Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro station. It was nice to get on my bicycle again. The temperature was somewhere in the 40s F.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, down The Mall, past the Washington Monument (still in scaffolding, but they've started to remove it again), past Constitution Gardens and the Lincoln Memorial, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Calvert St., to the Woodley Park/Zoo Metro Station. It was in the low 60s F with some wind, but not as strong as it was earlier in the day. I ran in shorts and an a t-shirt. Though I started with a jacket, I took it off as I crossed 14th Street. I didn't feel so strong and my right calf was sore starting out. It got better until just at the 4th mile mark. The pain just returned gradually in 30 seconds and got worse. I slowed but managed to hold off another guy I'd passed earlier, as I could still climb the hill at the end. I stretched for a longer time than usual after stopping. I chalk it up to not having done much training for 4 weeks, and the effort in the race yesterday. I had noticed that my calf was sore quickly after the race. If it is like last the last few times, it should get good enough to run before long. I hope I can ride some more but the weather forecast doesn't look so good.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I took it fairly easy so as not to hurt my right calf any more. The roads were bumpy from the sewer work done before winter hit and the crumby repair jobs that are breaking down with the freezing and thawing.

Event: QOC Patapsco Valley State Park, MD
 

Patapsco Valley State Park, CCBC Catonsville. Ted Good had expanded the map that he previewed to us almost 2 years ago. The map was good and the woods were overall rather good too. However, the big factor of the day was the weather. It was 40 F and raining solidly. Streams were rushing and swollen. Not having done much training the last few weeks, I was already contemplating running less today; I dropped to the Red course. I ran with my old trusty Gortex jacket that I bought somewhere around 1989. It kept me warm and relatively dry. I even ran with the hood the whole way.

S-1 The first control involved crossing good sized stream. I went out of the way to cross at a trail crossing and grabbed a stick before plunging in. Most of that was good but even there I hit a pocket of rushing water up to my knee. Going out of the way lost me some time. However, I felt pretty good running.

1-2 - I ran straightish and wondered if sticking to the trails more would have been better. It seemed like there was more contour approaching the loop road than expected. I found the rocks higher in the reentrant and paused before descending to the control which from there was just out of sight.

2-3 - I wanted to stay high so I cut across to the power lines and then on trails to the road. The woods were rocky and slippery so I don't know if going lower and more direct would have been faster or not. I got on trails again but at a bend I thought I'd save some time cutting across a bend. I got too high doing this and didn't use a trail intersection as a good attack point to contour into the control. I ended up at a tower 125m above the control and ran down from there. This might have been a 2 minute error.

3-4 - I ran down the reentrant and crossed the swollen stream where it was wide and flowing in many different channels. I cut right once the reentrant steepened to the north and went to the control. I had to climb back up half a contour. Keg Good was coming to it from the other direction.

4-5 - My first inclination was to go straight so I did that up to the stream. It was deeper and faster than the other streams so far. I thought to use a log but it was angled down steeply. Ultimately I plunged in with a stick again. Hidden rocks made me waiver and feel like the water was going to push me over. Once across, I climbed but decided to stay high, using the trails as an easy attack point; I cut right and climbed parallel and above the stream. I got on the road eventually, and when that ran out, I used the trails south of #6. Coming down, things were going well until I hit a small rise in the trail. On the run I didn't match it up though it's easy to see sitting still now at home. I kept going, having anticipated the bend but the further I went, the more trouble I had knowing where I was. I cut right, expecting the control, then dropped more, between the trails. I could see the bottom nearing and thought I'd dropped too much. I went back up, then down and up again each time moving over a little to make sure that I didn't miss the depression. My glasses were wet and fogged so at one point seeing a rock pile, I wasn't able to connect it to the 3 small black dots on the map. Other people came through and seemed to be hunting high too. I dropped one time planning to go to the trail bend that I could see. I had earlier concluded this was a bend further down on the map but it was actually the one with the control. When I saw Jon Torrance running back up, I figured he was coming up for the control, so back up I went too. Eventually I went all the way to the bend and found the depression. This was at least an 8 minute error.

5-6 - I ran up a lot of the trail, making better than expected time since it was steep and I'd already been up and down it a bunch already. The trail intersections at the top didn't seem right. I stayed on the trail for a way past the next intersection and then descended into a reentrant. I had passed the one I needed so I ended up going over the top of the control while in the circle. I kept going checking-out cliffs and seeing a trail that I thought might be unmapped. Soon I looked longer at my compass and realized I was at the end of a long straight cliff. I turned back and went straight to the control cliff which was visible from 50m away when headed south. Dan Quinn had just punched ahead of me and I'd seen him at #5.

6-7 - I figured if I caught Dan that I could be with him for a while unless either Dan would run faster as he sometimes does, or make an error in which I could get ahead. I ran straight toward #7 but hit the curving trail closer to the intersection than planned. I cut off trail and spiked the control but Dan's position helped give it away too.

