Training Log Archive: Nadim

Seneca Creek State Park, MD. From Riffleford Rd., I did some follow-up work after vetting that Boris Granovskiy did earlier. The day started at 37 F. Though the light rain had stopped for the moment, a little more fell. I was dressed for it and got a little warm. The temperature increased to 42 F by the time I was done. Boris hadn't found some streamers that I'd set out earlier--sure enough, they were gone. I replaced them. While some were exposed enough for that to be expected, it was surprising where some had disappeared. At one point, I'd been checking out an area so long that I left it and got half a mile away before I forgot that I needed to put a streamer there--I went back. I did some map updates in some areas too and this took a while. I did a good job running most of the time going between control sites.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. I turned back after starting because I'd forgotten to put straps on my pants.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I'd abandoned a plan to run at lunchtime. My back wasn't feeling so good the last 30 hours. It was on the lower left side where I'd had surgery last summer. Going home, I was in a big rush to pickup Samantha before after-care closed. I just made it and I was glad I hadn't been delayed on the trains.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. I had another tailwind. The temperature was in the low 30s F.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. It was windy and about 29 F.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. I was a bit heavy today. However, with a tailwind I felt swift going up Custer Rd. The temperatures was in the upper 30s F.

From 12th and Independence Ave., SW, Washington, D.C. I ran to Main Ave., then to the Tidal Basin to go clockwise around it. I passed the Jefferson Memorial on the water side, went through the Roosevelt Memorial, and passed the Martin Luther King Memorial too. I ran comfortably. It was dark and to get past puddles close to the Tidal Basin, I had to run right along the edge where there is no railing.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. There was a good headwind. I was a bit tired from running and even my leather coat felt heavy. However, I was warm.

Great Falls, MD. From the Angler's Inn parking lot, I ran up the Berma Rd. to the bridge where the Billygoat Trail starts, and I returned on the towpath. A lot of hikers were out and about. Many were probably from out of town hiking with family members. It was a really nice evening and I was able to park there with no trouble--the sun probably set just as I was finishing-up.

Event: Bethesda Turkey Chase
 

For Thanksgiving this year, several of us sought to do something other than the Turkey Chase. Ted Good, David Onkst and I started running up the Rachel Carson Trail from Rte. 29, while Peggy, Heidi Onkst, and Darcy Good hiked up the Northwest Branch Trail which is on the other side of the creek. David had run +20 miles the night before and fell back a few time--it turned out that he'd fallen more than once. The lower parts of the Rachel Carson Trail does have poor footing and some rocky spots. Ted and talked as we ran. Ted remembered the area from his high school days but he hadn't run the trail then. David turned back down the trail we'd come up while Ted and I crossed the creek after 3.5 miles and returned on the Northwest Branch Trail. The Northwest Branch Trail is much easier and we were going downstream. We noted a trail relocation being constructed up off the valley like much of the Rachel Carson Trail is. We ran into our wives as they were admiring dogs that were being walked. We spotted David as we were near finished.

Afterward we did do the usual thing, going to eat a bagel brunch. Peggy and I hosted a Thanksgiving dinner afterward---it was a rather nice day! I was pretty tired by the end of it.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was forecast to be a nice day. I and a lot of other cyclists took advantage of it. I felt fairly weak.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I cruised along in the dark with my big headlamp and passed a bunch of people. A few passed me and I kept up with them going up the hill after the trestle bridge, but I lost contact at the bridge near the sewage treatment plan. I had dressed appropriately both this morning and this evening.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, Woodmont Ave. to Wisconsin Ave. to Norwood Ave. and Norwood Park, to the Capital Crescent Trail, to the Bethesda Metro Station. I lumbered through this, a bit sleep deprived but it was nice to run.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Event: [Cancelled] QOC Little Bennett
 

Starting from Riffleford Rd., I updated the map some more and then checked a few control locations. Things looked good though I had to make more map updates than planned for. I jogged around between control sites and actually found that a trail I'd found earlier was an official new one. I'm not sure where it goes but it did have a mile marker indicating 5.6 more miles of it off the map, going somewhere--potentially a connection to the Muddy Branch Trail. It was dark by the time I got in my van.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Smokey Glen Farm, MD. Sitting adjacent to Seneca Creek State Park, Smokey Glen Farm (SGF) had been on my list of areas to use since I started mapping the park in 2014. I had a very strong base map from detailed aerial images and I'd been on the edges of the property before, where it was wooded. I had even wandered into the areas once prior to 2014, not knowing it wasn't part of the state park. Since we finally got permission to use it for the Mid-Atlantic Championships in December, I finally got a chance to do some proper field checking. Most of the area is open field but there are some nice contours to it. Unfortunately, for some reason the contours I had on the base map were not very good. They were off just enough that I knew something was wrong. I replaced them later. A few control locations I'd chosen, turned out to be too overgrown. I had to reset some courses once at home. I found nice sprinty terrain features and some unfortunate fencing. Some of the fencing will have to be avoided but other parts can be crossed. There were some Christmas tree farm areas that could be a little disorienting. It was a nice day though I didn't feel so good for some parts of it.

