Training Log Archive: Nadim

Fieldchecking at Hoyles Mill Conservation Park and the MD. Soccerplex. It was a pretty day! It would have been better if I had more time.

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 Georgetown Pike, to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd. to Northfield Rd. I was testing my left knee.

From Northfield Rd., walking with Samantha on Charlcotte Rd., Hampden Ln., Lambeth Rd., and Custer Rd., returning to Northfield Rd. Samantha got spooked at one point and ran but I kept up.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to W. Cedar Ln., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail along Rockville Pike and up to Maple Ridge Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., via Greenwich Park, to W. Cedar Ln., to the Bethesda Trolley Trail along Rockville Pike and up to Maple Ridge Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd., to Huntington Pkwy., to Custer Rd., to Northfield Rd. I could feel my left knee sometimes hurting on this run. It wasn't as much as before but the need to moderate is still there. I haven't been able to get onto dirt very much lately and the dirt seems to cause less trouble.

QOC: Pohick Bay Regional Park, VA. I ran Green today, having decided that due to my lack of training, the steep hills here, and a need to keep stress on my left knee low was best. I navigated poorly through most of the first half of the course, and moved slowly through the rest. The course setting was pretty good, making one have to decide routes mostly. The ground was sometimes muddy or slippery.

S-1 - I ran down the road but cut left toward he campground field. From there I dropped to the trail . I briefly got too far left in the wrong reentrant but corrected. That got me around some of the light green on the map but that didn't look bad anyway.

1-2 - I initially ran straight, thinking that I'd get over the ridge with the ranger house driveway, then moved down to the water and use the trail---only my memory was involved and it was wrong. After getting close to the water, I realized I had to climb back up. Next I'd read the control to be in the marsh near the water. Having gotten there there was no control. It was actually supposed to be up a few contours from the there and it took me a minute to realize it. I was having trouble reading the detail. I probably lost 3 minutes on this leg.

2-3 - Taking the trail around seemed too long. I did move toward the water, then cut across the woods. It was slow going. Coming to a spur and not finding the control, I thought I'd passed it. I turned back thinking I'd passed the spur but in doing so I was making a parallel error. I reversed direction again, paused close to the water for horses and to figure out what I'd done, and proceeded. I hit it okay after that. I probably lost 4 minutes and taking the trail would have avoided my errors. I suppose I was running too hard early and the fatigue catching-up with me precipitated the errors.

3-4 - With a shorter, less steep leg, I was fine on this, going mostly straight, and having memorized the route.

4-5 - Slogging up the hill, I was convinced that the climb rating for the course was not possibly correct. Having done this leg in a previous course, I went mostly straight, with the golf course and the reentrant keeping me on course.

5-6 - I was going to go up to the trail SE of #5, but I stayed lower in the forest, along the gully to get on the bigger road, which had been newly re-plowed and was muddy. I used a gap between greens to go past the building and to the next road. I could see the control from the road.

6-7 - I went left to avoid the greens, but eventually got in the big reentrant. After turning left at the big reentrant junction, I got on the trail leading to the control.

7-8 - Rather than go directly, I dog-legged out of #7, to get back in the larger reentrant. The hillside had a fair amount of deadfall and I walked over much of that slowly. I cut right at the next big reentrant and went up a way to spike it.

8-9 - I climbed to the trail. From the trail intersection, I went to the cliff, staying on the right side of the cliff, I dropped right to the control. After crossing the stream, I kept slipping back, but I eventually got to punch.

9-10 - Up the left side of the stream, until it narrowed and I could cross on a log. The reentrant prior to the one with the control seemed more prominent and was confusing me but I didn't stop and spiked the control.

10-11 - Up to the trail, then across to the next at the bend. I kept going past the second trail, planning to get around the green. I was getting tired and fell twice in 10m on some thorny stuff just past the 2nd trail crossing; tired, I guess. I eyeballed my position crossing the park entrance road and angled toward the control knowing the it was close to the main road. I could see a guy converging from my left, and then I saw the disturbed ground around the depression. The other guy was a kid and he got there a little bit before me.

11-F - I tried going straight. I ran right up to the mini-golf course planning to go across it but then I realized it was out of bounds. I cut right but saw that the way was steep, so I turned around to go clockwise around the mini-golf area. Not long after punching, I saw the kid whom I'd seen at #11. He might have used roads.

Overall, I salvaged the race but feel like I lost too much time on legs 1, 2, and 3. Legs 2 and 3 were the long ones and where I'd lost the most time. It was close to 80 F during the race. Though I made some errors, my GPS captured 295m of climb instead of the 175m rating.

Green - Splits