Training Log Archive: Nadim

Seneca Creek State Park, MD. From the vistor center/cabin parking lot near Clopper Rd., I crossed back over Clopper Rd., to the NE and covered an area of only about 350 x 550m. Unfortunately, much of it was green. There was either deadfall or the loopy kind of low vegetation with light thorns scattered about. The terrain got nicer the further NW that I got. I crossed 2 ridges and came to a third with lots of old stone ruins. Just beyond that was a mostly uncrossable fence but there were a few holes in it, and both sides were park land.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. After getting all the way to my building in DC, I realized I'd forgotten my identification badge. Reasoning that it'd take just as long, I turned around to head back rather than go through the hassles of getting a temporary badge.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd., then back to the Bethesda Metro Station. I picked-up my work ID badge, then headed back to work. My leg was hurting.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Event: QOC Patapsco Orange Grove
 

Our family drove all the way to Patapsco State Park for the QOC event but were turned toward alternate parking with the promise of a 3 mile walk to Orange Grove--they probably overestimated the real distance but after trying to locate closer parking on the other side, and it being cold with not much place for the kids, we just decided to go to lunch instead. Peggy had already had a nice trail run the day before and with Patapsco being as steep as it is, our prospect for running much wasn't so good. We went home after lunch.

From Northfield Rd. I ran up to Custer Rd., to Wilson La., to Exeter Rd. to Glenbrook Rd. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to the NIH grounds, to Maple Ridge Rd. to Georgetown Pike, to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd. to Northfield Rd. At the half-time in the Kansas U.--Duke NCAA Tournament game, I went out for a short run--I couldn't quite call it quick since I was moving so slowly. The bad thing was that it didn't feel like a slow easy run. Not real far into the run, I felt my left calf ache much like my right calf did when I got injured in January. I slowed some. Running on the pavement and feeling heavy steps aggravated it. I made it home without much of an incident, but did need to slow more the last 300m. I was able to see most of the 2nd half of the game with Kansas winning in overtime. It could have gone either way.

From Cedar Ln, south on the Rock Creek Trail to Kensington Blvd., and back. It was sunny. I didn't feel all that well running but it was nice to be moving. I saw what I think was an octogenarian running with an old Georgetown 10K t-shirt--he was more overweight than I but still trucking. I wondered if that'll be me one day.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. There was a headwind.

There was about 3-4 inches of snow. The kids were out of school and I worked from home.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

Event: QOC Manassas
 

QOC: Stuart's Hill, Manassas, VA. For my start back to training and racing, I selected the Brown course. I was glad to see that it was 4K instead of around 3K. It was a pretty nice day; windy near the start as usual, but sunny at 48 F and climbing. I had a false start, flipping over my map after punching and realizing I left my glasses in the car. I went back for them (setting the car alarm off with Samantha's help), then got going.

S-1 - I went straight, cut right around the fence, then left along the trees to the creek. It was deep so I cut right to where I could cross, and right again to get over a cliff, anticipating the control to be somewhat ahead. I realized I'd climbed early but it was good. I angled over into the reentrant. This probably wasn't a great start but it was more or less a spike.

1-2 - I ran on bearing going across the field but ended up further south than intended. I came in where the trail bent at the field edge. I caught and passed Jim Chaplin and his dog just after the bridge. I started to go too far left again but corrected and soon saw the control further to the right.

2-3 - I intended to go south a little to get around the deadfall but it was more extensive than mapped and I probably didn't go far enough south too. Making it around the worst of it without too much trouble, I hit the streams below the lake. That surprised me a bit. I ran up toward the dam but paused enough to realize that it'd be better to go to the white woods between the two mapped intermittent streams. After I ran out of white woods I found the tall grass to be slow but it wasn't far to get across. Once in the forest, I felt like I had to go more to the right much farther than expected. I probably was just slow. I also turned left when I saw the control.

3-4 - I was reading the contours and seeing the reentrant but it was disconcerting not seeing the control until I got close.

4-5 - I ran straight but needed to correct to the right once I saw the control.

5-6 - I ran a fairly good bearing and saw a familiar woman competitor on brown (my bad name memory haunts me) approaching from behind or left of the control.

