Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Little Bennett NightO
 

Event: Seneca Creek Greenway Trail Marathon & 50k
 

MCRRC: Seneca Greenway Trail Marathon. This is a point-to-point race with an option to do a 3.5 mile loop in the middle. Called a marathon and 50K, it is really about 34 miles for the 50K and 30.3 miles (this year) for the marathon. I knew I wasn't ready for the extra distance and set out to do the marathon.

In 2012 I put in some regular training for a few months and was in decent shape, somewhat ready to tackle the 50K option of this trail race. The weather that winter was warm and my job was not as busy so I trained well and I had a better base to begin with. That year, they started at the high point in Damascas Regional Park, MD and finished near Riley's Lock on the Potomac river. They ran the reverse this year (and last year), however this year, they started at Poole's General Store, Montevideo Rd., just off of River Rd. which shortened the course about 0.6 miles. My training last winter on paper looked good but I didn't feel I was ready enough for the event and I decided 2 weeks before the race to not do it. My training and starting base this winter is worse than either of those years but something drove me to run the race and be a weekend warrior anyway. Perhaps it was desperation as I've been getting slower and slower rather quickly. The idea to do it this year was brought-up by David Onkst as a way to get trained for the World ROGAINE Championships this summer, so that had helped motivate me too. Dave, fresh off of healing his shoulder from a fall at the end of 2013, decided not to run the marathon today.

The big factor this year was the snow, ice and mud. I'd seen one guy whom I later sat next to on the bus wipe out as he walked across a basketball court to the start. It had snowed about 7 inches 6 days before the event--that's a lot for around this locality; 2-3 inches of it remained. I didn't know what to wear, right down to my shoes. The morning temperatures were about 26 F when I caught the bus from Damascus to the start at 6:50am. It was 57 F when I finished. I thought to wear Ice Bugs with spikes because of the snow but was worried from how my feet felt 3 hours into the ultra-long event last weekend. My Solomons were so heavy in the mud when I last ran the Muddy Branch Trail. Ultimately I picked the Solomons. I didn't wear my nylon sweat top since the sun seemed strong at the start. I just had a long sleeve tech shirt tights with shorts underneath, and gloves. The one new item I tried and turned-out to be helpful was "waterproof" socks. The socks did work most of the way and probably saved me a lot of trouble--my toes were not numb like at so many orienteering events run in the snow earlier this winter. My Camelbak had about 25 ounces of Gatorade, a lot of Gu and other odds and ends.

I started very near the end of the pack because I needed a bathroom before going. This got me stuck behind people in the first 3 miles or so before things thinned-out. I would speed up off trail when the vegetation allowed, to get around groups, then settle-in to the group pace again. My first 10 minute miles were slower than I would have done with an open trail, but this was not necessarily a bad thing; I started too fast in 2012. The first 2.5 miles to Berryville Rd. were hilly and there was walking as the groups hit obstacles like tree trunks, streams and bridges. People were worried about falling. I was glad that things were frozen still from miles 2.5 to 6 (at Rte. 28). There was also less snow/ice. Some of the muddiest section of the trail are traditionally there. I ran a few 8 and 9 minute miles and was sweating a little. I kept moving up in position until the first aid station.



I drank and snacked but got out of the aid station fast, leaving behind a group that I'd just caught. The next 1.3 miles to Blackrock Rd. were hilly but I kept moving well. It was also all granular snow and ice. The event web site hadn't had much updating and it was clear that some items were from the race the previous year. I wasn't sure if the race course would follow the Greenway Trail to Riffleford Rd., or use the windy Seneca Ridge Trail which is 3.5 miles longer and also hillier. I kept moving to try to catch-up to people ahead of me so that I didn't take the wrong route. My hope for the shorter trail didn't pan-out but I endeavored on not too disappointed. The event is already longer than the traditional marathon definition and it's the culture of ultra-runners not to fret over stuff like that--you get to the end when you do. I climbed and caught several runners over the next few miles. These were at 10 minute/mile pace. The one thing I hadn't done was stop to eat or drink enough--though I could drink on the run with my Camelbak, I couldn't reach behind to take out a Gu or food without stopping and removing the pack. I thought there might be an aid station at Riffeford Rd. at about mile 13.5 but I started feeling some cramps in my quadriceps just above my knees around mile 12. I think the cramps were partly due to the different effort it took to push uphill and across the slippery ice and mud. The ice had started to melt noticeably 2 hours into the run, and cramps at mile 12 on a 30 mile run didn't make me feel confident about the day. To add to it, the aid station was not until several hills (which I walked a lot of) later at Lake Clopper; about mile 15. At mile 15, I took a longish break to eat and drink more. They generally don't supply cups at the event but rather than fill my pack and drink out of it, I grabbed a green one filled with what I thought was Gatorade--it was Mountain Dew and that was okay. I got a banana, some cookies, Gu, and Gatorade too. Finally I sat on the pavement and took off my tights. I happened to see Richard Pires whom I trained with for this race a little, 2 years back. The lead 50K runners also came through (3.5 miles ahead of me).



