Training Log Archive: Nadim

From the intersection of Elmhirst Ln. and Elmhirst Dr., to Elmhirst Pkwy. to the Elmhirst Trail, to Cedar Ln., to the Rock Creek Trail, to Old Spring Rd., and back. After a day of rain, it was too wet for dirt trail runs and I still wasn't very energetic. It being 50 F starting out helped. I only needed shorts and a jacket. The train and closed road were busy. I covered my face whenever passing people, which was frequent. I weighed out at 189.5 lbs.

Wheaton Regional Park, MD. I got started not long after light rain had started. The rain got a bit more pronounced and it was about 34-35F. This fit my mood. I'd forgotten to bring my backpack in the car, with trail shoes, running gloves, and a change of clothing for afterward. I used regular gloves that I had in my coat. I felt okay running for a while but slowed going downhill in the first mile. I was taking random trails, wondering what had changed in the park. The night before I'd talked with Michael Dickey about map updates he's making for a QOC event to be held here in a couple of weeks. I found several more things to update including one trail very rarely used by anyone, that's all but gone. I got stuck getting through and out of the green/thicker bushes on that, hence my slow second mile. The rest was just weakness, probably from losing more weight. I weighed out at 189 and was hungry for a change.

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to Wilson Ln. to Glenbrook Rd., to the county pool parking lot to the trail into Norwood Park, to Wisconsin Ave., to Woodmont Ave., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I wore my new Nike Zoom Trainers that Peggy had given me for Christmas. They felt much lighter than the Nike Triax Structure shoes I'd been using for roads and sidewalks. Having had an extra day off of running and the first in a long while without any working out, I wasn't sure if the boost I was seeing was more from the new shoes or the break. However, it didn't last. I felt myself slowing and keeping a manageable pace. It was in the 40s F. I needed a restroom at the end so I didn't get around to stretching as usual.

Unexpected things came up late in the day as I was gearing up to run.

Prince William Forest, VA. QOC had left up most of the course streamers from the NRE held on 12/13/2020, and Craig Sheldon had setup MapRunF for them. Peggy and I went out to run the Green course. Peggy started ahead of me. I never caught her mostly due to making an error going to #4 and then having a hard time relocating. It was a nice sunny day probably in the 50's F when we ran. I was definitely feeling tired and weaker from my trail run the day before, so I didn't push hard.

S-1 - To start, I used the start button on my watch. I wasn't sure that this was right, since the mobile phone app MapRunF auto starts based on GPS, when arriving at the start location. I seem to have an extra punch because of this with a half-second split. AP thus shows controls that are one off--#1 is shown as #2, etc... This was a very short leg. I pulled up short at where I could see the ditch the control was supposed to be starting on, but didn't get confirmation of being at the control. I moved further ahead after a reentrant junction and the ditch got deeper. I saw a nub of a streamer and my watch buzzed right when I got there. I was using MapRunG--the Garmin app that was made to work with MapRunF courses. My hesitation lost me a little time. My watch showed I'd punched control 123.

1-2 - I went fairly straight, initially using the stream as a handrail, crossing the larger one, then running up the first small reentrant to realign there I'd drifted right. A rootstock confirmed my position. Sweat was getting in my watering eyes. Moving on, I rounded the top of a reentrant on my right, and dropped into broad one. This was the tricky part of the map where it's not obvious from the map that there is a saddle beyond the stream. It didn't mess me up but I got a lot more slowed than expected by deadfall that was too big to run over. I actually had to crawl under one spot. I kept straight using a ditch as a handrail on my right, and a small spur before a stream. Staying lower might have been faster running since I hit more deadfall unexpectedly. I came in low, having drifted right a little, but the big fallen tree mapped as expected in green, got me in the right place. My watch buzzed within a couple of meters of the control streamer.

2-3 - I went straight. At the ridge, I saw the cairn. I'd drifted right slightly as I went over a spur before the reentrant that the control was in. If there were a flag there, it'd have been visible, but I passed the control location slightly, and had to climb back. I think there was a streamer but it was small. My watch buzzed and I didn't look at it.

3-4 - I went north initially, thinking that I could run around the ridge, but the cliff edge I ran to blocked that route. I climbed more, crossed the ridge and ran down past a side reentrant. I crossed the creek north of a prominent spur and knoll on my left, so I knew I was right on target. Running then walking up the next ridge, I made a parallel error. I was seeing ditches and in a loss of concentration, I figured I was near the control--the control was on a ditch. I'd been there on the Red course in the NRE and remembered a lot of ditches. Furthermore, I recalled the map not showing the smaller ditches. I made a sudden turn away, thinking I'd passed the control, since I interpreted from the contours that I was past the control. I went back and checked out several ditches, two which might have been mapped. If flags had been set, it would have been obvious that there was no control in the area. I finally figured that the contours weren't making sense, so I crossed a small ridge and re-assed. Not seeing a side reentrant, I figured I was still too close to the creek so I made my way over and eventually found it. My watch buzzed but seemed to still show that the last control I'd punched was #105, which was control #3. Based on my GPS track, I think I lost about 4 minutes or more with this error, that a flag would have prevented.

