Training Log Archive: Nadim

I rested most of the day but felt the need to stretch out and get some blood flowing. That helped. From Northfield Rd. Custer Rd. to Huntington Pkwy., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Glenwood Rd., to the Jefferson St. trail to Northfield Rd. After the weekend of cycling and hiking, my right knee felt oddly better. Maybe it was just numb.

Shenandoah National Park, VA. Starting from the Old Rag Parking Area near Nethers, Peggy, Max, and I hiked the Old Rag Mountain loop. I used to do this hike regularly but it had been decades since I was last there. It was significantly harder for me this time but we all did pretty well. We got started at 8:30am from what is now the upper lot. When I hiked this years ago we started almost 200ft. higher up, but that parking area is not allowed any more.

Max set what was a leisurely pace for him. Peggy and I didn't keep him waiting much.
I carried my camera pack with a good amount of a water Gatorade mix.

We hardly stopped until we got to the ridge at the start of the first big bare rock area. We passed people through the lower and upper parts of the climb, and only one kid about 10 years old went past us; running without a pack. The trail wasn't packed but there were significant slow-downs at the rock scrambles. That gave me a chance to rest. I was glad that my right knee held up pretty well. I used a single hiking pole to take some stress off of it and it helped. Some pain was unavoidable where I had to climb with my right leg in some rocky chutes. Peggy did well with the rock scrambles except for the crux, where there's about a 5.0 or 5.1 short climb. The narrow spots were tougher for me. I sometimes had to balance while crouching and hoping my feet wouldn't slip. My first time doing serious hiking was doing this hike in winter with a backpack and I don't know if I could have done this with a pack today.

We started with the temperature just under 70 F. Pine trees along the ridge looked really healthy, like there has been plenty of water for several years.

The day got into the upper 80s F and there was some moderate humidity. We reached the summit in about 2:38 hours and hung around there for about 50 minutes. Some areas were roped-off for vegetation control, including the second summit (past the first) where I had often camped when in college and as a young adult. There was more vegetation so it was harder to see things on top, but there were still views all over. It was sunny (it felt hot) and pretty clear but with a breeze.

We left the summit at about noon, pausing at Byrd's Nest #1 and at the lower Old Rag shelter. We paused again on the Weakly Hollow fire road where the Corbin Hollow Trail crosses Brokenback Run. We stayed on the fire road and until getting to the Upper Old Rag Parking Lot where we'd started.


After the hike, we drove to my mom's house, meeting my mom and my sister for a Memorial Day cookout. That was nice!

From Northfield Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Bradley Blvd., to Seven Locks Rd., to Democracy Blvd./South Glen Rd., to Glen Rd., to Falls Rd., to Tuckerman Rd., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Beech Ave., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. It sas 81 F and it felt nice. I did start sweating more quickly than yesterday. This was a hillier route and I had some modest headwinds when finishing-up. My knee held up okay while riding but I did get pretty slow going up this hills. A guy with an e-bike came up and passed me on one long grade and joked that he was able to do it because he was able to draft off of me. I did start taking Glucosomine Chondroitin so It'll be interesting to see if it helps.

From Northfield Rd., to Moorland Ln., to Glenwood Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Kingswood Rd., to Hurst St., to Grosvenor Rd., to Beach Dr., to Broadbranch Rd., NW, to Ridge Rd. NW, to Military Rd., NW, to 27th St., NW/Utah Ave., NW, to Tennyson St. NW, to 33rd St. NW, to Upland Terr. NW, to Western Ave. NW, to Primrose St. NW, to Brookeville Rd., to Bradley Blvd., to Glenbrook Rd., to Wilson Ln., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I got started late but there was plenty of light. It was around 70 F but early-on i was getting cooled-off; there was a little bit of breeze in the air. I kept a good pace until slowed by the hills. I kept the ride geared down on hills and my knee didn't hurt too much because of it. It did hurt more after riding when going up and down stairs--enough to favor it.

