Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Junior Nationals
 

QOC Junior Nationals--Green Course, Quantico Marine Base, VA, on the Beaver Dam map. I was fairly uncertain about how my running would go this weekend. My right calf is not fully healed. It felt okay Thursday but I could still feel some issues on Friday when leaving work.

I was a bit excited at the start, and also feeling heavy. On the way to #1, I went for using the road instead of going straight at the control. It got me running and got me into reading the map. I was pretty good knowing where I was when crossing the creek near the spur. I have confidence in being able to follow a bearing through QOC's terrain and did so to a marsh. I followed that to the first control.

The 2nd control required just being just a little careful to get on the right side of a ridge. The 3rd control was a short straight shot over a ridge. I took the 4th going straight too; I didn't see the stream confluence but could tell it was below the first stream I crossed. For the 5th control, I sought to save climb by crossing the ridge early and going up the next reentrant. By this point, my glasses were fogged-up pretty well. I resorted to reading the map by looking over them (the glasses are cut with no glass on the top half).

Leg 5-6 was the longest on the Green Middle Course. I wasn't feeling fast to gain advantage by going around to the right. I probably also didn't fully explore that option before starting. Instead, I sought to go as straight as I could while still getting further north of the green vegetation. I executed this well, finishing with a run down the spur, but I hear the route on the ride further north was best.

I think I started catching-up with Dennis Dougherty on the way to #8, but first I passed Florence Tan. I was a little less direct on this leg. I cut right after the stream crossing, and came up the spur to the control. Florence went a straighter route and probably got there not long after me.

I lost site of Dennis Dougherty as I went left to get around the green vegetation. Going left put me on the wrong side of a ridge, so cut back when I saw a gap. I was unsure if I'd gone far enough, but when I didn't see #9, I cut left until I did.

Going to #10, I zig-zagged around vegetation, but was fairly solid getting there. Leaving #10, I made a 90 degree error. I knew there should be a change in direction but since I lined my compass up on the leg line from 9-10 instead of the meridians, I lost time--I realized it in 15-20 seconds, and then corrected. Dennis was ahead of me as we closed in on #11. For #12, I passed Dennis and went to the right to save climb and use the creek. After passing a spur, and adjusting direction again, I picked my way to the other side of the stream and was hesitant until I hit the control. Dennis was close behind. We left #12 differently; I backtracked. Dennis went high initially and got to the road ahead of me. We both cut in on ride. I passed him in the woods and used the edge of the field to know where I was and punch.

Finishing-up I ran right around some green, but when it went too far, I cut through it. I used the hillside to pick my entrance to the field. I had at first thought the control was in the forest but re-reading the map corrected that notion. I kept ahead of Dennis for the run-in but was feeling the heat and not pushing all the way. I was fairly clean on this run, and just lost time when leaving #10. I got 2nd in my age group, and 4th on the course.

QOC Junior Nationals--3rd Leg of Relay, Quantico Marine Base, VA, on the Beaver Dam map. I hadn't really planned much for this weekend. Peggy had taken the role to setup QOC teams. At first the numbers were going to be uneven so she asked me to be on Boris and Allison's team--they were both unsure if they'd be running since Boris is injured and child care for Inarra can be difficult. Boris led and came back fairly near the leaders--he was not running all out. Allison seemed to do well. She said she'd gotten passed and didn't pass others but in a forked relay it's hard to tell.

I went out running okay. The run in the morning was past me and I'd eaten 90 minutes earlier. Riley Culberg, former QOC member, passed me on the way to my #1, though he was going to a different control. I moved okay but not so fast through the next several controls. I had only one hesitation when I was on a saddle and could not see the next control which was in a depression. The woods to this point were mostly more open than the run in the morning. As it got greener in the controls prior to the spectator control, I got caught and passed by another person or 2 though I may have passed others. I decided to contour around leaving the spectator control. It was a little greener gong that way than expected, getting to the creek. I crossed the stream where a nice ditch was emptying into it, but in retrospect this ditch is not the one that I saw which had been mapped. I was more to the right. I climbed up to a change in steepness, before a small field, and bounced off that to get to the next control. A junior from BAOC was nearby. We were close to each other for the next few controls at least one of which was forked. I was sure he'd sprint past me on the run in so when I was going for #9 and he asked me, I didn't tell him which control code I was going for. He got to #9 just ahead of me, but I got ahead of him later as was leaving #9. Heading to our last control in the forest, I was doing well but decided to go around some green vegetation, on the right side. If mapped right, I should have ended up at the base of the hill with the control. There was more green there than mapped so I climbed most of the wrong hill before correcting. I chased the Junior from BAOC into the field and watched him pull away on the home stretch. I also got passed by 2 other Juniors on the run-in. It was a nice run for me except for the bobble at the end. I held up physically and that was the best part. My team with Boris and Allison finished 3rd in the 3 point category. Max's team came in well behind us.

Day 1 - Middle - Green - Splits