Training Log Archive: Nadim

Shenandoah National Park, VA. From Meadow Spring parking, the Hazel Mountain Trail to the White Rocks Trail, then further on the Hazel Mountain Trail to a stream and a campsite. Peggy, Max and I went with the Lennon family. The plans for this came together all at the last moment. It was in the mid-80s F starting out but all around this wasn't so bad. The trail was a bit rocky and we descended just about the whole way. Most of the time, the slope was not steep and we dropped less than 1,000 feet. The campsite we found was pretty and contrasted with the thick second growth green that we saw along the way. The campsite had lots of mountain laurel blooming about us underneath a bit of pine forest, whereas the route along the trail getting there was undergoing succession from fire and gypsy moth damage.

Shenandoah National Park, VA. After dropping packs and setting up tents, we went out on the White Rocks Trail. It was a fairly gentle drop most of the way. I ended-up hiking with Nicole Lennon mostly as both Max's went racing ahead. The last 0.2 miles were down about 200 feet to a stream. There were rock walls along one side of it. A waterfall and 2 smallish caves were there for exploring. Max loved this. We also hit what we presume were the White Rocks though I'm not sure of it (post aerial examination of this show a couple of nice and somewhat rare bald rock areas not far further down. This area was a rocky knoll covered by trees. One could look out across the stream valley but not all the way to the piedmont at the bottom. The rocks weren't white either. The hike back up to camp was not bad at all though it seemed longer than on the way out. We had a nice dinner afterward though it might have been better had I not left a piece of my camping stove at home.







Though our tent was in a great flat spot with no rocks underneath, I had trouble sleeping. Lying on my back was okay and I did that however my toes were aching; seemingly from the pressure of the weight of the sleeping bag. The hiking boots I wore had been slighlty small so they were sensitive afterward. We had neighbors about 70m away below us near the stream and they were noisy for a while. I wasn't used to going to bed this early either. Eventually, I rolled on my left side to relieve my toes. This made my neck hurt. It had been stiff several times earlier this year and limited my looking over my shoulder at times. Rolling onto my right side hurt my right shoulder; that shoulder has been a problem since last fall. It sometimes feels better but raising my arm up, trying to throw something and other movements aggrivate it and make it worse again. I used to very often sleep on my stomach but had gotten out of the habit probably when having left knee problems. Trying it camping, I could only hold the pose for a few minutes before the neck pain got too bad. I had wanted to hold it with my face pointed to either side to stretch it. After that, even when returning to my lying on my back my neck hurt a bunch. Eventually I heard the neighbors yell at each other to be quiet and did fall asleep myself. I woke up when I had to pee, waited a while, went out and fell asleep again after I came back. I recall being woken up in the morning and complaining about it. When I finally stood up outside of the tent, I lifted off in flight, did a turn over the forest floor, came back to where I was standing and did a backflip to land. That's when I realized that it couldn't be happening and woke-up again in the dark.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 12th and C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It had been rainy all week so while not running, it wasn't very good for riding either. My injury is probably getting better but just a little too soon to run just yet. My legs had felt oddly sore and tired yesterday--from the lack of working out? I almost didn't ride today because of the weather but after getting Max to school, I could see that the roads were dry enough. It was humid and around 71 F. I started off the ride a bit easy but once on the Capital Crescent Trail, I moved quicker catching a lot of people. There was a slight headwind. It was stronger after passing Georgetown.

From 12th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. In honor of Memorial Day, we had an early release from work and I actually was able to take advantage of most of it :) I hit the road and got an early pull to the Jefferson Memorial, after getting behind someone at a traffic light. Thanking the guy, he graciously told me that he didn't think I needed it. After this, there were warm summery tailwinds. At Georgetown, I got through the traffic--neither heavy nor light from the holiday exodus. I did however catch one roadie just before getting onto the CCT. I could of swore I heard music. I pulled in front staying there most of the time but..

I used him, he used me,
neither one cared,
We were getting our share...,

Workin on the bike moves,
Just trying to get some front page AP news,
Workin on the bike moves,
It was near summertime.
It was neeear summertime, summertime...

I woke last night to the sound of thunder,
How far off I sat and wondered.
Started humming a song from 1982.
Aint it funny how the bike moves.
When you just don't seem to have as much to lose.
Strange how the bike moves.
With Bethesda closing in.

It must have been the tailwind or some help from Bob Seeger and the Silver Bullet Band.