To the eatery between Rugby Ave., and Del Ray Ave.,

From the eatery between Rugby Ave., and Del Ray Ave., to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Bradley Blvd., to Seven Locks Rd., to Tuckerman Rd., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Beech Ave., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd.

Great Falls National Park, MD. From the Angler's Inn parking lot, the Berma Rd. to the Lock 16 Spur Trail and back. It was cool and damp everywhere but the puddles and mud were not bad. The park was pretty empty.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Rockville Pike, to Woodmont Ave., to Battery Ln. to Glenbrook Dr., to Wilson Ln., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I wanted to get a walk before evening rains came. It sprinkled on me a little bit but I had plenty of time. The air was cool and there was a breeze. Walking this fast is still a bit stressful on my ankles.

From Northfield Rd., I went downtown to pickup dinner and road back the old route that I used to take from the metro station. It was nice to be on my bicycle after using an ebike on Martha's Vineyard. The seat fit and it wasn't so heavy. Using my bike seemed so much more efficient, even though I had power assist on the rental.

Event: NEOC: Great Brook Farm NRE
 

NEOC: Great Brook Farms SP NRE. I ran the Green course. Overall, this wasn't a good effort for me.

S-1 - I started going up the trail on the right, instead of the parallel trail on the left. I knew this immediately but rather than cut back, I look for an opening in the vegetation. That got me further past the control than expected, based on the vegetation mapping. I headed to some boulders but couldn't make sense of them--they were the wrong set of boulders. I cut back and found more and the control.

1-2 - I took trails to the field, then ran to a break in the thicker vegetation on the left. That got me to the road and to another trail. From a trail bend near a wall intersection, I attacked and got to the control. Another guy who had been running red and had started with me punched after me. I'd seen him leave the area of my #1 before I had, so I knew I'd gained time on him.

2-3 - I took trails to another bend and spiked it.

3-4 - Straight and I spiked it. The other guy whom I'd started (running Red) with got there after me.

4-5 - I started going straight, but I did drop below the wall east of the control when things didn't look as I'd expected. I cut back up quickly so I didn't lose much time.

5-6 - To the trail and taking that most of the way to the road, I got on the road. I was soon passed by the Red runner whom I'd started with. I was slow on the road and there was no water in the single gallon jug at the water stop. There originally wasn't going to be a water stop but with the day expected to be in the 90s F, the organizers did put some out. I went on and attacked the control from a bend to spike it.

6-7 - Back to the road, then in, going on the trail.

7-8 - Back to the road, then in at the first trail intersection. I hit this pretty well.

8-9 - I'd gotten confused by control #23 being along the way to #9. The leg line on the map leaving #8 was very stubby, before being broken. I found #23 without realizing it because I was looking for code 140 on #9. After circling, I realized I needed to go on and did. I got right to the boulder and spur below #9 but I incorrectly thought the boulder was the dot knoll for #9. I've seen other older maps with boulders mapped as dot knolls. Since I thought I was at the spur, I went north concluding that I must have been wrong. I got to the mapped cairn and it had a control on it. I looped back up to the trail, attacked again, and came to the same boulder below the spur. This time I went up the spur and found the control I had expected the mapped dot knoll to be more of a pile of dirt rather to go with the use of the point feature symbol. I would have tried to map that rise as a formline.

8-9 - I was having trouble reading the detail in the map, and the forest leaving #9 was thick. I got to the stream and concluded that I wouldn't cross where the footing was bad, the water flowing too much, and it being thorny. I didn't see the trail crossing the stream, thinking this was a series of cliffs. I went SW on the trail before crossing onto the island using small stones. I got back on trail leaving the island and getting to the bridge north of #10. With the leg line not being broken, I didn't see that there were 2 trail intersections. I took the second and looked in the wrong area. Quickly figuring out what I'd done, I corrected and found #10.

10-11 - I drifted a bit to the left but was close enough to see the control.

11-12 - I drifted a bit to the left but was close enough to see the control.

