Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Woodglen Dr., to Nicholson Ln., to Executive Blvd./Jefferson St. at Lorraine Dr. in Rockville. I hadn't run this in a while. It was around 40 starting out. My mile times varied with the climb. We met the old MCRRC crowd for breakfast at Panera Bread. At one point Peggy remarked "Dude, I wasn't even born when you graduated high school!" They are a good talkative subgroup from NASA who've done a lot for MCRRC.

Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park, MD. After doing some things at home, I got over to the park in time to beat the rain. It was about 40 F but felt colder. This was my first time actually trying to field check here as the outing Peggy and I did earlier was really scouting.

I got started from a fence corner and put a nearby dot knoll and rootstock on paper. Going to a visible rootstock further out, I didn't have anything to triangulate from. At first, I took a waypoint on my GPS and just estimated the distance on paper. That usually works for me in other places but with the area sloping so gently and evenly, I could't pin point it on paper as I would in places with more contour. After doing my best with that, I tried to place a boulder next but again, only had my last mapped feature that was visible and helpful. As this park is mostly point features, my notes were getting messy quickly. Before going out, I'd marked some areas that Karttapullautin picked out as boulders. I'd also used high resolution imagery and got many points between Karttapullautin and the imagery to line-up well. I thought it'd help me in the forest but it didn't turn out that way so far. I hope my GPS track and waypoints help enough. At least next time I'll have more to go on.

I did get to other places where I could triangulate later. However, this wasn't working so well. It turns out that magnetic north was off. I thought I'd adjusted for it already, but I think I turned it the wrong way and ended up 20 degrees off. That didn't help getting things onto paper any.

I was glad that the point features were abundant. I found more boulders looking randomly spaced as well as a nice amount of full looking rootstocks widely spread out. There were some areas of stony ground that I took GPS tracks for. The thorny areas seemed daunting but I'd pre-mapped what I could by reading it off of high resolution imagery. The results seemed to correlate pretty well.

I'll have to step up my skills to map this park correctly. If I can, it could become one of our most technical maps.

From Northfield Rd to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Woodmont Ave. to Wisconsin Ave., to Norwood Park, to the Little Falls Trail, to Dorset Rd., to Falls Rd., to Glenbrook Rd., to Edgemoor Ln. and into to the Bethesda Metro Station. I felt tired during this.

From Bethesda Metro Station the Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From Bethesda Metro Station the Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From Bethesda Metro Station the Northfield Rd.

Event: Susquehanna Stumble @ Patuxent River Park (QOC)
 

SVO Susquehanna Stumble @ Patuxent River Park (managed by QOC). I think this was the 21st Stumble event and maybe my 6th. That seems odd since I usually try to run this even when I can. This event was pretty well attended. A few people flew in. The course was fine. This park can be tricky at times. I was so focused on trying not to make mistakes that I didn't think about the overall technical level much but Peggy pointed out that the navigation was relatively easy. It helped that I was following bearings well when attacking, and that I'm very familiar the area.

Starting out, I found myself in the middle of the pack. I've been getting distracted by others in big mass start events and it was starting to happen here. I keep having to fight the situation where I am aiming to get ahead of others, instead of getting into steadily reading the map. I too the first window in ABDBE, which had me cross the creek twice. I had originally planned ACBDE but the first wet ditch crossing was visibly easy. I got across dry both times which was good because it was about 40 F (I wore short sleeves and the wind at the start convinced me to wear gloves which was a good choice). I may have gotten a tad wet at the last control since it was marshy there.

Exiting this loop, I found myself on a trail behind Vido Aleksiev and his daughter. David Onkst was right behind me. Passing them we approached Ted Good but Ted was moving faster in the forest (something that would repeat often). Fortunately, Ted went wide left, to arc toward control #6 along the bluff. I led David on a straighter route. We gained on Ted but didn't get ahead. Vido popped up ahead too but Ted led. He overshot the control a little so Vido and I got there with Ted at about the same time. Angelica Riley was nearby and led on the way to #7. Ted attacked a little early as Angelica went around a reentrant to a trail bend. Ted and I corrected but were behind. Going to #8, Angelica took to the trail and road. Ted went straight. I led David Onkst angling off trail to the road and we popped out right behind Angelica, having gained ground. On the road David planned our next window and then I did the one after that. Michael Stasiowski caught David and I. Angelica cut in early while the 3 of us went across the creek on the bridge and up the hill before cutting over. When we got near the control, we saw Angelica not having gained any time on us, but Ted had beat us there. I led David and Michael toward #9 and we got ahead of Angelica and young guy she was running with. Using David's window choice, we took to the road where Ted had already headed. Ted walked some of the hills but managed to stay ahead of us anyway. I cut in toward G at a good place but probably because the window box covered-up a reentrant, I went to the first side reentrant. Ted had too but kept moving to the second where it was. Going to H, I went a bit higher than Ted because the running was better. Similar things happened going to I and J but we didn't catch him. As I was going toward F, it seemed like Ted was going to #15. I yelled over to him and he apparently corrected.

