Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., to Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Battery Lane Park, to Norfolk Ave., to St. Elmo Ave., to Arlington Ave. I had to go out to pickup Peggy's car so I took the long way. It was right at freezing outside but wearing just the right amount, I was comfortable.

Event: QOC Mid-Atlantic Champs
 

Patuxent River Park, MD. I warmed up for the QOC Mid Atlantic Championships by starting from the barn in the big field, and going out and back along the cut grass.

QOC: Patuxent River Park, MD. I ran the Red course for the QOC Mid Atlantic Championships. It was a decent run but I had made some not so efficient route choices. Francis Hogel had set the course and he usually includes some good choices. I opted both times on two important route choice legs to go around and use the trails. It was partly a decision to play to my strengths and partly wanting to avoid the risk of unmapped deadfall slowing me. However, having not done much training lately, the first part of that would be somewhat inaccurate. To make matters worse, on leg #2, I had been concious about not being too far to the right of the control but somehow, coming up from the marsh it happened anyway--I even looked to my left but the control must have been behind a tree. I made a u-turn after going the wrong way but the damage was done. I lost 3-4 minutes. I caught Dan Quinn going to #3 and got ahead of him as I fell behind but navigated accurately to the control. I was temped to use the road to get to #5 but went straight--it was just not very efficient despite spiking the control. I went left on the long leg to #6; Ted Good had gone right; a very different route across the grain of the hills, and got there 3 seconds slower than I did. I saw Kathleen Lennon there and hit #7 well. I ran up the hill toward the field going to #8 but the field looked like a mess with high grasses and thorns--seen Ryan Hanna covered with briars and stick-ems made me reasses. I skirted the side of the field, running in the forest and made good time. Dropping down to #8 was pretty easy; coincidentally, I had been in the area for the Boy Scout event a week or 2 earlier. I read the terrain well goint to #9, and did the same 3/4 of the way to #8. I chickened-out aiming off to the left shortly after crossing the creek and bounced off the trail--not much time lost but a little. I kept getting pushed to the right heading to #10 but corrected before the road. I emerege where there was a reentrant on the other side so I had a good attack point right on the straight line. I heard someone coming up from behind and saw the reentrant ahead blocked by fallen vegetation. I moved around it to the left and managed to stay ahead to the control (#10). It turned-out it was Vadim M. I headed a bit to the left coming out of #10 to avoid vegetation. Vadim must have taken a straighter route and hit the road quicker by punching through it. He was only a few seconds up on me but I couldn't catch him. We punched at the Go control and pushed it in. I ran it pretty well but being tired I didn't have it in me to make up any more distance; it seemed like I made up a little in the middle but I don't know if the split times would support that. This was a fun run but the lack of physical training showed.

QOC: Patuxent River Park, MD. For the Mid-Atlantic Championships, the format includes a relay. This year, it was a staggered start based on the number of points the team was worth. The high point teams got to start first and the zero point teams were last. The idea was to have everyone finsh close together. After all was done, the younger teams seemed to have a slight advantage. I was on a zero point team that was lead off by Ryan Hannah. David Onkst started second. Jan Merka was next. I had the anchor leg. Ted Good was also an anchor but my team gave me head start on him of about a minute an a half. I was running accurately if not very fast. My one bobble was coming out of #3 to the road, turning right, then re-thinking that and turning around to go left. This was to get me around the green ahead. It didn't cost me much. I unknowingly crossed the field passing Corrine Porter (somewhere on my right) on a 3 point team. When leaving #5, I was surprised to see Ted Good not far behind. I pushed a little harder and opened-up some ground while trying unsuccessfully to catch Greg Lennon. Ted made-up over a minute of time on me overall. It was a fun format on a nice day. The only bad thing was the tradgedy in course setter Francis Hogel's family.

QOC: Patuxent River Park, MD. I picked-up some of the controls for the Mid-Atlantic Championships.

Red - Splits

Happy Halloween!

Hurricane Sandy passed through cleanly, relative to other storms in the area recently. It did dump a lot of rain and brought continuous high winds but no major tree falls like the derecho did earlier in the year. Perhaps the earlier storms got rid of the weaker branches. Power remained on, as did our cable service. I worked from home Monday and Tuesday for more than a full day each--I've been very busy with taking on the work of my boss who has retired, whle still having my existing work to do. In the evening, we were able to go out and I got some Halloween decorations up.