Event: QOC Great Falls
 

Great Falls Park, MD. Warm-up for the QOC orienteering event.

QOC at Great Falls, MD. It's just about always been enjoyable to go orienteering in Great Falls Park, MD. Sam set some interesting and different legs, even though the park restricts us to pretty much the same set of controls year after year. I'd set courses and field checked the map many times previously so as Sam put it, I had the home advantage. I ran confidently through most of the course. I got to see Max hunting for his control on the way to mine--he was having trouble I was slightly off getting to my #1. Peggy came in and led me to it from my left to my right, having started before me and made an error too. I was accurate for a while after that, though with a dog leg at around #7, I saw her again, not very far back. I did the 8-9-10-11 loop well but I lost contact and drifted left going to #12. My recovery was good. I slowed a bit but kept a decent pace the last half. Though I had relatively few errors, I was surprised that my time was relatively good when compared to others who'd been beating me lately.

Great Falls Park, MD. From the Trolley loop to the canal area. This was a warm-down jog, down the hill after I'd finished the QOC Advance long course.

Great Falls Park, MD. I drove out to Falls Rd. with Kim Jepsen to pickup controls that were far away. I had one water pickup. These ended up being the reverse of controls on the Advanced course. I almost missed one.

Advanced - Splits

Seneca Creek State Park. From Riffleford Rd., I checked some control sites and made map updates.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Event: QOC Quantico Hangman
 

QOC at Quantico Marine Base, VA, on the Hangman map. I ran Blue for the first time in a long while. It was shorter than the previous week at Harriman State Park, NY, so I figured it'd be okay. I was however, tired from doing the Red course on the hilly parts of Fountainhead Regional Park the previous day. It took me a while to get into the map. The leaves being on made it much harder than when I ran well here in 2017.

S-1 - I ran the all too obvious road run to the dot knolls SE of the control; I figured I didn't need to go further to the trail and I was right about that. I came in well but at the end, I read up and down incorrectly. Part of the problem was not having taken a clue description. I was looking for a reentrant rather than a spur. I was on the wrong side of the knoll until I figured it out. Another young and adventure-racing-looking guy had been there ahead of me but I found it first.

1-2 - I ran along the stream to the bend and kept going. I never saw the trail crossing but didn't worry about it. I again read up and down incorrectly. Following a long spur, I stopped at the end of it. I cut right across a reentrant, then went out further. The guy at #1 came along and clued me in to the control location. I think I got there just after him.

2-3 - I don't know what happened to the other guy. I got out ahead of him. I aimed-off and planned to run the hillside to get to the control. I aimed off too much and found a bit of reentrant early, not expecting it. I went up and didn't see it so I went further south, hesitantly. I was almost about to turn around, when I saw it further ahead.

3-4 - I was somewhat glad that this was like a repeat of the US Championship Day 2 Green course in 2017 (I won M55+ then). I'd made a mistake on the leg and it would have cost me the championship had I not been in the lead on Day 1. This time I executed it well. I used the trail and ride, then followed down the correct spur where I'd made an error before. At the bottom of the spur, I turned left to go around the next ridge. I perhaps played it too safe getting to the stream. A straighter route to the stream would have saved a little more time. Going around the ridge was efficient for me in the shape I'm in now--in 2017, I went over on adrenaline from making the error. After rounding the ridge, I attacked off a depression and spiked the control, despite some weaving through thorns.

4-5 - I knew this area could be tricky. I aimed off and climbed a contour but I apparently was too low. I even hit a piece of what I thought was mapped fence and went lower. What I didn't realize was that I was reading a ride on the map as fencing. The fence I saw was already past the control so I should have turned back when I saw it. On my slow return, I found the rootstock and depression to zero in. I lost about 4 minutes :(

5-6 - I crossed the stream and got into the reentrants still debating going straight or around. I went around on the trail and road, but I did cut the corner getting to the road. I attacked through the field and like everyone else who did that, found it to be much greener in the forest than was mapped in 2017. I spiked the control.

