Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: 2006 North American Championships (Golden Leaf Orienteering Fest)
 

N. American Champs model event at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. Max wouldn't sleep in the car so I got my chance to warm-up on the model area quite late. It was straighftorward and easier than College Park because it was flat. I'd gotten a little in the parking lot at the first control.

McMaster University, Canada. Golden Horshoe N. American Champs Sprint 4. I got to the starting line late and ran the race without a compass. My real time to complete the course was 19:57. I didn't do bad considering this but I made a few mistakes and lost my place several times. See the Split List.

Sprint 4 - Splits

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD, to Montgomery Ave., then to 12 & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. going around the Tidal Basin as I usually go. I towed and dropped Max off at daycare then took off on the trail. Going downhill I was riding faster than I had recently been doing at around 21-22mph. At the bottom near Fletchertown Boathouse, I got passed by an older man doing 24mph. We traded some pulls on the flats doing 21-22 through Georgetown and then split. I'm sure to feel it later. The cookies really hit the G-factor but they'll balance out soon enough.

From 12th & C St. S.W., Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD. It seemed that I had early tailwinds. Overall I felt stronger than I had been.

From Rosedale Ave. Pearl St. to W. VA Ave. to Kentucky Ave. to East-West Hwy. to Wisconsin Ave. to just past Cheltenham Dr. I got out for a late slog. My legs were rather dead. I finished the somewhat hilly run at the local drug store to pickup diapers and cookies.

C • and 1

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD, to Montgomery Ave., then to 12 & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. via the CCT and Independence Ave. I towed and dropped Max off at daycare. I heard nary a word as I used the plastic bubble to keep the cool 50 F breeze off of him. He's now able to recognize the daycare building from the bicycle path in the back and started to cry when we got in sight. I guess he wanted more time with Peggy and I with the daycare being new and him not seeing us much yesterday. Going on to work, I was somewhat slow; perhaps a bit tired from The Stumble. My left knee was giving warning signs and my gut is hurting like it was last Spring. Due to the late opening of the daycare (7:30am), me being a bit late getting myself and Max ready, I'm still getting to work (8:30am) a half hour later than I should be. I suppose getting up earlier might be in order but 5:30am sounds a lot earlier than 6am for a night person.

C • 5:30!!! 6

From 12th & C St. S.W., Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD via the Georgetown Branch Trail. It was more great weather out. I was slow starting out. It felt like a headwind but there wasn't a lot. I could only muster 16mph into Georgetown. I picked it up on the CCT, then climbed most of the trail at 16mph, averaging that same speed to Max's daycare. Max had already been picked-up by Peggy but I had to pickup his trailer that I had left there in the morning.

Event: Susquehanna Stumble IX
 

SVO Susquehanna Stumble IX. I went in with no real expectations but came away with one of the better results in a long while. Mostly, I was happy to be able to finish without dieing too badly; due to my generally poor fitness level. The early pace was quick as is with most mass start events. By around the 5th control Ted Good and I started running together and stayed that way until just after control 24. I pulled away mostly because Ted was slowing faster than I was. I'm sure Ted and some others kept me from making errors at times and I hope I did the same. My window choices were: [B, C, A], [G, D, F, E, H], [K, J, L, I], and [O, P, M, Q, N].

I had intended to go [C, B, A] on the first window but Ken Walker Jr., Eddie Bergeron, and Chris Gross (Short Stumble) were going [B, C, A] and I wanted to maintain contact. I was planning to do [H, E, F, D, G] for the next window but Ted and I discussed it on the run and did [G, D, F, E, H]. I almost missed seeing control L on the map but being with Ted helped out there. Going to #24, I started to pull away from Ted but I missed seeing an attack point and ran almost 400m out of the way. I did pull away on the way toward #25 but saw Ted again leaving control P as I was coming into the area. I probably took a sub-optimal control order in that last window but stayed ahead of Ted to finish 4th overall.

My overall endurance was okay. I slowed when needed to keep from cramping badly.

Long - Splits

From Mark Twain School in Rockville, fieldchecking in Rock Creek Park. I got into the woods somewhere around 8:45am on Saturday; pretty good for me lately. I rechecked some areas mapped earlier but spent most of the time north of Rte. 28 mapping technical areas and fixing some point features not very close to other things. It started raining steadily, then lightly. It stopped just about when I left. The park has many nice areas. I happened to see a fox and many deer. As I got further north, the base map contours got steadily worse. At one point, I could see no evidence of an entire reentrant that was transferred from the USGS map. I'm fairly sure that another is shown much further south than it really is. All this problems make it much harder to map. I'll have to go back to fix it. I did find many neat features elsewhere including some ruined cairns, several depressions close to each other, a large group of rocky dot knolls, linear marshes with some muddy depressions, some odd rides, and sewer manholes in the middle of nowhere. There were some really open fast woods on a ridge where many deer were hanging out.