Training Log Archive: Nadim

Dolly Sods Wildernes, WV. A little less than a year ago, the thought of being able to go backpacking again was just about unimaginable, given the pains I was going through. I packed lightly and it worked out okay for me.

Peggy, Max, Samantha and I set out from Forest Rd. 75, Wildlife Trail (TR 560), south onto the Rohrbaugh Trail, (TR 508), to the rocky cliff overlook. After that we hunted around for campsites and wandered away from the rock; we didn't want to crowd some other campers who took the primo spots. The area wasn't really that crowded and I wanted to be closer to the rocks so we wandered back.

The way out, down the Wildlife Trail had been fairly muddy. There were a few dry segments. Samantha who'd only done minimal hiking and never any backpacking had struggled with the idea of going through or around the mud. She expressed being frightened. She says she's frightened of so many things these days that it's hard to separate excuses from the real thing. It was a good thing that it was downhill going out as that helped her get through it. She carried a small pack with her own water, some snacks, and some clothes. We stopped a lot of times with Peggy and I taking turns staying back with Samantha until our frustrations were too much.

Max was a trooper. He'd been backpacking in the Dolly Sods Wilderness several times though this was a new trail for him. After setting up the tent in a dry area near the rocks, he'd wanted to go fishing. He'd brought along a hook on some string that he wrapped around a stick and planned to eat what he could catch. The nearest stream was really too small for fish of that type but it did allow him to take off his shoes and splash around in the cold water a bit. Peggy and I got our feet wet too. Samantha was content to watch. The cold water hurt until our feet got numb and overall it felt good!

We cooked dinner on the cliff edge and had the rocks to ourselves while we ate. Only after we ate did some other campers and hikers come through.

For an encore, we sat on the rocks again to watch the stars. Mars and Jupiter were prominent. The view wasn't as good as I'd hoped for since there was a cloudy haze over most of the sky. Other campers were visible far away from their headlamps. There were some thunderheads to the west. We saw them flash with lightening and saw a few good bolts but they were too far away to hear the thunder. Peggy, then Max got concerned about watching it all and wanted to get back to get ready for the long night in the tent. I enjoyed it a while longer.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to Folkstone Rd., with Samantha on her trail-a-bike. In one hand on this outbound trip, I carried Max's trumpet in a hard case--that was challenging. Max rode a bit ahead of Samantha and I since I was slow holding his dc, then back towing the trail-a-bike without her, and holding on to Max's bicycle riding one-handed. On the return trip, Max had no idea how he'd be able to ride carrying his trumpet and books. I ended up riding my bike with Samantha's trail-a-bike, and holding/towing Max's bike. I got a lot of stares going both directions from the teens at a bus stop and various outdoor workers such as those always around building additions to the houses.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I continued carrying things on my commute. I had my work laptop in addition to my change of clothes in a backpack. Before I got started and as I was getting ready, my neck started hurting high and toward the back. I arched backward a bit to stretch it and proceeded with the hurt slowly going away. I left the house just before 8am and rode into some traffic getting out of Bethesda. Once on the CCT, there were relatively few riders. I caught one guy and rode behind him for a while before moving ahead. There were some headwinds along the water after Georgetown. It was 75 F by the time I got to my office, and more humid than earlier this week.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. It was like summer; mid-80s F and a little humid. I had a slight tailwind. With the holiday weekend exodus from the city started earlier, it was not too hard to get out. I was through Georgetown in 13 minutes. I'd passed a guy on a track bike entering Georgetown and a mile out of it, I was hearing sounds like my bike was out of tune. A little later after the track bike rider passed me, I realized it was his bike making the noise. I rode behind him until just after Dalecarlia. After that I pulled him to Falls Rd. Before I got Bradley Blvd. I heard another tell-tale sign and pulled over at 35 minutes to fix a flat. I cruised in from there and felt that I was already much stronger than last week.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. I was pretty tired and carried both my running clothes and my work laptop.

