Training Log Archive: Nadim

QOC Summer Short Series: Bethesda Street O'. Peggy setup this romp through our neighborhood after putting together a contoured map with some of the parks, almost no street names and some buildings. I think most people either didn't get word of it or got it too late for the holiday weekend. It was also 87F and humid. Dave Onkst started, after two minutes, I was next, Jon Torrance and Mihai Sirbu was last. Controls were trim course squares. I lacked confidence on the way to #2 and turned around twice before being sure I was okay. At #6, I passed and hunted about for the Scoopy Doo thinking I was looking for a Scooby Doo playground object. At #7, Dave, Jon and I just about converged. We had fun. The distance measured is straight line though there were few places one could go straight since houses were out-of-bounds. The running amounted to just over 5 miles. Peggy didn't intend for it to be this long, thinking the straight line distance was about 4k at a 1:5,000 scale. The actual scale was about 1:7,810. Weight 170.

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to C St. SW Washington, D.C. Humid and in the mid-70's, I started slow but picked it up after passing and picking up a guy in my draft. There was a slight tailwind on the water. Weight 171.

From Independence Ave. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD. Tricky traffic under Whitehurst freeway.

30 pushups. Working late again. Weight 172.

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to C St. SW Washington, D.C. I didn't think I was going that fast though I had a nice cool tailwind along the river. One guy passed me on the trail and I decided to let him go. Weight 170.5.

From C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, cutting through the Bureau of Engraving alley. I felt better than the last couple of days. There were headwinds the last half of the trail.

Blockhouse Conservation Park/Muddy Branch Park. Peggy and I were checking out the parks. I'm interested in setting-up a Summer Short Series training event here. We went on both sides of the road though never more than 1/4 mile in a straight line on either side of it. Hilltops tended to be very nice running as most of the park is near mature forest. Crossing the grain of the ridges was very steep but climbing the ends of ridges was okay. Features were mostly reentrants and ditches though we did pass some cliffs, streams, gullies, old roads, trails, dot knolls and rootstock. I'm sure there were more cliffs nearer the Potomac. There were some slow running areas recovering from ice storms and oddly dramatic vegetation changes only sometimes explained by being near changes in slope. I had trouble using the USGS map even though I scaled it at 1:10,000. Whole reentrants seemed to be missing at times and ridge knolls didn't show either. A better and much larger map is posted at the parking lot. Distance was measured on the actual route, not straight-lines between features.

From Rosdale Ave., Bethesda, MD to C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I caught a guy on the flats and traded pulls. Along the river I had a nice tailwind. Weight 170.5.

From C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, cutting through the Bureau of Engraving alley. I felt drained and had steady headwinds the whole way. Lots of people were outside because it was so nice. My left knee hurt some.

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was a nice dry morning in the mid 60's F and light winds. I tried not to push too hard and passed many. On the flat, one guy blew by along with another I'd passed earlier in his draft. I hesitated, not wanting to push too hard, then gave chase but it was too late. I caught one under the freeway. Weight 170.

From C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, cutting through the Bureau of Engraving alley. I felt tired and fought a moderate headwind almost the whole way.

From MacArthur Blvd. on the Wilson Rd. side of the aqueduct stone bridge, up the Cabin John Trail to Seven Locks Rd. near Democracy Blvd. then back on Seven Locks Rd. to the Cabin John Trail south of River Rd. then the trail and MacArthur Blvd. back to the parking lot. I started with Peggy, for about the first 10 minutes in the steep up and down section, then went on. The Cabin John Trail between River Rd. and Bradley Blvd. was the best probably due to mountain bikers keeping it good. Despite the rains, very little of the trail was muddy too. I ran along Seven Locks Rd. on the way back to keep Peggy from waiting too long but ended-up catching her and running the steep parts with her again. I was pretty thirsty after this but it was a nice run. Weight 170.5.