Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC: Wheaton - Canceled due to park conditions.
 

William B. Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC. Driving into the park late, I rushed a warm-up from the car to the start, then went back to the car for my epunch and the back to the start--again. For the 3rd time this weekend it was not a good way to start. Fortunately, Peggy took my start time and I was able to take hers 4 minutes later.

William B. Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC. BOK: Sycamore Scramble Classic. My rush to the start line hadn't put me in a good frame of mind. I felt pressure to get going fast and it got me into trouble right away. On the first, short leg, I knew to look for the first control on the right, at the end of the reentrant that I'd dropped down to out of the start, but I ended on the left side of it. Going slower through green areas to #2 and #3 just heightened my sense that I wasn't doing well and needed to go faster--I was tired from the day before and lacked spring in my legs. I climbed more than needed to #4 (to the right) and converged with Peggy's more direct route there, just ahead of her. In a continuance of a well documented frequent occurrance, I proceeded to make an error going to #5 after running away from her at #4. The 1:15,000 scale had thrown me a bit; when I angled up a hill instead of taking it more directly, I had expected to cross a trail and never saw it. This convinced me that I'd made an error when in fact, I hadn't gone far or straight enough. I doubled-back as a result and took a while to relocate. From there I compounded the error staying low along the main creek instead of going more directly. I was still a bit off leaving #5 but I hit #6, #7, #8, and #9 pretty well. I was happy running down a long reentrant toward #10, expecting to see more water and a junction before the control. At a reentrant junction, I thought I was at a higher one so I went on, only catching myself when I checked my bearing. I doubled back for another minute loss. I missed the nice road route option to #11. I nearly spiked it going through the geen but even Peggy's pace on the road route was faster than my more direct and difficult to navigate way. Confusion continued when I didn't see a road intersection on the way to #12 but I hit #13 and #14 well.

This wasn't such a good run for me. I really need to improve my technique and self control because I continue to have 1-2 big errors/race, the cause of which is usually rooted in running too fast. I probably had 7 minutes of time loss today and ran over 9K on this 7.3K course. At the awards places were given for cummulative times over all 3 races. I wasn't initially called-up because on the results printout my times had oddly shown-up on two different rows. It had something to do with the way my epunch was in the database for the Middle Distance race on Saturday though there was no apparent problem after that race. After the system correction, I was awarded first in M45+ but I was very fortunate that others didn't have better runs. I'll need to work much better to place in future A-meet events and even local events.

Red Classic - Splits

Event: Sycamore Scramble
 

William B. Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC. Warm-up following streamers from the parking area to the start.

William B. Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC. BOK: Sycamore Scramble Middle Distance. After a sleepy morning and choosing to sleep more rather than eat a real breakfast, I got going a bit rushed. It was a pattern that would prove to keep-up over the weekend. At the start line after having been called-up, I had to rush back to check which of the Red courses that I was on. It followed the pattern recommended by USOF, RedY. I hadn't really looked at my compass until this point and learned then that I grabbed the one with a large bubble. Once I'd gotten going, I had to correct a few times for it pushing the needle around when I didn't hold it as flat as possible. I felt a bit tired so with the compass also being troublesome, I ran slower than I otherwise might have. I ran up to #1 but half thought it was another control--I was glad that I checked it. After crossing the road going to #2, I had some hesitation matching up the angles of reentrants with my map. The subtle 3m contrours took some getting used to. I ran better after that and soon caught Peggy who had started a few minutes before I had. I ran okay for a while, unlike many times when I pass Peggy and make errors. Approaching #7, I beat out a few runners including a Swede in M35+ (and a very friendly one at that as I found out later). I got into trouble wanting to stay ahead after getting to #8 ahead of the crowd--I had seen #9 earlier but headed off toward #10. I realized it, and fortunately, just happened to stop at an indistinct trail that lead much of the way to #9. I corrected, punching behind the Swede I'd seen earlier. I headed to the road and an intersection and got to #10 first after the Swede had overshot the intersection. I hurried heading downhill and being careful initially. When I hit a road crossing just at a bend that I'd wanted to, I became less careful, choosing instead to push and stay ahead of the footsteps that I heard coming from behind. I mistakenly ran to control #1 which was off to the side of the direct route to #11. After realizing it at control #1, I ran down but the Swede had already run by me. I never caught him. Despite my errors, I ran pretty well overall (perhaps the fastest on the course?) so I was somewhat pleased with my race.

William B. Umstead State Park, Raleigh, NC. BOK: Sycamore Scramble Sprint. After the morning race, we'd had so much time between events that we decided to get lunch and crash at the hotel. I even napped a bit, still tired from the night before. We got out and back to the park with just enough time to make it to the starting line on time. The few people I'd seen start were all heading to one of 2 visible controls on cabins. When I got started, I did pause and fumble to orient the map and get the correct bearing. I shot off to the cabin in the right direction but the code didn't match???--I immediately reacted and ran to the other control that'd I'd seen from the start and it didn't match either??? I finally realized that there were more cabins across a small road. Hitting a 3rd cabin and still not getting a control that matched, I slunked-off to the 4th :( It was a flustering way to start. I hit #2 well and didn't lose much more time until #9. By this time I knew that Chris Gross had been trailing me not too far behind. I cracked on a longer leg by running down a clear reentrant to avoid some green when I should have gone through it. When things didn't match-up, I went on bearing and it took a while before things did match again and I got distracted by another control on the way. I made 1 or 2 bearing errors after that. After finishing the disappointing race, I was telling myself that at least I didn't lose a lot of time. After downloading and getting my printout, it took a while before I realized that I had double the controls that I should have. My finish time on the results initially showed +5 hours--In my rush, I'd forgotten to clear and check before starting. I talked with the meet director and fortunately was able to get the result corrected by using my official time, even though I started a few seconds after that. Their initial correction gave me a time of 17:10 but I went back and had them fix it again to 17:45.

