Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: SVO Michaux Memorial Day ROGAINE
 

SVO - Michaux Memorial Day ROGAINE. I talked Peggy into teaming up on this one. She came up with our team name, 7-Year Itch, which she pointed out was a continuation in a series of our other ROGAINE team names. The prior two were ?The Newlyweds,? and ?Still Married.? Fortunately we were able to get some child care help from a friend but because we didn't want to burden him for too long (he hadn't done any sitting for use previously), we only entered the 6 hour category. Given some questions about both our our 4 knees leading into the event, it was also probably a safe choice.

We started off from Pine Grove. Though we got there with over an hour before the start, we could have used a little more time for preparation. As it was, we'd just gotten our gear together, dressed and parked the van away from the start area. We only spent about 10 minutes doing route planning and this time, it wasn't enough. Like most of the 6 hour groups we knew of, we all headed west up Rte. 233. Peggy and I didn't want to push too fast too early. Tracey Olafsen and her partner passed us but once in the woods, we'd gotten to the control ahead of them. We headed to #75 next which was the choice of most groups and we went at it in a standard orienteering fashion. In hind sight, this was not the right thing to do. Another easy control, #23, was not far off Rte. 233 and could have been quick. It was a bit unappealing since it meant going back down a bit and then further up a road that we?d already been on for 20 minutes. It would have also given us a relatively safer attack to #75. Going at it more directly, we had trouble adjusting to the scale (1:30,000), contours (20ft. and 40ft.) and missing map detail (unmapped fields, roads, trails, etc..). We climbed a bit early and crossed a pretty blueberry area. There was only one trail on the map in the vicinity so when we found a trail, we followed it a ways to see if it was the one we thought it was. It curved right and up too much. Eventually getting off it, we found ourselves in a more recently logged area with lots of unmapped trails and little of the contour detail that the map was showing to help us relocate. Eventually we hit a road, relocated, used an unmapped trail to get back, and missed again. Peggy was getting a bit frustrated with this but we stuck it out and got there with a half hour to 40 minute loss of time.

This loss so early in the race and a subsequent big climb to the next two controls didn't give us a good sense of our pace across the whole of the map. Leaving #85, we found ourselves near an Adventure Racing Team of 3 named Armed. More unmapped trails and rushing to get away from Armed lead us to a road intersection about a mile off from where we expected to be. At least we were moving faster. It was okay to be where we were if we were going to go to #70 like most of the other 6 hour teams did. However, we were thinking about how to make a better point total for our loop. Given the pace so far, in my mind the other 6 hour groups would be doing a very similar route. There were only just so many logical choices. There was a need for differentiation. Peggy spotted a road run to #61 and I signed on to it. There was water there too. I started having second thoughts after the first mile because it started seeming too far out of the way and we?d have to backtrack it later. We stuck it out eventually seeing Armed going to #61 on our way back. Afterward, we continued to move well and spike the controls. We handled more unmapped trails and vagaries much more easily. We were just running out of time.

Close to the end, we climbed out of a valley at an indistinguishable place going from #21 to #22. We were able to assess our location from a road crossing but following a long bearing from there, we almost gave up when an unmapped trail had us thinking we might have passed the control when in fact it was still ahead past the next trail. We had 11 minutes left after punching and ran swiftly all the way to the end. We made it with just 4 minutes left. Our overall route was: 53, 75, 24, 85, 61, 70, 45, 21, 22. The distance is from a GPS track.

I enjoyed getting out and think I would have enjoyed it more if I were out longer. It was a triumph for me, a confidence builder, to be out for this long and far after having had knee surgery less than a year ago. I felt a little pain during the race but it subsided. Peggy and I made good partners but others adjusted better to the different style of orienteering needed for ROGAINEs. We were 3rd overall in points against other 6 hour teams. Sam Listwak and a friend won. We'd entered in the coed category and came in second behind Tracey Olafsen and her partner. I sure would like to do it again and do it better.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Georgetown Branch tunnel. It was rather unusual at the station when I pulled up to the same bicycle rack as usual and found that I was the only one using it.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail. I was trying to take it easy so that I didn't sweat in my work clothes but it was a lost cause. Getting through town was fairly easy with light traffic. It was probably due to the upcomming holiday weekend.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Georgetown Branch tunnel. Though there's going to be great weather today, I thought that a little easier workout than riding all the way into work woud be better and would set me up for a chance to do a short run after work.

From the Bethesda Metro station to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd. via the Georgetown Branch Trail. It's been getting warmer and with it the roads are getting crazier. Nearly every day in downtown Bethesda there is either someone stopping their car in the middle of the road for some personal reason or otherwise driving erratically. Parking properly when stopping seems optional.