From Northfield Rd. I ran up to Custer Rd., to Wilson La., to Exeter Rd. to Glenbrook Rd. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to the NIH grounds, to Maple Ridge Rd., to Goddard Rd./York Ln., to Overhill Rd., to Hampden Ln., to Wilson Ln., to Aberdeen Rd., to Aberdeen Pl., to Northfield Rd. I worked late so instead of running from the office, I ran closer to home. I was still tired from the weekend, and my ride on Tuesday. I set out to only do 2 miles, but I added on, making a figure 8 loop, with the hillier part at the end. I plodded along the whole way. It was about 72 F when I finished and I was sweating a lot, despite it not being humid.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was 56 F and damp out this morning after the drenching rains yesterday. If it were earlier in the year, I might not have ridden but it promises to be a nicer sunny day this afternoon. The wetness wasn't so bad as to kick-up a lot of water. I had what was mostly a tailwind though there was no wind along the river and that's the place that is most likely to have any. I felt okay after a rest day, though I probably ate too much on Monday. I caught a guy on the CCT and we traded pulls equally getting into Georgetown. I moved on ahead from there with only a bit of headwind rounding the Jefferson Memorial.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I had mixed winds going home but it was sunny and warmer. I ran into some traffic getting across 15th Street and in Georgetown. On the trail, I cruised up the trail slowly catching a young group of Rock Creek cyclists who were spread out. As I got closer to the head of that group, I was climbing and catching people more slowly. I wasn't sure I'd pass a group of teenage girls but eventually did. I finally caught one of the group wearing a spotted jersey like the Tour de France climb leader wears. This young guy passed me back after tailing me for a while. He pulled ahead at the bridge climb over River Rd. but I caught him again.

It was rainy and my legs were sore from running yesterday.

Event: QOC Fountainhead
 

Bull Run Marina, Fairfax, VA. From the marina parking lot, I headed out to go to the start of QOC's meet on the western peninsula of the Fountainhead map. Part-way there, I realized I'd forgotten my compass. I jogged back, then realized that a bathroom stop would be best. That was down the road on the other side. After that I ran to the start. It was 53 F and raining lightly. I walked up the steeper and longer hills so that I wouldn't get too tired. It seemed a long way there.

From the finish of QOC's meet on the western peninsula of the Fountainhead map to the Bull Run Marina, parking lot. It was still raining and I felt that for both reasons of potentially getting cold, and training for the upcoming DVOA mini-rogaine, that I should jog back. I ran most of the way; on all except the steepest and longest uphills. By the end of this I was really feeling how much weaker my right leg is. My heel arch area hurt just walking around afterward and that is the remaining pain that I feel in the mornings and on other longer runs since my back woes and operation last year.

QOC: Fountainhead West. I had difficulties. My result was bad again, but there were many good things for me to take back from this. The main issue I had was not reading carefully. This was hampered by the steady rain, foggy glasses and fatigue. Additionally, the layout of the course got me a few times with there being loops and classic leg numbering hazards. For instance, and for the worst error of the day, I ran from control #3 to #14. I was thinking I was going to control #4 which actually happened to be only 120m away, and which doubled as control #13. Control #14 on the other hand was about 900m away. I spiked that control and only then when checking the code, did I realize that I had gone correctly to the wrong control. With the long run to the start and a run back, I wondered whether or not I should give-up and just make my own course. With the rain and hills, I was worried about finishing before 3pm. I did the right thing sucking it up and navigating back to #4 I made an error coming back that cost me 2 minutes though AP shows my whole error on leg #4 for 20 minutes even. Other similar numbering hazards that got me again were with legs #6 and #9 being parallel close together and going in opposite directions--going to #9 I passed #9 and climbed most of the way toward an upside down #6. That got me muttering to myself. I also had made the error of heading toward #5 when I was going to #15. The leg line for #15 went through #5 so that going close to #5, I incurred extra climb which was not an efficient way of getting to #15. These are problems that were detectable and I missed them. I have had trouble with following the correct leg line since going to the Troll Cup earlier this year. However, today, others had trouble with following the course layout too, including at least one other who went to #14 when he should have gone to #4. There were many DNFs across most courses but that could have been due to the rain and distance getting to the courses, as much as the layout problems.

On leg #1, I thought to take it safe and get into reading the map. While on the run out to the start, I wasn't entirely sure where I was since the beginning of the trail run wasn't on my printed map. I was surprised when we'd gotten to the actual start since the trails didn't seem to make much sense with what I was seeing. The fog on my eye glasses actually made things more difficult than it was helping. I cleared them off just before starting but they were fogged right away. I went down the trail to the right, across the reentrant, and I was looking for the mapped trail intersection. I didn't see it so I went on up the other side before realizing I was making an error. I corrected by going down to the reentrant and attacking over the ridge that I then had to climb.

On leg #2, I went straightish. I caught some others who were also going this way. I crossed the first 2 reentrants where they merged. As I was going up the other side, I saw Ted Good headed my way. He seemed to be going away from the control so I asked him if he was running Blue. Hew was. We continued to cross paths. I corrected a bit and so did he. With Ted on my left and higher, I saw the control down on my right and went right to it. Perhaps going around on the trail would have been faster but I did hit the control well.