6-7 - Going up the spur, it was still greener than mapped. It did clear-up eventually but I cut across a reentrant to get to the control. In afterthought it was too easy on the top of the hill.

7-8 - I headed for the road, but I had planned to hit it at an angle instead of perpendicularly like I did. I was slow running the road. When I left on a bend at a reentrant, I found myself climbing when should have been descending. I realized I'd left the road early (Francis Hogel himself had done the same so the road bend might be a little off on the map). I spiked the control from there going down the correct reentrant, following the stream, and then up the hillside of another reentrant.

8-9 - I took to the trail. I walked some hills. I saw Vido who told me not to let him distract me. That was just before the trail intersection that I left from. I had thought about going further on the trail before attacking but it didn't make sense. As it was I had attacked off a bit. I corrected when I hit the holly trees, mapped light green on the map. I didn't lose any time and hit the control right on.

9-10 - As I left #9, I saw Diana Alexiev ahead (later Vido told me that he'd seen Diana 5 minutes before seeing me, so I gained ground on her error). I got to the left of her and passed. After crossing the creek I stopped at a gully. It was mapped as a ditch so I got confused. The hill behind it seemed like the hill on the map behind the control. I ran up and down the ditch. Diana caught-up and did the same. I realized my error when I saw a very small part of the feature mapped as a gully, and I went on with Diana not far behind. I hit the next gully low and came up with Diana still close.

10-11 - I was worried Diana would pass me--I was moving slowly already and she's been getting to be a stronger young runner who's beat me before. This was her first Blue course (and a technical one). I ran straight and spiked the control. It felt like I was leaving Diana behind.

11-12 - I ran straight again but was more careful reading the terrain. The guy I'd seen at #1 and #2 suddenly came up from behind on my left. I figured he'd been running Blue but I'm not sure. I saw the hill I needed and adjusted, leaving the other guy to spike it.

12-13 - I ran straight again. I was a bit to the left but adjusted near the hilltop to spike it.

13-F - Leaving #13, I saw to my fright, that Diana was not far behind me again! I decided to go to the ride but getting there was part of the problem. I ran the ridge as best as I could, without stopping. It meant weaving around deadfall. I did have to walk twice but I was moving okay. I thought I might have hit the ride at some point but lost it again. Soon enough I was at the field and close to the finish punch. Diana seemed to come in a few minutes behind.

Quantico Marine Base, VA, on the Hangman map. Two boys who ran the Orange course (and actually ran off away from their father) got lost. It was getting to the point where it'd be dark soon so several many of the old hands who were ready to eat, went instead, looking for the boys. They were found along a road well off the map by an orienteer leaving the event. I had finished checking half of the area assigned--Greg did a great job splitting-up the map. There must have been 8-10 people out looking. I mostly walked and did a lot of fine map reading while shouting out names about every minute. The woods I was in varied from wide open (most of the time) to light green. The contours in the area were subtle with mostly 1-2 contour hills. Hills were rounded too so it was good technical training for me just walking/jogging and reading everything. I was getting tired too. At the assembly area, I didn't initially have reception but just as I was going out, I could see that I did have it. I got a call from Heidi Onkst explaining they had found the kids as I was at just about the farthest away point that I was to be. We all ate dinner together afterward, and had a good time catching-up.

Blue - Splits

Event: QOC Fountainhead Central
 

Red - Splits

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was to be a nice day so even though I was tired from the day before, I made sure to get out. Starting out it was in the upper 50s F. I rode comfortably which meant slower. I got passed by one guy going just a little faster so I drafted off of him until Georgetown. I moved ahead there keeping a steady pace into my office building. There were minor headwinds along the water.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I'd worked late again so I started off in the dark. Getting through the 15th St. and Main Ave. traffic in the dark makes me a little nervous but didn't slow me down. I had my flashing helmet. It's not a full headlamp so I have to be careful about riding up on people without any lighting. I had a tailwind and it was very comfortable in the mid-60s F. Once through Georgetown, I kept steadily passing others. It was good to have someone in my sight almost all the way home. I did ride off the edge of the trail at one point--it was just for a second before I was able to ride back on smoothly. I hadn't seen a very subtle bend on what most would call a straightaway. Later a deer jumped out in front of me. Fortunately it ran forward, giving me enough time to use my brakes. Later, I saw another who was on the side of the trail staring and wondering. I'd shifted my helmet from flashing mode to steady light and that helped. One other rider passed me going up the hill, but he was cruising while pedaling his electric bicycle. This night was oddly different from others in that I felt I was riding in a tunnel much of the way.