When I got going again I was slower but doing about 12 minute miles. I cramped some more so I would walk every now and then. The way to the next aid station at North Frederick Rd. (a.k.a., Rockville Pike Rte. 355), about mile 19 was generally flatter. A few people passed me but there weren't a lot of people around.

The next miles to Watkins Mill Rd., almost mile 22, were again hilly. It was getting significantly muddier too. I walked parts of almost all of the hills and lost a few positions. When I got to Watkins Mill Rd., a race official there told me I was in 43rd position. I think some of the people passing me were faster and younger 50K runners. There was no aid station at Watkins Mill Rd. but I needed a nature break. I climbed into the woods as several people passed by below.



I felt better, got over the next big ridge walking but passing some people. On the sunny flats to Brink Rd. at mile 23.3, it was outright muddy and slushy. However I felt better. I had a normal break at the aid station. I couldn't remember clearly just how far it was to the finish and thought I had about 11 to go. An aid station worker said it was 6 miles. That made me happy but soon after I started not to believe her. It turned-out to be 7 miles to the finish. I think I reflexively stopped my watch at the aid station. I didn't notice it was off until a while later but going from a previous GPS track it turns out that 1.014 miles that didn't get recorded.

The next aid station was not until mile 28.58, at Log House Rd. It seemed a long way there. I kept expecting the creek crossing to come up but all I kept seeing were more slush puddles and some rocks on the trail. I was going by memory and thinking it was 6 miles from the creek crossing to the finish but in reality it was about 4 miles from the creek crossing to the finish. I caught a few people, walked hills and sometimes the flatter ground when muscle cramps were coming on. I was doing about 13 minute miles mostly. I fell into a sort of pace with a younger woman who had popped out of some bushes a while back. She'd get ahead of me sometimes and then I'd get ahead of her. She indicated that she'd never done a long trail race before and wasn't sure how long the marathon would be. After informing her, she shared that she was ready to do another marathon the next day--this is all training for an 50 mile ultra that she is doing in April. I didn't want to think about that. I got ahead as we and another guy finally got to the creek crossing. My waterproof socks held-up pretty well but I did get a little dampness. The rope at the crossing was useless and the submerged stones were more slippery than worth standing on. I took a short break to eat a Gu and drink. The woman and guy got ahead then but I think I caught both later. Others passed by all of us quickly. As a sign of how bad I must have looked, when I saw the other runners going past, they looked slow. The trail started climbing more for the last few miles to the aid station at Log House Rd.



The workers at the aid station debated how far it was to the finish. A sign said 1.7 miles to the park and some thought that meant to the border. I already knew of a mile on a paved trail so I guessed it might be 3 more miles. Most thought it was about 2 and it turns out that it was 1.73 miles. The woman whom I had kept pace with got out first but I caught her quickly when she started walking. After some flatter ground, the trail dropped. I held off a guy who came from behind until I got to the paved trail. From there it was uphill a lot. The other guy slowly pulled away as we both alternated jogging and walking. People behind us including the woman I'd just passed, fell further behind. Once at the top of the hill, I kept moving even though my quads just above the knee were hurting. I strained on the uphill finish as people clapped. There was a fair amount of clapping at all of the aid stations.

