Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd. to Montgomery Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to C St., SW, Washington, D.C. via the Capital Crescent Trail and Ohio Dr. I finally worked on my bike some more and thought I got the kinks out. However I still have some chain skipping and can see if I watch while stationary and pedaling that there is an odd twist in the chain in one spot. I'll try replacing that soon but at least I can ride more freely again. It was like a summer morning today. I wisely let the first guy who passed me go. Later I traded pulls through Georgetown with another that I caught at Dalecarlia and I did more than half the leading.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Montgomery Ave., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. My ride started out somewhat damp. I was sprinkled upon for half of the way. My chain skipping woes continued. I really had to gear down to minimize it. My cadence resultingly was around 85 on the flats which with little real training is pretty good for me. After picking up Max's trailer, I stopped of at a bike store to get a new chain. They also recommended changing the cassette at the same time, claiming that they wear together but since I changed both last year and my experience with them has been that they last much longer, I was reluctant to. I'll see how changing the chain goes first.

From Northfield Rd., to Montgomery Ave. with Max in his trailer via the Georgetown Branch Trail tunnel, then to the Bethsda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Montgomery Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was about 86 F and humid--not so comfortable in my work clothes.

Washington, D.C. From 14th and Independence Ave., to the Lincoln Memorial via the Viet Nam Memorial, then on the Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to P Street, NW, then to the Dupont Circle Metro Station. It was about 81 F when I started and I felt a bit tired still from the weekend. I ran okay. There were lots of people out. At just 12:00 minutes into the run, my left achilles started hurting and in a few more steps, I felt it best to stop and stretch. It was similar to what had happened on my right calf and achilles tendon in March. I took it easier and bailed-out from my planned run to the Woodley Park Metro Station.

I guess I'll be doing more field checking and focusing more on cycling for a while. :( Although it's logical to conclude that I've been overcompensating for my right calf/achilles tendon, I don't really think that's what's happening. I'm guessing it's age, diet or even sleep related. I've been having tendon problems in different places.

C • Age, diet or even sleep related? 7

From Northfield Rd. to Old Georgetown Rd. via Greenwich Park, to Johnson Ave. to Heampstead Ave. to McKinley St. to Garfield St. to Roosevelt St. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. Though a bit banged-up, because Peggy and Max were out playing soccer and swiming I got out to shake-out my legs from the race yesterday. It felt warm and humid out but my legs felt better than expected. There was a short time after a half mile when the balls of my feet were feeling bruised but it went away. I just took it easy.

Event: Billygoat Run at Mt. Tom
 

Event: QOC: Balls Bluff
 

Mt. Tom State Reservation, MA. From the Lake Bray parking lot, I walked and jogged up to the start of the Billygoat race with Tim Good.

2010 Billygoat (32 Annual) at Mt. Tom State Park, MA. This was billed to be the most difficult Billygoat yet and it lived-up to the description. I thought it was harder than the course Jeff Shapiro set at Mt. Norowatuck a couple of years earlier though more people seemed to achieve at t-shirt finish within the 3.5 hour alotted time. I had not looked forward to it being a difficult course while being in such poor shape. I also decided to experiment with the bi-focal glasses that I'd gotten earlier in the week.

I got sucked-into the straight route to #1 which took me over steep hills with terrible basalt scree-like slopes. I had actually seen a trail route to the right but with my recent performances, I just lacked the will go out on my own so early in the race (a few others did but I missed seeing them). I ended-up covering the initiall messy legs with Jeff Saeger and the mother-daughter Olafsen team. My glasses detracted from my ability to see on the early legs. They fogged-up since it was 65-70 F and humid. I eventually resorted to just pulling them on top of my head where they stayed for most of the race.

By #3, I felt more confident reading the map (in an area that was announced as not being field checked) though I led people a bit too high after an obvious knoll. I found myself with a QOC crowd going to #4: Peggy, Dave Onkst and Jan Merka. We discussed some possible controls skips on the climb. I had leaned toward skipping #14 at that point. The hellish hills kept-up through #6 and were still significant getting through #7, #8, #9, and #10. Along the way in these, I saw Tim Parsons and Jeff Shapiro but I felt like I was still running with Dave Onkst and Jan Merka mostly. I thought we got ahead of Tim and Jeff at one point but Dave and I went out of #9 poorly and then joined-up with JJ Cote and Alar. Dave led us to wrong side of the marsh on #11--this saved a nasty steep decent but we paused there. JJ encouraged us to plow across and it wasn't bad. On the other side, I expected the control to be lower so I went left toward #12 looking for it only to have to come back. I caught-up with Dave and JJ at an intersection on the way to #12. I knew the road routes would be safe and quick but the straight route looked to be mapped open. I took it but it wasn't all open--I got to the aid station just before JJ but had to move faster to do it.

I had a couple cups of a sports drink, a bannana, and some water---I took my time. JJ, Dave Onkst and Alar got out ahead. I waddled along after them on another brutal climb. Alar read most of the detail going in to #13 but I was confident about reading it too. By this point, JJ convinced me that skipping #15 was better than skipping #14. Going up further to #14, I got ahead and closed distance on Ted Good who was walking (more than I). I got out fast and headed along the ridge trail ahead of the group. I started to leave them but kept wondering what the others were doing. I had intended to pass #18 but was less confident of my exact location along the trail. I started walking and Alar caught-up. It was a good thing too because I had started reading the leg to just go to #18 instead of #16. In retrospect, I should have recognized the bend that we did leave the trail at but my confidence was still just lacking--I've been navigating so poorly as of late. The rest of the way to #16 was much greener than mapped but JJ and Erin Olafsen led the way through the ski slopes to the control. I was astonished to see Dasa Merka ahead of me at #16 and having skipped myself, I wondered if she had--she was having a great race. The climb to #17 was again nasty but it made an easier run to #18. JJ and Erin led the way in while I saw Dasa leaving on the road. Her husband Jan, who is usually much faster and lately more often than not beats me, was not having a normal race for him--he was headed the other way to #16. After #18, JJ led the way down the trail and I passed Erin. JJ cut off the trail bend. With the footing so poor in the woods I took the trail--it wasn't good either. JJ came out a little further ahead but I think it took a lot more energy to decend his way. We got to #19 (with my initials from the previous year) w/o trouble.

I took off going to #20. I trailed some others including Glen Tryson and passed them. I felt we were going too high when we should have been descending. Once across the distinctive curving rocky reentrant, I started seeing much too much contour. I slowed. JJ and Erin caught-up. JJ relocated us on a marsh to our east so we knew the control to be to the west and down the hill. I got there last. Erin and her mom took off fast down the steep hill. They were chasing Brendan. I passed the elder Olafsen and got to #21 just after Erin, with JJ behind me. Erin led down further. I wanted to save climb crossing the reentrants so I crossed them angling to my left instead, and got ahead. #22 came-up sooner than expected as I didn't see the trail that I had expected to. I caught Glen Tryson again and got to #22 just behind Jeff Shapiro who was navigating much better than me this day. When looking at the fork for #23, I should have put-on my glasses. I couldn't read the trail under the unbroken line of the left fork but I saw it. I really didn't see the bridge across the leg for the right fork so going left with a little more climb just made sense. I closed-in on Steve Perry on this, getting there just behind him--the climb wasn't bad at all. Steve went straight and I almost decided to do that too. Instead, I went back down the trail and was ahead of him when he popped-back out on the trail at the bottom. I got across the stream w/o getting wet--it might have felt better if I had. I felt strong on the run-in and after finishing, I saw Jeff Shapiro and the Olafsen women coming from the right fork.

Though not happy with my result because of the early route choice errors, I suppose I finished in a very respectable position for my physical conditioning and lack of training. It would have been more satisfying had I been alone on more legs and done more than make a lot of micro-route optimizations. However, the Billygoat is not at all the same as regular orienteering. Cooperation really helped me and not everyone is willing to do that. Speaking of cooperation, I have to thank Michael Lyons, his wife and daughter too--they watched my son Max thus making my and Peggy's run possible. I was amazed at Michaels son being only 8 years old and being able to finish the race within the 3.5 hour t-shirt timeframe.

I'm a bit bruised from the run. My left foot hurts on the top--not sure what that was from. I smashed my right thumb somewhere--I guess that means no hitch-hiking for a while. I felt inflamation pain in my right achilles tendon whille driving the long 375 miles home.

Billygoat - Splits