Training Log Archive: Nadim

Glacier National Park, MT. Starting off on the Trail of the Cedars, Peggy, Max and I hiked to Avalanche Lake on the Avalanche Lake Trail. We also went part way around the lake before turning back to return basically the way we'd come out. We went at Max's pace. He moved well the first 1.6 miles past rushing streams and interesting woods but as his blood sugar ran lower, Max got more and more disinterested. Complaints started arising such as "hiking is boring." Eating a Gu helped him plow on up. Once he got to the lake, he was full o energy as were we; though for different reasons. Max had a ball climbing on rocks and an extensive log jamb at the lake exit stream. Peggy and I were awed by the bowl we found ourselves in. With visible snow capped rocky peaks above, 4 major waterfalls plunged and sprayed their way down toward Avalanche Lake. It was unexpectedly windy with some white-caps on the water and the temperature was cool. It was often hard to believe that all the water we saw falling was coming from the snow fields we saw. The exit stream was over 10m across and a couple of feet deep. Toward the bottom, this stream squeezes into a gorge only 10ft. wide where the churning water carves shapes into the rocks. For accessible as this hike was, it sure was worth the effort. On the way down we saw the Riley family headed up.

Glacier National Park, MT. Trail of the Cedars. After a nice lunch on the shore of Lake McDonald where I taught Max to skip stones, we drove further into the park and did a very short and easy loop. It was half on a boardwalk through marshy cedar forest with lots of deadfall. Because of the high water table, the cedars have shallow root systems and fall over a lot. In between being impatient waiting for Peggy and I (taking pictures and reading exhibits), Max worked on his Junior Ranger badge.

Glacier National Park, MT. After our first hike, we had a spectacular drive up the Going to the Sun Highway to Logan Pass which is on the Continental Divide. While moving or stopping on the drive we/I saw a black bear crossing a rushing glacial melt stream, dear, dozens of waterfalls, snow capped sedimentary peaks rising as much as 9,000 ft. in vertical differential, precipitous drops on the edge of the roadway, mountain goats, an old Bighorn sheep and sunny skies. At the Visitor Center at Logan Pass, Max and I had a snowball fight. From there, Peggy, Max and I started up the Hidden Lake Trail but the weather was changing rapidly, The trail was snow covered right from the start and it started off with having to cross through an icy slush puddle. Footing was slippery going up and we only had plain running shoes and sneakers (this was better than some foolish people heading up in flip flops). The air was cool and the sky got darker. We only got out a bit past a quarter mile before hearing the thunder. We had climbed quickly to around 6,800ft. before turning back. The return was fast and fun. Max and I threw more snow at each other and by the time we got past the slush puddle, we looked back at the clearing skies.

Camp Sekani, Spokane, WA. I ran/jogged up the steep hill to the start of the US Orienteering Sprint Championships.

US Sprint Championships at Camp Sekani, Spokane, WA. My feet were blistered and otherwise torn-up from the run yesterday. I did what I could to get them ready and wore trail shoes for this race--not my preferred choice for steep slopes with pine needles. I had an early start so the only person that I knew was on my course that I saw was David Yee. With the steep slopes I knew that errors would be costly so I ran cautiously. I felt I didn't lose much time for almost the whole course. I sometimes went to the wrong rock but always managed to stop near the control and find it quickly. A few times, I was standing right next to it and didn't see it as it was behind a rock or just hung very low. On a leg to a prominent cliff with a thicket (#10?) I got too low. At the end, I hadn't visualized a feature correctly. Instead of a man made wall (more like a dam that's high on one side and ground level on the other), I expected a cliff. I saw a cliff almost on the line so I ran toward it without seeing the control and had to come back.

Red Sprint - Splits

Fishtrap Lake, WA. Warm-up run from the parking area to the start of the US Long Distance Championships. I'd already missed my start time since I was having split starts with Peggy and there was not enough time in-between. The scenery on the way to the start was rather nice. Had I the time, I would have wanted to come back to photograph the wild flowers. There were very nice yellows, whites and purples in good combinations with the rocks.