I glanced at the clock a bit disappointed that it read 6:11 hours and some seconds. The race was chip timed so I was really somewhere under that (Because my watch was stopped part of the time, I didn't capture the whole run on it. The official time of 6:10:02 was based on chip time. I was 22nd place out of 81, and 4th of 22 in my division. 208 ran the 50K version of the race and I extrapolate that I'd have been in the middle of my age group on that). I'd hoped to be under 6 hours and thought I had a good chance of it during the first 2 hours of running, before I started cramping. The ice and mud had a lot to do with the slowness too (my estimate was 75% snow/ice, 21% mud, 4% pavement with some ice). In contrast, when I ran the 34 mile 50K in good weather 2 years ago, going downhill, I ran just under 5:48. The experienced guy on the bus this morning that I sat next to (the same guy I'd seen fall) told me of his failure on a previous ultra and when he told me he finished, I told him that he didn't fail, he just didn't meet his goal. He agreed and seemed to like that. I guess I didn't fail either. The day before, I'd been concerned about dropping out during the race and I didn't. As if a touché, as I walked back across snow covered grass to the van to drive home, I slipped and fell on the ice--I hadn't fallen the whole 30 miles to the finish though.

C • Great job! 5

C • Go Seneca Creek! 2

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, down Independence Ave., to 17th St., along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial circle, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to P St., NW., to 20th St., NW., to the Dupont Circle Metro Station at Q St., NW. I felt that I ran better for the first 1.2 miles or so, then I felt pretty dead again. It was 37 F with about a 10mph wind. The rains which were heavy in the morning and went lighter during the day had stopped. It took the ice on the trails, and salt away--a good thing.

45 sit-ups. Busy day.

Spinning and watching television. I felt a bit sluggish but worked up a pretty good sweat. It was icy outside.

45 sit-ups. It snowed about 5 inches. I worked from home all day and didn't step out.

Event: QOC Patapsco Avalon
 

Avalon: Patapsco State Park, MD. Warm-up around the assembly area, and to the start of QOCs meet.

QOC: Avalon: Patapsco State Park, MD. A rare Ultra-Long event was on the bill for today. My endurance held up well through the course and I got good physical training (something that I didn't get to do most of last week). I had other problems though. These may have colored my impressions of the course and the day. I can't say that I enjoyed the course much. Granted, it was the first time doing course setting by Ryan Stasiowski and it is a difficult area to set courses in. When Avalon was first mapped, it was a long time before anyone broke 10 min/k there because of the climb. Ryan didn't want the US Team elites who come to the QOC events to be done in an hour so he set a long and physically hard course. The first part of it climbed the escarpment and went back down to the river twice in short legs. That was designed to wear people out and it did but it felt it was gratuitous. Part of the effect on me may have been to induce hypoxia errors--I may have made a few though I didnt feel so much out of breath. The listed climb was 820m. It seemed to be more. Interestingly my AttackPoint adjusted, Garmin measured climb was 834m. 820m was 5.2%; more than the mandated 4% of the rule books or at least the old rule books applicable to A-meets.

0-1 I took the trail around to the right. I was walking up the slope.

1-2 down the reentrant, along the road until the vegetation got more open on the right and when I could see a reentrant ahead coming down from the hill on the left.

2-3 I angled back to the road, staying in longer than I wanted to, due to vegetation. I did count the reentrants and seeing the start off to the right was a dead give away to go back up the hill, to the top of the knoll. It was a steep slow climb but I caught up to a woman along the way.

3-4 I was surprised to be going back down hill I just climbed. Perhaps focused on that or hypoxic, I didn't plan the route. It looked so easy at first glance, straight down the reentrant so I headed off. Hitting the road, I fully realized the man-made cliff ahead; mapped uncrossable. I got close to the cliff to see and because it had ledges and the ways around were long, I scampered down and onto the berm with the control. The metal fencing that held the rocks of the cliff together made it a little like climbing down a 30 ft hi fence.

4-5 I angled back to the road, past the assembly area, and off the map to get around the hill. I expected the control to be along the stream and not on a rootstock. It was my fault for not reading the clue description but the drafting seemed off too. The green X was extra small. I've seen a few maps where point features have all by some unknown or accidental means gotten smaller than they should so maybe that happened here (OCAD bug?). As this was another climbing leg being hypoxic may have struck again too. I followed another guy up past the control and turned back for it. This lost me 2-3 minutes.

5-6 Eager to make-up for lost time, I moved quickly up the reentrant then toward the wrong control. I headed out of the reentrant when it bent, and toward #21. Almost to the top of the hill, I realized and corrected by going across hilltops. This probably lost me 90 seconds or so.

6-7 I angled up to the first field and through the green to the next. I used the copse in the field to attack, noting the prominent high boulder before the stream. I caught up to a guy whom I'd seen near #5 earlier.

