Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Carderock, to the C&O Towpath, to Berma Rd. Trail near the Old Angler's Inn, to the C&O Towpath on the north end of the Berma Rd. Trail, to the Tavern, to the Ford Mine Trail where I did the loop, and then back to the Tavern, to the C&O Towpath, and to Carderock. It was in the 60s F and pretty humid from overnight rains. I was nervous about going the distance since I hadn't run this far in a while; not since before hurting my right calf. I've also been ramping up my workouts kind of quickly to get ready for the Billygoat. Today everything held up okay--mostly just some soreness in the quads and a little ache in the left knee. I calmed myself on the way out to just get the pacing right and to not worry about going faster. The Ford Mine Trail was nice. I'd been on a little part of it when we used to be allowed to orienteer in this part of the Great Falls Park, but the trail went further. The trail was designed oddly. It was probably made to minimize erosion but done as if the person setting it was poorly skilled. It went up and down a lot needlessly. From Peggy's log, I'd known some of this, and was worried about how that'd affect me on the run. It turned out fine and I felt more confident the further I was on that trail. The change in grades and gait one gets from trail running made me feel better. The trail was also rather pretty. There were some nice open woods and interesting rock features. I walked the steepest parts. I picked-up the pace again on the return trip on the towpath. Two miles out from finishing, I'd nearly caught up to another runner. I figured I'd pass him but he picked up the pace. I did the same but I remained at about the same 20-30m distance behind him. It was nice getting out to run today! Later the kids and I saw the Avenger End Game movie and after that we got gardening supplies.

From Northfield Rd., to the deli between Rugby Ave., and Del Ray Ave. for lunch.

From the deli between Rugby Ave., and Del Ray Ave. to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd. to Bethesda Metro Station. I'd gotten my road bike back from the shop yesterday--it looks almost new! I was eagar to ride it. It felt weird after using my mountain bike. Though my moutain bike seat is rather high, I don't get nearly the leg extension on it that I do from my road bike. Though I rode faster, unfortunately, I ran into various traffic along the way of this short ride.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. The roads were a bit wet from an earlier thunderstorm and it was humid. At least I'd changed into running clothes before I'd left work.

Bethesda, MD. From Northfield Rd., Greenwich Park, to Old Georgetown Rd. to Beech Dr. to Singleton Dr. to Bulls Run Pkwy., to the trail along the middle school to Bradmore Dr. to Folkstone Rd. to Hartsdale Ave. to Heampstead Ave. to McKinley St. to Garfield St., to Roosevelt St., to the trail at Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. I felt pretty slow for parts of this.

From Northfield Rd. to Bethesda Metro Station. There were some headwinds and traffic.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From near the trailhead in the parking lot off of Tuckerman Rd., I took Bethesda the Trolley Trail to Georgetown Rd., then went to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I felt a bit slow but this was an overall net gain one-way route. Another runner who merged paths just ahead of me pulled away slowly.

From Northfield Rd. to Bethesda Metro Station. There were some headwinds.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, down The Mall along Independence Ave. and the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., past the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. to Connecticut Ave., to the Cleveland Park Metro Station. It got warm and humid--probably in the low 80s F. That wore me down, especially on the climbs. It did feel good to do a longer run than I have been doing.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I got home just in-time to miss a thunderstorm.

From Northfield Rd. to Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. on my mountain bike. It was cool and I had on my jacket.

Event: QOC Lake Needwood
 

40th Annual West Point National Meet: Green Y: I'd reached the start line about 30 seconds before I'd gotten called-up to start. My glasses were a little foggy.

S-1 - I made a mess of this leg by leaving the road on a bad bearing, just walking. The terrain was steep. I suppose I was drawn left by others ahead of me. I thought I was leaving the road at a higher location. Once I'd gotten around a spur and could see a second reentrant with boulders all around me, I realized I had to go back.

1-2 - I'm so weak climbing these days that I opted to go around the top of the hill. I also thought this would give me a better attackpoint, off of a distinct reentrant. All of that worked and I spiked it.