4-5 - I ran around most of the deadfall by going to the right. After passing the deadfall, I realized that I'd seen the dot knoll that the control was on when I'd previously scouted the area--pre mapping, and once again as I passed it and saw David Onkst punching on it while I was running the Red course on the NRE. That helped me visualize the area better. I saw the knoll off to my right a bit, so I corrected my aim. My watch buzzed a little before reaching the dot knoll.

5-6 - I tried to run straight, but drifted left. There seemed to be a new rootstock, but I was probably seeing a pair of mapped rootstocks left of straight. I kept on my bearing but sensed from the contours I was to the left, as I neared a ridge. I cut right on the ridge and walked the greener area over small paralllel reentrants until my watch buzzed. I'd expected it to buzz before it did, but it buzzed before I saw the streamer. I may have lost a little time but not much.

6-7 - I ran around the deadfall by going left (south). I thought I needed to cross the stream since it's often unclear where a stream ends as the map showed. In retrospect, I shouldn't have. My initial move to the left needed more correction. As I climbed I didn't at first see the small reentrant I expected to see on my right, were I on the leg line. With more looking, I saw what seemed to be it further right than it should be. I corrected more and ran right to the dot knoll--one I'd hit well during the Red course in the NRE. My watch didn't buzz initially, so I circled the knoll at least twice until it did.

7-8 - I went straight and was again confused by the extra unmapped dot knolls. Reaching the greener area, I cut right, to get into the reentrant. My watch buzzed when I got to a wet area (the control was on a thicket near the start of a stream) but I don't recall seeing a streamer.

8-9 - I went straight but drifted right, after crossing the first stream. I had to hook left when I slowed enough to see the boulder. My watch buzzed a few meters before it. I was inexplicable a minute faster doing this leg in the NRE.

9-10 - I ran straight. Just before crossing the stream, I could see mountain laurel upstream that I correlated with the map. It looked too far away so I turned right and crossed upstream. The reentrant I'd landed in was too broad. I realized I needed to be one over (more downstream). I lost about 35 seconds.

10-11 - I ran straight but got confused. I think there were some additional rootstocks that weren't mapped.

11-12 - I ran straight but having no visual flag to aim me, I missed to the right a little. I probably lost 10-15 seconds as I found the small streamer. It had been hard for me to read the ditch on the map and I never saw the mapped trail that I expected to see beyond the control.

12-13 - I got to the stream junction, took the right fork and started climbing gradually. Going left and right around the mountain laurel, the control I ended up a little lower than the rootstock that the control was on. It seemed small for one being in a green area but I found the streamer.

13-14 - I ran left to get out of the green more quickly, then used contours to correct. I came in from the SE rather than the NE.

14-F - I saw a little bit of a foot trail in the grass, from the NRE. I couldn't tell where the finish line was, but stopped my watch past a camping grill and before hitting the road. My watch indicated 14 punches and I wasn't sure if that was right--it matched the number of controls but didn't count the finish as one. I didn't see Peggy at first, but when I did, I figured she'd beaten me.

Altogether, I might have lost 5-6 minutes from errors and waiting for the GPS in my watch to register getting to a control. Actually seeing a flag from a distance would have shortened my time too. As Peggy said, this was a good mental and physical workout so though disappointing, the day wasn't all bad. We ran into traffic on I-95 both coming from and going to home.

From MD Rte. 118, the Seneca Ridge Trail to Riffleford Rd., and back. My GPS tracked this right at 4.0 miles on the way out, but registered a tenth of a mile shorter on the return. Based on past runs that measured just over 4.0, I'm calling this 4.0 miles. It was in the upper 30s F. There was some mud on the trail but most of it was good. The sunny day had been coming to an end when I started. I figured I'd be running past sunset if I went all the way to Riffleford Rd. before turning around but I pushed on anyway. In fact, I thnk the sun had set just before I got to Riffleford Rd. Taking a rest yesterday and sleeping better helped. I moved up all the hills steadily though not fast. I moved better going down too. The 5th mile seemed to take a long while but after that, I got into the zone trying to beat the darkness. At 2 miles out it was dark on the east sides of the ridges. I knew I could bail out the last half mile with a short cut if needed. I pressed on at the cutoff. A nearly full moon was already at 10 or 11 o'clock in the sky--it helped. I definitely saw my moon shadow in that last half mile. I was trying to be careful not to trip on the tree roots, which aren't bad on this trail. I saw one older runner, a father and his 2 kids, and an old hiker with a walking stick--that was all of the people for the whole route and that was nice!