Training Log Archive: Nadim

I started out the day pulling-up and then replacing pavers that had started to get pulled apart by gravity and the rotting of the old wood that had held them in place. After that, I did some shopping getting soil gravel, sand, and slate pieces to put on near my shed and at the bottom of my deck. I also placed various natural stones on the side of a new where there's an erosion garden. I was worried about the strain on my back for all of this. I shouldn't be lifting much. I kept the weight carried to about a 50 lbs. maximum. I'd hurt my hand in some unknown way (perhaps overuse), but overall, I held up.

From Northfield Rd., to Cordell Ave., then back. I rode mostly with Samantha and Peggy, though after starting out, I realized I'd left my lock at home, so I circled back and caught-up. I apparently had left my watch on after stopping so my time is estimated.

From Northfield Rd. to Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was in the 60s F and 65 F when I finished. I started slowly, feeling tired. I picked-up the pace in the middle and caught a guy while going downhill past Dalecarlia. However I got passed again. I drafted off of him until getting to Georgetown where we split. Somewhere after Georgetown, I got a sinking feeling--I wasn't sure, but I later confirmed that my seat post had slipped down. It became harder to pedal and I wasn't sure if it was just me feeling more tired. There was some traffic finishing-up.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. After chatting with a fellow commuter and fixing my loose seat post (I had an allen wrench with me, but my office supplies a work stand with tools that I used), I got going with a lot of stop and go for traffic. I should have tested it before starting, but my seat post was a bit higher than usual. In some ways that seemed to make riding even easier but it also raised strain between my calf and Achilles tendon. It also put more pressure on the Pubis bone. I at least seemed to have a tailwind. I rode well past Georgetown. Going up the hill toward Dalecarliea, I caught a guy who later passed me back. I was able to stay with him until he broke off at Dorset Ave.

From Northfield Rd. to Bethesda Metro Station. It was somewhat breezy this morning.

From the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station to Tuckerman Ln., to Rockville Pike to Beach Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Cedar Ln. On the Elemhirst Pkwy. to Connecticut Ave. to the Georgetown Branch Trail to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was about 70 F, sunny and breezy--otherwise, quite nice. I moved better starting out, going downhill for the first mile. I tried to keep up the pace before turning uphill. I just kept myself moving after that.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I was a tired from the run and working out in general.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was somewhere above 72 F starting out and that felt fine. As I got to the Capital Crescent Trail a guy was coming across Falls Rd. from downtown Bethesda. I got passed pretty quickly but I caught up at the next road crossing. The other guy wasn't going that fast and we slowed a few times passing others. He moved out faster than I would have going down to Fletcher's Boathouse, and there were occasional headwinds that he helped me get through too. We split leaving Georgetown but he came in behind me at the Kennedy Center with more traffic. We split again near the Lincoln Memorial. Even with getting so much help, I felt stronger today than I expected I would.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I got a good start leaving work. It seemed like traffic on the roads and the trails was below what it had been. I road back alone, passing some others along the way, and gearing down when I started feeling too much strain. There were some headwinds in open areas but mostly it was not noticeable. I mis-timed by not restarting my GPS watch at one point but corrected it quickly; the time is estimated.

Event: QOC Pohick Bay
 

QOC: Pohick Regional Park, VA. When I chose Blue and did that earlier in the week, it was for the training. Seeing the almost 6% climb on a 9.8K course had me rethinking that choice, but I ran it anyway, knowing I could bail out if needed. I'd wanted to get an early start to avoid the heat, but we left later than planned and got stuck in a couple of traffic jambs--one closed the outer beltway for about 25 minutes. By the time I got started, I had a little over 2 hours to finish. At times trudging through the course, I was wondering to myself what Keg might have been thinking with the physicality of the course--she's better course setter than what she set today. The heat being about 90 F added to it and was not her fault. I saw a lot of rocks sweating.