Red Y Middle - Splits

Long Sprint - Splits

Raleigh, NC. 45 situps after a long drive from Bethesda, MD. The traffic from the D.C. area Fredericksburg, VA was really slow, perhaps due to snow still being on the shoulders in a few places.

From the Grosvenor Metro Station, Tuckerman Ln. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Beech Ave. to Singleton Dr. to Bulls Run Pkwy. to Adelade Dr. to Wilmett Rd. to Ewing Dr. to Roosevelt St. to Jefferson St./Charlcote Rd. to Moorland Ln. to Lambeth Rd. to Park Ln. to Battery Ln. to Exeter Rd. Edgemoor Ln. near the Bethesda Metro Station. Leaving late again, I still left a lot of work to do at the office and hit the roads; or as much of them as I could find. Most of the roads continued to be better cleared but there was still some ice. I was fortunate that the sidewalk along Tuckerman Ln. had been plowed. The first part of the Bethesda Trolley Trail (over I-270) was not so bad to get through. The part over I-495 was much more snow covered and slow. What was packed snow before had softened in the recent warmer weather. I added-on through neighborhood streets close to my house but still had to go downtown to end at my parked van. I haven't used the rolling Ewing Dr. much before but that was good for running. I could have used a restroom the last two miles and though the exersion felt comfortable in my legs, I passed a fair amount of blood afterward.

Some of the glacier on our porch roof had crashed onto our walkway and more was hanging stressing the gutter. I cleared both while a rabbit waited to see what food it could find that I'd left out.

Regarding the snow in the street, I was luckier than my neighbors. Snow plows came the night before at 1am to clear ice off the middle of the road but also moved the big piles on the sides that people had dug earlier. My neighbor got an inordianate amount of these piles dumped into his front yard by a big front loader that drove right up on their lawn. In contrast, similar front loaders and dump trucks were cleaning the busy downtown Bethsda intersections at the morning rush hour thus causing long backups that were better with the snow piles the day before.

45 situps. I worked rather late and didn't have time to run on the way home from work as planned. The unpleasant part or working late in the winter these days is when they turn off the heat somewhere after 6pm.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station on mountain bike. I had dropped off Max by car and gone all the way home. I preferred to setup a ride in the dark back streets and on ice on the way home rather than have to deal with the messed-up rush hour traffic again when going home. Most of Old Georgetown Rd. had been good for being plowed but the last 2 blocks into downtown Bethsda had lost a lane to snow banks, creating a loonng backup that went miles out. There are similar problems all over. Even the metro trains are having delays. My legs were tired from the run yesterday.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.on mountain bike. There was a good headwind. I was working late and so aborted further plans to go for a short run.

I carried Max and our sleds back almost the whole way from sledding at NIH. Walking up the hill so many times in all his winter clothes tuckered him out.

After taking Max sledding, I put a replacement metal shovel to use to scrape off the ice on the road in front of our house. I just wanted to make it easier to get in and out as well as help clear our still unplowed road. The 1-3" thick ice was wet and heavy. I got sweaty.

Rock Creek Park. I had wanted to do a longer run all weekend so I built-on to Peggy's route from earlier this morning. From the Washington, D.C./Maryland border, I ran south on Beach Dr. to Broad Branch Rd. and got on the Rock Creek Trail to Tilden Rd. at the Pierce Mill parking area. From there I returned the same route past the DC/MD border, staying on Beach Dr. and crossing the foot bridge to Candy Cane Park. From there, I reversed the route back to the DC/MD border.

A light snow had just stopped when I started. Instead, there was a light drizzle which as darkness eventually came, gave way to some light fog. Starting out, my legs felt tight and slow; I was unsure about making this a 10 mile run but eventually got into a rhythm. Beach Dr. was plowed to the pavement. Though there were a few slippery parts, it had been the best running surface that I'd had used since before the first snow storm this month. After Broad Branch Rd., I had gone on trying to get to a total of 10 miles for this run. The trail had not been plowed so I ran on a snowy foot trail out and back a half mile, slowing my pace accordingly. Past Tilden Rd., it appeared that the foot trail through the snow had ended so I returned. I had intended on using several side roads in Rock Creek Park but none of these had been plowed except for ones busy with cars.

The park was very beautiful, still with heavy snow covering everything up but the creek. Even the picnic tables looked like they could have been boulders with the side accumulation just about reaching the table top. I saw a few other hearty runners, XC skiers and a hungry herd of deer. I probably would have enjoyed the XC skiing too but I believe the run would do me more good. I had more left knee pain and again used the ball of my foot more to land on to make that feel better. The last mile that I added on was in the dark and open to car traffic. With ice walls along the sides, I had to dodge cars on what otherwise had been a rather quiet peacful run. It was 33 F as I finished and parts of my wet legs were starting to get cold at the end.