6-7 - I didn't leave in a great hurry but didn't hang around at #6 for long. I suppose I had glanced ahead when approaching #6, so I had it in my head to leave to the right and to hit the big field. I did that, making my way through the deadfall rather than heading further north first. In the field, I passed the little marsh near the narrow rough scattered open field going south. Eugene T. was going the other direction. I went on but getting more than half way across the field, I realized that I'd not see control #7! I u-turned, this time coming to the field corner. I went west first but overcompensated cutting too far south after I thought I'd gotten past the deadfall. I got south of #6 and perhaps saw an unmapped ditch bend along the way. Somehow, that helped me get close to #6. It was close enough that I went straight to #7 from there. This was about a 6-7 minute error on what should have been a 30 second leg. :(

7-8 - I got out of the forest going toward the field much better than when I'd done it leaving #6 earlier. For a short while my path converged with Dave Pruden. I almost told him here we are now two old orienteers, though I didn't want to distract him and he was probably doing Blue. I ran across the field and got distracted by a trail sign briefly. As I got closer to it, I realized I needed to be further north so I hit the right trail leading to #8 pretty well. I caught Amy Loudoun just past the hilltop and both of us paused. Because the real hilltop was behind me and not mapped as a formline, I paused longer than usual. The trail bend there was harder than mapped too. I went on and spiked the control on the tractor that the course notes seemed to be pointing out.

8-9 - I ran straight, going past the small knoll by the stream. Crossing the stream and the scattered rough open, I got slowed down. The grasses were about 6 ft. high in some places and the ground was uneven. I didn't see any of the dot knolls in the white woods closer to the control. I did see control #10 first and got distracted by it for 2 steps. I hit #9 just right and saw the woman who was at #6 earlier, just behind me coming from the NW.

9-10 - I ran straight, having seen the control earlier.

10-11 - I ran straight but was sloppily reading the leg from #9. Fortunately, #9, #10, and #11 were in a straight line; there was no time lost. I actually ran a little further south, into the field and on the trail for a little bit. I got south of the trail to cut distance, and crossed it again as I was going up the hill into the forest with the long formline knoll. I ducked-in SW of the mapped marsh and spiked it.

11-12 - I went south right away, across some deadfall, then out into the field. It was nice running the gentle downhill slope with the wind at my back and the sun shining. I've always run better than others around me in those conditions. I wasn't running that fast today but I still enjoyed it.

I enjoyed the whole course and the fact that I'd gotten out. I have a lot of tuning up to do with not planning/reading enough and being sloppy leaving controls. The physical conditioning is going to take a while too. My right hamstring felt a little funny afterward but not too bad.

C • Hooray! 4

Brown - Splits

Event: Happyland - Cancelled
 

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to Park Lane, to Battery Rd., to Exeter Rd., to Wilson Ln., to Hampden Ln., to Charlcotte Rd., to Northfield Rd. Running my first time on roads (I jogged a bit when course setting and field checking for the Wheaton event), felt not so great. Being very heavy was a lot of it, but all week my right leg and sometimes my back, did not feel good. I felt the cramp-like stuff in my hamstring that was common during the worst of my back episodes. I purposely selected a short run, but had intended to do it in a park along the creek where it was flatter. What I did was okay but not so encouraging from a physical standpoint. Mentally, it's a start and that's something I needed a lot.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. It was cool out but I had a nice tailwind and didn't hit a lot of traffic.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. Slight headwinds.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. Tailwind and cool.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

Event: QOC Wheaton
 

Wheaton Regional Park. Starting from the train station area, I set controls and did some more map updating that was too late to make it onto the printed maps for QOC's event. Mainly, I found some more rootstocks and made corrections to vegetation around controls. I did take off one mapped boulder near a trail intersection that must have been a drafting error. Oddly, when starting out, and coming from different directions than I had earlier, I went to 2 locations that were not where the control should have been.

Wheaton Regional Park. Starting from the train station area, I set controls and did some more map updating.

Wheaton Regional Park. Starting from the field pavilion and dog park and heading east, I set controls and did some more map updating. There was a good bit of vegetation from the old map that I couldn't take the time to correct. I sensed that I was running out of daylight. Having updated a lot of rootstocks onto the map, I would have liked to have used them for the courses. I may use them over the summer for a training event.

Wheaton Regional Park. Starting from near the dog park and the field house, I set out water at 2 controls. It was getting dark.

Wheaton Regional Park. Starting from Colonel E. Brooke Middle School, I set out water. It was getting dark.

Wheaton Regional Park. Starting from Alpert La., I set out water one more water stop in the dark.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

Event: QOC Little Bennett