Training Log Archive: Nadim

Seneca Creek State Park, MD. From Germantown Rd., From Rte. 118. I'd spent a lot of time with my mother and driving this day so I didn't have a lot of time. Once again, I rushed away from my parked car because it was narrow there. I thus forgot to apply bug spray. The mosquitoes were bad again; perhaps worse than the day before, so after about 10 minutes, I returned and doused myself. I spent a while trying to get the vegetation on a hilltop correct. It's difficult to map with almost randomly spaced and shaped clusters of deadfall that one can't really cross. In-between them, there was open ground. After this, I went east and covered more of a hillside. I found a few broken fence lines in the forest. I got onto the flatlands too. That seemed dauntingly big. Grasses were not so bad to walk through but definitely hide things. I found some mappable deadfall and 2 small earths wall with depressions at the ends. I look forward to going back but would like the leaves to drop for the uplands and the grasses to mat down as they do in other nearby floodplains.

Seneca Creek State Park, MD. From Germantown Rd., Rte. 118, I started field checking to expand the map. This is intended for possible use at The Mid-Atlantic Championship in December. I had worked up a very good base map for the new area from good LiDAR and good aerial imagery. It made the work a lot easier. That was good since the leaves are fully on and grasses are still high in places it grows. Since it had rained so much this month, I planned to stay off the flood plains along the creek but ended up on some of it anyway. It wasn’t bad nor was it that marshy. On the hillsides I found a nice amount of rock. On the flatter parts of the main hilltops I was on there was more deadfall than I would have wanted and it was challenging to map. I’ll look at the hilltops some more. With a slow start, I made a lot of progress but lost some time going back to the car when I realized I needed bug spray. I cut this outing short when my GPS batteries died and both sets of spares turned out to be dead too—Samantha got the good and bad batteries mixed up.

Seneca Creek State Park, MD. From Germantown Rd., Rte 118, I continued what I’d started earlier. This time I hit the flatlands first. There was a nice mix of ditches and earthwalls. I’d rushed back from getting a drink and batteries and forgot to re-apply big spray. Mosquitoes were bad on the flatlands. I was about to make some notees and looked at my paper to find a drop of my blood that landed right where I needed to draw. At least almost all of the flats near the marsh and creek was open forest. I covered a lot of gullies and some ditches that were close together and leading into a marsh next. I finished with high ground in some regularly spaced pines and some thicker vegetation near a saddle and a trail junction. It was fun.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. I was trying to move slowly in places since the roads were wet and there were fallen leaves in places.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & 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. I paced my way through this run feeling slow and heavy. At least the weather was nice; 70s F and finally sunny. There were lots of runners, some cyclists, walkers, and more electric scooters than I’d seen in a long while. A few peaceful protesters were on the steps in front of the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial using an amplifier. A park policeman who was approaching while I ran past, had the unenviable task of checking for permits.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I started more wet than I finished.

THOMASS - Splits

From the Washington DC/MD border, I ran north on the Rock Creek Trail to the 2 mile marker and back. Samantha rode along with me on her bicycle, sort of. She was fearful of various things like hills, bumps, and some standing water on the trail. There are some ver slight grades and a very bumps. She kept stopping and even when she didn’t I was usually running faster than she was riding. That frusrated me but returning was more on a downgrade and she did better getting back. Putting her bicycle away when we got home, I did I could tell that the front brakes were rubbing the wheel rim.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. Leaving later than usual, there was a lot of traffic.

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

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd., to Park Rd., to Battery Ln., to Exeter Rd., to Edgemoor Ln., to Hampden Ln. to Moorland Rd. to Wilson Rd. to Aberdeen Rd., to Aberdeen Ct. to Northfield Rd. It was a nice night for running, though still a bit humid. I did feel some lower back pain in the first mile and I wondered if I should stop. I kept going, trying to run more smoothly, and it went away.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

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

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to W. Cedar Ln., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail along Rockville Pike and up to Maple Ridge Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. Starting in the evening, the temperatures were relatively cool. I happened to converge with another guy going my direction. I passed him running a steady pace on Old Georgetown Rd. and got ahead for a way. He passed me back going down W. Cedar Rd. Since he followed the road and didn't take the trail that cuts the corner at Rockville Pike, I got ahead again. Going up Rockville Pike, he passed me for good and was just ahead of me as he ran off into the NIH complex--I guess he works there. I finished up feeling okay but tired.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. The rains and muggy weather had finally ended and it was in the upper 60s F this morning, so I rode in. With surgery, being on vacation, working off site and the rains over the last week+ I hadn't done this since early August. I felt a bit slow and was carrying a laptop too, but I kept my effort modest. I got passed early once but moved past other riders the whole way. The winds seemed calm though there was probably a mild tailwind. My time is estimated since I'd stopped my watch at a traffic light, then forgot to restart it until in Georgetown.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. The roads were fairly quiet leaving work. There was some foot traffic along the waterfront at the Kennedy Center where construction of new buildings is proceeding well--it'll eventually change the trail. I got out of Georgetown well under 14 minutes. I did get passed by what looked to be a custom light framed mountain bike with fat tires. I stayed with him until the trestle bridge and passed. Another guy followed along until Massachusetts Ave. I slowed with some additional traffic, and just getting tired since I'm less used to doing this. As I got near home, I passed Peggy going the other way.

Occoquan Regional Park, VA. I warmed-up for the QOC event by running around the field twice. I didn't realize that I'd be running past the Go control, which was next to a new hill of leftover dirt. The park facilities had been improved a lot since I'd last been there.

QOC: Occoquan Regional Park. I did okay initially but it started falling apart the last third of the race, after I'd lost my eyeglasses (around #6). This was a physical race with fairly steep hills. I was wearing new VJ shoes which are a little wide. I've used VJs many times several years ago but got used to Ice Bugs. When I finished I thought I had a blister on the end of my left big toe but it turns out that it's just a change in the tingling I've been feeling, that feels just like small blister. The optimal climb (210m) is significantly lower than what my watch came up with (268m).

S-1, I ran up the spur, just to the right of going straight. I popped out on the left side of the pond, but a bit higher than I'd planned.

1-2 - I ran out to cross the road about at the jersey barriers. I plunged back in to come over a spur and cross a reentrant. I spliked it but it felt slow walking the climbs.

2-3 - I ran down the reentrant and climbed a bit as the reentrant hooked left.

3-4 - I ran fairly straight to the road, and then along the hillside. I was fairly high still when I could see the control ahead below.

4-5 - I guess I was getting tired at this point. I ran up to use the road but approaching it, I got confused into thinking In needed to cut right instead of left. I figured this out as I was angling onto the road, but I'd lost time--a minute or so? Executing the rest of the leg, I ran up the road and a to below the south end of the pond. From there I slogged up.

5-6 - I ran over to the dirt road, past the pond, and started up on the dirt road. I cut into the woods at the first reentrant and hit the road. I wanted to stay high along the fence so I crossed the road right away, above the jersey barriers. Getting through the thorny brambles along the road was slow. Those will probably get mapped medium green and be extended down the road a way (more than was shown today. After getting through it, I planned to stay high and go along the fence. I got to the fence. The vegetation at the next reentrant I crossed forced me down but I got back up again. At the next reentrant where there was mapped bamboo running wild, the map showed I could get around the bamboo while still staying high. I plunged in and at first I was making a slow progress. Eventually, I could get no further and needed to back out. I think I lost my glasses doing this. It didn't occur to me at the time, I just wanted to get out of the bamboo. By the time I got out and around, I had to drop into the reentrant so I angled up from there. Eugene was leading a small group that did manage to attack from high. We converged with me getting there just behind them.

6-7 - I angled out to the road to get around the reentrant, then went back in afterward. There was a more rhododendron than I expected from the green. I got through without too much trouble at first but eventually I had to walk. I got a bit to the right, but recognized the narrow reentrant there. I corrected to curl left into the control, still walking a lot. From comparison splits, I apparently lost more time than I thought at the time.

7-8 - I again tried to stay high so I angled upstream to cross the first reentrant. To get around the gully in it, I went further right before crossing. On my climb, I resumed my straight bearing since I wanted to get above the next reentrant. At the ridge top, I saw Gary Smith. I thought I saw the reentrant I was looking for but really, I was just SE of #2. I started seeing a lot of reentrants and eventually surmised this. I dropped down to make sure and checked the code at #2. I thought I had it made from there. I ran along the side of the reentrant toward #8. Maybe the 1:7,500 scale was throwing me off. I got past the control and south of #8. I climbed out hesitating a lot. Eventually I curled back to the right. When I got there, Eugene and his group were there.

8-9 - I ran straight and spiked it. I did stop along the way at least once to check the map.

9-10 - I angled toward the road, left of going straight. I came out at the odd small knolls on both sides of the road and felt I knew where I was. However, the lack of glasses on my second glance at the map led me to think the squiggle of a contour in the clearing along the road, south of #10, was the same 2 knolls. I plunged into the woods early, not far after the knolls and hit the reentrant near #11. I realized this and kept moving through it. I then stayed low until hitting #10, but I'd lost more time.

10-11 - I ran the stream valley a little lower than I had climbed it toward #10. I actually crossed the stream a few times. The lack of glasses again made it hard to read within the circle. I anticipated the control to be on the east side of the main reentrant. Not seeing the control there with the major reentrant that I'd crossed before going to #10 coming up, turned up it. I didn't get very far before looking behind me. The control would have been visible if I'd gone just a little further. I suppose reading the clue description would have helped too.

11-12 - I stayed in the valley, eventually picking up the trail and following it to the bottom. Using the road, and then crossing the field I felt pretty slow.

12-13 - I managed to pickup the pace a bit but it seemed to me that my finish pace was what I used to just run when on the course.

Green - Splits

In Rock Creek Park at the Washington, D.C./Maryland border, I did the Boundary Lines loop. It was in the mid 70s and still humid. The trail was damp with the low places showing erosion from heavy rains. At first it seemed quiet but soon enough I was passing hikers and dog-walkers. I even saw a few runners. Sewer maintenance construction blocked Beach Drive at both ends. I had to climb over railings to get off the bridge at the south end.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Woodmont Ave. to Wisconsin Ave. to Norwood Ave. and Norrwood Park, to the Capital Crescent Trail, to the Bethesda Metro Station. With a slow start due to crowded conditions on the Woodmont Ave. sidewalks where the street cafe tables are (someone said aloud “running” as I passed by on the public walkway), I felt pretty good during this. It was still humid but the outdoors were room temperature and there was an eastern hurricane influenced breeze.

Buddy Attic Park in Greenbelt. Having worked nearby this day, and finding that it was not raining again, I stopped off at my old stomping ground. In the early 2000's, I had near daily runs through this park. I did those in the 6 minute/mile range back then. Maybe that's part of the reason that the park seemed bigger than I remembered it. Initially, when I got there, I was a little disoriented, expecting a trail to be in one place but finding it, the same as it had been, in another. A bathroom and a couple of other things had been added too which were nice improvements. Starting out, it was around 79 F but humid. What was apparently the Greenbelt HS women's cross country team was doing a practice. I was slowly completing my first loop when they split-up and started going in both directions around the lake too. Since some of them were walking and jogging, I caught up and passed a few. Running here brought back some pleasant memories. It did rain heavily on my way driving home.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to W. Cedar Ln., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail along Rockville Pike and up to Maple Ridge Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. The temperatures seemed cool starting out in the 60s F. It was breezy too. Happily, the rains had stopped. I still felt heavy but felt better running than earlier last week but weak or sore in my right quad.

QOC Summer Short Series Training at Pohick Regional Park, VA. David and Heidi Onkst setup beginner courses and added on the last of the summer training event. We'd gotten there late but got out just before they were closing up. Samantha had been asking about going out on a course on her own in Wyoming (something she's never done previously), and since she'd put up such a fuss about coming at all, making us late to this event, we let her try. David's training loop was a route choice exercise in which we were to do the loop twice, but with different routes. Peggy got started well ahead of me.

I started shortly before Gavin who, though out of shape too, is younger and usually faster than me. I took the low route to #1 and ran all but the steepest parts. I was to find the control, all of them set to White level, in the second of 2 rides which were close together. When I crossed the creek, I didn't notice a ride like I should have--trees had grown up over it and it was shown in yellow on the map. When I got to the second, I went on and stopped just before a trail. I realized where I was and turned back to spike it from there but by the time I'd gotten to the control, Gavin was right behind me.

I went up the ride to the road/trail to #2. Gavin tried coming a shorter route from the ride through the woods and seemed to hit it well, but he was a little further behind me.

Going to #3, I took the left side of the long reentrant. I lost a little time making sure I was getting into the right reentrant. When I crossed to the right side of the reentrant and climbed toward the visible spur, I thought I was close, but had to climb up the spur a little further than expected.

Going 3 #4 and still just starting out, I saw Gavin coming down the trail that I was going up. He'd come through the reentrant to #3 also, but attacked earlier than I had; he'd ended up climbing more. Taking trails toward #4, I moved better. I cut through to get into the campground with Gavin further behind but still within hearing distance. I soon saw Samantha and she was looking a bit panicked. She was less concerned about being lost than needing to pee. I told her to use the woods and waved Gavin off as he passed by.

Samantha had done pretty well and it sounded like she'd gotten the first 4 White course controls. Though set well. the terrain in Pohick can be steep and sometimes confusing. There are a lot of trails in various shapes. The pullouts for the campground loop were not mapped, and they might have confused Samantha more. I got her back on track, focusing on getting her more able to orient the map to north. She struggled with that, twisting Peggy's thumb compass instead of the map but after several times, she seemed to improve. We went on but since we were late, we went to #6, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, and #14 on her course. Samantha didn't complain much as she'd been prone to doing. I even got her to run a few times. The approaching and sometime sprinkling rain helped with her motivation. Samantha had seen Peggy and I do map reviews with Max when we were in Wyoming, and she was eagar to do that with us. Initially, she seemed to be able to describe valid routes including an error. Peggy had seen Samantha and helped her a little on Samantha's way to White #4. Some of the rest of Samantha's descriptions of what happened were "creative" as Peggy described them. It was hard to tell what really happened and we had been too late to get a finish time with splits to confirm Samantha reaching #2, #3, or #4. It was still good that Samantha had been motivated to try this on her own.

From Norflolk Ave., to Northfield Rd. via Maple Ridge Rd., and Custer Ln. My orthopedist said that the pains I've been feeling in my heel the last week is planters facetious. It's been that I've been going from one ailment to another virtually all year.

From Northfield Rd., to Norfolk Ave. for lunch.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to Pyle Middle School. Peggy and I rode to the school for Parent Teacher night. There's limited parking and this was the fastest way.

From Pyle Middle School to Northfield Rd. After listening to presentations from most of Max's teachers, we rode home in the dark.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Edgemoor Ln to Old Georgetown Rd., to Woodmont Ave., to Battery Rd., to Keystone Ln./N. Brook Ln., Old Georgetown Rd., to Maple Ridge Rd., to Park Ln. to Custer Ln., to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd Bethesda, MD., to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to Johnson Ave. to Heamsteadt Ave. to McKinley Ave. to Garfield St. to Roosevelt. Ave. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. This was my first opportunity to get used to the summer weather in DC. I felt rather uneven, heave, awkward and uncoordinated. My legs were definitely tired. Unlike previous trips, I didn't feel a bump from being at altitude last week. Though I wasn't thinking of it at the time, it's was my 43rd anniversary of when I started running.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was the first day of school for the kids and a very warm and humid morning. I had my laptop. All of this led me to not bicycle in all the way to work this morning. I felt guilty about it but it, but even with bicycling only to the metro station, I got a little sweaty, and later in the afternoon there were storms with lots of lightning.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Bethesda,MD. We left Denver on 9/2 and got home after midnight on the 9/3. I cleaned-up some things around the house and got some pictures downloaded. My left heel was really hurting during the night and for a while in the morning. It was hard to walk. It got better and later on 9/3, I felt about like I had on 9/2--odd.

Western States Day 2 Green - Splits

Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival. Medicine Bow, WY; near Laramie; Day 3, East Pelican Bay map. I went to the start with Max.

Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival. Medicine Bow, WY; near Laramie; Day 3, East Pelican Bay map. This was my warm-up trip to the start.

Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival. Medicine Bow, WY; near Laramie; Day 3, East Pelican Bay map, 7,850ft altitude. This Green course was fun and tiring. I had early trouble with #2--even afterward I was feeling like the control might have been in the wrong place. Unfortunately my GPS track never got started--I hit the start/stop button twice at the start without realizing it. I had trouble with #3 too--I somehow missed my attackpoint, a reentrant leading up to the ridge with all the rock detail. I wandered around on the other side of the ridge, turning the wrong direction initially, then coming all the way back and more. I realized where I was when I got back on top at the 3 trees in the field. I hit everything else on the course pretty well but got a little confused on the way to #11.

This was a walk to the start again, but with Samantha. We got there as they were packing up.

Rocky Mountain Orienteering Festival. Medicine Bow, WY; near Laramie; Day 3, East Pelican Bay map, 7,850ft altitude. I went out with Samantha on the White course. Since we'd gotten there late the first control had already been picked-up. As we started, Samantha got to punch it immediately, from the hand of one of the organizers who was doing the starts. We went through the whole course. Samantha didn't complain much and actually had wanted to do this. We saw a lot of other orienteers including Peggy who was not having a good day. My heel was hurting through most of this.

Ted Good finishing his Red course:


Samantha on the White course:


Peggy on the Green course:


Peggy on the Green course:


Samantha on the White course:

Western States Day 1 Green - Splits