Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd., Custer Rd. to Huntington Pkwy., to Old Georgetown Rd., then to the Bethesda Trolley Trail to Grosvenor Rd., to the Rock Creek Trail, to Cedar Ln, to the Elmhirst Pkwy Trail, to Cedar Ln, with became Oakmont Dr. eventually. From there I cut through on small trail to Oak Pl., then to Hempstead Ave., past Samantha's school and then homeward via McKinley St. and Garfield St.

I'd slept-in and Peggy had gone to a trail race. Sleeping-in threw my day off but I needed it. Instead of doing some field checking, after Peggy got back I adjusted the trail-a-bike and went out for a ride with Samantha. I'd asked Max to come along but he was in a funk. We stopped a lot. The first time was about 3/4 of a mile out when Samantha announced that she needed a bathroom. I knew of a port-a-jon ahead a few miles but didn't tell her about it. She decided that she could go on rather than go back home. When we got to Fleming Park we stopped for the port-a-jon and the playground. We got going again with the promise of another playground. The Rock Creek Trail was a little wet from recent rains but not as much as I'd expected. It was however, rather bumpier than expected. Samantha might have been getting tired again. She didn't like getting wet from the puddles (the trail a bike has a mudflap but it didn't catch everything). Since her life had been so insular before coming to us, I figured the mud was good for her. She kept wanting to stop but I told her that a playground was just ahead. She wouldn't let it go but once in sight when I offered to stop, she insisted we go on.

The rest of the ride after the playground stop was good. One guy in a car with his daughter seeing us climb W. Cedar Rd. at a traffic light, asked what's that thing? I thought he meant a building to my right but he was interested in the trail a bike. This REI Novara Afterburner 2.0 is a better model than the older one that I used to take Max out on.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. I was lucky to get back in between rains.

I had wanted to run each day after the Mason Neck meet. The first day, I felt that some rest would be good (I was feeling sore and still in my back) and thunderstorms were predicted anyway. It rained the next 3 days too and each of those days I ended up working late; my workouts consisted of carrying my running clothes back and forth to work and up the metro escalators.

I'm still having some good days and some days that are worse. Yesterday it was hard to find a comfortable spot at all but I probably aggravated things by trying to get the trash out. I didn't sleep well for several hours but the pains calmed down enough to sleep-in.

Event: QOC Mason Neck
 

Mason Neck State Park, VA. I did a short warm-up from the parking area toward the bay view and back. The water did look nice.

QOC: Mason Neck State Park, VA. Arriving somewhat late and not training much lately, I ran Red. I was lucky to be able to borrow Peggy's spare glasses. I wasn't moving that quickly and had some errors which this park is known to produce. I was okay out of the start to #1. I went down the road to #2 and hit it going only a tiny bit out of the way. I spiked #3.

Going to #4, I drifted left and thought I'd corrected enough. I didn't and my GPS track shows that I went over one of the more recognizable hills without realizing it. I ended up at #5 but didn't figure it out until I went off to do a small loop; I had presumed that the control I found was a different pit near #4. After coming back, I went back towards where I'd gone on the errant loop before, then realized it midway and risked going to #4 from there. It worked, then I went straight back to #5.

Going to #6, I stayed high. I could see someone who'd started out a little before me in the distance and through the trees going through the valley. As I got closer to #6, I could see the same person or maybe it was even Peggy. I expected the control to be in one reentrant sooner but had the full view of low and high so I went on to hit it pretty well. I could see that the other person turned-up the wrong reentrant and I never saw that person afterward.

Going to #7, I stayed high again, reading the contours well, and spiked it. Before I'd started, I'd run into Eugene Tsypnyatov and he warned me to be careful about getting to #8. Along the way I realized I was drifting left a little. I must have corrected because when I hit the last big reentrant before the one near the control I cut right while the reentrant that I was looking for was straight ahead of me (from my GPS track). I turned when I thought I was seeing the marshes but went further until I'd seen both before turning back and finding it.

Going to #9, I was fine and used the bicycle trail bridge to be sure of where I was before crossing the road. From there I spiked the control. Going to #10, I went straight, passing through the parking lot where Mihai was already giving advanced training. I used the trails a little from there to spike the control.

I must have been getting really tired and brain dead after that. I started out doing a 180. I turned around after 10 seconds or so, but was flustered. Some people walking a course or hiking that I saw on the way to #10 were walking the trail, so I went toward and passed them. I thought to use the trails instead of staying in the steeper reentrants because I wasn't moving that well, especially on steeper hills. I didn't read the trail correctly so after a little while I paused and started to run back. My eyes picked up on the black line to the west and since so many courses here finish by crossing the road, I presumed it to be the road; I'd already crossed the road :( . Hitting another trail, this took me to the wooden bridge which was the black line. I ended up emerging out of the woods near the bay view and a playground that I'd passed when warming up. I was embarrassed for co-course setter Jon Campbell to see me approaching the finish from near the rest room.

It was a fun course and the heat wasn't that bad in the forest. With so many errors and moving so slowly, Peggy and Ember got me easily.

Seneca Creek State Park, Lake Clopper Area, MD. I got to Rifleford Rd. while a rain shower was just ending. I covered more of the terrain along the Smokey Glen Barbequer's property. It was mostly open. There were a few ditches, a long big gully, and some mountain laurel to map. I didn't finish the area further up along Rifleford Rd. before it got too dark and I was too late.

From online imagery, it appears that the shooting range on the south side of Rifleford road has been dismantled. I know that in years past I used to hear gunfire from there. If truly dismantled, that will open up a significant area further south. I know that at least a good portion of that terrain has bushes that would be slower to navigate than the areas that I've been mapping. Maybe the sound of gunfire reduced the deer population and had that effect. I'll have to make some decisions about where to map next but I want to finish the areas north of Rifeford Rd., on both sides of Seneca Creek first.

Red - Splits