US Long Distance Orienteering Championships, Fishtrap Lake, WA. I had a tough day. I had a difficult time reading the map and the bifocals I brought along didn't help; they were fogged-up too much. I got way off course on the way to #2 and was slow to recover from the error. I started getting more into the map for a while but nearing #5, a fall into the marsh off a low dam seemed to mark another change in effectiveness. I landed safely but after that my wet feet were more prone to hurting. The basalt or whatever the predominant igneous rock type was kept me off balance. I don't usually get blisters but ended-up with nasty toe blisters and torn calluses. This slowed me but my poor accuracy in the rock detail had as much effect. At 1:15,000 (the map didn't have a scale printed on it, the course notes didn't say, but I found out later) I really needed a magnifier. I took a fall again in the course. Wierdly it was while running up some bare rock. This stumble ended with a sore right hand that's still sore as I write this many hours later. I did well sometimes but when I missed, I lost a lot of time. It was hard for me to tell what was up and down. I'm going to have to find better ways to read detail on maps now that my eyesight has degraded. I enjoyed the race but could have used more protective shoes too. Before going out, someone had warned me that typical O' shoes weren't a good choice for this map and that person was right.

Red Long - Splits

Event: US Sprint/Middle/Long Championships
 

Moses Lake, WA. After a long day of traveling from Baltimore to Las Vegas, getting on a plane that was late, getting to Spokane, WA, driving to Ritzville at 2am local time and finding that our hotel room was inaccessible, then driving to Moses Lake for a hotel twice as expensive, we got a short sleep and to the meet site. I had just enough time to get to the start without forgetting anything but some eye glassse that I wanted to give a second try.

U.S. Middle Distance Championships, Moses Lake, WA. I ran a safe race and felt slow/tired doing it. The rolling/sage and grass covered sand dune terrain was prettly well mapped if you stayed out of the green. I used the slow and sandy roads initially to get used to the map. I was happy to get off of them for the more runnable rough open. I went straight a lot but avoided all the green as the course notes recommended. The green was usefull for navigation. I perhaps lost 1-2 minutes total. Some of it was pulling up short and not seeing a control that was behind a bush ahead. At #15, I read the map incorrectly expecting a control to be on the wrong side of a short ridge. It was a bit hot out but with low humidity, it felt much better than running at home at this time of year. I finished 7th amongst the M45+ runners though not all of them were eligible for the US Championships. The courses were fun and I was happy to have been relatively error free in a technical area.

Red Middle - Splits

From Northfield Rd. Bethesda, MD, to Montgomery Ave. via the Air Rights Building with Max in his trail-a-bike for the first time to school, then to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. Since I'd come back from travel for work, I had to tote my laptop. I'd earlier left Max's trailer at school. In Bethesda I was amused passing the Apple store and seeing the long lines for people picking up pre-orders or buying. Winds were mixed; both the headwinds and the tailwinds were strong and equally distributed. Most noteable was the 87 F temperature and high humidity-like Florida.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. through the basement of my building at work to Independence Ave. SW, to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I was running late at work and needed to meet a vendor at home. Traffic was slow at first and there were strong headwinds. In Georgetown with more traffic a cyclist passed me and I wiseley tucked in behind him. He was too strong for me to pull for him up the hill and still into the wind. I left the trail-a-bike to pickup later with the trailer.

Williamsburg, FL (near Orlando). I attended a conference this week and didn't get much opportunity to workout. I finally got out for this run from my hotel in a semi-urban touristed area for Universal Studios. It was almost all on concrete walkways in a hot sun and humid air. My right arch had been hurting while walking outside for the run and for the first minute but was fine after that.

Shenandoah National Park; near Sperryville, VA. From the trailhead at the bottom of Little Devil's Staircase to the Four Way intersection at the top. With Max at Dave Camp (thanks Heidi and Dave), Peggy and I were free to do activities that we don't usually get to do. We walked up as the day was getting hotter. As we rose, it felt about the same temperature though the higher elevations we reached were cooler than the lower ones. The hike was often steep in a rather rocky and in a narrow cliff gaurded gorge that lasted much of the way. We crossed streams, mostly the same one over and over again, 15 times. There were loads of cairns and stone walls; evidence of past farming. The trees were rather smallish and would pass for green terrain on an orien teering map. Perhaps this was due to past gypsy moth damage though there weren't a lot root stocks. There was just a little bit of silk grass along the trail. We took a little break at the top before...

...From the Four Way intersection at the top of the Little Devil's Staircase, Peggy and I ran easy down the Keyer Run fire road. I had returned like this perhaps 2 times before and the last time was probably 15-20 years back. We got a few glimpses through the trees of the valley below. We also stopped a bit to checkout a cemetary. Some of the markers were from the 1700's which is pretty old for the area. The run got steeper the closer we got to the bottom which is somewhat opposite of how the hike up felt. It was nice to get back to the Shenandoah on a hike/run like this. Though Max was probably having fun at Dave Camp, this was Peggy and my way of celebrating 8 years of being married.

I worked almost 4 hours literally around the house. I cleaned the roof of fallen sticks and leaf piles, then the gutters. After that I cleaned the mess on the ground and planted several perennials and a tree that we picked-up near Warrenton. It was hot and needed to keep drinking fluids.

From Northfield Rd. Bethesda, MD, to Montgomery Ave. via the Air Rights Building with Max in his trailer, then back to Northfield Rd. more directly, back to Montgomery Ave., then to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. Getting Max going this morning was a bit slow. It created some distraction and with a lot of vehicle traffic along the way, I didn't notice leaving Max's lunch at home until I got there. Going back home for his lunch was easy and the weather was still nice--drier and cooler air than we often get at this time of the year. Once headed to work properly, I moved quickly with the wind, passing more than I expected to for being late, though not quite as many as the large scout troup coming the other way that I saw yesterday afternoon. At Dalecarlia, I caught glimpse of a cyclist whom I was gaining on. I kept closing the gap but we were moving well (20-22.5mph on the flats) and I didn't catch him until right at Georgetown. Given my conditioning, I'll probably feel that later. There was more traffic to contend with on the roads in DC.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. through the basement of my building at work to Independence Ave. SW, to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I enjoyed some tailwinds but rode a steady pace by myself. I left later than planned and toted my laptop on my back-an extra 8 to 9 pounds. To my surprise, I had a tailwind to Dalecarlia which is more than halfway. I moved along well with a good cadence. Peggy and I needed to drop off Max at Dave Camp at 7pm so I didn't go to pickup Max's trailer.

From Northfield Rd. Bethesda, MD, to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. Max was sick this morning so I stayed home with him. Peggy took over later so I got to ride into work. Initially there were headwinds. The winds were neutral along the towpath, then very much a tailwind on Ohio Dr. along the Potomac River. There were lots of tourists clogging the paths at the end. Overall, my speeds along different sections of the route were comparable to my normal commute so it's interesting to see my overall speed without towing Max and the trailer being mixed in.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. The wind patterns from the afternoon were still in place so I had strong headwinds followed by less impacting ones on the way home. The +80 F weather was otherwise great.

York, ME. From Beach St. (north of Short Sands Beach), along the shore drive to Sohier Park, where I looped out and back to view the Nubble Lighthouse, then continuing southward along the shore on Nubble Ave. to 6th Ave., then I reversed the route. This morning was wonderful. Bright sun accompanied by cool breezes really set off the sound and sight of the waves on the rocks. The Nubble Lighthouse is probably the most picturesque that I've ever seen. It's an island most of the time but at the low tide that I saw it, it would have been possible to walk across the seaweed covered rocks. The prominent house was back-lit but from where I stood it perfectly framed the American flag that was in the sun and in the line of sight. On our way back to Maryland, Peggy, Max and I went by car and stopped to walk on the rocks and checkout the tidal pools. The island was an island at this time. We stayed late and cut it close for our flight home.