12-13 - Straight and I spiked it.

13-14 - I used the trail to the right and attacked from the bend to spike it.

14-15 - Back up the hill the way I'd come, I went straight and spiked it. The contour there seemed exaggerated. The reentrant was really shallow.

15 - 16 - Straight and I spiked it.

16 - 17 - I too the trail over the stream. I did get to have a cup of water at the bridge. I paused at the field where an old guy was keeled over. He'd started before me and told me he needed to take it easy because of his heart condition. He said he was okay so I went on. Trying to save distance, I came off the trail too soon when I saw some rocks. I'd gotten confused and hit the trail north of the control. It was hilly coming back.

17 - 18 - I used trails initially, but I did cut across the open broad reentrant later. I walked my way in from the pipeline ride

18 - 19 - I used the trail and left from a bend in the left fork to spike it.

19 - 20 - I was basically going straight.

20 - 21 - Straight.

21-22 - Straight mostly, but I did contour to the left occasionally.

22 - 23 - I went fairly straight, and having been there before I didn't lose much time.

23-F - I got to the road and came north after the out of bound's. I passed the fire circle, not being clear on where the finish was, so I came to the finish from the NE.

This was 9.2K for a 6.9K course.

Green - Splits

Having taken the ferry from Woods Hole, MA, Peggy and I rented e-bikes in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard island.

We first biked over to Tony's Market where we got lunch sandwiches and drinks. We took those with us and went back to about where the ferry dropped us off. We rode Seaview Ave. going past marathon runners who were on the hiker/biker trail. We ate lunch at the Jaws Bridge.

Scenes from the movie Jaws were filmed in Oak Bluffs and around the island. We reached Beach Rd. and Upper Main St. in Edgartown. There we stopped to walk out to the Edgartown Harbor Lighthouse.

A couple were getting there wedding pictrues taken in the areas. Returning to the saddle, we went out Water St. and Katama Rd. to Mattakeset Herrring Creek and the fast eroding Katama South Beach.

We looped Atlantic Dr., to Herring Creek Rd., and Katama Rd. again. Turning left on Cleveland Town Rd., we Meshaket Rd., we passed many rural homes. We got onto a trail again at Edgartown - West Tisbury Rd., heading west. This got us to Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. That wasn't very interesting and the trail had regular bumps. The e-bikes had fat seats that were cutting into my hamstring while I pedaled. it got pretty uncomfortable at times. Eventually we got on Barnes Rd., and actually rode a few hills along Lagoon Pond. We got to an old part of Oak Bluffs on School St. at Pacific Ave. We wrapped up the ride through town on Dukes County Ave., Siloam Ave., and Lake Ave.

The ride and scenery were nice. It was good to see the runners. We walked some more to have some ice cream in town on Circuit Ave. before taking the ferry back. Martha's Vineyard was nice but it did seem overrated for the cost of things.

Chesterfield Gorge State Wayside, NH.

After flying-into Manchaster, NH in the early hours, Peggy and I saw the Currier Museum of Art (lots of nice stuff there)

and two Frank Lloyd Wright houses. We wanted to tour the houses but they were only giving private tours that day.

We were heading to Brattleboro, VT when we saw a little wayside stop. On a folly, we hiked the Chesterfield Gorge there--It was a nice set of waterfalls and cascading water. The trail was not very difficult and we took it at an easy pace.

After seeing the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center in Brattleboro, VT, we walked around the town, window shopping.

Later we saw the Creamery Covered Bridge. Peggy realized that we'd stopped very nearby just about by chance not long back, to get lunch. We'd been on the way by car to an orienteering further north back then. The bridge was okay.

After this, we went to the Harris Hill Ski Jump/Retreat Farm Hike trailhead parking area. We didn't have a map with us and as the Internet comments had indicated, the trails were poorly signed and confusing. We eventually got to the top and the old Retreat Tower. Medieval looking, the tower was built in the 1880's. The tower also looks like a rook chess piece. We made our way back to the parking lot a different way and speculated about orienteering on this ridge.

