Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Little Bennett
 

Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD. Jogging from the registration area to the start of QOC's event, a couple of loops, then back past registration to the outdoor port-a-johns since I had my spikes on and couldn't go back in the registration building, then back to the start.

QOC: Little Bennett Regional Park, Clarksburg, MD. This was classic QOC terrain; albeit a little soggy from the rain that ended late in the night. Navigating felt much smoother than the night before--seeing far ahead and laterally is a great thing for me. It helped that Sam Listwak had set a lot of the controls to be visible from far off. Instead of being right next to a feature such as a cliff, the controls would often be set out from it enough to be visible from above. I had a shaky start from a tearing off on a bad bearing and having warmed-up for a longer time than I have been doing lately. I was not smooth getting to #4 when I got too high early and missed seeing a reentrant that I expected to. Legs 5, 6, 7, and 8 were much easier than usual--Sam had just wanted to get us out across less interesting terrain and save us from climb. I've been thinking a lot more about taking safer routes rather than going straight as much. A lot of times I'd forget to do this but today, feeling a little tired from running the night before, I settled down enough to do so on more legs. This cost me some time but did seem to prevent the large error that I had been making in other events recently. I pulled-up short on #20 on what seemed to be some unmapped rootstocks but finished well enough. The splits show that after my initial error on #1, I was trailing Victor Lin the whole way. When he made an uncharacteristic error getting to the Go control, a very short 1 minute leg for me, I managed to slip ahead and staying there by just 6 seconds on the course. More on the Split List.

Blue - Splits

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.