Training Log Archive: Nadim

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. I had been planning to run earlier this week but I got busy doing other things, and my left knee is still not so great. I felt pretty slow and heavy running this. It was after the worst of a wind storm that had dropped lots of twigs and branches from the trees.

Hoyles Mill Conservation Park. I did some more updating of the map. I didn't have much time. Here's a low resolution image of the forest, which was still quite nice for running. It won't be long before the grasses and bushes will be grown too much for orienteering.

South Germantown Recreational Park (Soccerplex). I did some updating of the map in the park.

From Northfield Rd., Samantha and I went for a walk.

QOC: Lake Needwood - I had worked a lot to update the map used for the event. I added the Redgate area which Peggy had mapped in 2020 at 1:4,000, to the Rock Creek map at 1:10,000. I updated the old 20 ft. contours using LiDAR. At the same time, I updated the map symbol set to ISOM 2017. With all of the anomolies of the old contours, I rubbersheeted many parts of the map to get good alignments. Rootstocks were left off the map used for the event, and one day I or someone else will update them with new field checking. It'll all be easier now with the new map file in OCAD 2018 format.

In the event, I navigated well enough. My worst error was on the way to #2, when I realized that the control was the lower of 2 in the area. I changed my route to go around the big hill for that. I think I spiked everything else. I did have pre-knowledge of the course since I'd encouraged use of the Redgate area and was fixing the map. Despite that, my route to the Go Control turned out not to be efficient. I ran pretty well considering not having run much lately.

Red - Splits

Fieldchecking at Hoyles Mill Conservation Park and the MD. Soccerplex. It was a pretty day! It would have been better if I had more time.

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. I was testing my left knee.

From Northfield Rd., walking with Samantha on Charlcotte Rd., Hampden Ln., Lambeth Rd., and Custer Rd., returning to Northfield Rd. Samantha got spooked at one point and ran but I kept up.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to W. Cedar Ln., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail along Rockville Pike and up to Maple Ridge Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to W. Cedar Ln., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail along Rockville Pike and up to Maple Ridge Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I could feel my left knee sometimes hurting on this run. It wasn't as much as before but the need to moderate is still there. I haven't been able to get onto dirt very much lately and the dirt seems to cause less trouble.

QOC: Pohick Bay Regional Park, VA. I ran Green today, having decided that due to my lack of training, the steep hills here, and a need to keep stress on my left knee low was best. I navigated poorly through most of the first half of the course, and moved slowly through the rest. The course setting was pretty good, making one have to decide routes mostly. The ground was sometimes muddy or slippery.

S-1 - I ran down the road but cut left toward he campground field. From there I dropped to the trail . I briefly got too far left in the wrong reentrant but corrected. That got me around some of the light green on the map but that didn't look bad anyway.

1-2 - I initially ran straight, thinking that I'd get over the ridge with the ranger house driveway, then moved down to the water and use the trail---only my memory was involved and it was wrong. After getting close to the water, I realized I had to climb back up. Next I'd read the control to be in the marsh near the water. Having gotten there there was no control. It was actually supposed to be up a few contours from the there and it took me a minute to realize it. I was having trouble reading the detail. I probably lost 3 minutes on this leg.

2-3 - Taking the trail around seemed too long. I did move toward the water, then cut across the woods. It was slow going. Coming to a spur and not finding the control, I thought I'd passed it. I turned back thinking I'd passed the spur but in doing so I was making a parallel error. I reversed direction again, paused close to the water for horses and to figure out what I'd done, and proceeded. I hit it okay after that. I probably lost 4 minutes and taking the trail would have avoided my errors. I suppose I was running too hard early and the fatigue catching-up with me precipitated the errors.

3-4 - With a shorter, less steep leg, I was fine on this, going mostly straight, and having memorized the route.

4-5 - Slogging up the hill, I was convinced that the climb rating for the course was not possibly correct. Having done this leg in a previous course, I went mostly straight, with the golf course and the reentrant keeping me on course.

5-6 - I was going to go up to the trail SE of #5, but I stayed lower in the forest, along the gully to get on the bigger road, which had been newly re-plowed and was muddy. I used a gap between greens to go past the building and to the next road. I could see the control from the road.

6-7 - I went left to avoid the greens, but eventually got in the big reentrant. After turning left at the big reentrant junction, I got on the trail leading to the control.

7-8 - Rather than go directly, I dog-legged out of #7, to get back in the larger reentrant. The hillside had a fair amount of deadfall and I walked over much of that slowly. I cut right at the next big reentrant and went up a way to spike it.

8-9 - I climbed to the trail. From the trail intersection, I went to the cliff, staying on the right side of the cliff, I dropped right to the control. After crossing the stream, I kept slipping back, but I eventually got to punch.

9-10 - Up the left side of the stream, until it narrowed and I could cross on a log. The reentrant prior to the one with the control seemed more prominent and was confusing me but I didn't stop and spiked the control.

10-11 - Up to the trail, then across to the next at the bend. I kept going past the second trail, planning to get around the green. I was getting tired and fell twice in 10m on some thorny stuff just past the 2nd trail crossing; tired, I guess. I eyeballed my position crossing the park entrance road and angled toward the control knowing the it was close to the main road. I could see a guy converging from my left, and then I saw the disturbed ground around the depression. The other guy was a kid and he got there a little bit before me.

11-F - I tried going straight. I ran right up to the mini-golf course planning to go across it but then I realized it was out of bounds. I cut right but saw that the way was steep, so I turned around to go clockwise around the mini-golf area. Not long after punching, I saw the kid whom I'd seen at #11. He might have used roads.

Overall, I salvaged the race but feel like I lost too much time on legs 1, 2, and 3. Legs 2 and 3 were the long ones and where I'd lost the most time. It was close to 80 F during the race. Though I made some errors, my GPS captured 295m of climb instead of the 175m rating.

Green - Splits

In Rock Creek Park, at the Washington, D.C./Maryland border, Max and I did the Boundary Lines loop (Valley Trail to Beech Dr. and up to the Western Ridge Trail to get back). Max hadn't run in a long while but I hadn't been doing much running lately either. Starting out, Max took off. He'd thought we were going out and back but he was too far ahead for me to tell him otherwise. After a mile, he'd turned back, but I got him going again. He was certainly pulling me along to run faster than I would have. I was pretty slow on the climbs but I did pass another runner. Me left knee felt okay with this being unpaved ground. I wore my road shoes which are more cushioned than my trail shoes.

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. I was testing my left knee. It felt better running this day than the last time I ran about a week ago.

30 sit-ups.

Walking with Samantha in Cabin John Regional Park. From the southern ball fields, we walked forest trails along the creek going clockwise toward the power lines, then looping back to ball fields. It was rather nice out.

Hoyles Mill Conservation Park. I started from the Hoyles Mill Trailhead parking lot on White Ground Rd. I accomplished my aim of finishing a big section east of Hoyles Mill Rd. and north of Little Seneca Creek. The woods in this northern part of it were overall better than expected. I found more rock but mostly along the waterways.

From Northfield Rd to Norfolk Ave to pick-up lunch, then back.

From Northfield Rd., walking with Samantha on Jefferson St., to Heampstead Rd. at Bradley Park, then McKinley, Garfield, Roosefelt, and Jefferson St. back home. Samanatha got pretty confused about which direction home was and that made her a little more nervous.