Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Smokey Glen Farm, MD. Sitting adjacent to Seneca Creek State Park, Smokey Glen Farm (SGF) had been on my list of areas to use since I started mapping the park in 2014. I had a very strong base map from detailed aerial images and I'd been on the edges of the property before, where it was wooded. I had even wandered into the areas once prior to 2014, not knowing it wasn't part of the state park. Since we finally got permission to use it for the Mid-Atlantic Championships in December, I finally got a chance to do some proper field checking. Most of the area is open field but there are some nice contours to it. Unfortunately, for some reason the contours I had on the base map were not very good. They were off just enough that I knew something was wrong. I replaced them later. A few control locations I'd chosen, turned out to be too overgrown. I had to reset some courses once at home. I found nice sprinty terrain features and some unfortunate fencing. Some of the fencing will have to be avoided but other parts can be crossed. There were some Christmas tree farm areas that could be a little disorienting. It was a nice day though I didn't feel so good for some parts of it.

Event: QOC Great Falls
 

Great Falls Park, MD. Warm-up for the QOC orienteering event.

QOC at Great Falls, MD. It's just about always been enjoyable to go orienteering in Great Falls Park, MD. Sam set some interesting and different legs, even though the park restricts us to pretty much the same set of controls year after year. I'd set courses and field checked the map many times previously so as Sam put it, I had the home advantage. I ran confidently through most of the course. I got to see Max hunting for his control on the way to mine--he was having trouble I was slightly off getting to my #1. Peggy came in and led me to it from my left to my right, having started before me and made an error too. I was accurate for a while after that, though with a dog leg at around #7, I saw her again, not very far back. I did the 8-9-10-11 loop well but I lost contact and drifted left going to #12. My recovery was good. I slowed a bit but kept a decent pace the last half. Though I had relatively few errors, I was surprised that my time was relatively good when compared to others who'd been beating me lately.

Great Falls Park, MD. From the Trolley loop to the canal area. This was a warm-down jog, down the hill after I'd finished the QOC Advance long course.

Great Falls Park, MD. I drove out to Falls Rd. with Kim Jepsen to pickup controls that were far away. I had one water pickup. These ended up being the reverse of controls on the Advanced course. I almost missed one.

Advanced - Splits