Training Log Archive: Nadim

Montgomery County Road Runners Club: Shooting Starr. This was part of the MCRRC 5 mile series races. I did it mostly because it was held in honor of Beth Starr's husband who had died of cancer a few years ago. Beth is a regular at our Saturday club breakfasts. The course was rolling hills. Not having run fast much in a long time, I had very modest goals and even thought I might just run it as a workout. I ran in sweats; it was in the low 30's F. By the time I'd gotten to the starting line, I thought it would be good to run it reasonably hard to set a baseline and hoped to at least stay under 35 minutes. The course was rolling and always going up or down. I would generally hold my own place going downhill. Going uphill, I would initially pull ahead but if it was too long, I'd run out of steam and plod through.

Mile 1 - 6:33 - Starting out was net downhill first mile and I was passing people steadily.
Mile 2 - 6:40 - Was down and up with a net gain.
Mile 3 - 7:10 - Was more up than down. I started letting people catch me.
Mile 4 - 7:13 - Was rolling with a net gain in elevation. A group of people in my age category passed me.
Mile 5 - 6:58 - net gain in the mile and for the course; I managed to retain position, staving off one runner and almost catching another.

I was glad to have made the goal time. Two years ago, this would qualify for just a good workout. It was once an untrained marathon pace. I saw Andy Britton afterward. He finished over 1 1/2 minutes ahead. It was good to run hard again. I felt like I was tightening up a lot afterward whenever I wasn't walking. I got 7th in the 45-50 year age group and 41st overall.

Later in the evening, Peggy, Max and I went to one of the county indoor pools. Towing Max around in the water as well as going up and down the water slides helped loosen me up. Max started doing some dog paddling without any prompting.

C • Shooting Starr 2

Spinning a bit easier and feeling a bit tired. Cadence was mostly between 58 and 65. Refreezing snow melt made it a bit too icy out for a run.

The quite normal for the area "wintery mix" left a bunch of wet snow on the driveway and walks. I cleared it off. It was a good warm-up.

It was too slippery and wet out for running so I retreated to the basement. I'm often amazed at how much bad television there is. I kept my cadence between 65 and 70. Doing this is getting easier.

Washington, D.C. I did the Haines Point loop from work (From 14th & Indepenedence Ave. SW to 15th St. SW to Main Ave. SW to Ohio Dr. SW, around Haines Point on the sidewalk, Ohio Dr. to 15th St. SW, to Independence Ave. SW to 14th St. SW, to C St. SW). It was a much nicer 41F day. I saw a bicycle club at least 4 times as they traveled opposite of my counter-clockwise run around the point. Going my way was better shelter from the 9-10mph wind. The sidewalk seems in worse shape than last I ran it and it was pretty bad before. If I run this more often, I'll have to alternate directions so as not to over-stress one leg--there is a good tilt for much of the walkway.

At Haines Point, I saw The Awakening--a multi-piece statue of a disturbed and submerged giant emerging from the ground. I wonder how long it'll be there before being taken away because I saw a report of the city having sold it; that's too bad because it's a popular sculpture.

I had not been looking forward to doing the run today since my right quadricept was sore. Discipline won out and my easier effort made it not bad at all.

C • The Awakening 4

Washington, D.C. I did a version of what I call the Memorial Tour from my office (From 14th & Independence Ave. SW, past the Washington and WWII monuments to the Lincoln Memorial, over Memorial Bridge to the Mt. Vernon Trail, past Lady Bird Johnson Memorial to the 14th St. Bridge, to the Jefferson Memorial, to Maine Ave. to 15th St. to 14th St. to C. St. SW. to 13th St. SW. At first, I felt okay. Seeing the bright sun in the winter will do that as will watching the bulldozers slop around the green muck to get it out from the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool--it's just so wierd (quiz for those of you who think you know Washington D.C. except Peggy--where is the other Reflecting Pool?). I knew there must have been a reason for me to have resisted running at lunch time all these decades (I've run from work both before and after work before but never during lunch time because I suppose I like eating). My quads were dead and I felt like I had to push to keep going. My feet were floppy and loud. In actuality, it was probably the steady 17mph head wind at 34 F and the last two workouts. My toes were cold again and one nail got banged up. I guess it's the shoes.

C • Quiz 3

I lost the evening to selling a futon. It was a struggle getting the matress up out of the basement--there was no place to hold onto it. After that and checking on a neigbor's cat, I decided it was too cold and rode in the basement. I kept up a good cadence (mostly between 65 and 70) and worked up a sweat.

Event: QOC: South Fork
 

QOC: Prince William Forest, South Fork at Turkey Ridge. I ran Blue and did okay. The open woods and the course were fun. I made few errors and mostly had good route choices. The distance was just right for me. I could run through a lot of this at a decent pace though the initial part of the course had a lot of climb. My recent training has helped and I look forward to more improvements with more training. From about control 8 through 16, I ran with Bjorn Johanson either right behind me or right in front of me. Bjorn is new to the area from Sweden and like me he's been trying to adapt to life and have time for training after having a kid. See the Split List and QOC's Route Gadget--I used my Forerunner 305.

Blue - Splits