7-8 - I ran left of straight. Dan climbed better than I was doing and started to get further ahead. I turned left once I hit the big trail on the ridge. I went right and left at the next 2 intersections, then dropped down the reentrant. It was greener than expected with old fallen logs; I figured Dan was really getting ahead now. Approaching the stream, I glimpsed the control on the hill on the other side. I got across quickly and punched.

8-9 - I found Dan running toward me; he and his dog had been slow getting across the swollen stream or he'd just made a mistake. I hit #9 okay though I had to climb more than expected at the end. Dan may have closed some ground on me.

9-10 - I ran right to a boulder that I thought the control was going to be on. Dan had already been to #10 after #3 so he knew where to find it, just a few meters beyond in the ditch, and he got there first.

10-11 - My bearing wasn't so good starting out. I ended up running to the right and used the trail a little. Coming off of that, I descended the hill faster than Dan could; I had spikes and he didn't. We zig-zagged over the spurs. I was looking for the campground loop road and was surprised that it was higher and to my left. Dan was further to the right. I didn't end up crossing the campground so at the power lines I cut left more. I was just a little hesitant but saw the rocks ahead. Meanwhile, Dan came from behind and got there ahead of me.

11-12 - Dan lead up to the trail but paused after the power line. I kept going to the road and cut right. This saved climb and the crossing of the swollen stream. Dan caught me on the climb up the road. He cut in just past where I'd planned to, after the trail intersection. He paused and I got ahead a little. His line took him around some fallen trees so he got there ahead of me.

12-13 - Dan got on the trail ahead of me. The woods looked okay so I cut the corner a little more past the maintenance yard and caught-up to him. At the trail intersection, he paused and I kept going to spike it.

13-14 - I ran a little left of straight and passed one of the guys I'd seen way back at #5. Dan got even further left. I'd slowed enough to see the wall and match it up with the control. I then saw the control. I cut right to cross the steam so Dan trailed when I punched.

14-F - I had expected a sprint finish with Dan and that he might out kick me. However neither of us has been doing much sprinting like we used to. Going straight, and not on the trail, I pushed up the hill but did walk a little on steeper parts before the field. In the field, I heard a groan behind me but pushed-on to surprisingly get in ahead of Dan. He beat me overall because of my awful errors on #5 and #6 but it was a good race. I felt I navigated better with the pressure but also that the return trip was technically easier.

Peggy had injured herself and was stymied at the stream crossings so she DNF. With a big gash on her left knee, we went to get her stitched-up and the rain turned to snow.

C • "This was at least an 8 minute error." 2

Red - Splits

45 sit-ups. It is a busy week for work with budget data due.

45 sit-ups.

Event: Raccoongaine
 

Western PA Orienteering Club: Racoongaine. Alexis Sherpes set a fine course for WPOC but the forest was pretty difficult to move through. The event in the 5th year used the northwestern part of this large park for maybe the first time. It was quite thorny and where there wasn't thorns, there were frequently blow-down trees. The course was laid out with more points in the more natural west than in the east where there were a lot more trails but also taller hills.

With 5 to 12 contour (5m interval) hills in the east, the hills slowed us down too. I ran with a hydration pack (my new Camel Arête worked well enough) filled with drink, food, and spare items, I couldn't run over the vegetation nor deadfall.

It felt like David Onkst (team partner) and I were walking most of the way or more correctly, stepping over or pushing our way through stuff in the way. Very early-on, Dave caught whips of thorns that sprang back from sticking to me as I moved forward. He had blood across his forehead for a long while. We both cursed a lot more than usual.

We started out doing only 5K an hour and slowed. Our navigation was pretty much on-target for the day. I bobbled 2 of the last few controls--one of these was due to flipping back and forth between the 2 provided maps and reading the wrong reentrant, and the other was a self-marked mystery control in a cabin area on a telephone line that I saw the wrong cabin/power line first. Most of the time we were moving so slowly through the large features that I sometimes felt it hard to make an error. It was more difficult than that, with many areas of low visibility. The day was cold with it starting out around 26 F, but not getting much beyond 32 F--there were snow flurries but in the afternoon, the sun came out for a while. The bite valve on my hydration pack got partly frozen but I was able to suck warmer liquid into it to melt the problem. I ran in gloves, tights, gaiters, a thermal shirt, and a long-sleeve o-top. This was enough to wear most of the time but I was chilly a lot of the first hour.

My stomach didn't feel so good during the day. It might have been some of the reason I felt especially weak on hills after 3 hours. I didn't eat or drink much (except for breakfast) because I didn't feel the need to either. That could have made me weaker but I might still have some weaker form of what Max had last week or so.

