Training Log Archive: Nadim

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station with Max on his trail-a-bike. I was tempted to ride all the way in but once I actually got on my bike and headed to the metro station, my legs felt tired enough that I was glad I chose a shorter ride. I also probably ate too much after the race yesterday. Max did seem to pull his own weight pretty well while riding.

From the Bethesda Metro Station with Max's trail-a-bike, to Northfield Rd. I was trying to keep from sweating in my work clothes.

West Point, NY. I felt much better today after a decent sleep. With a Long course that required less precise map reading along the way than the Middle and Sprint yesterday, and terrain that was a lot easier to run through, I did much better. I doubt that my routes were optimal on the long legs but going straight over the tops did at least keep me on course mostly. I bobbled controls 4, 7, 12, 14, and 15 but pretty much hit all the others. I spiked #16 where AP shows I lost +2 minutes but I probably was just too slow climbing to it on the steep and blueberry covered ride. With the exception of #15, everytime I missed, I corrected straight to the control. Like yesterday, I finished with a tick on me that was starting to attach.

Long Red - Splits

Event: West Point A-meet
 

West Point, NY. While Peggy ran her middle distance course, I went out on the Whiite course, in the recreational category with Max. It was a bit unfortunate that the starter had us go right after another girl who was probably running F10- Max takes after me in naturally wanting to chase after whoever he sees going the same direction. I was trying to get him to read each leg before going for it but he was impatient, seeing others get ahead of him. We kept catching-up to the same girl and others before getting ahead--I'd let Max make some errors but not too much. I was successful in teaching him to orient the map better by asking him to make the map "point" north. With that done, he could point the right direction to the next control but the impatience seemed to keep him from really reading the trail taking him there. The trail was actually difficult to follow in places partly because of erosion in and along the sides of it. When we finished, Max went to play but later we found him listed in the A-meet results; rec and competitive courses were the same. I had them correct this. Otherwise he'd of been in 3rd place at the time. By trying to teach him to navigate today I probably took some enthusiasm out of him as evidenced during the course that this "isn't as much fun as I thought it would be".

West Point, NY. From the Round Pond recreation area, I jogged over to the start. I had missed my assigned start time already while taking Max around on the White course. I was worried that they might close the start before I got there. I felt awful plodding along. The hills felt the worst as I had a bloated and heavy feeling. It could of been related to some illness I seemed to be picking up. On Thursday had some nasal drip that I thought was just from increased pollen. By Friday and Saturday I was coughing and my voice was hoarse. It could also reflect being out of shape.

West Point, NY. I had a horrible start--I lost +9 minutes on #1. I moved okay and started walking on the steep part of the hill to the control. I suppose I was drawn a bit left by a Blue course runner but I felt I had a good handle on where I was. I followed an unmapped and parallel rut that from the map looked like it would lead me to the control but it took me much higher. Seeing 3 boulders in a line that looked like ones near the control, I went even higher. I flailed finding 2 other controls before dropping enough. I was off again to the left going to #2 but I corrected that without too much time lost. My route to #3 on the left side of the marsh, staying low, was not optimal but finally I hit a control. I started going straight at #4 but eventually came at it from the left side. I overshot #5 being a bit to the right but corrected well. I was well off the the left on #6 but corrected well again. I hit all the rest well except for the Go control. I was behind a Blue course runner and running faster than I could read the cabins--I was also thrown off by the dire warnings not to go through campground areas on pain of disqualification. The cabin area looked like a campground to me. Stopping, Jeff Shapiro eventually caught-up (I'd only caught and passed him at the previous control, and I had him in front of me as I sprinted to the finish past him. I found it very difficult to run through the rocky blueberries and sticks on the ground--my energy level was rather low.

West Point, NY. After a short nap and taking a much more leisurley walk to the start, I felt much better than I had in the morning. I decided to try out some new Ice Bug shoes that I got--they turned out to be fine with only a little less lateral stability. I got off to a sort of slow start, having oriented the map 180 degrees off and having difficulty finding the start triangle. However, I moved through the first 5 controls well. On the 6th, I took a poor route. Attacking from above off the buildings would have been better. I also got a little confused with the IOF trail symbol instead of the dashed black line that I'd seen earlier when getting Max through the White course. On #8, I missed the turn to the right and ran around the cliff. It was only a little bit slower. I hit #9 well but then I lost track of what I was doing. Instead of going to #10, I started to fixate on #11. I couldn't make sense of the map because I had left #9. After crossing a trail on the way to #11, I relocated but never realized I missed #10 until looking at splits with Jeff Shapiro when it was all over. I hit #11 okay but overran #12 when a woman in front of me headed that way. I figured it out. I was fairly clean going to the other controls. Since the sprint counted in the weekend 3 race total, my mispunch knocked me out from gettting an overall finish.

After getting back to the hotel, I went to the pool with Max and did some easy swimiming. When kicking against the wall to swim the very short length, my foot slipped and I slammed my arch on a concrete corner where there was hole in the side of the pool for a water filter. In the evening, I fell asleep early whille trying to do AP logging and I hacked phlem a bunch.

Middle Red - