Training Log Archive: Nadim

45 situps. I was very tired most of the day. I went grocery shopping after work, took a nap, and spent the free time in the evening processing the many photos that I took at QOC's 10K race on Saturday.

Lake Needwood Park, MD. I set out with hopes of finishing the basic field checking today again. I spent the first hour or so tweaking my work from the last session and covering a small area that I'd missed. The remain areas did go fast but there was plenty to check and add to the map. Almost all of it fit the category of an Orange course control. It was a good thing too since I had neglected to charge my GPS watch and it ran out of power during the first hour. I rushed a bit at the end but by then I was in the most open woods. I'm eager to get the drafting done. I'm basically done with the once-through mapping. There's a small area near the landfill which I'd rushed before and didn't properly check; I'd also like to clean-up a few other places not far from there to better align point features and remove some root stocks which really must be below worth mapping. I'll see if we can get a QOC event at Lake Needwood for next fall or the following spring but I'll probably also use the area for a QOC Summer Short Series event or two.

Patuxent River Park, MD. After helping at the inaugural QOC Patuxent River 10K trail race, I got a turn running. I mostly took photos during the race and had trotted a bit here and there doing that. I felt awfully tired on this run, despite the flattish terrain. I looped the boardwalk marsh at the end where I met Peggy and Max. It was a nice sunny day.

45 situps. I used the time to complete my drafting work from the last field checking session and did more painting in Max's room.

45 situps. I used the time to paint Max's room and my left calf was still tight.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, onto The Mall, past the Washington Monument, Constitution Gardens Pond, and the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial to Lincoln Circle. to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., NW to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. I felt good starting out. The temperature was in the mid-40s F. It didn't take long before I started feeling more tired. but I still felt much better than when I did almost this exact route last week onTuesday. About 3 miles into the run I started feeling tightness in my left calf. This calf plagued me all last year but just a be more to the left of where I was feeling it today. I slowed to a crawl for a while and it got better. I had to do this a few more tmes before finishing but I was still slightly faster than the previous week. I did some stretching afterward.

I had wanted to go running this evening but I spent the time painting and preping for more painting in Max's room. When I got far enough along on that, I resorted to spinning and watching a movie.

Lake Needwood, MD. I felt odd driving out to the park to do field checking while it was raining. My past attempts at that had proven largely futile; I just can't write on wet paper. However, the radar before I left gave me a good prediction so that by the time I got out of the car the rain had stopped. I had hoped to finish-up the park today but a section which I had thought would be somewhat easy to map proved to be much harder. It looks to have been an old farm on a hillside. I found several good ruins, a spring and some other point features. There was a large section of irregularly shaped fields which I hardly even attempted to draw. Inside the fields were some tree and shrub islands making it even more difficult to map. Some efforts at keeping the fields clear appear to have been made. Instead of drawing it, I ran around the field edges with GPS tracking on (I did just under 3 miles worth altogether with other tracks). My earlier aerial shots from the county hadn't shown so much that was distinguishable but when I projected the tracks onto Google Earth's newer imagery, there was a strong correlation. The fields were very runnable as were most of the woods so It's going to be a fun area to navigate through. I did make it into the area where the new permanant ropes course had been setup. I tracked the trail system but there was so much going on with various stations and different cable systems that I decided to stop there. I still have the ropes section and some more picnic areas to do, as well as some clean-up/quality control to do in various places.

I met Peggy and Max for some splashing around and chasing in the Germantown Acquatic Center. Peggy then went off for a trail run. Max and I tried to go up to the big water slide but at almost 47 inches, Max was just under the required height. It was really crowded; so much so that I could barely lay out to get wet in the 3 ft. water.

Lake Needwood, MD. Starting near the archery range, I covered the NE end of the park. The area will not be very difficult to navigate through but mapping the changing vegetation was challenging. There was also a section of parallel pipeline rides which I had partially put on the base map. When I got to the first, I thought it was another one since the first one I came upon hadn't been on the base map where I hit it. A half hour later I discovered this and had to spend time shifting things over on my field notes. I also had trouble with some of the contours. The base had some of them shown incorrectly, including an odd pair of dry catch ponds. I had to reverse the contours for those. I almost always underestimate this but there doesn't seem like there's a lot left to do to finish the park; a day or two more, and then some clean-up.

From Northfield Rd., Max and I looped through downtown Bethesda for lunch. I did this after another round of painting Max's room. It was rather windy on the ride, especially coming back. I was surprised at how much effort I needed to keep us moving. It was a bit unpredictable since Max would pedal hard or soft on the trail-a-bike, along with the angle of the wind and hills.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD to Arlington Rd. with Max on his trail-a-bike, then to C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was in the low 50s F this morning wtih fairly calm winds. I had to stay up a bit late to get my flat tire changed on my commuter bike but I couldn't pass-up the opportunity to get in a nice weather ride. The view along the way was rather different with all the scruffy vegetation gone or flattened; I probably haven't ridden all the way to work since October or November. I enjoyed passing the cars stuck on MacArthur Blvd. but I was tired riding and not in shape for this with the recent increase running. I wore a jacket but it was probably too much to wear too.