From the Grosvenor Metro Station, Tuckerman Ln. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Old Georgetown Rd., to Arlington Rd., to Edgemoor Ln. I was hoping that a day of rest would do me well, however, even walking out of work toward the metro station, I could tell there was still a lingering problem with a pulled muscle in my right thigh. It affects me when driving my leg forward. Leaving the Grosvenor Metro Station, I wanted to stay out of the soggy Rock Creek Park trails and ensure a short way back. Feeling more pain than expected when I started to run, I almost turned back to ride the train back to Bethesda. I figured it would loosen up and allow me to run like I was able to do on Sunday. However, it got worse. I limped my way along feeling rather slow. I sort of kept losing my place expecting to be somewhere ahead of myself--it was taking that long. It was humid so I got a good sweat in but otherwise it was an easy jog. I almost went home instead of to get my van out of the parking lot. It's rather more dissapointing to be this injured. I might have to miss the EX2 race. I hope I can bicycle unencumbered.

45 situps on a rainy but busy day.

Event: QOC- Glen Artney
 

QOC: Glen Artney, MD. I was gettting ready to go out on the Blue course myself when Max told me he wanted to go out. I'd been mountain biking in this area once and I didn't remember it being very hilly compared to the south side of the Patapsco. This was the first orienteering meet on the new map that Ted made. We were warned of there being a lot of green on it but it seemed much more than expected and a hillier than I remembered it. The White course went down a long way before coming back up. Max navigated well to the first control. Anticipating being able to see the power lines shown on the map just past #2, we both ended up turning around at a parking lot. Max was doing okay though sometimes he'd get mixed up. Once out in the sun after climbing up again, he got hot and we walked most of the rest of the course. I talked with him most of the time to get him in practice of planning a leg but I kept silent on the 7th control. He was getting bored and got it in his mind to turn right at the next intersection. When we got to the wrong control, I remained silent and he figured out that he needed to go back to take a different fork. He did pretty well. I felt a bit tired from the day before.

QOC: Glen Artney, MD. Peggy still wasn't back but with Jan Merka keeping an eye out for Max, I took off up the road to #1. I'd already seen the steepness and thickness of the forest and rough open fields but it still struck me that running in the park would have been much better earlier in the season. I fortunately had some elephant paths to follow. Still, #1 was not very visible until I was right on it. I wanted to go on the left side of the pond to #2 but the vegetation looked nasty. I found that going around to the right didn't turn out to be much better. I took the road around going to #3 but I was so focused on the footing in the elephant trail that I overran #3.

I spiked #4 but AP shows me having an error. It was just thick. Somewhere on this leg or just before, I noticed a new pain. I don't think I stumbled. It just must have been time for something to snap. I'd had a good time running since January. The pain was on my right thigh along the inseam and going towards, but not to the knee--I think it is some sort of muscle pull. It restricted my range of motion but I felt I could still run if Ikept it slow.

The terrain to #5 was not very nice with steep and sometimes rocky hillsides but it was better than the way to #4. I spiked that control though I'm not sure if my route was efficient. Getting out of #5 was no fun. After the drop and steeper climb past the creek, I used trails. I was going slow enough that hitting the controls was not much of a problem. I did misread #9 by not seeing the second root stock on the map. I would have headed to the right root stock first had I read the map better there. I did get too low going to #10 and it took a minute extra to relocate. Despite spiking it, my route to #12 used the trails too much compared to other people's times. I didn' have confidence in the vegetation mapping to risk going across what was supposed to be white forest. Leaving #14, I wanted to go to the right but it looked too steep on the other side of the creek. I went left to spike #15 with a little hesitation at the hard to read ditches (I hadn't worn my orienteering glasses). I had a similar problem at #16 and #17--not reading the detail without eyeglasses cost me time. However, my memory is such that it did seem like there could have been a formline knoll mapped at #17. I hadn't realized that I'd started so late in the day (delayed by doing beginner instruction and shadowing Max). I also thought we had till 4pm to get out of the woods however pickup starts earlier these days. I spiked #18, back in the nasty vegetation and steep hillside, even going back to the location to verify it but the control had been picked-up. For this reason, I didn't have a legal finish; a mispunch result. By this point, I was ready to head in and didn't appreciate #19 taking me up and right back down to get to #20. I did drift too far right climbing over the ridge to #20 and got trapped in the thorny green stuff. Once finally got the trail, I went straight to the control. Getting out of the green leaving #20 for the road was not fun again and my right leg was keeping me slow. I jogged into the finish with just one other person left out on the courses.

I think using this area will be fun sometimes but needs to happen when the leaves are fully off and the grasses are mashed down. It was disappointing to have an injury but I didn't feel it was so bad that a rest day wouldn't help repair it.

Blue - Splits