I went a little slower going over the hill to #15 but was on target. I paused a little high and Michael Stasiowski was able to see it just ahead. David O. got it step behind me as I used the trail most of the way to the road. I wasn't ready to trust the open ground along the stream. We saw Ted (apparently he used the open ground along the stream) hit the road ahead and go toward the bridge. I chose to go through the maintenance yard and led David and Michael through it. We crossed the stream w/o much trouble and went within sight of Q as we climbed to the top of the bluff along the big gully. As we approached #16, Ted came in from the right, again just ahead of us, but we'd made up distance from where we'd seen him on the road.

For the next window, I was starting to get tired and getting a little more sloppy navigating. We did it in order of LMPKON. Some of the Short Stumble people were there (Kris Beecroft and Kathleen Lennon). Ted stayed ahead of the pack, now myself, David Onkst, Michael Stasiowski, Angelica Riley and 1 or 2 others. There wasn't a lot of choice in routes but we had some micro route differences. We also chased Ted to #23 this way, but Angelica had taken a low route there which popped her up just ahead of David, Michael, and I. There wasn't much eventful going to #24 and #25. We used the trail going to #26 and gained some ground on Ted. Though #26 was very near the event registration pavilion, that pavilion would have been out of the way. I just ate a Gu and went on to #26 with Michael. David was just behind. Ted stopped.

I led going to #27 and spiked it, attacking from the edge of the medium green. I led again to R and S. I paused almost on top of S when I couldn't see the control from the rim of the reentrant. Michael Stasiowski came up and saw it. After punching I led to Q which we'd seen earlier. Leading to U, I went around some of the green and emerged on the trail with a control in front of me. I didn't think it was mine but checked it anyway. This broke the rhythm I'd been in. I wandered back to the trail looking for the trail intersection to prepare a better attack. As soon as I saw the intersection, Michael announced he'd spotted the control. Leaving U, I came out kind of funny and was avoiding crossing the reentrant where it was deepest. I got to the trail with Michael and David behind me. Cutting into the woods,we saw Peggy going the other way. I got away from the edge of the reentrant for better running and even went past a reentrant with a streamer. I overshot. Our trio agreed to go back. We converged on T with Angelica.

We used the road going to #33. I slowed to plan more and to keep from making silly mistakes. We used the road and trails getting to #34. I came over the hill after crossing the stream and #34 popped-up so quickly that I thought it was like back at U where another control was en route. As I paused, Angelica swooped in and punched.

Neither Dave, Michael nor I had planned our last window. We quickly decided to hit Y first, then come back for X, Z, W, and V. I led us to X using the trail but Angelica and others were right behind. I didn't think through the route to X and as David moved up straight toward it, I did too. In retrospect, going down the reentrant and south across the larger one would have been better (I heard from Ted that that way was marshy). After climbing out, I dropped down and had to cross 2 reentrants to get to the correct side for X. David perhaps wisely decided to go around. The first of those reentrants was steep and slippery with fallen leaves so that I kept falling back. I lunged for shrub trunks and made my way up. It took me more time to reorient and relax enough to navigate. I moved well and ended up getting to the control a little behind Angelica. I found out later that Michael, David and even Ted were not far behind. I gained ground on Angelica moving to Z and Michael gained ground on me. After W, we passed Angelica, hit V, and crossed the stream (Robley Branch).

Going to #40, I went around the big reentrants and ran straight. Michael was with me. I dropped down on the big spur and spiked #40. Leaving #40, and hearing Angelica right behind us, I decided to go around the hill, but I climbed a little first. There was a leafy deer or hunter trail which helped. We used the bridge, got on the trail and moved well. I had to walk up the other side of Meadow Swamp and left the trail on the climb. Having done the last bit in previous orienteering events, I ran the bluff only looking at the map 2 times until hitting the reentrant. I crossed it with Michael right behind me and punched #41 on the spur. The running from there was more open than I'd remembered it. I got on trails and went around to the left. It was slightly uphill but shorter. I think Michael didn't try to run in hard and I didn't really sprint. I finished only a few seconds ahead of him. If I'd have run a 50 miles trail race the week before, I wouldn't have been sprinting, nor running as fast as we had the whole race. Angelica finished about 4 minutes back. She said I was running fast and Wyatt explained that at the end, she'd just run out of energy (she'd also been healing from a broken rib). David Onkst finished not far after. It was fun running with David once again!

I finished in 8th place overall which I thought was pretty good considering the level of competition ahead and behind me. My running training since last March has been continuing to help me improve and get back to being closer to the form I was in before my back issues started. I look forward to continuing that and like the long winter runs coming up. Next however, there's the annual Turkey Chase to do.

C • Good write up. I enjoyed re... 2

Long - Splits