2-3 - I had a general plan to stay high and attack from high. Fog on my eyeglasses was a factor so I read the map by looking over them. I'd picked out the marsh and some curving contours to get to--I did that successfully. They way was slow. At the curving contours, I cut left to avoid thicker vegetation. Looking at Spike's GPS track animation on AP, going straight on the shorter way through the green was better. Hitting the big cliffs, I paused to read and attack carefully. I dropped down and ran across the hillside, seeing the control from far off :)

3-4 - I contoured around while others were going straight. I made-up ground on them and may have passed some.

4-5 - I ran a straight bearing and hit it well. I read some of the detail along the way, but in retrospect, this was executed in a risky way.

5-6 - I ran straight, and again not reading enough detail along the way. This time I paused, feeling that I was well short of the control. I saw a bit of a stream and mistook it for the one past the control. I figured I could be sure by checking on top of a cliff to my left, and then resuming if wrong. That sort of worked, but I made a bigger search loop with a little more doubt creeping-in. I covered more ground before going back and proceeding. It did turn out to be one cliff line below where I thought it'd be but if I'd just gong on, I'd have saved a lot of time.

6-7 - I went at this fairly straight. I clicked off the larger features and opted to climb over the ridge continuing straight, rather than go around and through the green where there was a ridge gap. I passed close to #11 and turned to get close enough to read it. Continuing on to the road, I ran up it a little, cut in at an estimated place between bends, and spiked the control.

7-8 - I suppose I'd gotten over confident in my ability to follow a bearing. I felt the the blueberries and other vegetation pulling me this way and that and I wasn't careful enough about reading things along the way. I'd gotten far enough left to see a reentrant and knoll, but these werern't the features I was looking for. I went further left to be in the right place but it was the wrong place. Finally hitting the ridge top and a reentrant, I didn't see a control and someone else told me to watch out for un-flagged concertina wire. I cut left a bit, saw the road, and turned back. I realized I wasn't at the hilltop where I was before and saw other orienteers like Phil Bricker heading that way. Phil led me in.

8-9 - I was not happy about missing at #8, but happier about going downhill. I ran fast and straight using cliffs to keep me true. At the road, I paused. I knew going straight all the way wasn't going to be fast--after all, I'd just come from there on the 6-7 leg. I wisely decided to take the road and probably should have decided that earlier. I went around the hill at the bottom. Following the marshes in the flatter valley seemed best. As the vegetation closed in, I thought it better to climb the ridge middway--it was smaller there and more open than the valley had become. Examining other GPS animations, this cost me some time. I kept moving and went wide around the last marsh before crossing the deepening valley to the ridge and cliff-line with the control. The control was visible long off.

9-10 - I kept getting pulled right to get through the vegetation, and I knew it. I forced myself out of the shallow reentrant to make a straighter line. the hill ended quickly and it was slow and rocky descending to the next valley. I kept on a line but found myself heading between two ridges. The one on the right looked like the feature on the map from where I was so I went to it--that was an error. I should have known since I'd been pulled right earlier. I corrected fairly quickly but I was moving slower at this point.

10-11 - I went a bit left through a shallow reentrant to the marshy area below #11. I cut right through the marsh, and this felt fast. Since I'd been near #11 earlier, I was confident about getting there. I saw Carl Alswede come in from my right, moving along the same way and I got there a little ahead of him.

11-12 - I wanted to get to the road. I thought angling a little would be faster than staying on top. However as I picked my way through the rocks and vegetation, I could see Carl pulling ahead. I abandoned going lower and chased. I caught Carl at about the road, then pulled ahead on the descent. I wasn't reading well with foggy glasses and bouncing about quickly on the road. I got to the bridge and caught someone else. Once across, I cut left a little way up the hill, where an elephant track was forming at the end of the green. I reached a building but found no control. Once again, the printing the control # on the map was covering up a needed detail. After a pause, I went on higher. Carl had come up from my left at his point. I got to the control before he did, but not before the other guy I'd passed earlier--that person took the road nearly the whole way.

12-13 - I gave it a descent push on the run-in. I feel too out of shape and freshly recovered from my last injury to sprint really hard.

Overall, I enjoyed the run this day--the mistakes were costly, but I got some more confidence running in the technical terrain and going the distance.

Long - GreenY - Splits