The route David and I took today was: 36, 35, 46, 47, 33, 43, 58, 48, 71, 62, 68, 79, 59, 67, 69, 66, 57, 56, 70, 31, 72, 73, 56, 41. This is far less than we envisioned during our pre-race planning but we feel we moved through the difficult terrain just about as good as we could given our physical conditioning. We finished with just under 5 minutes left on the 6 hour time limit. We had both wanted to get #54 on the way in however, I concluded that we might not have enough time and should instead grab the mystery controls near the start that were already behind us when we discovered their location in the morning. That was probably the best solution for us because we were moving across the rough forest very slowly.

P.S. David informs me that we had gotten first in the masters division.

C • they call 'em "jaggers" 'round here... 4

45 sit-ups in my hotel room. My stomach didn't feel so good doing these. It hasn't been right for much of the week but had been better the last day until eating dinner. After that, I was just feeling bloated again.

From Northfield Rd., to Arlington Rd., towing Max's bike, then to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Arlington Rd., then to Northfield Rd., with Max on his bike. It was a nice way to start spring.

From Northfield Rd., to Custer Rd., to Park Ln., to Battery Ln, to Wilson Ln., to Radnor Rd., to Bradley Rd., to Aberdeen Rd., to Aberdeen Pl., to Garfield St., to Northfield Rd. I went out for a little get run with a filled Camelbak Arête, a minimalist lightweight hydration and storage sack. It has a chest strap but no waist strap. It worked okay but I'm not sure how it do for a longer run in the woods.

From Northfield Rd., Greenwich Park, to Old Georgetown Rd. to Beech Dr. to to Singleton Dr. to Bulls Run Pkwy., to the trail along the school to Bradmore Dr. to Folkstone Rd. to Hartsdale Ave. to Heampstead Ave. to McKinley St. to Garfield St., to Roosevelt St., to the trail at Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. I didn't feel bad but I didn't feel good while running either. Overall, I was happy to have gotten out for a run this week. Between the weather, adjusted child care schedules, and work, I haven't done much the last 2 weeks. The nice spring day helped.

45 sit-ups. I got a little lazy with the cold rainy weather but also needing to pickup Max after school this week as been problematic for training.

C • Schedule 3

My stomach wasn't feeling so good; perhaps it was a lighter-grade carryover of Max's weekend sickness.

45 sit-ups.

Event: QOC Turkey Run Ridge
 

Prince William Forest, VA. From the Turkey Run Center, I warmed-up jogging back and forth between the center and the start of QOC's event. My legs felt okay but not very bouncy.

QOC: Prince William Forest (Turkey Run Ridge Center). I didn't do well at making the transition to the more technical terrain of Prince William Forest today. The courses were pretty good and set by people working in a course setting clinic with Francis Hogle instructing. The difficulty was compounded by the map being out of date in some areas. Very often what was shown as light green was deadfall that should have been mapped as fight. In other places, fewer though they be, the fight represented evergreens including rhododendron, which was light green. I did feel like I wasn't able to climb hills well and this seemed to be a vestige of running the trail marathon last week. If I had gotten some training in over the last week I might have shaken more of it off.

S-1 I ran down the road and around the bend a bit to follow the reentrant down the stream. Paralleling the stream at the next intersection, I cut left at the creek at the bottom. I followed the next stream on the north side up, to the road (feeling tired along the way), then went in almost straight once across the road, to spike the control.

1-2 I didn't think it'd be worth going to the road through the green so I went across straight, counting valleys and climbing up on side reentrants. I was a little shaky but spiked it again.

2-3 I went straight across reading carefully the whole way however at some wider and flatter reentrants, I got unsure of my position. I crossed what should have been a very noticeable open area. This was where the double cairns were. However on the map, it was not yellow, and I didn't actually see the cairns. I convinced myself that I was higher (to the left) than I really was. At the next stream, instead of going down it to a junction to relocate, I kept going and made a parallel error less than 100m from the control. I cut right after going up a reentrant to a saddle. Vido was running hard the other direction as were a few other people. I knew Vido was running Red and if I'd known that Blue and Red were set the same thorugh this point, I might have realized my error. When I got to a stream, I crossed it but as soon as I did, I realized it was far too big. I had ended up well north of the control. I corrected climbing up a reentrant. Instead of following it to the top, I attacked early, convinced of where I was. I missed and fumbled around in some deadfall green that was mapped light green and some of it actually off of the map. Eventually I came back and stumbled upon it, not exactly where I thought it'd be--I thought I might have been at #4 but was just as happed to be at #3. I must have lost +10 minutes.

Making sure not to repeat a bonehead error I took a while to make sure I had the right bearing. I ran a little to the right getting to #4 and hit that well.

I ran to the right again going to #5. After getting across the stream, I cut left a little to get around some mapped deadfall. Unfortunately, I didn't correct and I also had the wrong impression of where the control would be. I passed Peggy who was running from my left to my right climbing a ridge, then when my hill ran out, I realized my error and followed the contour around the spur to the control in the reentrant that Peggy had just punched. I probably lost 90 seconds to 2 minutes.

