Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: US Team Trials
 

DVOA Chasing Star at Leghigh University, Bethlehelm, PA. I planned to try to run a bit today and did so more than I have in nearly 2 months. I was worried about a downhill sprint being rough on my knee. It didn't hurt when running but I didn't go all out either. Only time will tell if I did damage or not--I have an MRI scheduled for next week. I ran at moderate paces. I was slow getting out of the start because I couldn't find the start triangle. My thumb was covering it. I made a 3:20 error on #10. With a 1:4,000 scale, I had looked for a a road that I'd already passed. After recovering, I ran the rest of the course with Jeff Saeger either ahead or behind me. I was fortunate to have him near on #14. I went to where I thought it would be but didn't realize it was on a terrace above me. I finished just ahead. I had trouble reading the map in many places. In a few places, I had trouble distinguishing the olive green out of bounds areas from stairs. The stairs often looked like fuzzy areas on the map as I was running. Only after the race did I realize what they were. This was fun. My GPS track tells me that I covered 3.12 miles in this race.

Red Sprint - Splits

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to 12th & C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was a nice cool morning again. I set a good pace after dropping off Max and passed a lot of people along the way. On the flats, one of them helped get me to Georgetown. The tailwinds along the river were nice though I got stuck behind some people in places where I couldnt' pass.

I decided not to ride yesterday. I have some regret about it but it was probably best since I could start to feel some warnings from my knee.

C • My sister must be one of th... 4

From C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD. I had a nice ride with slight headwinds. I took it easier but spinning along, I still kept a fair pace. I carried some extra weight and overloaded my pannier. I finally bought a digital SLR after waiting several years for the price to drop on the features that I wanted. I met Peggy and Max near the metro station and we strolled home together.

C • camera 2

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to 12th & C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. I rode Max to school with his lunch and in my continuing series of recent forgetfulness I realized that I'd forgotten to grab my panier. I scurried back home for it, then cut across Bethesda to the CCT. I moved pretty quickly down the grade passing a bunch of other riders at 20-22mph. On the flats at over 20mph, I caught and settled behind one for a little while but we traded some pulls afterward. Along the river and Ohio Dr., there were several other riders. I got stuck behind some in the tunnels then moved along over 20mph. Someone finally caught and passed me before the 14th St. Bridge. He zig-zagged and I couldn't keep up as he accelerated past. He was headed my way so I was only a few seconds behind him at 15th St. and Independence Ave. SW. It's been nice and cool out.

From C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD via Rock Creek Park. I left work close to 6pm. A storm was brewing. I got blasted on Ohio Dr. again but another commuter who probably left very near where I had decided to pass at that time. Though tucked in behind him, and still the winds were bad. I led rounding past the Lincoln Memorial and lost him near the underpasses where there were other cyclists going the other way on the one way portion of the trail. Emerging from the underpasses, the crazy wind neary knocked me down several times. I guess fatness was good for something since I didn't fall. I estimate the gusts that hit me off the river at 40+mph and by this time it had started to rain lightly. Not wanting to deal with it along the river, I again rode up Rock Creek. I stayed in the sheltering valley all the way to Wyse Rd., then cut across Chevy Chase mostly on Thornapple Rd. Fortunately the winds had died down by the time I left the park. I got to Max's daycare via Lynn Rd. again and picked up his trailer. It was late enough that traffic had died down somewhat so I cut across Bethesda to home.

From Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD to 12th & C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. It seemed like March. I had a pretty good headwind as early as going through the Bethesda tunnel. It stayed that way off and on until getting to Thompson Boathouse where I got a good tailwind. I picked-up two riders around the Dalecarlia Reservoir as I passed them. One of them exchanged a pull but I did almost all of the work into Georgetown.

From C. St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Rosedale Ave., Bethesda, MD via Rock Creek Park. It was pretty windy again so I opted to seek shelter in the steep Rock Creek valley. Part of the trail had been repaved so it was smoother than it had been last year. I climbed out of the park on Ridg Rd. Though steeper than my usual ride up the Capital Crescent Trail, it was a welcome change of view. I caught a cyclist who wasn't commuting and continued on Oregon Ave. I never seem to take the same way across Chevy Chase but eventually got to Brookville Rd., Bradley Ln., Maple Ave. and Lynn Dr. From Lynn Dr., I finally found a pedestrian cut through that I'd seen from the Georgetown Branch Trail but never used before. It'll be good to use for running someday when I can run again. I finished by picking up Max's trailer and going the usual route home.

Fort Hunt Park, VA. I overslept but eventually got out to do some field checking. Fort Hunt is where I trained for Cross Country racing in high school, starting almost 33 years ago. Though much had changed, much had remained the same too. Some of the trees had spread covering an old trail along a field. The artillery fortifications, designed but never used to protect Washington D.C. against a sea attack, used to be covered by immature trees back then but have been cleared out. One can see the forts from the fields now. On our old cross country course a shallow grassy depression in a field had remained and filled with water just as it used to. That reminds me that this is sort of the second time that I'm mapping the park. I still have a hand drawn memory made depiction that I created as team captain to show others where the cross country course went. This time Greg Lennon helped to set me up with a rectified base map. I've got nice aerials and I am using GPS for the many vegetation boundaries/features. The woods tend to run thick in areas but there are lots of trails and over half the park is covered with trees or scattered trees. It's mostly a picnic park now but 5K and 10Ks are run around the loop road. Cyclists like the loop road too--it's only 1.22 miles around . The elevation doesn't get much more than 50ft. Most of the park is flat but it does drop down to the Potomac River where you can see nice views of Fort Washington on the other bank. The contours for Fort Hunt Park are going to be 5ft. I think this will be a fun sprint or short course area. With the slow start this morning, I covered only a very small area. There was much more detail around the main fort than I expected. It also started to rain about halfway into this. I got back in time to go see some open houses and later we took Max to his first movie theatre to see Horton Hears a Who.

C • Fort Hunt Park 7