7-8 I angled across the fields, and toward the road intersection. I kept in the same direction into the next field to keep out of the private property. I read the reentrants, and clued into the controls by crossing the trail.

8-9 With no turning control, I dog-legged back toward the trail. It seemed to take a long time so when I hit it I was unsure if I'd passed the intersection. The woods didn't look so good so I kept on the trail thinking that I'd passed it. When I hit the next intersection and saw a hill ahead, I mistakenly figured that I was much further along the trail than I had been. Consequently I angled back looking for the green in which the control was hung which was also near a trail intersection. I found plenty of green and new houses. It amounted to a long 10 minute wasted loop before returning to the trail intersection where I'd went wrong. The intersection seems to not show the trail shapes correctly. Once assured of my location, I went straight to the control even though it was 20 ft inside a dense stand of bamboo. The guys I'd passed at #5 and #7 were there too.

9-10 I ran fairly straight at #10. After I got over a reentrant and ridge, the next reentrant system funneled me right to it. I'd gotten to the left a little more than planned but lost no time. If the control were only on a boulder on one of the many spurs, it'd have saved climb and made a much more technical control.

10-11 I dog-leg back up the long steep hill that I'd just run down. After a ways, I stayed along the edge of the map even tripping over an unmapped broken wire fence once. I hit the road near #19, the ran up toward the trail, but I cut off the corner. Taking trails, the last one was kind of off but I found it and the first hunter stand. I stayed on the trail a little too long after that, found Dasa Merka, got too close to the road, and ran back. I could see the hunter stand before seeing the control through the green. I had a Gu.

11-12 I went straight across the green. It wasn't that bad to get through, just annoying. When I rounded the last spur and turned to head up the reentrant, I saw Jan Merka heading down it. The control circle was hiding the first stream just enough that I didn't see it. That stream went on longer than mapped too. I found unmapped green and an unmapped trail that differed from the mapped one. Figuring that the control wasn't there, I headed back down. When I saw Dasa heading back up, more doubt crept in. I turned back up with her, going higher and getting to more unmapped new houses. After going down and getting to near where I saw Jan, I found it. I gave a yell to Dasa, and one of the guys I'd seen at #9 got clued-in too. He got there before me. That was about another 8 minutes lost.

12-13 I angled over to the trail, and once on it, I slowed to read. The guy at #13 moved ahead in the trail but I caught him when I cut across a large u-shaped bend. I could see the control far off and attacked off of the trail intersection.

13-14 I started a little to the left, then forced myself to the ridge. I found the flat spot, descended more on the ridge, then cut left. I could see the control from across the steam but it took a while to get there. The guy at #13 was close behind me.

14-15 I climbed across the leg as it undilated over reentrants. I got above the early cliffs and had to climb just a little more near the control. The last bit was slow due to the difficult footing. I saw Jan Merka again. This time I could see Benny too. They were leaving the control, dog-legging back. The guy at #14 closed in a little near the end but was still just behind me.

15-16 I climbed up to the top, then across the hilltops. This got me closer to the house than expected. Further on, I saw Jan and Benny and I passed them before the stream.

16-17 I went left of the spur, right of straight leaving #16 to keep from dropping too much. After the stream, I angled left to the control--not so hard on top of the ridge.

17-18 I took the trial just about the whole way. The snow and ice at the end was slow.

18-19 straight. I hit the road just at the bend and on-line. I caught another guy just at the control.

19-20 I stayed high, hitting both fields rather than cross a lot of reentrants. I considered dropping to the road too but the descent and climb back up seemed too much. I came off trails at the end and was glad that the steep descent near the end was not slippery yet. I spiked it but it was easy being at a stream. I thought the placement was in the right place but needlessly went down too far. It was also somewhat vague given no stream bend on the map.

21-22 I somewhat dog-legged back up, then followed the reentrant a way. Crossing trails, I got to the hilltop I'd been at when going the long way to #6. Despite the unmapped green, I hit one trail intersection dead-on when descending. The control was in a pleasant place, being at a waterfall. However, being on the edge of the map yet again, and in a place requiring more climb to get out was unnecessary.

22-F after the climb out from #21, I did the rest on memory going past #5 again. By this time of day it was more muddy than icy mud like before. I moved slowly in places on the descent. The location of the finish at the end of the field seemed odd, being unnecessarily away from the assembly area.

Ultra Long - Splits