Training Log Archive: Nadim

From 14th & Independence Ave., Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD. In preparation for the Susquehanna Stumble, I thought I'd need to do at least one longer run and leave a little time to recover. I ran after work down The National Mall, between the Reflecting Pools, past the Lincoln Memorial, on the trail along the river to Thompson Boathouse. Continuing along the water until Wisconsin Ave., I ran Water St. to Potomac St. to the C&O Canal Towpath. At Fletcher's Boathouse, I got onto the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) until the Little Falls Trail. Taking that to Massachusetts Ave. I got back on the Capital Crescent Trail all the way to Pearl St. and to Rosedale Ave. The low 70F dry air really saved me. By the time I was done my shirt was completely sopping. I weighed-out at 171lbs. I moved along at a steady determined pace. In contrast to cycling it, the grade up to Bethesda is hardly noticeable on foot. I could have made the run slightly shorter and had planned to stop at Bethesda Ave. but I wanted some variety of scenery and by the time I'd gotten to Bethesda Ave. (just past 10 miles) it seemed silly to stop. This agrivated my knee injury a bit but I didn't feel it while running; afterward. It seems so long ago when this would have been just a regular daily run. It was nearly half my total miles logged running last month. Available mile splits (broken up by switching trails):

Towpath: 7:21, 7:31
CCT: 7:31, 7:22, 7:20 (all uphill)

C • How the mighty are felled... 2

Day 2 of the Boulderdash at Nottingcook Forest near Bow, NH. I started better but by #2, things were starting to feel like the day before. A misplaced water stop on a trail that I left, threw me (and Sergiy Gnatiouk who started 2 minutes behind me) off for a 7:30 early error. Sergiy found it just before I did but I was headed there already. I was shakey on #3 and #4 after that. On the day before with my confidence bad, I had dreaded the prospect of crossing a stretch of forest on a long leg and was glad to have a nice trail option. Today, going the opposite direction across the same stretch, a trail run didn't make sense. I navigated my way across smoothly to spike #6. With some elation, I moved through #7 and most of the way to #8 before making a bobble. Then leaving #8, I somehow thought I was leaving #9, correcting within 100m, I still felt out of place and unsure where I was. An animal track going in my direction got me in-step with Ksenya Popovich who popped out in front of me (she'd made-up the distance of a 12 minute head start on me). Mostly chasing her to #9, we ran near each other until just before #11 where I pulled-up short for 10 second before finding it further ahead 30 seconds later. I didn't see Ksenya anymore until I'd finished so I may have thrown her off. As I got to #11, Ted Good appeared in front of me. Leaving close together, I got ahead to our common next control. I liked the flatter ground toward the finish and find it easier for me to navigate in such areas. Approaching #15, I got to the road intersection and found Sergiy again. He and Clint Morris had been in and out again. Sergiy asked where we were. I pointed but kept moving. We went fast to the pond, then going off memory rather than reading the map, I cut right. I cut left soon enough but not without visiting another control on a rootstock. From there I knew what to do but got there seconds behind Sergiy. Fortunately, I had a better line to the road on the next control (Go). I didn't flub it this time, despite it being the same as the last time and mapped incorrectly. I felt much better about this race despite the early errors. Physically, I felt better too; I could run up hills and through the bad footing like the old days. My 2 day total got me 3rd in M45+ behind Peter Gagarin and Daniel Schaublin. JJ Cote had the best M45+ time (other than Peter Gagarin who was running down), about 3 minutes ahead of me.

C • Slavic nomenclature 2

Warm-up at Nottingcook Forest, near Bow, NH for the Boulder Dash.

Red Day 2 - Splits

Event: Boulder Dash 2007
 

Bow, NH. Warm-up at Nottingcook Forest for the Boulder Dash. It was a nice field with views toward the mountains.