In York, ME, Peggy, Max and I toured York's Wild Kingdom (quite good for $8 in a quiet beach town), played some sand hockey, flew a kite and got our feet wet in the cold surf. The day was busy with little time to run and the night before I my right foot arch had throbbed/pulsated. The long time standing and walking didn't make me feel much better.

York, ME. Following a celebration of Tony & Suzanne Federer's 50th wedding anniversaryat the York Harbor Inn, Peggy, all the kids plus the fathers, Dave Hall, Pam J, & I walked down to the beach and then to the Cliff Walk trail. I was in my work shoes; not so good on the damp trails and cliff rocks, but much better than I thought they would be. The kids got ahead of me while I gazed and gabbed. Andy pursued followed by me and the rest of our troop. It was good way to walk off the lunch and beautiful.

Our morning was taken-up by errands including getting one of Max's doctor test shots read. Later we flew out to Boston and drove to Woburn, MA.

From Northfield Rd. Bethesda, MD, to Montgomery Ave. via the Air Rights Building with Max in his trailer, then to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. I changed my flat tire late last night and I'm happy I did. Doing that let me ride on this nice cool morning. There were some headwinds from the east and I rode alone.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Montgomery Ave. where I picked-up Max and his trailer, then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I enjoyed some tailwinds but rode a steady pace by myself. I was 40:03 at Montgomery Ave.

I hadn't changed my flat tire the night before and worked late on this day. I used the time to draft my field checking notes from the day before. My legs were oddly tired whenever I went up stairs.

Lake Needwood Regional Park, MD. I had the day off for mostly errands (Max got a shot, lunch w/my parents, yardwork, plumber visit) and it rained most of the time. When the brunt of it passed, I got out through the rush hour traffic for some late field checking :) That I covered as much as area as I did in the time I had was just great but it probably reflected the conditions. I was mostly on a very open and flatish hilltop with various rootstocks. I also got to the western sides of this hill with more rock and a wide gas line ride. I got showered upon just a little bit.

From the Friendship Heights Metro Station (at the DC/MD border), I ran from Western Ave. to Friendship Blvd. to Willard Ave. to the trail in Willard Park, to River Rd. to the Capital Crescent Trail to Woodmont Ave. to the Bethesda Metro Station. I had intended to bicycle to work this day. The weather was perfect for it--59 F in the morning and sunny. However after getting ready and about to push my commuter bike out I again discovered a flat tire. There was no time to change it so I changed and took the metro to work. I left work a bit late too and was unsure how my legs would do--I haven't gone out for just a run in a while though I had done some running while orienteering. My arches on my right foot had been throbbing with some regularity just while sitting at work. My left one hurt now and then too. The start was downhill and much of the rest of the run was on a slight grade giving me a net gain. I had no idea what my pace was until I looked at my GPS watch. I was surprised to see it at a low 7 minute pace. The trail was very busy. Though it's common for me to slow down on the CCT to wait to pass while cycling, I had to do this just to pass other runners and walkers. I got through the run fine though a bit tired. I was surprised to have seen Paz from MCRRC just before Bethesda Ave. and stopped when he called me over.

From Northfield Rd. Bethesda, MD, to Montgomery Ave. via the Air Rights Building with Max in his trailer, then to C St. SE, Washington, D.C. It was such a nice morning that I didn't want to miss riding, despite feeling a bit tired from the day before. As it was, I felt better than expected. I caught some people on the trail and hung on for a little way with another guy who passed and was doing 26mph. One of the guys I caught later traded pulls into Georgetown and we were doing 23mph on the flats. There must have been a tailwind but on Ohio Dr. The ground winds were from the NE.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Montgomery Ave., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I got out of the office with plenty of time before my bike got locked in however I discovered a flat. I must have gotten some lodged while on the trail or in the Air Rights Building tunnel where there's been more than a few broken shards lately. Fortunately, I had a nice bench to sit on outside the building courtyard and I made repairs. I got going soon to encounter the stiff winds along the river into Georgetown. Fortunately, the turn in the river, structures and trees made it easier from there. I climbed much faster than I had been riding on the flats in the open. I was still enjoying the cooler air too.

