Training Log Archive: Nadim

Harper's Ferry, WV. Gary Smith and Karla Hewlett setup an interesting street-o score-o. Starting from Taylor St. we had a 1:15,000 map with mostly contours and roads. Some trails and buildings were on the map too but these were not comprehensive. They were enough to navigate by and we all (about 25 people participated) had fun. At first, I had trouble getting used to the map. I was intending to follow a trail in the forest--I'd found the trail but it didn't seem like the right one. Despite Gary saying we could run across the one personal property yard starting out, I wasn't comfortable. I went out to a side road, then back in. As I did, David Onkst was coming through. David looked like he might skip #15 so I cut across a reentrant; Max came in very near behind. From that point, Max and I stayed together. David caught up after we punched but somewhere along the next couple of controls, we separated. Max and I went low to do the controls counter-clockwise. We were largely efficient. As we got into the more historic parts of town, we used a 1:5,000 map that was also provided. At each control point, instead of finding a flag or streamer, we usually had to read a sign.. Most were historical and titled with something like "John Brown took aim here....". We had a control sheet with multiple choice questions that could only be answered by reading the sign. We worked our way through the town sometimes running into other orienteers taking different routes. This was quite a tour of Harper's Ferry--Gary's friend who live in the town helped Gary pick out the sites. Many had great views--everything from along the river, to river overlooks and the Bolivar Heights. Most of the controls were on national park maintained lands. There were some good hills to this. As we started out it was in the upper 90s F. Max and I carried water. I slowed for Max at times; initially it was because he would need to fumble with the map at each control for a while. He is much speedier but doesn't have the endurance I do right now, so I also slowed to wait for him as we got into the last hour. We had just passed Peggy going the other direction when we had 2 outlier controls left to get with less than 25 minutes. It would have been close if we went for them, but I decided we should head back. We picked up one last control on the way back before seeing David taking and unexpected route--he was checking out someplace where he has a friend. I figured we could run in from there, so Max and I waited for him to catch-up. David later felt he could have gotten the last control Max and I had gotten but we finished together anyway, and just under our 2 hour time limit. After finishing-up, about 15 of us ate at the White Horse Tavern and had more good times.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Edgemoor Ln. to Glenbrook Rd., to Bradley Blvd., to the Capital Crescent Trail to Woodmont Ave. via behind the condo complex, then Woodmont Ave. to the Edgemoor Ln. and the Bethesda Metro Station. It was at least in the upper 80s if not in the 90s F, and I felt the need to take it easy.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. Time is estimated. I was pretty tired going into this. By the time I was on a train, my work shirt was a bit sweaty.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Woodmont Ave. to Wisconsin Ave. to Somerset Terrace, to The Hills Plaza, to Willard Ave. to the Willard Park Trail to River Rd., to the Capital Crescent Trail, to the Bethesda Metro Station. I adjusted plans to do this since it had been storming and more rain was expected. The rain made conditions pretty nice overall--it was less hot. Though I started slowly warming-up. I had been worried since my lower right back and a line down my glut was hurting when I was walking earlier through the day. As I got moving down the long straight stretch to Friendship Heights, I worked on kicking up my heels and got moving better. My 2nd mile time was much better though there was an uphill part to it. My 3rd mile had more uphill to it and was slightly better. I guess my shoes must have started getting heavy on the railroad grade of the CCT--I was able to wring out a lot more water than expected from my shirt, shorts and socks. There were a few other walkers, cyclists and runners who were enjoying the cooler weather too.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I started slowly like I do man times after finishing a run. Later I picked-up the pace. It was raining still so I was also trying to be careful not to wipe-out. I weighed-out at the lightest in many moons--190.5 lbs.

From Northfield Rd. to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to Cheshire Dr.. to Grosvenor Rd. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail at Fleming Ave. to Old Georgetown Rd. to Northfield Rd. via Greenwich Park. Temperatures were nice (I'd waited until late to run) and the humidity was low. I was tired both from working around the house finishing out projects, and from my longer run the day before. This seems like a common thing when I do this run. I didn't feel like going out a whole lot but did anyway; the increased training is catching up with me. I lumbered slowly and thought I was hearing either my hip or knee pop (my lower right back was achy too).

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From 12th and Independence Ave., I took 12th to Main St. SW, then to Ohio Dr., and the 14th Street Bridge. Using the Mt. Vernon Trail, I got to Roosevelt Island. Fortunately, the gate was open. I felt good enough and calculated how much more I'd have if I did it, so I ran the loop. I got on one trail that was too low and got overgrown but the rest was fine. Once completing the loop I finished up running the Mt. Vernon Trail to Key Bridge. I got passed by other runners there but when one paused after the bridge I got ahead of him and worked to stay ahead as I took the towpath to the Rock Creek Trail. I paced myself for a while but felt better going uphill to the Lincoln Memorial and along the Reflecting Pool. From 17th St., I finished up Independence Ave., to 12th St. SW. This was a pretty good run for me relatively speaking. I'd been running more slowly for shorter distances and I finished somewhat strong. It was in the mid 80s F and the humidity was lower than it has been.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I was carrying my laptop and a backpack; I was sweaty and tired from the run. I had stood ever since starting my run--on the train I was too sweaty to stand--so my knees were hurting from being somewhat locked that long. It took a while to loosen up and then I rode more freely.

I wasn't feeling well much of the day. Probably, it was a lack of sleep on the weekend that did it.

Bolger Center, Potomac MD. I set out 24 control points using mini controls and streamers. The grass was wet from overnight rains again. I would have gotten more sleep but it took a while to wrap up the map drafting, adjust courses, and put enough other stuff together first. At the end of it, I was having troubles printing with our new printer. It would print single sheets pretty well, but struggled on second jobs. It only worked when I restarted it and this took a long time to figure out.

C • Sunday training 4

Bolger Center, Potomac MD. I picked up 2 controls. This task was greatly shortened by Will Hubsh, Elena Breton, and Mark Mace all volunteering without me asking to help get controls I'd set out in the morning. Don Fish also wanted to come back and do what he hadn't had time to do so he gets credit for picking up streamers in the fields and building areas.