Peggy was almost out of sight as I began the leg to #6. She was already taking the route I'd have chosen, below the ridge line and under the green, so I chased. I didn't catch her until just at the control. It was a little further up than expected.

I ran out of #6 toward #7, on the left side of the reentrant. Peggy had already begun going up the right side which was thicker. I was able to pass quickly. From the saddle, I went on bearing and found it just slightly to my left.

For #8, I angled to the road, then cut right. This got me around some green but after turning left into the forest for only 150m, I was thinking I'd made the wrong choice. It was still thick and thorny. Once I got to the stream, it was better. I got to the next stream quickly and climbed up to the dirt road. I kept going straight, eventually getting to the ridge and hilltops. I stayed on these until reaching the next stream, then followed streams up to the control. I passed Amy along the way as she was headed the other direction. I was hesitant at the end about which hilltop to go to--I guess I'd turned left and right so many times on this long leg, that I finally got confused.

I went through the mapped fight (mountain laurel) with ease, then cut right at the bottom to spike #9.

I went a little to the left for #10, trying to shorten the distance, rather than go around the hills. Once across a larger stream, I came upon unmapped deadfall which made negated my route choice. I got across the next stream and into the forest earlier rather than deal with more visible and mapped green along the stream. I nice flat open area near the second stream was like an old lake bed but was hardly recognizable on the map. I was uncertain of my location but made a correct guess. Things started matching up and I moved well to the control. Just before getting there, I saw Amy walking in to it but I got there ahead of her.

I went out to the road to get #11 and attacked early on purpose to shave some seconds off. However, I followed the reentrant to the right rather than hit the little road cut. Thinking I was left of the road cut, I cut right, went to a hilltop and realized my error. I had made the cut just at the right place because when I turned back and up the hill on the other side, I hit the control perfectly. I still lost 2 minutes.

For #12, I went left and contoured around near the stream, then hooking right, into the reentrant.

I followed the stream down to #13 without any issues.

For #14, I ran around the hill to the right, then followed the green in to the control.

I ran up to the trail, then along the road toward the finish. Before the parking lot, I cut right, behind the water tower and got around a bunch of families. Seeing how I'd already missed 10 min/k for the course at the start of the leg, I was hoping to at least break 100 minutes and did so with a few seconds to spare.

Blue - Splits

I had intended to run at Seneca Park after visiting my mother and sister but when I got there, I realized that I'd forgotten my running clothes at home. :(

45 sit-ups.

45 sit-ups. There was not much time with needing to watch Max while Peggy was out of town.

Spinning and watching television. I felt pretty strong. It was a rather nice +60 F day today but I didn't run at lunchtime and with Peggy away on a business trip, there wasn't much time for one after work either.

45 sit-ups.

Event: QOC Little Bennett
 

QOC: Little Bennett Regional Park, MD. I wasn't sure what to expect today other than feeling tired from the trail marathon yesterday. I thought I might walk a Brown course. Before going to the start, I jogged in a circle and thought I was okay enough to try Green.

S-1 This variation of the classic starting leg at Little Bennett required crossing a flat campground then crossing a big reentrant, the going over the ridge on the other side I went fairly straight, checking off trail bends on my route along the way, but moving a bit to the right to get around some mapped and unmapped deadfall. I was glad that I could climb well after the marathon the previous day. It felt much easier than the ice yesterday and the terrain was mostly dry. I had to cut left a little more than expected on the attack. A couple of families going and coming away helped clue me in.

1-2 I thought I was running fairly straight over the ridge but I got pulled right by vegetation and the slope. Once over the ridge, I figured I was south of the control so I contoured over until I saw it.

2-3 I angled to the left, crossed the creek, got on the trail and took it around the spur. When it dropped to the bottom, I went fairly straight up. Someone was converging toward it from the right but I got there first.

3-4 I headed toward the road across the plateau and through the unmapped light green. Once on the road, I passed the trail intersections and attacked from just before a road bend. I expected the control to be on the center of the ridge but not seeing it, I pulled-up just before it, read my map and turned to descend right to it. Again, someone was coming up to it from the other direction.

4-5 I basically ran across the hillside, allowing myself to descend as I went wherever it was convenient, then came up the ditch-like reentrant at the end.

5-6 Doubting the fence to really be there, I ran left to go around it anyway. This took the steepness out the climb and kept me out the greener areas. At the double ditches I turned more toward the road and got there after getting through some more unmapped green. I used the road a little bit, then dropped to the right to cross a reentrant. I tried to minimize the descent to minimize the need to climb the ridge north of the control. I found an unmapped ruined fence running east-west. I had trouble relating the contours to my position and end up dropping a little, getting past the control, the turning left when I saw the field, to come to the control from the NW.