We were fortunate to have enough time to eat back in Brattleboro at a bar overlooking the Connecticut River, just off of Rt. 119. The bar straddled the Vermont and New Hampshire border. It had a line painted on the floor to indicate where the border was. My shrimp tacos were were good!

From there we rushed to Putney VT and got to see Cheryl Wheeler in concert with Kenny White. Both were good. The crowd, as usual, was pretty old We'd tried to see Cheryl Wheeler back in December but that concert had been cancelled. To finish-up the night, we drove about 2 hours and into a thunderstorm, into Chelmsford, MA where we were finally able to rest. It was a full and wonderful day!

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to the Huntington Pkwy., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Arlington Rd., to Bradley Blvd., to Glenbrook Rd., to Wilson Ln. to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. It was a nice cool evening. I was tired from a long day but the walk made me feel better. My left hip was hurting sometimes--maybe more when going uphill. My ankles were a little tired too. I did some gardening-at-night afterward.

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. After this hike I got a leg cramp.

From Northfield Rd., to Jefferson St., to Madison St., to Bradmoor Dr., through North Bethesda Middle School, to Beech Ave., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Roosevelt St., to Grant Ave., to Northfield Rd. It felt good to have done a walk.

Event: QOC Upper Marlboro
 

Rock Creek Regional Park, MD. From Needwood Circle, I continued updating the Rock Creek, MD map. Most of the terrain that I went through today was improved from earlier. What had been green had turned back to white or just light low vegetation. By request, I did get into some areas that had been taken over by barberry. A line in the edge of the vegetation suggested that the park service had been intervening by eradicating it. They just didn't get far enough. A vast amout of it remained in the area. Course setters would do well to avoid it to keep people happy. It was passable at a walk and with good protection, which I had. The weather as warm again, and once again the rain held off. Max had dropped me off so that he could use the car and see his girlfriend. I had water to drink with me today, and I needed it. My big toe on my right foot was hurting a lot. I thought that my new Ice Bugs were a little too tight but it turned out that a hole in my Smart Wool sock (great socks!) got big enough for my toe to be sticking through it--the blood circulation in the toe was getting cut off. I did a lot of adjusting of mapped features. Some of it was changing rootstocks to dot knolls or mapping new root stocks. Sometimes I adjusted alignments of point features. In one area, a ride (for a sewage pipeline?) had disrupted mapped features pushing some boulders around. The open forest were really open! In some places the stilt grasses had started growing so it looked like golf course grass.


Next week when QOC has an event here, the stilt grass will be taller but still probably nothing to worry about. I got tired going up and down hills again today--maybe this is like Rome. These hills tend to be steep. After getting around one, I saw the darkening skies and I called Max for a ride home. He got there just in time.

Rock Creek Regional Park, MD. From the Lake Frank parking area, I went about trying to update the map. Except for minor edits, I hadn't done much field work here since 2017. I was lucky the rains never came. I'd almost not gone out because it was drizzling in the morning and expected to get worse.

In 2021, I'd updated the contours across the whole map and did a lot of work in OCAD to get the mapped features lined-up. The original map started in 2006 was started with USGS Quadrangle contours--I did update that with other county based contours but it was still generalized too much. Adding 1m LiDAR last year allowed for getting the ditches and other things lined-up much better. This was the second big map that I had done so what was mapped reflected me not being as knowledgeable or as skilled. The tools I had were not so great back then either--I used my watch for a GPS. Were I starting this map today, I would have done so many things differently.

I headed for areas that had been identified to me as needing work. I had a fair amount of difficulty starting out with mainly cotoneaster having grown-up and spread wildly--there used to be only one very small place that I knew it grew. Now it seemed to be everywhere. In that poor visibility on a steep hillside, and in an area of detailed rock and cliffs it was sometimes hard to tell which boulders had been mapped. On a nearby area, the cotoneaster completely covered up some mapped features. Gradually I got to better terrain with much less low vegetation. However going up and down the hills got tiring. I had intended to take water with me but I forgot it in the car. Time went quickly. I got dehydrated but didn't get any leg cramps until at home after dinner. I did find many places had really improved. What was green had become white. On some of the bland hillsides, there were some relatively new rootstocks and dot knolls, and they'll add to the navigational challenge. Almost all of the old ones need to and will be deleted.

