Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Little Bennett Night-O
 

Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD. Jog to the start of QOC's Night-O event from the visitor center. I was getting used to my lighting and the drizzle that was falling.

QOC: Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD: Night-O. I was one of the last starters since I was helping with the epunching (Jon Torrance and Dan Do had done the bulk of that). My lighting, a NiteRider MiNewt was better than the last time I went out in the dark. I had duct-taped the cords together this time. It was bright enough but the headband made the light beam point down too much. I had to crane my head, especially when going up hill. Sometimes I had to pull the whole head strap down because it would tend to slide upward.

I ran the road safely to #1 so that I could get re-acclimated to navigating at night. Going to #2, I passed one rock that I though was on the way but I drifted too low and had to come back up from the trail. I should have used the trail more from #2 to #3; instead I went straightish, coming off the trail bend to the control. I felt slow running up the hill to #4 in the field. I had a bad bearing leaving #4, but corrected when I couldn't see a road intersection. I also pulled-up a bit short of #5 along the ridge. I was a bit left going to #6. I almost turned right toward the control where other runners lights were distracting me but I saw a lower rootstock and went to it. It turned out to be a double rootstock and neither had the control. Locating the pair on the map, I went from there straight to #6. I was a bit hesitant going to #7 because I had a hard time seeing the reentrant in the dark. On the short leg to #8, I got hung up in the deadfall. I went lower to get out but it seemed to extend lower still. Going to #9, I used the field but didn't run so confidently all of the way. I ran across the ridges to #10 and hit the big reentrant a little too high. Fortunately, I turned the correct direction at the end and basically spiked it. Deadfall had me a bit left on the way to #11. I hit #12 well though I had to turn left a bit at the end. I wanted to avoid the hills going to #13. I expected to see a good sized reentrant less than midway but I didn't really see it. I got too high. Seeing another orienteer punch helped me avoid a bigger error. I must have had a bad bearing leaving #13. I also confused the first trail I crossed with another on the map. It seemed to take me forever getting to the main north/south road. I used the field getting to #14--it seemed a long way down to it. I went straightish to #15 and hit it pretty well. I went on bearing on the shorter leg to #16 but got too high. I couldn't tell which side to the creek control #17 was going to be on--I crossed to the wrong side. That only slowed me. I got hung-up in the green crossing the ridges to #18; I popped out of the forest near the start. I hit the trail going to #18. I almost tripped on the run-in and wasn't sure where the finish was going to be.

I never felt that I was moving well during the race. I struggled with the deadfall. It seemed abundant but I'm sure that seeing it in the day I'll have a different opinion.

Long Advanced - Splits

From Grosvenor Metro Station, Tuckerman La. to Beach Dr. in Rock Creek Park, to the Rock Creek Trail, to Cedar La. to the Elmhirst Trail., to Cedar La. to Rockville Pike/Wisconsin Ave. to Edgemoor Ln. The weather was pleasant back in Washington, which is more than I can say for the fires having to be put out at work. I left work late and got myself to the Grosvenor station where I'd stretched before starting. I hadn't done many runs from Grosvenor recently since it's a little out of the way home and is not that great for the longer runs I was doing the last 2 months. I was surprised after getting going that I felt pretty good. With the warmer air (around 75 F), I expected to be slower. I think I hit the first mile in 6:55 though it was significantly downhill. I tried not to push too hard the rest of the way back to Bethesda.

Bethesda, MD. After meeting all day and getting to the airport, I discovered that my 7:30pm flight from Kansas City was delayed 2 hours. After flying back and getting home, at around 1:30pm, I did 45 situps.

Near Leawood, MO. 45 situps. Dinner with a group after work, rainy weather and needing time to digest led me to bag doing a better workout. I just did 45 situps. My calves were tight all day too so having some rest was not bad either.

Near Leawood, KS. From Holmes Rd. and Kenwood Ave., to the Indian Creek Trail, to just over the Kansas/Missouri state boundary, to the end of 104th St. then back. It was raining steadily. The paved trail was puddled over in places and one underpass was pretty flooded. Not that I was chasing waterfalls but I saw another one on the run today, near the state border. It had good flow from the rains. I had run in rain gear and contemplated running up to Leawood Park. The trail wasn't marked very well and going straight, I'd gotten onto a spur that ended so I turned around there. It was probably a good thing since shortly afterward, I felt what seemed like a blood sugar drop--perhaps I was feeling overheated from the rain gear. That got a little better. I then focused on improving my stride. This tired me more. Upon finishing, I stretched and it was surprising how tight my calves had gotten from the stride work. The rain stopped while I was waiting for takeout dinner in the parking lot that I'd stopped in and I could see sun rays poking over the clouds in the west.

Shawnee Mission Park, KS. After getting myself to Kansas, and some meetings, I got to return to Shawnee Mission Park. I hadn't been in the park the last several times I'd been in the area so it was refreshing to be out and about there. I met Mary Jones and Michael Eglinski there. I read along on the map as Mike and I checked out a few locations and other mapped features for an A-meet Orienteer Kansas is planning for next year. It had been raining much of the day and there was a light rain falling while we were out. Mike brought us to a nice waterfall (photo courtesy of Mike) at one point where there was a good flow. It was nice to have a light run, see friends, and have dinner.

Riverbend Park, VA. After visiting my parents, I stopped off at Riverbend. I was originally going to run up Difficult Run since I hadn't been there in a long while. With Peggy having explored what I call the crosstown trails in NW Washington D.C., I felt it'd be a good time to explore too. Riverbend having bathroom facilities helped me make the choice too. It was 66-68 F with a nice breeze during the run.

I set off from the visitor center near where QOC used to start meets before orienteering got banned from the park for no good reason. Heading upstream on the Heritage Trail, I quickly found some trail changes. I'd started to follow it long ago on mountain bike in 1999 but turned around when time and interest got short. The newer trail is blazed well in light green and in good repair. However it was designed oddly going up and down unnecessarily a lot. Many of the hills were steep and at places where there was no flat land along the Potomac river. After 3 miles, the trail bottomed out for a longer time as it crossed some private property. There were several multi-million dollar homes with fabulous looking decks and verandas there. Another mile or so was on a flat sewer or water pipeline road. I turned around at a trail footbridge that seemed near some clearings. Coming back, I pushed the pace a little. I felt that with my emphasis on distance and not getting injury for the last +2 months, that I've gotten away from running as fast as I need to to race. Some speed did return, though with the steep hills on the route, it wasn't so evident in my time. I twisted and turned and hopped pretty well for a while and that was a good feeling that I hadn't had while running in a while. I pushed in the last .75 miles even more but by then I had begun tiring. I did achieve a negative split on the overall return--it was 35:19 going out and about 34:33 returning.

Cabin John Regional Park, MD. With Max at a circus with a friend to celebrate his friend's birthday, I had a little time to try and cover another hill in the park. I knew this hill was somewhat green so I wanted to get it over with, before the leaves start covering up everything. The larger part of the remainder of the park has better woods so I'm hopeful that those parts will go well later. I found some nicer than expected woods but mostly light green, nonetheless. I didn't have much time and only found a few point features. I jogged-into and out of the areas I'd mapped earlier. I'd parked at the Tennis Center.