6-7 I was somewhat wishy-washy on my route choice. I started going slightly left of straight, the turned into the reentrant more, then got up the plateau a little more to the left again. To get through the unmapped light green there again (same place as leg 3-4) I used a deer trail. Finally at the road, I crossed it and the parallel trail. I dropped into the reentrant, staying on the right side. I apparently went almost due east to get onto the ridge because I had to use the trail at the top to go SW to the bend and the double cairns. Once around the green, I attacked and spiked it.

7-8 I didn't want to drop down 2 contours to go the long way around a 3 contour hill so I went south starting out. After the double-cairns, I crossed the stream and climbed to the trail intersection with the White course control. I figured I'd descend to the white woods from a bend but the green extended further north than mapped. I cut across anyway. Following the trail south along the stream until it climbed away from the stream, I crossed the creek. I closed-in on Greg Lennon who was running Red and paralleling the stream. We turned to go higher and he called out from behind that it was where a couple of guys were standing 80m away.

8-F The 2 guys were still at the control when I punched. As I left Greg told them to follow me. At least one did. I wanted to go SW so that I could get around the mapped green on the direct route. As I climbed I saw Dasa Merkova and Patti Mace. I noticed the green wasn't really there and that I was getting higher than needed. I cut right more sharply than optimal but it did get me around what was probably remnants of the old mapped deadfall. I finished strong, glad that my strength held up well.

Green - Splits

Event: QOC Little Bennett NightO
 

Event: Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon & 50k
 

MCRRC: Seneca Greenway Trail Marathon. This is a point-to-point race with an option to do a 3.5 mile loop in the middle. Called a marathon and 50K, it is really about 34 miles for the 50K and 30.3 miles (this year) for the marathon. I knew I wasn't ready for the extra distance and set out to do the marathon.

In 2012 I put in some regular training for a few months and was in decent shape, somewhat ready to tackle the 50K option of this trail race. The weather that winter was warm and my job was not as busy so I trained well and I had a better base to begin with. That year, they started at the high point in Damascas Regional Park, MD and finished near Riley's Lock on the Potomac river. They ran the reverse this year (and last year), however this year, they started at Poole's General Store, Montevideo Rd., just off of River Rd. which shortened the course about 0.6 miles. My training last winter on paper looked good but I didn't feel I was ready enough for the event and I decided 2 weeks before the race to not do it. My training and starting base this winter is worse than either of those years but something drove me to run the race and be a weekend warrior anyway. Perhaps it was desperation as I've been getting slower and slower rather quickly. The idea to do it this year was brought-up by David Onkst as a way to get trained for the World ROGAINE Championships this summer, so that had helped motivate me too. Dave, fresh off of healing his shoulder from a fall at the end of 2013, decided not to run the marathon today.

The big factor this year was the snow, ice and mud. I'd seen one guy whom I later sat next to on the bus wipe out as he walked across a basketball court to the start. It had snowed about 7 inches 6 days before the event--that's a lot for around this locality; 2-3 inches of it remained. I didn't know what to wear, right down to my shoes. The morning temperatures were about 26 F when I caught the bus from Damascus to the start at 6:50am. It was 57 F when I finished. I thought to wear Ice Bugs with spikes because of the snow but was worried from how my feet felt 3 hours into the ultra-long event last weekend. My Solomons were so heavy in the mud when I last ran the Muddy Branch Trail. Ultimately I picked the Solomons. I didn't wear my nylon sweat top since the sun seemed strong at the start. I just had a long sleeve tech shirt tights with shorts underneath, and gloves. The one new item I tried and turned-out to be helpful was "waterproof" socks. The socks did work most of the way and probably saved me a lot of trouble--my toes were not numb like at so many orienteering events run in the snow earlier this winter. My Camelbak had about 25 ounces of Gatorade, a lot of Gu and other odds and ends.

I started very near the end of the pack because I needed a bathroom before going. This got me stuck behind people in the first 3 miles or so before things thinned-out. I would speed up off trail when the vegetation allowed, to get around groups, then settle-in to the group pace again. My first 10 minute miles were slower than I would have done with an open trail, but this was not necessarily a bad thing; I started too fast in 2012. The first 2.5 miles to Berryville Rd. were hilly and there was walking as the groups hit obstacles like tree trunks, streams and bridges. People were worried about falling. I was glad that things were frozen still from miles 2.5 to 6 (at Rte. 28). There was also less snow/ice. Some of the muddiest section of the trail are traditionally there. I ran a few 8 and 9 minute miles and was sweating a little. I kept moving up in position until the first aid station.



I drank and snacked but got out of the aid station fast, leaving behind a group that I'd just caught. The next 1.3 miles to Blackrock Rd. were hilly but I kept moving well. It was also all granular snow and ice. The event web site hadn't had much updating and it was clear that some items were from the race the previous year. I wasn't sure if the race course would follow the Greenway Trail to Riffleford Rd., or use the windy Seneca Ridge Trail which is 3.5 miles longer and also hillier. I kept moving to try to catch-up to people ahead of me so that I didn't take the wrong route. My hope for the shorter trail didn't pan-out but I endeavored on not too disappointed. The event is already longer than the traditional marathon definition and it's the culture of ultra-runners not to fret over stuff like that--you get to the end when you do. I climbed and caught several runners over the next few miles. These were at 10 minute/mile pace. The one thing I hadn't done was stop to eat or drink enough--though I could drink on the run with my Camelbak, I couldn't reach behind to take out a Gu or food without stopping and removing the pack. I thought there might be an aid station at Riffeford Rd. at about mile 13.5 but I started feeling some cramps in my quadriceps just above my knees around mile 12. I think the cramps were partly due to the different effort it took to push uphill and across the slippery ice and mud. The ice had started to melt noticeably 2 hours into the run, and cramps at mile 12 on a 30 mile run didn't make me feel confident about the day. To add to it, the aid station was not until several hills (which I walked a lot of) later at Lake Clopper; about mile 15. At mile 15, I took a longish break to eat and drink more. They generally don't supply cups at the event but rather than fill my pack and drink out of it, I grabbed a green one filled with what I thought was Gatorade--it was Mountain Dew and that was okay. I got a banana, some cookies, Gu, and Gatorade too. Finally I sat on the pavement and took off my tights. I happened to see Richard Pires whom I trained with for this race a little, 2 years back. The lead 50K runners also came through (3.5 miles ahead of me).



When I got going again I was slower but doing about 12 minute miles. I cramped some more so I would walk every now and then. The way to the next aid station at North Frederick Rd. (a.k.a., Rockville Pike Rte. 355), about mile 19 was generally flatter. A few people passed me but there weren't a lot of people around.

The next miles to Watkins Mill Rd., almost mile 22, were again hilly. It was getting significantly muddier too. I walked parts of almost all of the hills and lost a few positions. When I got to Watkins Mill Rd., a race official there told me I was in 43rd position. I think some of the people passing me were faster and younger 50K runners. There was no aid station at Watkins Mill Rd. but I needed a nature break. I climbed into the woods as several people passed by below.



I felt better, got over the next big ridge walking but passing some people. On the sunny flats to Brink Rd. at mile 23.3, it was outright muddy and slushy. However I felt better. I had a normal break at the aid station. I couldn't remember clearly just how far it was to the finish and thought I had about 11 to go. An aid station worker said it was 6 miles. That made me happy but soon after I started not to believe her. It turned-out to be 7 miles to the finish. I think I reflexively stopped my watch at the aid station. I didn't notice it was off until a while later but going from a previous GPS track it turns out that 1.014 miles that didn't get recorded.

The next aid station was not until mile 28.58, at Log House Rd. It seemed a long way there. I kept expecting the creek crossing to come up but all I kept seeing were more slush puddles and some rocks on the trail. I was going by memory and thinking it was 6 miles from the creek crossing to the finish but in reality it was about 4 miles from the creek crossing to the finish. I caught a few people, walked hills and sometimes the flatter ground when muscle cramps were coming on. I was doing about 13 minute miles mostly. I fell into a sort of pace with a younger woman who had popped out of some bushes a while back. She'd get ahead of me sometimes and then I'd get ahead of her. She indicated that she'd never done a long trail race before and wasn't sure how long the marathon would be. After informing her, she shared that she was ready to do another marathon the next day--this is all training for an 50 mile ultra that she is doing in April. I didn't want to think about that. I got ahead as we and another guy finally got to the creek crossing. My waterproof socks held-up pretty well but I did get a little dampness. The rope at the crossing was useless and the submerged stones were more slippery than worth standing on. I took a short break to eat a Gu and drink. The woman and guy got ahead then but I think I caught both later. Others passed by all of us quickly. As a sign of how bad I must have looked, when I saw the other runners going past, they looked slow. The trail started climbing more for the last few miles to the aid station at Log House Rd.



The workers at the aid station debated how far it was to the finish. A sign said 1.7 miles to the park and some thought that meant to the border. I already knew of a mile on a paved trail so I guessed it might be 3 more miles. Most thought it was about 2 and it turns out that it was 1.73 miles. The woman whom I had kept pace with got out first but I caught her quickly when she started walking. After some flatter ground, the trail dropped. I held off a guy who came from behind until I got to the paved trail. From there it was uphill a lot. The other guy slowly pulled away as we both alternated jogging and walking. People behind us including the woman I'd just passed, fell further behind. Once at the top of the hill, I kept moving even though my quads just above the knee were hurting. I strained on the uphill finish as people clapped. There was a fair amount of clapping at all of the aid stations.

