Training Log Archive: Nadim

From the Ken-Gar parking lot, I ran the Rock Creek Trail to Cedar Ln. to the Elmhirst Trail, to Cedar Ln. to Rockville Pike, to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Maple Ridge Rd. to Old Georgetown Rd. to Huntington Pkwy. to Custer Rd. to Northfield Rd. I had't run or done much in so long that I felt rather awkward running and like running was an effort. It was a little breezy and 52F. The one mile I timed was 7:01 but I slowed climbing out of the Rock Creek valley.

I spent a lot of time getting the leaves up in time for the final pickup. Some were wet so it made hauling them fairly tiring. My arms were pretty tired afterward and I was dehydrated. We had a family movie night afterward.

With the wet and colder weather, with it being dark out after work, and staying late a lot of the week, I wasn't very motivated to run. If I would have done it upon arriving home I would have had the energy to get out the door, but as it was I ate and got Max to sleep first. I've also been staying up too late.

From Northfield Rd., to 12th and C Street, SW, Washington, D.C. With the temperature expected to hit 70F I couldn't pass-up a ride all the way to work. It was 55F when starting. There was significant headwind most of the way. I felt tired but enjoyed it. I've also probably lost some conditioning; even my arms were tired. I rode my road bike and let Max take the bus to school.

From 12th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. It was dark right from the start of my commute at 6pm. I was a little slow due to traffic when starting out but I enjoyed the tailwind most of the way home. The air was very comfortable. There was a steady stream of cyclist that I passed but it didn't seem like the trail was busy. I definately feel like I've lost some cycling conditioning since in mid September when I rode in the daytime with a laptop and less of a tailwind, I was only a minute slower.

Event: QOC Great Falls MD
 

Great Falls National Park, MD. From near the Tavern area, Max and I hiked to see the falls. We ran the path over the bridges to the big viewpoint. Though Max had been there before, he had lost much of the memory of it so it was a somewhat impressive and new experience for him. He called the water-gouged rounded pits in the bedrock Beyblade arenas and crawled in an out of them. Earlier, he had enjoyed hanging out in a hollowed-out Sycamore tree at the meet site.

Great Falls National Park, MD. It was in the mid 60s F and sunny again today. I picked up controls in the southern part of the park starting from the Angler's Inn and getting picked-up myself from Picaso Ln. I had been wanting to run all day while watching others run so it felt good to get going. The meet turned out to be fairly successful as far as attendance (~250 starters which is what we were limited to by the park service) and the general comments on the courses. I was worried they'd be too easy--this was probably the case for many but most were happy and there were few DNFs. I saw one "Jan Z....", an elderly guy who probably started late and was only half-way through the Advanced course when I was picking-up controls. Even for those who probably did have too easy a time with the courses, there were a few curves which deserve some apology. People seemed to survive the steep drop to the Widewater area of the canal--one of the few areas we can set a control close to the water. In my zeal for not making it too easy, I put the next control where they climbed back up too close behind a tree in a very tight reentrant. Many had come to the reentrant but not seen it until they climbed further and looked back--there wasn't a lot to tie the control to there but I suppose I could have done something. The park service scrutinized our day by sending staff at club expense to visit controls and make observations. No big issues were voiced that I know though there was some concern about having controls in pits since it was the ranger thought there was a chance for one particularly deep pit to have been a gold mine shaft entrance that people could fall through--The control was in the pit and there was no obvious indication of any deeper mine. The future for orienteering in the park is still in question and may be much more limited if we do get permits.