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to Moorland Rd., to Overhill Rd., to Hampden Ln., to Wilson Ln., to Aberdeen Rd., to Aberdeen Pl./Garfield St., to Northfield Rd. I had just enough time after work to walk a little before dinner.

From Cedar Ln. in Rock Creek Park, MD. I ran up the Rock Creek Trail to Beach Dr. to the intersection wiht Grosvenor Rd., then back. It was painful starting out. Once the knee pain subsided, my left ankle was feeling bad and weak. I tried putting more weight on my right leg but unlike last time, it didn't help much. I stretched after finishing. I also said hello and chatted with Rob Field who had been cycling but was stopped at the Cedar Rd. intersection. He was injured too.

Event: 2022 Billygoat
 

Letchworth State Park, NY. From the Trailside parking lot, towards Inspiration Point to the start of the 2022 Billygoat.

2022 Kid Billygoat in Letchworth State Park, NY. The Rochester Orienteering Club set a event. The terrain was sometimes technically easy and sometimes physically hard. There was pretty good attendance. I ran the Kid since I'm still having knee issues and am not in shape enough where I felt I should do more. To do more would have risked further injury like I did in Ohio at the Flying Pig. I navigated okay but there were a number of places that I could have improved my overall time.

S-1 - As I flipped over my map and looked at the first leg, I went out of the parking lot down the road starting out. I forgot that the start triangle was further in. I stopped on the road thinking about whether or not I should go down to the start triangle but I was already past it. Nadezhda Popova passed me when I stopped. Eventually I went ahead and went around the out of bounds area on the north side. I took trails almost to #2 but cut south at an intersection (the woods looked too green). Had I not been flustered about not going to the start triangle, I might have used the time on the trail and road to look ahead at the course for a control to skip. As it was I plowed south, saw lots of people who had gone straight, then dropped down to #1. Bridget Hall was coming up as I was going down.

1-2 - I realized as I was climbing out of the hole from #1, that I should have skipped it. If I had, I could have saved a 3-4 minutes more. As I ran, I could see no other good skips ahead. I did see skipping #4 as an obvious possibility but knew it wouldn't save me much time. Further inspection might have revealed #9 as a good skip. After climbing up from #1, I ran straight as I could around the green, rather than hug the edge of the drop-off. The loop road being grassed-over didn't throw me off. I spotted the knoll and went to the correct side efficiently.

2-3 - I went basically straight, using the grassy areas, then dropping to the roads. I cut corners and passed others who had skipped #1. I spiked the control, but didn't see the rootstock until nearer than anticipated.

3-5 - I didn't see the trail north of #3. That's possibly because someone was close behind me at #3, and I just kept moving. I had decided while climbing that it'd be best to skip #4 so I headed to #5. I hit the road south of the parking area and got confuse when I didn't seen the trailhead. I ran on the grass on the west side of the road and on the left side of the pond getting to the big field. I angled across to get around the green then climbed at a walk. I noted my location crossing the trails but never used them as I approached the control from the east/southeast. The stream bends let me adjust to spike it.

4-5 - After leaveing #5, I saw Joe Barrett come through in the lead heading to control JD. Others were about 20-30 seconds behind him. I came up a spur and eventually got to the powerline. Running on that was good. I got around the small marshes along the way, well. At the end of the power line trail, it was too easy to use the trail to get to the pond. All of this leg just kept us away from the out of bounds areas.