From Northfield Rd. counter-clockwise around NIH via Custer Rd. Maple Ridge Rd. the Bethesda Trolley Trail, W. Cedar Ln., Old Georgetown Rd., and Greenwich Park. I expected to be more tired when running but it worked okay. Even climbing W. Cedar Ln. was fine and in the past, I had often avoided this long hill. In Greewick Park, a kids school party was going on with lots of people but Max and Peggy had already returned home.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to C St., SW, Washington, D.C. via the Capital Crescent Trail and Ohio Dr. It was around 50F this morning so I work some extra clothes. I took it easy trying to be careful to avoid stressing my knees. I was doing about 20.5mph down the grade when I got passed by another guy doing 23mph. As I was tucked behind him, we cruised 21mph to 22mph into Georgetown. I pulled up along side of him on Water St. and we talked a bit. He didn't press the point much but indicated that I could have pulled too. I felt a little guilty about it but in my present shape I would have had to push too hard to pull him at those speeds. It was just right coming in behind him and he was going a much shorter distance overall. I didn't have any knee problems the whole way. It was a good day for riding in.

From the intersection of 12th St . SW and Independence Ave., S.W, Washington, D.C. to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I left work after a late meeting so my usual bicycling exit from the building was locked. I rode through the basement halls to the other end of the (two block long) building then headed home. I was able to beat the traffic most of the way on Independence Ave. to Ohio Dr., partly aided by the draft of some big tour buses that I'd caught and passed at lights. Like in the morning, the Rock Creek Trail between the Watergate complex and Thompson Boathouse was blocked for construction so I had to use the busy main road. Georgetown was busy along the river but okay once on Water St. There seemed to be some slight headwinds or else I was just feeling the weight of carrying home two sets of clothes, one from Monday when I did a train/run/train commute. Nearing Bethesda, the trail was quite busy with foot traffic. I took care to keep the pace easy enough throughout the ride but my legs got tired anyway. In the office meeting that caused me to be late and was held after normal east coast business hours, one guy had to leave early to catch his daughter's softball game. I think many of the workaholics on the conference call didn't know what to make of it as there was a short pause. Like many before me, I spent much of the ride home trying to make-up new names fitting the acronym for my organization (ITS). This time it was with a theme fitting the meeting situation. "T" was the most difficult letter.

Washington, D.C. From the Woodley Park Metro Station, I ran down into Rock Creek Park, crossed through Dumbarton Oaks to Glover Archbold Park via the Dumbarton Oaks Trail and the Wesley Heights Trail. From there, I ran up the Glover Archbold Trail and out to the Tenleytown Metro Station via Van Ness St. and Wisconsin Ave. I couldn't get to sleep the night before so all day I was dragging. This kept up as I went to run after work so right away I just planned on not pushing it. The hills along the way were still enough to get me breathing hard at times. It was in the low 60s F. I saw a solitary full grown deer just a few feet away from me high up in the Dumbarton Oaks dell if you can call it that. It was just before hitting Whitehaven St., not far from the very busy Wisconsin Ave.

When climbing hills, I had a little discomfort a few times on my right leg on the right side, below and to the knee. This was different and less severe from last week when I felt sharp pain on the left side of the right knee when encountering resistance moving forward. After the run, I had to work on my big toenail on my right foot, removing a bit more than the northwest quarter of it. Somehow it had cracked horizontally and was starting to tear somewhat vertically.

Event: QOC: Balls Bluff
 

Balls Bluff Park, VA (Near Leesburg, VA). After Peggy got back from her run it was getting very close to the last start times. I had been sitting down watching Max for most of the time before this. I ran at a nice pace to the remote start, passing some scouts headed there too.

QOC: Balls Bluff Park, VA. Don Davis set this course. The woods were pretty nice for most of it but the map came-up short in a few places. There were some point features not shown and others perhaps out of alignment. Serveral trails weren't shown either. I didn't feel like I was navigating with confidence until headed toward #6. After that things were clicking better up until #16 where I lost 3-4 minutes. The two best things from today were:

1. Being able to go through the course with no knee pain in either leg.
2. Actually feeling like I had some leg speed at times with an ability to power over some good hills.

Both made me happy. The first was good because if I start having more knee troubles in my right knee, it fairs well for my chances at being able to at least continue running. The second was good because I take it as evidence that the increased volume of recent workouts was starting to show some dividend. See the Split List.

After the race, Peggy and I hurried off to visit my parents and one of my sisters. Because we were at the Billygoat last weekend, we missed Mother's Day so this was sort of a makeup day. To make it even better, my mom was willing to accompany my dad, Peggy and I to see the new Star Trek movie. Both Peggy and my mom are not really fans but they both enjoyed it. There were even some parent-child themes in the plot too.

Red - Splits