Event: QOC: Jug Bay
 

QOC: The Chase at Jug Bay, MD. I hadn't gone into this race planning or expecting much. I was pre-occupied with getting things ready for the start and the annual QOC meetings; the noon start on a day with a high predicted at 91 F didn't really make me look forward to running either.

As it was I thought I drank my first beer quickly enough but I was a few seconds behind others I usually would pace with and had been positioned further from the Lemans style map pickup spot. The larger crowd was visible going left down a road while my inclination had been to go straight through the woods. I hesitated, then chased the crowd and started catching them minutes later as we finally entered the forest on a dirt trail. In the early years of my having run the Chase or the Beer Chase as it had been called, I would never feel the effects of the beer until finishing--not true this time. I felt it right away on the road and the trail. As we finally plunged to attack, Eddie Bergeron, Jon Torrance (QOC's new club President) and Ken Walker were crossing our paths. We hadn't figured out where the control was at this point and wondered if they were still going to it. The group scattered and I found it after Ted Good. I trailed him not so smoothly until I lost sight of him around #4. I crossed a trail without seeing it and relocated as others caught-up going more directly. I was then able to read my way in with the crowd following me. I got out of #4 well and finished a few more controls of the loop good, not knowing that Ted had troubles with #4 and was behind me.

On the second loop, I was feeling the effects of the beer even more but felt I was still doing okay going to the 2nd control. I unfortunately got a little bit high and overran the control, off the map. It took a while to relocate and others started catching up. Ted was the first one I saw followed by Andy Britton whom I hadn't seen orienteering for the better part of a year. I found #3, then ran to #2 and back to #3. The 4th control was easy but I was wide to the right on #5. I went well past it and down a trail a long way to relocate. Andy, and Bjørn Skjævestad were headed to #6 as I ran back. I also saw Mark Mace around here. I finished the loop rather tired and hoping the 3rd loop would be short as most of the past Beer Chases had been--unfortunately, it was not short.

The length left at least gave me hope of being able to catch-up to others. After the easy first control, I was dragging even more from the 3rd beer and the heat. I passed Sid Sachs, Patti Mace (going the other way on a different loop), and caught sight of Bjørn again only to make a killer error. With 3 reentrants to cross I crossed two and started searching early. I hadn't expected to cross 3 since I was supposed to be above the middle one. I hadn't read the detail showing the stream extending much further up and I cut south without realizing why it took so long to find the deeper part of the reentrant. I was beat tired. The reentrant was deepish, steep, thick and mucky at the bottom--it sapped my remaining strength and worse, slowed me enough to let the beer hit my head. I was wobbly. After searching one way, then all the way back to the other end I realized what I'd done and went straight to #2. Behind Tim Good at the point, I caught him near #5 from loop 2. I used that control to cross his path behind him and hit the 3rd control from the 3rd loop. I spiked the 4th control but returning on what was I think the 5th leg, I somehow crossed a trail without seeing it (Sam Listwak said it was rather overgrown though it had been runnable on nearby parts of the map). I ended-up way past the control again and had to come back after another relocation. I hit the next control but wasn't efficient to the one after that. The last few near the field were easy.

I was sooo tired in this race. It was disheartening to perform badly again (about 20 minutes lost on just 4 of the controls I missed on). At least this time, there was a potential chemical reason for my confusions. After the run, I had to sit a long while to gather strength and balance. The edges of storms came through during our club picnic but it cooled things off nicely.

