Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to 12th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. Since Peggy had taken Max to day care, I rode straight in. It was the warmest morning yet this year--in the 70s and a little humid but not like summer. I rode alone. There were some winds along Ohio Dr. as the warm air pumped in from the southwest.

From C St. SW, Washington, D.C, to Rosedale Ave. via Independence Ave. I left work late. Part of this ride includes a bit in the courtyard and through the inside halls of the basement of the building where I work. The bulding is two blocks long. I took it easy spinning mostly though I pushed in a few places. I had some tailwinds in places.

I started this without my head into it. We had gotten to the meet site rather late and though I got to the line with a few minutes to relax, my head was more focused on having gotten Max to child care. I ran Green Open because I felt I'd do too much damage to my knee by running longer. After some throbbing yesterday evening and aches in the morning, I think I made the right choice.

Going to #1, thought it'd be an easy control. It was a short leg. I aimed off to the left a bit to be safe, passed the control and crossed a trail without seeing it. At the next trail, I went on but I figured it was dropping and that I somehow passed it. By the time I found it, I was feeling a need to rush and make up time. In doing so, I missed a great route that Greg Lennon showed me using the road to get to #2. After climbing the hill and cutting off, I got confused on the trails, missing the correct turn. I realized this quickly because the trail was climbing. I stopped and headed down across some messy woods. I figured I'd just better take a pit stop that I should have done before the race if I'd been more focused on it. I fumbled my way to #2, not having seen the giant catching feature stone wall until very late. On the way to #3, I was more focused but I'm not if sure climbing to the road was the best route. I was a bit high on #4. I hit #5 well, then passed #6 somehow. I came off a squared contour attack point with only a few 10s of meters to go and didn't see it in a low ditch. I eventually found #7, went back to #6, then moved on. I ran better to 8, catching people whom I was with at #6. Finally getting more into the swing of things, I ran and read better the rest of the course. At #10, I found Dave Onkst and another rather tired Army Blue runner. I passed them going to the Go control. It was interesting racing here and I enjoyed getting out. I hurt my knee more so that it ached sitting down on the drive home.

Green X Long - Splits

Hickory Run State Park, PA. Warm up for the DVOA Chasing the Star/Team Trials event. I ran from the child care place where I'd dropped-off Max, to the start line. It was downhill. My knee felt about like it did the day before--this was better than I'd hoped.

DVOA Chasing the Star; Middle. This was the first woods running that I'd done since the A-meet at Lechworth. I kept nearly a steady effort. Despite the visibility and light green, I read the map fairly well through control 6. I crossed the reentrant going toward #7 and saw the fence so I was on line till there. I noticed Peggy behind me and probably should have been paying closer attention to my compass. I hit the ridge and wall of green that 7 was on without crossing a reentrant that I had intended to. Confused I turned left and went down a knoll. That was the right direction but I should have gone one more knoll down (I didn't see another) I reversed direction and found other controls. Fortunately the second was my #8. All of this cost me around 3 minutes. Coming back, I was overconfident and got off line, losing another 30 seconds. I screwed up #9 by not realizing that it was a road crossing control. My technique was not so good going to #10 but I managed to not lose any time on it. I fumbled a bit at #12. It seemed all of my errors were distraction related. As I neared the Go control, I could see Peggy ahead. I tried to catch her but she was too far up. However, it turned out that my effort saved me 4 seconds on the run in over Andras Revesz and secured me 3rd in M45+ by 3 seconds. This was the hardest that I've run in about 2 months. It did come with a price as my knee hurt more afterward.

RedX Middle - Splits

Event: US Team Trials
 

DVOA Chasing Star at Leghigh University, Bethlehelm, PA. I planned to try to run a bit today and did so more than I have in nearly 2 months. I was worried about a downhill sprint being rough on my knee. It didn't hurt when running but I didn't go all out either. Only time will tell if I did damage or not--I have an MRI scheduled for next week. I ran at moderate paces. I was slow getting out of the start because I couldn't find the start triangle. My thumb was covering it. I made a 3:20 error on #10. With a 1:4,000 scale, I had looked for a a road that I'd already passed. After recovering, I ran the rest of the course with Jeff Saeger either ahead or behind me. I was fortunate to have him near on #14. I went to where I thought it would be but didn't realize it was on a terrace above me. I finished just ahead. I had trouble reading the map in many places. In a few places, I had trouble distinguishing the olive green out of bounds areas from stairs. The stairs often looked like fuzzy areas on the map as I was running. Only after the race did I realize what they were. This was fun. My GPS track tells me that I covered 3.12 miles in this race.

Red Sprint - Splits

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to 12th & C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was a nice cool morning again. I set a good pace after dropping off Max and passed a lot of people along the way. On the flats, one of them helped get me to Georgetown. The tailwinds along the river were nice though I got stuck behind some people in places where I couldnt' pass.

I decided not to ride yesterday. I have some regret about it but it was probably best since I could start to feel some warnings from my knee.

C • My sister must be one of th... 4

From C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD. I had a nice ride with slight headwinds. I took it easier but spinning along, I still kept a fair pace. I carried some extra weight and overloaded my pannier. I finally bought a digital SLR after waiting several years for the price to drop on the features that I wanted. I met Peggy and Max near the metro station and we strolled home together.

C • camera 2

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to 12th & C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. I rode Max to school with his lunch and in my continuing series of recent forgetfulness I realized that I'd forgotten to grab my panier. I scurried back home for it, then cut across Bethesda to the CCT. I moved pretty quickly down the grade passing a bunch of other riders at 20-22mph. On the flats at over 20mph, I caught and settled behind one for a little while but we traded some pulls afterward. Along the river and Ohio Dr., there were several other riders. I got stuck behind some in the tunnels then moved along over 20mph. Someone finally caught and passed me before the 14th St. Bridge. He zig-zagged and I couldn't keep up as he accelerated past. He was headed my way so I was only a few seconds behind him at 15th St. and Independence Ave. SW. It's been nice and cool out.

From C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD via Rock Creek Park. I left work close to 6pm. A storm was brewing. I got blasted on Ohio Dr. again but another commuter who probably left very near where I had decided to pass at that time. Though tucked in behind him, and still the winds were bad. I led rounding past the Lincoln Memorial and lost him near the underpasses where there were other cyclists going the other way on the one way portion of the trail. Emerging from the underpasses, the crazy wind neary knocked me down several times. I guess fatness was good for something since I didn't fall. I estimate the gusts that hit me off the river at 40+mph and by this time it had started to rain lightly. Not wanting to deal with it along the river, I again rode up Rock Creek. I stayed in the sheltering valley all the way to Wyse Rd., then cut across Chevy Chase mostly on Thornapple Rd. Fortunately the winds had died down by the time I left the park. I got to Max's daycare via Lynn Rd. again and picked up his trailer. It was late enough that traffic had died down somewhat so I cut across Bethesda to home.