From C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Arlington Rd. and then Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD after hitching Max's trail-a-bike. It was windy going back most of the way. Once past the Dalecarlia reservoir, it was more at my back. I carried an extra pannier filled with my work clothes and a jacket from the day before when I ran. It was nice to be cycling in shorts and a t-shirt in February.

Washington, D.C. From 14th & Independence Ave., SW, down The Mall along Independence Ave. and the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. This was a very similar route to my Tuesday run but I got out earlier and could use a different building exit that shortened my run. I got moving faster than last time early on in the run when there were a lot of other runners nearby. There were a lot more runners in general, brought out by the 68 F temperatures. I probably ran too fast for my current physical shape and sometimes had to force myself to think about keeping a more appropriate pace. Going up the hill at the end was still a struggle but I thought I had a good run. Once home, I could feel soreness in my legs and I thought it came rather quickly.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. I put Max on the bus again. It was chilly but not so bad out. I spun well. There were a lot of police cars cruising about (5 on one neighborhood block) which suggests to me that the Obama's were going to be at a nearby private school.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I got some groceries that I carried in a back pack and was carrying a somewhat heavy gym bag in one hand from my run yesterday.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, onto The Mall, past the Washington Monument, Constitution Gardens Pond, and the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial to Lincoln Circle. to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., NW to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. It was dusk when I got going and the air felt cooler than the 45 F that the National Weather Service had reported a little before starting; at least the winds had abated. I felt slow and heavy and must have been. There were a few small construction detours. It was nice to get on this route again.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. I spun well. There was a slight detour where a Edgemor was closed off for tree trimming. I rode my road bike again. With the warmer weather, I would have liked to have left earlier and bicycled w/Max (he was on the bus today) but I still have to fix the flat on my commuter bike before I can hitch Max's trail-a-bike.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. It was windy and I was carrying a bag that I dropped once.

Manassas Battlefield Park, Stuart's Hill. Warm-up in the pavillion area. Some of this was running in place while in line.

C • Unfair Weight Advantage 3

QOC: Manassas Battlefield Park, Stuart's Hill. This was a fun outing. I didn't know what to wear with a strong cold wind but 50 F temperatures and some snow/ice over a lot of the ground. Driving to the park, I also got to see a lot of tree damage from recent ice and snow--I figured it'd be slower than mapped in the woods. After getting to the start, Andy Britton and I were ambivalent about whom should start first. I plowed-in and hit my first 2 controls well. Running fast in the open areas winded me (lack of training and I'm way too heavy).

Going to #3, I anticipated it being dot knoll on the side of a knoll near the road. I went straight to the road, passing the control before I got there--I don't usually complain about a mapping problem but after finishing I finally understand why I've been making errors in this area (previous 2010 race included). The mapping makes it look like a knoll near the road but that's partly because there is a tick mark on the wrong side of a contour. I should have been looking for a dot knoll on the side of a depression; additionally, the control was further east (toward #2) than is mapped. Had I been thinking, I should have realized I was going too far but a knoll further ahead had some features and was mis-mapped too. That knoll should have been mapped with scattered open or even open since it had grass and distinct trees were mapped. Leg #3 cost me about 5 minutes.

I didn't like making an error so early on but figured I could still make the best of it. I hit the next several controls pretty well and though I still felt slow at times, I was still moving swiftly at a pace I felt more comfortable with. I skipped taking water at #7 and after the short leg to #8, I headed back toward #7 a bit to get through the deadfall where I knew it was not too bad. after getting through it and over the ridge I cut back to the right. I ran along the deadfall, on the side of the ridge expecting to see the control but somehow missed it. I could see below where #6 was and I could see a ditch leading out of it. I circled a while before coming back and finding it. A couple that I'd seen at #7 was just getting to it and Andy Britton got there right behind me after making an error of his own. Leg #9 cost me about 4 minutes. Our course setter afterward told me that he had picked the location when there was more snow on the ground, himself raising the question of the location; it was at least close but there were other stoney ground areas very nearby.

I chased down the couple while going to #10 and trying to get away from Andy; in the process I got a little bit too low, perhaps drawn down by the couple's line. To get around the green, I went a bit out of the way to get into the field when going to #11. I passed Sid Sachs at the creek crossing and spiked the control. Andy was still right behind me. I saw #12 and #13 from far off, spiking those. On each control, I was trying to read ahead just before getting there so that I could exit well. On the leg to #14, I tried to get to a trail w/o finding it. The vegetation pushed me more right than I wanted and I briefly lost contact with the map. I felt assured when I hear Andy nearby again, then relocated in a field. Attacking from the pond, I pulled-up short before going further and seeing it.