Boulderdash at Nottingcook Forest near Bow, NH. Things started poorly and kept that way. Out of Peggy, Joe & Pavalina Brautigam, and Peter Gagarin all starting behind me, I only saw Peggy while I was going to #2. The navigation through the thick forest was difficult. With it being a difficult place to map, some adaptation to orienteering styles seems to be needed only I never figured it out. I had a lot of trouble understanding why many large boulders were not mapped and others were. Contours helped me the most but lots of little ups and downs weren't there. Trail angles didn't even line-up at many times. The vegation threw me off most of the time and lastly, I didn't feel that strong physically--like I had to keep pushing to keep a decent pace. My confidence improved along the way and the errors got smaller. However, I still made errors including a 1:15 error within sight (30-40m) of the finish. It turns out that the finish was actually placed incorrectly. Instead of being further back in a reentrant as mapped, it was just off a road. When I approached the Go control which was on the other side of a copse that looked like a single tree, I thought I must have passed it and couldn't understand why there was no ruin as seemed to be shown. The 4 dots I saw on the 1:10,000 map were intended to be a small circular vegetation boundary and instead of a green blob, it was shown with white. I finished the day 4th in M45+. I was near some other M45+'s except for Peter Gagarin who was just over an hour. Despite being tired in the middle of the race at times, I finished with a lot to spare.

Red Day 1 - Splits

45 situps at a hotel in Manchester. It was a travel day with an average flight up. I was an orienteer flight. Besides myself, Peggy and Max were: Kris Beecroft with her sons Tanner and Graham; Heidi and Dave Onkst, Tim and Ted Good. It turned out that Eddie Bergeron was on the next flight too.

From Rosedale Ave., Maryland Ave. to Jones Bridge Rd. to the NIH/Trolley Trail, to Old Georgetown Rd. to W. Cedar La. to Rockville Pike, to Jones Bridge Rd. to Maryland Ave., to Rosedale Ave. I wanted to take it easy. It was in the mid-80's F but running in a tank shirt, I felt cooled sweating it out. It is getting somewhat rare for me to run from home or run at all these days--less than 30 miles running for the month!. Peggy and Max were later than usual due to a stop at the library.

From Takoma Park Metro Station, Carol St., to Maple Ave. to Aspen St. NW. to Sherill Dr. to Beach Dr. to the Pinehurst Trail, to Western Ave. to Cummings La. to Turner La. to Brookeville Rd. to Taylor St. to Connecticutt Ave. to Thornapple St. to Leeland St. to 46th St. to the Georgetown Branch Trail to Pearl St,/Maryland Ave., to Cheltenham Dr. I last did a variation of this route on 6/19/07 and it seems I ran the same pace. It's a nice route--12:30 of city running, 13:30 crossing Rock Creek Park and another ~19:30 home through suburban streets. My knee hurt initially. It was at the upper end of the mid 80's F when starting and a little humid--slightly better conditions than before but I was probably more tired. I felt like I was running faster. I was a bit woozy after this and weighed out at 170lbs.

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. As I started out with Max in tow, a new neighbor, Alejandro, called from behind and asked if I was going to the bike path. After introductions, he told me of his own 2 year old daughter and he was interested in Max's school. We rode together with Alejandro's bicycle rattling badly. We rode slowly at his pace until I stopped to drop-off Max at his day care school (we got there a little less than a minute slower than usual). After that, I moved along the trail comfortably in the low 60F air but not feeling particularly strong. At one point, there were two trucks driving down the trail that I had to get around. I passed a lot of people then caught-up with Alejandro again just after crossing the trestle bridge over the canal (around 7 miles out). Though he's biked to Georgetown for work before, he hadn't seemed to grasp the minutia of commuting and the trail etiquette yet. As I came up fast behind him and shouted his name to say hello, he moved from the right lane to the left and almost ran into me. Avoiding the wreck mostly by luck, I moved along the flats solidly at 20-21mph. After Georgetown, I could feel the headwinds along the water.

From C. St., NW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD. It was warmish but not humid. After a nice tailwind most of the way to Thompson Boathouse, I converged with several other cyclists headed to the trail. I passed them then a couple miles up on the flats as I got lazy, I got passed. 4-5 of us rode a pace line. Initially, one guy was left doing the work. Most of the time, he was going too fast up the hill for me move ahead--I was already tired from the last couple of days and had extra weight from a second set of clothes in my panniers. Another guy who hadn't done any pulling was behind him having the same problem. As our pace line broke-up at a pause when trying to get around some slower cyclists, I was able to close the gap again. After the water treatment plant, the leader slowed deliberately to let us pass. After only a short spell, I went ahead to lead, on up to River Rd. where the other cyclists passed me--I'm find that I'm often getting dropped there, unable to climb as fast. Though I fell back, I caught back up and then led to downtown Bethesda. I was just over 37 minutes at the day care where I picked up the trailer.