6-7 - After crossing the bridge, I got passed by the lead Billygoat runners but didn't see Joe Barrett this time. I took trails to an intersection just east/northeast of #7. At the drop-off, I was thinking the setter put the control down over the edge of the drop-off, and that we'd need to come back up like at #1. Seeing the reentrant but not the control. I hesitated and shifted position, losing 30 seconds. I didn't want to go down unless I could see the control that I knew would be there. Finally I dropped a little and could see being behind a tree so I went there.

7-8 - With it still in my head that I'd need to go back up like at #1, I did. The climb was steep enough that I focused on the ground below my feet rather than look at the map. Someone else dropped while I climbed. At the top, I realized and shouted out that I'd done a 180! I descended but lost at least a minute going up and then going down again. Ooof! To make matters worse, I saw a knoll ahead and went to it without finding the control. I adjusted to the left some more and soon found behind the second knoll, as was mapped.

8-9 - I closed in on the guy who passed me while I had done a 180 leaving #7. He moved more to the right while I kept my bearing and read contours keeping me to the left of him. Since it was gradually downhill, I moved well. I also spiked the control.

9-10 - At this point, there was no way but to go up. I should have gotten control #4 before going to #5, then skipped #9. I went left of straight, reading contours and the intermittent trail below the top of the drop-off. When I got to the top, I hit the trail intersection that I wanted perfectly. It was a good thing that I had because it at the trailhead it was hard to recognize. I cut some corners on the trail intersections ahead to get to #10 pretty well. However in the circle I was initially looking on the left side of the trail.

10-11 - Coming from the corner of the lake to #10, I kept going in the same direction, basically going right of straight. Going left of straight along the pond seemed like it'd be longer. In retrospect, the right side dropped more and I had to climb back up it. AP shows me losing 30 seconds because of this.

11-F -Through the trees and into the fields. I didn't try to run fast down the grass because I didn't want to risk aggravating injury to my right knee further,

I definitely could have gone farther today. I got 2nd but most of the people running the Kid were older than me. I felt that I could have been much better with my navigation. Taking my time to make decisions would have helped.

Kid Goat - Splits

Penn State Campus, State College, PA. Max, Peggy, David Onkst, and I walked around the Penn State Campus so that Max could get continue to form ideas about what colleges he might apply to next fall. It was raining and windy initially but it became more pleasant. I hadn't been feeling that great after sitting at my desk so long the last couple of days (instead of working out) and the walk was just what I needed. Our visit coincidentally coincided with graduations. Most of the ceremonies for different colleges in the university had just ended. Grads and their families were walking around in all of their finery. We stopped at the Nittany Lion sculpture to take pictures--this is the most photographed spot on campus. Initially there was a long line but when we swung past the second time there was just one person and his overzealous mom taking slow pictures. We heard the next day Sunday, May 8th) that the sculpture had been vandalized at night. Someone broke off an ear and poured red paint on it.

From Northfield Rd., to Charlcotte Rd., to Hampden Ln., to Wilson Ln., to Honeywell Ln., to Cornish Rd., 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. Peggy and I got to walk and talk by ourselves today :) My right knee hurt at first but got much better. It was a little humid and in the 70s F.

From Cedar Ln., out and back on the Rock Creek Trail to E. Stan Hope Rd. On the way back, my left leg was getting more tired than my right. I think I'd been favoring it since my right knee hurts. Today, my knee didn't hurt so much except for starting out. I started pushing more on my right leg to compensate for the fatigue and my pace improved. Even though there was a very gradual gain in elevation returning, I was faster coming back.

Great Falls National Park, MD. From the Angler's Inn parking lot, the Berma Rd. to the Lock 16 Spur Trail and back. Rain had started before I got to the park. It slowed down before I started but once I got going, it fell harder again. It was just under 60 F. It was invigorating so maybe some adrenaline kicked-in. I got to the turnaround point right at 11:00 minutes but had already started slowing down before getting there. I was slower going back mainly from being out of shape. My knees didn't feel too badly. The Berma Rd. is gravel and dirt, so softer than what's around my house, but not as soft as the forested orienteering or terrain running.