S-1 - I started around 2:30 minutes behind Vido Aleksiev. The rest of his family was starting then too. I had a hard time finding the start when I opened the map--it was a 2 sided printing and I had started by looking at the wrong side. I saw a trail run going around hills to #1, but I felt it was a bit early to take such measures. I got off to a bad foot not finding a trail that I planned to use. I kept feeling the need to go to the left of straight and it took me a while to correct it. I lost contact with the map and didn't relocate until crossing the pipeline ride. The forest was also mushy and sometimes slippery on the steep slopes. Going down, I was still less than solid on my attack. I ended up at the bottom of the large reentrant, at a stream confluence. I attacked from there and hit it.

1-2 - I ran around the hill on the right side and stayed south of the deadfall. I used the trail southeast of #2 for a little and attacked. I pulled-up short, found streamers with the right code, then went and went on to find it in the next reentrant. That placement also had similar streamers. At the time, it seemed like the control had been mis-hung, one reentrant to the west. Maybe there's a map problem here?

2-3 - I went straight and attacked from the rootstock. It seemed that I had to go farther than expected to a different set of ditches.

3-4 - I came in, in-between the green.

4-5 - I came in from the top of the spur, by following the edges of the reentrants before it.

5-6 - I ran straight. It was either #6 or #8 that was placed between the fallen tree trunks, somewhat obscuring it unecessarily.

6-7 - I felt like I was walking excessively, but almost every leg was physically zapping due to climb or vegetation. Going straight I came through the open area.

7-8 - It seemed a longish way down the reentrant.

8-9 - I climbed high to the campround, went past buildings, and took trails nearly all the way. The slippery woods were just being that slow for me. I'd misread the control location and had crossed the reentrant just before the control, looking for it there.

9-10 - I got on the trail (I saw Dan Quinn running up it and that would have taken more strength than I had on this hot day!) and took it to the bottom of the reentrant near the river. It seemed a long way going up the reentrant to the control.

10 - 11 I ran south of the deadfall, through the saddle, then up the large reentrant to the confluence. From there I climbed the hillside and spiked it--again, the control seemed a bit more hidden (behind unmapped vegetation and high) than I would have placed it.

11-12 - I was disappointed by having he next leg dog-leg back down the hill I'd just climbed. I'd thought about going around on the south side of the map, but it looked too long. I started a little left of straight to get around the spur of a hill ahead, When I hit the power lines, I turned left, forgetting that I would have needed to cross another trail first; I was actually south of where I'd planned to be. I realized it after a while and corrected cutting across the light green forest to a trail. I took the trail left of the boat storage area and attacked from the road loop south of the control. The other loop was a closer attack point but so close that it was visible. I descended to the flat area and didn't see aynthing. Doubt crept in about the control being mishung. The only rootstocks visible were up the hill again. I climbed and from there I was eventually able to see the right rootstocks very visible--not sure what happened but maybe it was just being tired.

12-13 - I took trails to the north. This leg was the start of another large loop through the park. Once across the marsh I followed the green in.

13-14 - Through the maintenance area--is there really a cliff there? I kept climbing while contouring too and saw it just a little below where I was.

14-15 - Straight at first; and crossing the saddle with the trail for the 3rd time.

15-16 - Straight and slowly.

16-17 - Straight and slowly.

17-18 - Through the deadfall and up. I made my way to the white forest and in.

18-19 - I started going a little left of straight due to the vegetation. I corrected on the drop to the stream. Judging the the stream bends and the house, I figured I'd be able to see the control. However, I'd confused one house for another. I did a slow loop through the deadfall area and along the steep stream banks before getting south enough to come up and find it.

19 - F - I could see that I only had about 20 minutes to go before the courses would close. Given my slow rate of travel, there was no way to finish in time. I headed back on trails along the high, south side of the map. I kept a slow jog, better than the walking up steep hills I was doing before, but I knew I was still going slowly. I punched the finish and walked to the download with a few conversations along the way. After download, there were 4 minutes left before the 3pm course close time.

Blue - Splits