I glanced at the clock a bit disappointed that it read 6:11 hours and some seconds. The race was chip timed so I was really somewhere under that (Because my watch was stopped part of the time, I didn't capture the whole run on it. The official time of 6:10:02 was based on chip time. I was 22nd place out of 81, and 4th of 22 in my division. 208 ran the 50K version of the race and I extrapolate that I'd have been in the middle of my age group on that). I'd hoped to be under 6 hours and thought I had a good chance of it during the first 2 hours of running, before I started cramping. The ice and mud had a lot to do with the slowness too (my estimate was 75% snow/ice, 21% mud, 4% pavement with some ice). In contrast, when I ran the 34 mile 50K in good weather 2 years ago, going downhill, I ran just under 5:48. The experienced guy on the bus this morning that I sat next to (the same guy I'd seen fall) told me of his failure on a previous ultra and when he told me he finished, I told him that he didn't fail, he just didn't meet his goal. He agreed and seemed to like that. I guess I didn't fail either. The day before, I'd been concerned about dropping out during the race and I didn't. As if a touché, as I walked back across snow covered grass to the van to drive home, I slipped and fell on the ice--I hadn't fallen the whole 30 miles to the finish though.

C • Great job! 5

C • Go Seneca Creek! 2

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, down Independence Ave., to 17th St., along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial circle, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to P St., NW., to 20th St., NW., to the Dupont Circle Metro Station at Q St., NW. I felt that I ran better for the first 1.2 miles or so, then I felt pretty dead again. It was 37 F with about a 10mph wind. The rains which were heavy in the morning and went lighter during the day had stopped. It took the ice on the trails, and salt away--a good thing.

45 sit-ups. Busy day.

Spinning and watching television. I felt a bit sluggish but worked up a pretty good sweat. It was icy outside.

45 sit-ups. It snowed about 5 inches. I worked from home all day and didn't step out.

Event: QOC Patapsco Avalon
 

Avalon: Patapsco State Park, MD. Warm-up around the assembly area, and to the start of QOCs meet.

QOC: Avalon: Patapsco State Park, MD. A rare Ultra-Long event was on the bill for today. My endurance held up well through the course and I got good physical training (something that I didn't get to do most of last week). I had other problems though. These may have colored my impressions of the course and the day. I can't say that I enjoyed the course much. Granted, it was the first time doing course setting by Ryan Stasiowski and it is a difficult area to set courses in. When Avalon was first mapped, it was a long time before anyone broke 10 min/k there because of the climb. Ryan didn't want the US Team elites who come to the QOC events to be done in an hour so he set a long and physically hard course. The first part of it climbed the escarpment and went back down to the river twice in short legs. That was designed to wear people out and it did but it felt it was gratuitous. Part of the effect on me may have been to induce hypoxia errors--I may have made a few though I didnt feel so much out of breath. The listed climb was 820m. It seemed to be more. Interestingly my AttackPoint adjusted, Garmin measured climb was 834m. 820m was 5.2%; more than the mandated 4% of the rule books or at least the old rule books applicable to A-meets.

0-1 I took the trail around to the right. I was walking up the slope.

1-2 down the reentrant, along the road until the vegetation got more open on the right and when I could see a reentrant ahead coming down from the hill on the left.

2-3 I angled back to the road, staying in longer than I wanted to, due to vegetation. I did count the reentrants and seeing the start off to the right was a dead give away to go back up the hill, to the top of the knoll. It was a steep slow climb but I caught up to a woman along the way.

3-4 I was surprised to be going back down hill I just climbed. Perhaps focused on that or hypoxic, I didn't plan the route. It looked so easy at first glance, straight down the reentrant so I headed off. Hitting the road, I fully realized the man-made cliff ahead; mapped uncrossable. I got close to the cliff to see and because it had ledges and the ways around were long, I scampered down and onto the berm with the control. The metal fencing that held the rocks of the cliff together made it a little like climbing down a 30 ft hi fence.

4-5 I angled back to the road, past the assembly area, and off the map to get around the hill. I expected the control to be along the stream and not on a rootstock. It was my fault for not reading the clue description but the drafting seemed off too. The green X was extra small. I've seen a few maps where point features have all by some unknown or accidental means gotten smaller than they should so maybe that happened here (OCAD bug?). As this was another climbing leg being hypoxic may have struck again too. I followed another guy up past the control and turned back for it. This lost me 2-3 minutes.

5-6 Eager to make-up for lost time, I moved quickly up the reentrant then toward the wrong control. I headed out of the reentrant when it bent, and toward #21. Almost to the top of the hill, I realized and corrected by going across hilltops. This probably lost me 90 seconds or so.

6-7 I angled up to the first field and through the green to the next. I used the copse in the field to attack, noting the prominent high boulder before the stream. I caught up to a guy whom I'd seen near #5 earlier.

