Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC PWF Day-O
 

Prince William Forest. I I had a much better run this day, than the night before. I was better reading and running. I did lose focus going to number #6 but I recovered well.

Green - Splits

Event: QOC PWF Happyland Night-O
 

To the Happyland Campground in Prince William Forest, from the field parking lot near the paved road.

QOC: Prince William Forest (PWF) - Bad night for me. Complicated by unmapped green but I made some of my own errors thinking I was going to #7 for #5 and leaving the road too early for #8. I also misread #11. I was out field checking 4 1/2 hours earlier so I was tired. Both of my knees and my back were hurting by the end.

From the Happyland Campground to the field parking lot near the paved road.

Short Advanced - Splits

From Northfield Rd., to Grant St., to McKinley St., to the Old Georgetown Rd., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Maple Ridge Rd., to Park Ln., Custer Rd., to Lambert Rd., to Moorland Ln. to Northfield Rd. I didn't have much time before dinner but I used it well, walking fast. It was drizzling rain and cool outside. I got home just as dinner arrived.

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to Park Ln. to Battery Ln. to Woodmont Ave., to Wisconsin Ave., to Jones Bridge Rd. to Kensington Pkwy. to Beach Dr., to Grosvenor Rd., to Fleming Ave., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I squeezed in a short ride before dinner. I hit a lot of stop lights going out. My knee didn't hurt much on this though I did feel it. A fast cycling training group was resting in Rock Creek Park at a traffic light. I went past them when the light changed. They caught me about a mile later. I felt pretty slow on hills. There were a few potholes and I hit one on Jones Bridge Rd. while looking backwards to change lanes. Fortunately I didn't go down.

Green X - Splits

Event: DVOA Big Woods National Event
 

Green X - Splits

Little Seneca Creek Regional Park - Starting at Camp Seneca, I finished up the section NE of Clopper Rd. There wasn't a lot more to do but I was rushing when finishing up here last week, and I needed to get review some things and cover a little more remaining ground. There was 2 inches of snow on the ground and temperatures were in the 30s F starting out. Some of this terrain is very steep so the snow made it hard to get around. I only slipped to the ground once. It was nice and sunny out but my feet became numb as they got wet. Thought I had my watch to keep a continuous GPS track, I'd forgotten to bring my more precise GPS device. That meant I had to triangulate nearly every field checking note that I made today.

Starting from Clopper Rd., near the intersection of Steeple Rd./Festival Way, I covered some reentrants east of Little Seneca Creek Regional Park. These were reentrants cutting through neighborhoods to a couple of small parks. My aim is to have some summer terrain to use--mostly these reentrants and parks are open forest and fields respectively. They also were not too difficult to triangulate locations, which is good because I continued to work without my more precise GPS. Some of these grounds had really nice open forests.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Woodmont Ave., to Edgemoor Ln., betwenn the new and old buildings to Moorland Ln. to Exeter Rd., to Hampden Ln., to Moorland Ln. to Wilson Ln. to Aberdeen Rd., to Aberdeen Pl./Garfield Rd., to Northfield Rd. Max had gone out for the evening but needed a ride back. I drove to the metro station to meet him and let him drive home. I walked a round about route but found a new narrow passage to put on my Bethesda map. This one had came about when the wiped out a block to put-up a large condo building. I felt pretty good walking but I wasn't trying to walk fast.

I got the results from the MRI that I'd taken of my right knee. It's a meniscus tear. The options are to get a Cortizone shot in hopes that it'd shrink the area that is torn and reduce the pain, or to get another trimming. I'd gotten it trimmed in 2007, but on the other side of the right knee.

From Northfield Rd., to Custer Rd., to Maple Ridge Rd., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail to Old Georgetown Rd., on walkway trails around the north side of Suburban Hospital to Grant St., to Northfield Rd. I went out for another lunchtime walk.

From Northfield Rd., to the west side of Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to Cedar Ln., to the east side of Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. It was in the low 50s F. I started like the day before, running stronger than I felt I would (stiil rather slowly). After passing the hospital, I felt some twans in my left hamstring. I reoccurred a few times before I paused. I got a break turning around at Cedar Ln., and my hamstring felt better going back. My right knee was tolerable.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to Greentree Rd., to Heampstead Ave.,. to McKinley St., to Garfield St., to Northfield Rd. I didn't have a lot of time but I skipped lunch for a walk. It was in the upper 70s F, a bit humid, and breezy.

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd., to Lambeth Rd., to Overhill Rd., to Hampden Ln., to Moorland Ln. to Wilson Ln., to Oldchester Rd., to Aberdeen Rd., to Aberdeen Pl., Garfield St., to Northfield Rd. After jogging through the orienteering meet yesterday, I thought I'd give running a try again. Starting out it felt easier than expected, though my right knee did hurt. My legs seemed to be trying to balance out how much effort to use for a little while. I'd intended to go only about a kilometer, but I turned a few times feeling okay enough to go on. I was lumbering around. The nice weather made it more tolerable. Towards the end of the run the bigger problem was fatigue. My knee did hurt more afterwards.

Hemlock Overlook Regional Park. From the Kinchoe Parking lot, I walked around the fields with Samantha to warm-up.

From the Kinchoe Parking lot in Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, I walked to the start of QOC's event.