On the way to #3, I went straight. I was still having trouble seeing through the foggy eyeglasses. Initially I saw Ted again but we diverged. He kept left. Had I been seeing better, I would have done that too--I'd been course setter here in 2015 so I knew the ridge pretty well. I got too low and started seeing more reentrants than expected. I corrected going higher and went one reentrant past where I thought it'd be to hit the control well. I was just too hesitant and slow running on the hillside through small reentrants.

As mentioned already, I went to #4 via #14. That was done going straight. Though I lost contact for a while, I picked-up where I was well enough crossing the last big reentrant. I also read the reentrant south of #14 well to not go down it. I was there in 9:13. My trip back was easier since I was able to use side reentrants for running in and stay right on track up until the 2 cairns west of #3. From there however, I missed going too high and passing #4. I got to a cairn in between #12 and #4--a control site I'd used for the 2015 US Ultralong Champs, so I knew how to recover. For #4, I turned a control that should have taken me a minute into a 21 minute leg :(

As I'd been coming into #4, Vido was leaving. He'd been re-attacking #4 too. He left before I got there and drank. Encouraged by his going straight instead of a bit more to the right to come down to #5, I did too. I read my way across well. I ended up hooking into the control from the larger reentrant to the south. As I was getting there, I could see Vido climbing away toward #6.

For #6, I climbed too but I was not strong. I ran on the hillside to reduce climb, and I crossed the first big reentrant eventually. I kept climbing, reading reentrants to my left. Seeing some other runners, I picked-up speed going downhill. I passed Don Fish. I descended down the final ditch to spike the control.

For #7, I descended a little too much at first but did get over to the right so I wouldn't have to cross the marshy part of the stream going into the inlet. I went a little more straight from there but did have to cut further to the right than expected at the end.

For #8, I was pretty slow climbing (already about 2k further into the run than others on Blue). A woman was climbing in the reentrant on my left. I spiked it.

For #9, as mentioned earlier, I was anticipating going further, having read an upside down 6 as a 9. I climbed at least 3 contours past #9 before realizing this and coming back.

For #10, I climbed the same hill I had earlier and used the saddle SW of #6. I attacked from high and spiked it unseen as I was coming over the curve of the ridge.

For #11, I went straight but lost contact. At the trail crossing I wasn't sure I was on target but I went on and hit it after some hesitation.

For #12, I started out to confidently run the ridge but got cocky with familiarity. I didn't check off features as it was getting hard for me to read again. I drifted off to the left too soon, getting on the wrong side of a reentrant well north of #12. I knew it was wrong because I was too close to the water (still high up) I ran around it to the next reentrant and then realized how far off I'd been. The rest was easy but I'd lost more than the 34 seconds that AP says I had.

I hit #4/#13 well on this short leg, though I drifted a bit to the right.

After a water break, I set out to replicate my earlier run to #14. I had a similar result but was moving slower. I also had avoided the deadfall by staying lower to the left. I again recognized my position in the last big reentrant before the trail and control by the steepness of the climb out. This let me correct to the right just enough. I crossed the ridge coming due west into the control.

For #15, I didn't pause long enough to read the full leg. I saw #5 and thought it was #15. At least I started out going to the right to avoid the worst of the first 2 reentrants. I dropped down into the big reentrant system south of #5 and realized my error. I thought about staying low from there but I'd run the west side of the peninsula before when scouting for US Ultralong Champs control sites, and I knew some of it was too steeply sloped to stay low. I went just south of #5 and didn't even bother to look over toward it as I kept climbing. I went straight across the next big reentrant and across the top of the next small reentrant south of #15. This let me have a nice little drop running into #15, albeit a spike from a poor route choice.

For #16, I ran pretty much straight. I got a little left at the end but kept cutting over that direction. Dan Tam Do got there a little bit before I did.

For #17, I again went fairly straight. I followed the reentrant pointing to the control at the end. I also saw Dan Quinn and Tom Wells ahead. I closed-in and passed Tom, and almost caught Dan Quinn.

Dan Quinn and I have had many sprint finishes to controls and finishes before. He was reading the map as a told him there's one more, and I took off. I moved well at first but stuck closer in the reentrant than he did. Before long, I needed to walk, and Dan had enough left to keep running longer. He finished several seconds ahead of me.

What was good about this race was that when I was headed to a control, I got there with few errors, including some relatively technical controls. I felt that my endurance and running had improved too. I ran through the whole race except where it was really steep--given my weight which won't seem to go away just yet, that was pretty good for where I'm at physically. I still need to work on taking the time for proper the leg planning--a beginner/intermediate skill that I skipped over long ago. I hope my eyes don't keep getting worse. The foggy glasses really made this harder for me.

Blue - Splits