7-8 I angled across the fields, and toward the road intersection. I kept in the same direction into the next field to keep out of the private property. I read the reentrants, and clued into the controls by crossing the trail.

8-9 With no turning control, I dog-legged back toward the trail. It seemed to take a long time so when I hit it I was unsure if I'd passed the intersection. The woods didn't look so good so I kept on the trail thinking that I'd passed it. When I hit the next intersection and saw a hill ahead, I mistakenly figured that I was much further along the trail than I had been. Consequently I angled back looking for the green in which the control was hung which was also near a trail intersection. I found plenty of green and new houses. It amounted to a long 10 minute wasted loop before returning to the trail intersection where I'd went wrong. The intersection seems to not show the trail shapes correctly. Once assured of my location, I went straight to the control even though it was 20 ft inside a dense stand of bamboo. The guys I'd passed at #5 and #7 were there too.

9-10 I ran fairly straight at #10. After I got over a reentrant and ridge, the next reentrant system funneled me right to it. I'd gotten to the left a little more than planned but lost no time. If the control were only on a boulder on one of the many spurs, it'd have saved climb and made a much more technical control.

10-11 I dog-leg back up the long steep hill that I'd just run down. After a ways, I stayed along the edge of the map even tripping over an unmapped broken wire fence once. I hit the road near #19, the ran up toward the trail, but I cut off the corner. Taking trails, the last one was kind of off but I found it and the first hunter stand. I stayed on the trail a little too long after that, found Dasa Merka, got too close to the road, and ran back. I could see the hunter stand before seeing the control through the green. I had a Gu.

11-12 I went straight across the green. It wasn't that bad to get through, just annoying. When I rounded the last spur and turned to head up the reentrant, I saw Jan Merka heading down it. The control circle was hiding the first stream just enough that I didn't see it. That stream went on longer than mapped too. I found unmapped green and an unmapped trail that differed from the mapped one. Figuring that the control wasn't there, I headed back down. When I saw Dasa heading back up, more doubt crept in. I turned back up with her, going higher and getting to more unmapped new houses. After going down and getting to near where I saw Jan, I found it. I gave a yell to Dasa, and one of the guys I'd seen at #9 got clued-in too. He got there before me. That was about another 8 minutes lost.

12-13 I angled over to the trail, and once on it, I slowed to read. The guy at #13 moved ahead in the trail but I caught him when I cut across a large u-shaped bend. I could see the control far off and attacked off of the trail intersection.

13-14 I started a little to the left, then forced myself to the ridge. I found the flat spot, descended more on the ridge, then cut left. I could see the control from across the steam but it took a while to get there. The guy at #13 was close behind me.

14-15 I climbed across the leg as it undilated over reentrants. I got above the early cliffs and had to climb just a little more near the control. The last bit was slow due to the difficult footing. I saw Jan Merka again. This time I could see Benny too. They were leaving the control, dog-legging back. The guy at #14 closed in a little near the end but was still just behind me.

15-16 I climbed up to the top, then across the hilltops. This got me closer to the house than expected. Further on, I saw Jan and Benny and I passed them before the stream.

16-17 I went left of the spur, right of straight leaving #16 to keep from dropping too much. After the stream, I angled left to the control--not so hard on top of the ridge.

17-18 I took the trial just about the whole way. The snow and ice at the end was slow.

18-19 straight. I hit the road just at the bend and on-line. I caught another guy just at the control.

19-20 I stayed high, hitting both fields rather than cross a lot of reentrants. I considered dropping to the road too but the descent and climb back up seemed too much. I came off trails at the end and was glad that the steep descent near the end was not slippery yet. I spiked it but it was easy being at a stream. I thought the placement was in the right place but needlessly went down too far. It was also somewhat vague given no stream bend on the map.

21-22 I somewhat dog-legged back up, then followed the reentrant a way. Crossing trails, I got to the hilltop I'd been at when going the long way to #6. Despite the unmapped green, I hit one trail intersection dead-on when descending. The control was in a pleasant place, being at a waterfall. However, being on the edge of the map yet again, and in a place requiring more climb to get out was unnecessary.

22-F after the climb out from #21, I did the rest on memory going past #5 again. By this time of day it was more muddy than icy mud like before. I moved slowly in places on the descent. The location of the finish at the end of the field seemed odd, being unnecessarily away from the assembly area.

Ultra Long - Splits

From the Aquatic Center in N. Bethesda/Rockville, MD, Nicholson Ln., to Woodglen Dr., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Old Georgetown Rd., to Greenwich Park, to Northfield Rd. It was about 39-40 F with a breezy headwind from the south. My quads didn't feel so good--like it was a strain. I felt kind of heavy and slow but it was good to get out and run in the daylight. I could see into the thickish woods in the park near the beltway.