QOC: Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, VA. We started from the Kinchoe soccer field parking lot. I'd helped do course setting review with course setters Paul Morris and Mark Thompson, so I had familiarity with the legs before going out. I was slow from being out of shape. My right knee didn't hurt too much while competing but it was sore moving around afterwards.

S-1 - I stayed on the trail the whole way.

1-2 - I ran the trail to the road then came over. A person who'd punched right after me at #1 had already been to 2 but he went a more direct route after the trail intersection, and got there a bit ahead of me. He was moving fast too so maybe my route was still better.

2-3 - I generally stayed to the left. I used the trail only after climbing the first ridge, and just a short way on the next. After that I dropped down low along the river. The woods were mostly white--only a small area was still light green and that was easily skirted. I climbed up only after hitting the trail at the last reentrant. The placement of the control would have been better if on the tip of the spur. As it was, it was in the right place but like a bag in the forest. I saw it over 100m away.

3-4 - NE towards the trail, then leaving it after passing the hilltop, to descend on the right side of the reentrant. The bag was on the ground when I got there and someone had tied it to a 6-inch stick in the ground. I picked-it up and hung it from a tree branch, pretty high.

4-5 - I went fairly straight. I passed right next to the cairns on the left side, then went down the reentrant.

5-6 - I went down the left side of the reentrant but hit bottom where it comes intersected the stream. I follow the stream north, then turn up the left side of the next reentrant. I counted and hit the control right on target.

6-7 - Rather than dog-leg, I went SE leaving 6, to reduce climb and get around the mapped green. I came along the ridge to the control. It seemed to be on the wrong dot knoll since it was more on the north side of the broad spur than the south side.

7-8 - Straight to the stream junction (I hit it perfectly), the up the left most reentrant to the control.

8-9 - I angled down to the trail and used that to start the climb. Once I got around the bend, I left the trail to go up the broad spur. I came out at the trail bend with a nearby rootstock and a ride intersection, but I kept going straight from there. I hit the trail again where it crosses a stream. I starte the next climb on the trail but once I'd gotten above a reentrant on my right, I cut over more directly to attack. I must have drifted east just a bit. It was enough to put me on reentrant to the left (east) of the one with the control. Unfortunately, I missread the map and didn't recognize the 2 parallel sets of reentrants with ditches. I went further east before coming back. AP only shows me losing 1 minute for this, but I lost close to 2:30 minutes--the only control on the course that I didn't spike. I should have aimed off to the right on my attack the first time, as I've done in previous events.

9-10 - Out to the trail, then after reaching the bend, I turned left into the woods. As I was coming down, going on bearing, I saw the control. I still had to cross the big reentrant, but I worked my way up the left side. I lost sight of the control coming from below but I spiked it.

10-11 - I went straight as I could across the fields but the unmapped line of trees confused me. Both lines of trees had fencing which was unmapped too., I got through them where it looked easiest. Some of the fencing was low where trees had knocked it down. I opted to go to the corner of the field rather than take the forest mapped white, near the start triangle. When I was there I had seen Tom Nolan try it only to have to stop due to deadfall.

11-F - Back the way I'd come, and trails until just before the finish. I was not moving well.

I had fun overall. I've got a long way to go to get healed and faster again.

Green - Splits

Little Seneca Regional Park, MD. Trying to wrap-up the Hoyles Mill Conservation Park map before the leaves come out, I got north of Clopper Rd. and covered the park grounds up to the railroad tracks. I started from the SW end of Tattershall Pl. Most of these woods were great! Most of the ridges were wide open but had some very steep climbs. The flood plain was mostly wide open too. It had various dot knolls, ditches and depressions amongst meandering streams. I got to the NE side of Little Seneca Creek late in the day. The NE end of it became light green, then green. There were features and I even found a group of boulders but that area was junky. Some sort of commercial establishment had been dropping scraps off of a very steep embankment into the park. All of this is easily avoided by a course setter but it does cut down on areas that I thought might be useful. I got the area mapped. I was working past sunset. I still found a good crossing point for the creek on my return. It's really steep the last bit up to Tattershall Pl.

From Northfield Rd., to Charlcotte Rd., to Hampden Ln. to York Ln. to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I walked with Samantha. I was surprised that she chose to walk up the steep York Ln. She may not have realized it would be steep. She was out of breath.

From Northfield Rd., to Grant St., to McKinley St., to Old Georgetown Rd., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Rockville Pike/Woodmont Ave., to Battery Ln. to Keystone Ave./Northbrook Ln., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Maple Ridge Rd., to Park Ln., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd., I feld like I was walking pretty fast on this outing.

I went out at lunchtime. From Northfield Rd., to Custer Rd., to Moorland Ln. to Overhill Rd., to York Ln. to Moorland Ln. to Glenbrook Rd., to the Elm St. Trail to Exfair Rd., to Hampden Ln. to Exeter Rd., to Battery Ln., to Park Ln. to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd.,

After my haircut, I decided to use the available daylight to get into Cabin John Regional Park again for a short hike. The sun set as I did. I started at the ice rink parking lot, went straight down to the creek, looped up to cross the powerlines near the ice rink, did a loop taking me close to the train station. I finished along Westlake Dr., to get back to the parking lot when it was dark.