Training Log Archive: Nadim

Bloomington, MN. While Peggy and Max walked across the street from our hotel to go to the Mall of America, I went exploring the frozen lands. It was in the upper 20's F with some light snow and wind. I found my way along E. Old Shakopee Rd. and west along E. 86th St. into the Long Meadow Lake Wild Life Refuge. With about 1-2" of old icy snow and about another inch of new stuff, I wandered about the trails and around the Bass Ponds. I went under Rte. 77 to Old Cedar Ave. S. where there was an old railroad bridge from 1890 with a swivel section. I think this was on the Ridge Trail. Returning, I explored a few dead end trails. The Bass Lake areas were supposed to be closed for construction but there were a few other new footprints in the snow from dog walkers that I saw. This was a very nice and beautiful way to start the day! Later in the day I passed blood (bright red). I hadn't done that in a while.

After a long night of being an elf and then traveling to Minneapolis, MN and doing some visiting, I did 45 situps and crashed.

Getting ready to go Minnesota.

From Rosedale Ave. to Kentbury Dr. to the Georgetown Branch Trail to Connecticut Ave. to East-West Ave. to Old Georgetown Rd. to Commerce La. to Wisconsin Ave. to Cheltenham Dr. to Tilsbury St. to Maple Ave. to Maryland Ave. to Rosedale Ave. I felt tired all day despite getting a better night sleep. I felt tired and weak for most of the run too. I was again a little tight at the base of the spine and on my right leg while walking around earlier. I suppose it's just the increased training activity that's catching up with me. This was a Chipotle run. I ran the long way to downtown to pick up some burritos for dinner, then ran home with them.

A little shopping and a little working out while watching The Office... I was a little tight at the base of the spine and on my right leg while walking around today.

Rosaryville State Park, MD. Using Jon Torrance's draft map, I wandered about the park to get a better feel for it. Peggy and I got married at the mansion in the park but we'd only been in a small part of it. There are tons of trails--they could make championship White courses. Many of these are very twisty. There's a good bit of contour. Jon hadn't finished modifying the LIDAR based contours upon which he started with but there was definite evidence of the need to extend the reentrants. Having run on and mapped other areas using LIDAR based contours, I expected to be able to see more of the subtle reentrants. Even some of the larger ones in the northern area seemed to need some fixing. Off trail, the terrain was a big mix of things. Parts of it resembled Fair Hill State Park (also in MD) with open fields and horse trails. Generally, the hills were larger or at least steeper than Fair Hill. The woods had many nice areas along with all other shades of green in equal abundance. In the center of the park were distinct groves that were probably once clear cut; they are now tightly spaced trees like tall saplings. I think Jon has yet to add more point features though some that made it on the draft were small. Small streams, gullies and ditches weren't on the map yet and will definately affect navigation. Many gullies are deep. Streams and gullies can have steep sides. Main reentrant bottoms tended to have clutter. As usual it was fun exploring. I stayed out in the 35F windy weather longer than I expected; probably because I didn't have my watch with me (I timed using my car clock). I'm eagar to see how Jon finishes this area. The first QOC meet here should be in April 2008.

I kept moving through almost all of this. I hadn't gone this long in a while. My back felt good despite tightness after the race yesterday; it wasn't tight after today. I'm going to declare myself healed for now. This makes 4 days in a row when I've gotten out into the woods in the daylight. Maybe I should bite the bullet and start running at lunchtime--something I've resisted for a long time. It's amazing how much more I feel I can do and how quickly I can improve when I have the time. In other words it's nice to know that I can bounce back for now. I don't expect to have the time after the holidays and may not always be able to bounce back.

C • Championship White courses 2

Event: QOC: Manassas
 

Stuart's Hill, Manassas, VA. With dire weather predictions, QOC went ahead and had an nice meet. It stopped raining by the time I got out and the temperature was in the low 40's but very damp. It didn't get windy until the end. I ran pretty well in this fairly open, less technical, and flatish area. There were a few baubles like at #1, on the way to #7, and #15. The rest weren't all easy but I got through them fairly well. The complexity was raised by a problem with the map printing; the rough open came out as white. Fortunately there were distinct vegetation boundaries on the map. I felt decent starting out but on the way to #3, I felt odd and needed to slow. It was sort of like being out of breath but somehow different; more in the stomach and head. I started feeling tired toward the end and got a little more complacent than is wise. My back/tendons felt good through the run. I was thinking about declaring myself healthy again but I could feel things tightening at the base of the spine and through the right buttock afterward.

Red - Splits