bonehead errors. I also had a hard time getting into reading the map. It may have been the contrast from the open forest in NY last week and running faster with a pack, but other times it was the minor bends in trails not being shown or the trail alignment to north that seemed off. I also had a hard time at some trail intersections which had become vague, the streams often being in gullies, and changed vegetation mapping that threw me off.

Thankfully enough, I spiked #1 going through the field and coming off of a field edge and onto the trail.

Going to #2, I got back on the trail, but first turned left at what seemed to be an unmapped intersection. I corrected by cutting across the woods and found them to be as thick as at #1. I took the trail again but coming on where I did, I left the trail at the wrong bend. I eventually got to the road but if I'd left the trail at a later bend it would have been much faster. Once on the road, I ran to the end, and attacked from the restroom building. I felt I had a good bearing but I was south of where I eventually found the depression. I lost a lot of time--5 minutes?

My misadventures at #2 made me shy and so I opted the easy but a little longer field-road route to #3. I spiked it from the road west of #3, but I felt slow in the field, and even when getting past others including some horses on the road past the mansion.

3-4 - I got on trails and eventually to the east-west trail midway to #4. Coming off a trail bend almost due north of #4, I found myself running up a spur and being a little unsure which reentrant, left or right was correct. I checked out the right one first and corrected to the top of the left and correct one. I didn't see the control so I went further and saw a distinct trail bend. I had to come back down the reentrant to find the control--it felt a little low to me but without taking time to pace count and check it from other points, I can't be sure of it. I lost another almost 2 minutes.

4-5 - I went straight and spiked it.

5-6 - Starting out, I used the trail to cross the ridge and avoided the grass in the power line cut. at the next reentrant, I followed the trail through the bend east, to get around the green. I may have gone too far doing this but eventually, I crossed the stream and went west on the trail on the other side. I took trails to attack from the grassy areas SE of the control and hit it well.

6-7 - Leaving #6, the trails didn't seem to match what I was seeing but I did pop out onto the road where I had intended. I went down the road to the second trail intersection, the own NE of the pond. On the trail for a little while, I came up the reentrant. In the reentrant, I felt I was too far left(south) so I went more to the bottom of it and followed it up. This got me too far right of the control. I hit the ride near the bend and had to go south on it to the control. I probably lost +1 minute.

7-8 - I stayed on the ride for a while as that is where my bearing pointed me. However, following a bearing should have taken me off the ride almost immediately. I actually got a little too far left and had to adjust right to go through the saddle and down to the control.

8-9 - I ran toward the stream intersection and crossed near it to hit the road about where the trail comes out. I was on the trail a bit, but ran the hillside, just trying to contour. I didn't see it, got past the control and too high. I could see the trail ahead so I corrected and lost about another +1 minute.

9-10 - I curved my way in, trying to keep climbing a little the whole way. This took me to some small bits of deadfall.

10-11 - I crossed the road and ran parallel to the ridge. Crossing the diagonal trail, I kept straight and saw a reeentrant on my left. I figured I knew where I was as I kept straight and climbed the ridge. I got to where I could see a trail ahead and read wrong reentrant on the map, thus mistaking myself to be past the control. I came back and slowly got due south of the control where the diagonal trail intersects the one that get close to the control. I hit it fine from there but probably lost +3 minutes.

11-12 - I ran straight. The woods were better for this on this leg. Once across the gully/stream, I could read the 2 reentrants and got into the right one that took me to the control.

12-13 - Startingdown the spur, I cut more right to avoid thicker woods, and to hit the trail. I didn't want to end up in the north part of the grassy fields--those were lower in elevation and I'd already been slowed by tall grasses elsewhere. I tried to go a straighter route over the ridge but my initial cut right had gotten me too far south. When I went straight from there, I got into the green above any of the white woods on the ridge. I realized this but had to commit to the route by then. I popped out NE of the mansion, and took trails until due east of the control. There was a pretty good set of elephant trails going across the grasses. I just had to pick the most efficient ones and I think I did that. In retrospect, I should have run this harder, but I was tired and felt I'd already blown my chances for a good run.

13-14 - I passed a family group of Yellow course walkers, and gave a decent effort. Again, if I'd pushed harder, I might have been able to edge Dave Pruden who it turned out was only 10 seconds ahead of me. My run did at least keep me ahead of Yuriy, but only by 10 seconds!

I wasn't that happy about my run but I was glad to get the physical training. I'll need to get more used to the leaves being on again.

Blue - Splits