Training Log Archive: Nadim

Great Falls, MD. I got out to the park to make map updates and fixes around some control locations. The control locations have been submitted to the park for the QOC meet planned for December. The woods were pretty nice as usual though there were significant areas with silk grasses. On some of the steeper slopes, I took off green from previous mapping and added others. I fixed-up an area with many newer root stocks too.

My left knee kept oozing last night. I woke-up several times and each time I stood, I'd get a delayed but rather painful reminder. I was able to move in the woods okay but I'm a bit worried about racing Sunday with branches touching the raw area. I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a bandaid to stick long enough. The scrape on my hand had been hurting yesterday too but it was much better today so there's hope.

Peggy, Max and I rode from Northfield Rd., to Bethesda Ave. with Max on his trail-a-bike. We took the long way and ate dinner before returning in the dark.

My left knee had been hurting from the scrape that I got on my run earlier this week. It's only a half-dollar size scrape but it took a lot of layers of skin off in a bad place. It oozes and solidifies, then gets cracked or caught on clothes for the cycle to start all over. It causes much more pain when brushed than I would have guessed and it is hot around it. Taking the day off yesterday was probably good thing and even better since it rained.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD to Arlington Rd. with Max on his trail-a-bike, then to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. It was in the low 60s F. If there was a tailwind, I didn't feel it. I had just been moving better than earlier. I took a long time catching-up to a roadie while doing 23mph on the down grade. Finally getting up to him at about the Canal Rd. trestle overpass, I decided to sit on him to catch my breath. After slowing down when we reached the flats, my temptation to pass went away quickly. Everytime we passed other cyclists, we speeded-up. Eventually we were doing 24mph and I decided it better to drop-off just before Glover Archbold Park. I had planned on taking it easy. My time could have been faster; it is an estimate since I only started the clock after dropping off Max.

From C St. SE, Washington, D.C. (via the Mall) to Arlington Rd., Bethesda, MD, to pickup Max's trail-a-bike, then to Northfield Rd. I started out taking it at a nice comfortable pace. Snaking through pedestrian traffic along the Reflecting Pool and car traffic on Water St. in Georgetown, I hit the Capital Crescent Trail doing 18mph. As I got passed near Fletcher's Boathouse, I was going to let the guy go but he got slowed and I got into his draft. Sometimes he was slow and sometimes fast. We might have had some tailwinds too. I stayed behind till past MacArthur Blvd. and then I took a long faster pull to around Dorset Ave.

From 12th & Independence Ave. to the National Mall, crossing at Jefferson Dr., NW to the Washington Monument, past the WWII Memorial and the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, through the National Zoo rather than use the tunnel, to the Melvin Hazen Trail, to Connecticut Ave., NW, to the UDC Metro Station. With fall races coming up, I lack the confidence to run far so I really needed some longer training. I ran a version of this route just about a year ago. It's evident that I'm slower than last year. I think much of it has to do with being sick for 2 weeks last August even though I had gotten sick the previous August too. The weather was great and overall I felt better than I have been feeling on runs lately. The longest split I took was fairly comfortable at a 7:36 pace. I got slowed a lot in the dusk climbing the rooty and rocky Melvin Hazen Trail (other runners coming the other way on it had lights) out of the Rock Creek valley. My calves tightened-up after 45 minutes too--probably the result of not enough running in relation to cycling training.

It was a fun run but it just started off badly. After waiting to locate satellites, I eagerly took off while looking at my watch starting. I then I got distracted as I rounded some tourists who were toward me. Literally my second step forward, moving over to let them by, was on the edge of the sidewalk where the grass was worn bare and the ground was two inches lower. I went down on both knees and arms scraping 3 of the 4. Asked if I was injured, I was too embarrased while trying to get out of there to quip that my pride was stricken.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD to Arlington Rd. with Max on his trail-a-bike, then to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. It was a bit foggy this morning. The sound of my bell was off because of the moisture deposited on it. I felt like I was straining much of the time. After Georgetown, a headwind was more evident. I detoured up the Mall again. At one point on Lincoln Circle I was in a line of 4 cyclists waiting out a traffic light. Later, I caught an apparent executive in shirt and tie pedaling his electric assisted bicycle toward the White House. Another lady in the elevator at work inquired about cycle commuting. It's a good thing and growing.

From C St. SE, Washington, D.C. to Arlington Rd., Bethesda, MD. The winds were mixed with some strong headwind parts and some strong tailwind parts. I rode a bit too fast early and poked-up the hill. Peggy met us at Arlington Rd. along with all of Max's classmates and everyone enjoyed a picnic dinner of pizza and ice cream. Max rode back with me on his trail-a-bike to Northfield Rd.

A planned outing of field checking at Great Falls, MD did not materialize due to rain. After sleeping-in, most of the day was filled with errands, a social visit and some extending of the base mapping of downtown Bethesda.