Long - Splits

Lake Needwood, MD. I got a late start and couldn't stay long to do much field checking today. I actually spent 2/3's of the time checking and fixing what I'd gotten drafted since my last outing. I fixed a lot and hope it will make for a much better map. Of the new areas that I went over, I continued finding more rock low but I also found a line of some going up a hillside. There were various rootstocks and dot knolls on the hillside too.

From Northfield Rd., to Montgomery Ave. with Max in his trailer via the Georgetown Branch Trail tunnel, then to the Bethsda Metro Station, back to Northfield Rd., then back to the Bethesda Metro Station. I was tired enough from being up late last night and riding all they way in the last two days that I thought a shorter ride would be better. More rain is predicted too. With the switch-up, I got to the metro station the first time only to realize that I left my lock at home (I use another that I keep at work when I ride all the way in) so I had to go back.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Montgomery Ave. to pickup Max's trailer then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel.

From Northfield Rd. to Montgomery Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to C St., SW, Washington, D.C. via the Capital Crescent Trail and Ohio Dr. I rode a bit faster than the day before for most of the ride and felt like I was taking it easy in some places but I strained more toward the end. There were a few places with congestion and the winds were again from the SE--headwinds.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Montgomery Ave., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. Well after lunch I was tracking the progress of a storm on the National Weather Service's radar map to know what to expect on my ride home. It wasn't that big and was over Wheeling, VW when I first saw it. From the animation, I could tell it was going to hit Washington, D.C. and I even got the timing pretty close--I figured it be finishing-up as it was time for me to go home. I hung around waiting for it to die-downabout as long as I could without getting my bike locked-in a courtyard, then started out in a steady but thankfully warm rain. At the first opportunity to see the western sky, I could see a clear end of the clouds--unusual since most thunderstorms arrive suddenly then end gradually. I got wet but the top half of me was about as dry as usual after passing through Georgetown. I kept a fair but easier pace yet I still started tiring out and slowed. I got rather hungry and somewhat hypo-glycemic. My cycle computer had segments of tracking washed out so the time is an estimate.

From Northfield Rd. to Montgomery Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to C St., SW, Washington, D.C. via the Capital Crescent Trail and Ohio Dr. The big difference in today's ride was nothing visible in the stats but it made a big difference to me in how enjoyable the ride was--I rode the entire way without any chain skipping for the first time in over 6 months. After having changed-out the rear cassette last year and the front chain rings last week, changing the chain was the thing that did it! Shifting was nice and quiet and I didn't have to constantly rebuild speed. There was some traffic along the way. As luck would have it, no other cyclists passed me but it was slower riding in DC--especially crossing under the bridges near the Lincoln Memorial. Technically the trail is closed there but they haven't started any construction work yet and going around would have taken me through more traffic. There were some winds fromt the SE and it was in the mid 70s F right from the begining.

I noted some achilles tendon pain on my right leg this morning before and after the ride. I felt it again as I was getting ready to ride home. I had done some quick stretching during the day here and there.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Montgomery Ave., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. It was nice getting out of work and riding home. I had a tailwind till around the water treatment plant, then it was neutral. I spun well most of the time. Leaving Georgetown, two apparantly older guys passed me. I let them go but caught one anyway just keeping my pace. I was 39:45 at Montgomery Ave.

From Northfield Rd., to Montgomery Ave. with Max in his trailer via the Georgetown Branch Trail tunnel, then to the Bethsda Metro Station. It felt much hotter and stickier than the ~74 F it was supposed to have been. I had anticipated rain (50% chance). The weekend had also been so busy too that I didn't change my bike chain and I decided not to try to ride all the way in to work. My hands felt rather tingly and tired at work.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Montgomery Ave. I expected to only pickup Max's trailer but as I turned into the parking lot, I saw Max and Peggy. As usual, Max asked to or more or less told us that he wanted to go with me. We loaded-up, then went to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was in the upper 80s or low 90s F and humid. I spun my way along but there was a lot of traffic on Bethesda Ave.