I ran straight to #15 and exited that well by climbing up the ridge, left of the straight line. That got me around some deadfall. I couldn't hear Andy chasing as I descended through some deadfall. I felt I was moving well and efficiently through it. I crossed the main stream then heard Andy running parallel on my right, on the other side. I believe I turned left up the correct side stream but couldn't see the control. I must not have gone far enough. I figured I had the wrong stream so I went on down further. Before relocating between two stream junctions, I saw Andy again running on the other side of the main stream--I figured he'd found the control and was moving-on. When I went back, I finally found #16 when coming from the NE. To my surprise, when leaving I saw Andy approaching. Leg #16 cost me about 5 minutes.

I knew it was inevitable that Andy would beat me overall at this point but I felt my day would be saved if I could stay ahead of him. It was (but it was fun running with Andy too). I crossed the main stream, took a more direct line over the ridge (I had anticipated being able to contour around it but the slope was too steep), then crossed the stream quickly again to get to the GO control. I was tired but it felt good running hard for most of the way in. In fact, it felt good having Andy to push me to run harder the last 8 controls and to get most of it accurately. Of course, it would have been better without the mishap at #16. Overall, it looks like I lost +13 minutes on the course which is pretty bad.

Red - Splits

Spinning and watching a movie.

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to Huntington Pkwy., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Beech Rd. to Heampsteadt Ave. to McKinley St., to Garfield St. to Roosevelt. St., to Jefferson St., to Northfield Rd. It was 27 F; there were some icy spots but generally it was fine for running. I felt okay and stretched a little bit afterward.

Spinning and watching TV.

Washington, D.C. From 14th St. and Independence Ave. SW, to 15th St. around the Jefferson Memorial on Ohio Dr. to the 14th St. Bridge, to the Mt. Vernon Trail, to Memorial Bridge, to Lincoln Circle, to Daniel French Dr. to Independence Ave. to 12th St. SW. I made sure to get out of work at a reasonable time and quickly got ready for this run. Though I'd have liked to run homeward, it didn't make sense to do that leaving my coat and other work clothes so I just did a loop. I felt pretty slowish. It was dusk when I started by clearly not dark. I started to feel some wetness from the sky that later turned into a light snow shower. By the time I finished the run and made my way home, the light snow had started to cover the street.

It's funny how time will make you forget the pains and plagues of the past; like its a protective mechanism. I had been tightening-up rather quickly after the run and I remembered what I couldn't (even though I gave it a thought) while running--namely that my left calf often felt like it was torn when I went for short runs. The tight feeling after this run was similar but a bit more to the right. I take it being in a different place to be a good thing.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. in the dark. I felt a bit more tired going home into a cold wind.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. There wasn't much ice left on the roads. It was cold taking Max to the bus stop but the sun was warming things fast and it felt good on the short ride.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. in the dark. I caught the traffic lights pretty well but did have stops at Wilson Ln. and Huntington Pkwy. I was feeling pretty good and was spinning well.

From Northfield Rd., Moreland Ln. to Custer Rd. to Huntington Pkwy., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Johnson Ave. to Heamsteadt Ave. to McKinley St., to Garfield St. to Roosevelt. St., to Jefferson St., to Northfield Rd. I felt the need to run and having gotten more sleep I felt more up to going out late. My motivation was helped by it being warmer. There were still a few icy spots.

Lake Needwood, MD. From the parking lot near the archery range, I covered a good part of the land on the east side of the lake, northward to Lake Needwood Rd. There was an area of pavillions with some rides and other features, a biggish round hill with fewer features, a rocky area near a stream and road, some light green lakeshore, and some areas designated for maintenance which have some usefullness. There was about 2 inches of granular snow left on the ground in most places. It got warm for a while; in the mid 40's F. I would have liked to have gone back to areas recently field checked but it seemed to be a better use of time to stay closer to where I parked.

From Northfield Rd. to Custer Rd. to Park Ln. to Battery Ln. to Exeter Rd. to Elm St. to Glenbrook Rd. to Cornish Rd. to Honeywell Ln. to Wilson Ln. to Aberdeen Rd. to Northfield Rd. It felt nice to get out for a run. I had just enough time to fit it in.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. in the dark.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. I got Max on the school bus. The wind was at my back and riding my road bike without towing Max, it all felt really easy and faster. However, navigating patches of ice to get to the station slowed me, as did traffic. I still haven't fixed the flat on my commuter bike. It was nice to have the option of using my road bike by, made possible by having my bicycle locker at the station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. in the dark.

Spinning and finishing-up a movie that I'd started the other night. Earlier in the evening I did a lot of moving of boxes and going up and down stairs. This was in preparation for 3 closet renovations and installation of some attic stairs.

Spinning on rollers at home. My legs were still a bit sore from the race on Sunday. My feet are also slow to recover. Running with them cold and no blood in them is like running without padding. It was cold outside.