Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: "O" in the Pines A meet
 

EMPO: O-In The Pines, on the new Pineridge map, near Greenbush, NY. This was some fairly tricky terrain. It was very rocky and hence hard to run through. The people who did best on this Middle Distance course figured out how to use the trails to their advantage. There were a lot of ski trails and some snowshoe trails that were only marked with blazes (nothing on the ground indicated there being a trail there. I started okay spiking #1.

Going to #2, when a trail I was following gave out unexpectedly, I missed and got too high. At least I corrected quickly.

Going to #3, I had drifted too low and ran into parallel features which didn't seem to be mapped. I wandered low, then got up to the right height, only I was just short of the control, again in somewhat parallel features. I saw Tim Parsons come through and hunt around before I went to relocate--I didn't want to follow him, and we were just a tiny distance away from seeing the control. I relocated on a snowshoe trail, and then went right to the control. It still didn't seem like the contours in the area matched-up. Neither Tim, nor I could see the saddle shape that the depression was supposed to be located in.

For #4, I went straight and spiked it.

For #5, I went a little bit off to the right, then curled around to the left after the little ridge. A few people were converging and I gained ground, passing some.

For #6, I went straight. Another guy was ahead of me initially but I passed him and turned left on the trail a little bit, to reset my bearing. I felt good about reading a boulder on my route just before starting to descend. I landed right into the reentrant that I was looking for.

For #7, I went straight across the marsh (nicest and softest moss to run across for the entire course), then straight over the hilltop. I walked my way up but ran the top and down. The attack from high up was easier. I had also reasoned that I'd just be moving too slow to go around, while increasing the risk factor of missing.

For #8, I ran straight and was doing good until I got distracted by the very large boulder off to the right, a little before the control. Several of those I'd talked with afterward thought that the boulder that had been a distraction was mapped incorrectly in that it should have been a much bigger symbol on the map.

For #9, I went straight and spiked it.

For #10, I again went straight. I used the reentrant in the green to attack from--I had come up along the edge of it. The control was visible a long way off.

For #11, I was fairly hesitant. It seemed that I was climbing too much (the map showed 2 contours). I had crested the hill and was right on target when I saw Jon Torrance descending on my left. He got to the control just before I did, and I was surprised that I was so right on target when I'd been so hesitant.

For #12, I went straight but perhaps got a little too far to the left. I cut left just before cresting a rise because I saw another control to my left, up the hill. That cost me time.

For #13, I descended but was a little to the left. At least I stopped at the right distance. As I cut right, someone descended and got there before I did.

I went straight toward #14, chasing the guy who'd passed me at #13.

For the Go control I went down the trail. I was a little unsure of things and while trying to chase the guy ahead of me, I was reluctant to pause to take a good look at the map. I took the right fork in the trail and it would have been quicker going straight (to the left over the small rise).

Saturday - Middle Green - Splits

I kind of had a week off. I'd been cycling and keeping-up my training pretty well since mid-August. I didn't plan to do anything on the Monday 28th, but after that, I was thwarted by rain (from early bands of hurricane Joaquin, several days in advance), or work or things at home. I suppose it's not a bad thing to do this once in a rare while. On Friday, when the rain and winds that'd been falling or threatening to fall all week had gotten worse, Peggy, the kids and I drove up to NY for the EMPO A-meet.

Event: QOC Patuxent
 

Patuxent River Park, MD. I set out 2 controls and some water.

Patuxent River Park, MD. I set out 2 controls.

Patuxent River Park, MD. I set out water for 2 controls. One of them was a food stop for the goat.

I set water for a control.

Patuxent River Park, MD. I set out water for a control. I had gotten out my mountain bike for this. Going down a hill on an intermittent trail, I had a lot of fallen logs to cross. This slowed me up a good bit. Once I reached the bottom, I had a short climb and on that my chain busted. It happened just when I needed the bike the most because I had one more water stop to put out after this one, and I aimed to do that before the mass start of the QOC Goat. It wasn't to be. I dropped the bike, ran the water out to the control, then pushed the bike all the way backup up the hill. As I was finishing-up and running the bike in, I saw David Onkst and Ted Good driving into the park.

I hiked out with 3 more gallons of water to a remote control that I had planned to bicycle to. As I got to the control, a young woman on Brown had just punched and another older man had just gotten there. On my way back I jogged most of the way and as I neared where I had started I saw Jon Torrance crossing the road on the Goat course. He was just 2 controls away from the water that I'd put out. I additionally saw Kenny Walker about 90 seconds behind Jon, however it turned out that Kenny was running Blue. Soon after, I saw will Hubsch crossing the road.