Training Log Archive: Nadim

St. Louis, MO. With it being mostly a travel day preceding another week of meetings, I got a run in at Creve Coeur. I followed the longer trail around clockwise. It was windy but except for the first mile or so, I got sheltered by trees. The wooded interior reminded me of parts of Fran Uhler Park, back in Maryland. It made me want to see the O-map that Eric Buckley made. I started and finished at the Sailboat marina parking lot. I last ran here on 9/27/2005 with Eric and I was in much better shape then. Surprisingly, I was only 16 seconds faster then, albeit with a bit less effort. Today, my legs were tired from all the racing and running that I haven't been training for. My lungs felt better, already having improved from last week. I took splits at the mile markers but the markers were generally way off with some half miles being short and some being long. This was a bit longer than I should have run especially after the race yesterday. I couldn't resist it since I'll have fewer opportunities later in the week.

Umstead State Park, NC. My warm-up consisted of rushing from the parking area to the start. I knew I was to start in 9 minutes but didn't know where the start was nor how far it might be. I hadn't seem Spike all weekend but had to rush away getting to the trail chasing streamers. I made it with about 3 minutes to spare. At my 9:49am start time it was around 40F with a breeze but it felt fine in just a short sleeve O-top.

US Team Fundraiser/BOK at Umstead State Park, NC. I guess the good night sleep and rushing to the start was a good combination. I ran pretty well throughout this event. This surprised me. It was much longer than anything I've done in a while and since recovering from being sick last. I had a slight bobble at #1, a hesitation at #2, a slight error at #11 (to be explained later), and was caught not planning ahead to cross the creek before #13 like most of us. Other than these, I ran fairly clean. My route choices turned out not to always to be optimal but were good for my orienteering abilities. The run let me move-up into second place for the weekend in the M45+ class. I had the fastest M45+ time and perhaps the 5th fastest time on the course (that I know of). My error at #11 was partly due to equipment failure. Right at the start as I tried to stuff my control description into my arm holder, the holder broke. I was able to wedge the paper between the split holder anyway but the paper fell out somewhere between #10 and #11. When I reached #11 without error, I discovered the loss of control descriptions and read the code off the map. The problem was that I mentally was thinking that I was at #12 so I read the code for that and concluded that this control wasn't mine. I lost a minute for this. See the Split List.

Umstead State Park, NC. Peggy was supposed to pickup controls while I watched Max but since she had injured herself, we switched. I got 5 controls in the north part of the park, 3 of which were from the Blue course and 2 of which were probably from the Orange course. One of these was a water control. I was tired on this run. Carrying the bag for the controls, e-punches and control stands made me more wary of my navigation. Two of the Blue controls were a bit tricky. I hit their #2 control well but on a short leg to their #3 control I missed a little. I was hesitant on both of these to trust my direction. Had I just done that I would have hit them both better.

Day 2: Red M - Splits

Umstead State Park, NC. Warm-up for the A-meet around the parking lot a few times.

US Team Fundraiser/BOK at Umstead State Park, NC. I ran the Red M course. I was already tired by the 3rd control. I made a 180 leaving #3 for a two minute error going to #4. I made a parallel error on the loop in the course and then Andras Reves caught me. We ran from #5 to #12 pretty closely with him leading more than I. On a split in our route choices, I was too weak climbing to make my route worthwhile. I never saw him again though he only beat me by 30 seconds or so on that control (#14). I was pretty weak through most of the course but did feel better a little after eating a Gu somewhere. Once again, I didn't do so well on a course that Peggy set. I probably lost at least 6 minutes which isn't terrible for me. Being out of shape accounted for the rest. I was 3rd in M45+ with Andras and Istvan Nagy ahead. Istvan was ahead by 4 seconds which is only justice since I had been eeking him out in our last several races. See the Split List.

Red M - Splits

Event: BOK/US Team Umstead 007
 

US Team Fundraiser/BOK at Umstead State Park, NC. While Peggy was putting out controls for tommorow, I strolled Max and lugged some gear to a remote Start almost a kilomter away. Valerie Meyer had already missed her start and I was about to miss mine when she spotted us and volunteered to watch Max so I could run. She ran first. After returning, my warm-up was carrying Max back down the hill to the road so she could push the stroller back.

Due to the color of the course lines, I couldn't read the map at first and lost over 30 seconds standing at the start. I missed by a little on many controls but not a whole lot. After Samantha Saeger caught me looking for the cliff at #8, we traded leads a bit to the end where she got ahead on the last two controls. I felt very tired and weak. See the split list.

Umstead State Park, NC. Jogging back from the finish to the start to pickup my backpack, then jogging with it back up the hill to the parking area.

Long Sprint - Splits

45 situps in our hotel in Durham, NC after a nice dinner with some fellow adoptive parents; their daughters were adopted from the same region of Russia that we got Max from about a year and two days ago.

From Rosedale Ave., Maple Ave. and W. Virginia Ave. to Wisconsin Ave., to East-West Hwy. to Pearl St. to Maryland Ave. to Rosedale Ave. This was around midnight and I was already tired. I guess I thought it was time to get in shape since the US Team Fundraiser is only two days away; that and I needed to mail some letters. I felt awful. This was the first time I went street running in a long time--at least since before getting sick.

C • date/timing 5

45 situps. Busy.