Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Pohick Bay
 

Pohick Bay Regional Park, VA. I warmed up going around the parking lot area near the start of QOC's meet. This was the first time I tried my new Vapro eyeglasses. These made-in-Sweeden glasses are open at the top and show a +1 diopter along the bottom. In the past when I tried some sports goggles, they had fogged-up. With the new eyeglasses, the open top lets me see normally through no glass for nearby and far away objects but looking down at my map, I get the magnification needed (I didn't study the map on this warm-up). I was getting used to stepping over branches and other obstacles. The glasses have a band keeping them snug on my head and they didn't bounce. I quickly got to where I hardly knew they were on.

QOC: Pohick Bay Regional Park, VA. Karla Hulett debuted as a course setter today and did alright. All the controls were where they were expected to be. It is always difficult to keep the climb within standards here. The Blue course was therefore steep. However we got to some places where we hadn't been in a long while. Route planning was important on most of the legs but the controls were in relatively easy places. I was happy about feeling much better than I had the day before, and about not making stupid easy mistakes like I had at Greenbelt. I was a little sloppy making a choice to go to #1. I also got slightly off course dog-legging back towards #10. The worst error was partly to blame on the existence of an unmapped trail on the way to #16. My speed was not so fast, even when I wasn't climbing/walking steep hills but I think that's because of the overall increase in training volume since January--I don't really expect my leg speed to return with this training volume much until another couple of months of getting used to it. Additional leg comments will be on the Split List.

Blue - Splits

Event: QOC Patuxent River 10K
 

Patuxent River Park, MD. I'd gotten up early to get bagels for the successful QOC Patuxent 10K Trail race (+300 people ran including regional runners and a few orienteers from nearby clubs). After parking cars, and running about taking race pictures as part of my job (my van got stuck in the mud during this, and my shoulder hurt holding the camera for an hour and a half), I finally got to go run. I went with Jon Pifer who had also volunteered.

I felt pretty slow right off the bat. I didn't have a map. We followed a dirt road but missed a turn. The way we went was actually where I had wanted to go when thinking about running here the night before, but setting out, Jon and I planned to do the race course at a comfortable pace. Being off-course, I learned that there were a lot of new bridges at places where they were really needed. After going up an initial steep hill, I felt like I was dragging even more. I was definitely holding Jon back and running slower than my long run the last Saturday. It seemed like Jon and I had been running for a while but when I looked at my GPS watch, it said only 1.57 miles. We hit a short bit of roadway to get back on course. With the pace slowing, I felt better. The next mile went better, and after that when I spied my watch again we'd suddenly gone 4.6 miles. We came across race course signs and streamers and stopped along the way to pick these up.

C • ...and stopped along the way to pick these up. 2

Spinning and watching Monty Python. I was spinning fairly strongly with a good cadence but this was late at night. I had wanted to go running today but couldn't work it into the schedule.

From Northfield Rd., to 12th and C Street, SW, Washington, D.C. I couldn't miss the expected warm weather today so I rode. I had thought to run today but reducing impact while still getting some volume in my training made sense. I was not so energetic. My bike needs tuning and I had mixed winds. Surprisingly, the wind was a bit out of the NW along usually windy Ohio Dr. so I was able to pickup the pace there. I had been pulling for another rider up until that point.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. through the basement of my building at work to Independence Ave. SW, to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. Leaving after 6pm it was slow going through the basement to get out the front door. It was dark out. I took off with some unexpected energy. It seems like it was just because I was wearing shorts and no jacket but there was probably more going on than that to explain the difference. I was actually fast riding in the traffic getting to Ohio Dr., and keeping up with all the cars (I only go this route when I'm late leaving work). I rode more reasonable paces elsewhere but kept passing other riders the whole way home. My bike made lots of noise.

From Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, the Bethesda Metro Station. I was a little tired but felt better as I got farther. Time is an estimate.

From 14th & Independence Ave., Washington, D.C. Independence Ave. to the Reflecting Pool, to the Lincoln Memorial, to The Rock Creek Trail, to the C&O Towpath, to the Capital Crescent Trail (CCT) at Fletcher's Boathouse, to Woodmont Ave. to Moreland Ave. My legs are proving to recover more quickly from long runs. I felt okay starting out after work, though I did not feel so speedy. My first mile was about 7:25 and this was much quicker than I thought that I was going. I moved slower but steadily through Georgetown. The towpath seemed almost rocky to my feet--really no worse than before but an after affect of my weekend run too. I wobbled more than usual. I didn't hit my stride until finally starting the grade up to Bethesda on the paved trail. It felt flatter than expected. Lots of cyclist went by as it had finally gotten dark. After Dalecarlia, I weakened and dragged myself into Bethesda but was quicker than 3 weeks ago. Available splits:

7:25 1 mile
8:20 1 mile
4:05 0.5 mile
4:04 0.5 mile
4:03 0.5 mile
4:01 0.5 mile
4:00 0.5 mile
8:27 1 mile
4:10 0.5 mile
4:15 0.5 mile.

Cabin John Regional Park, MD. Starting from the tennis center off Democracy Rd., I checked the hills on the east side of the creek. There was a lot of detail including the kind of things I had been able to pickup from aerial photos on other parts of the map, but that didn't show in this area. The trails had been moved around since I had taken the tracks on my base map too, adding to the difficulty in covering the terrain. My legs felt much better than yesterday. I jogged around a little bit but tired quickly too.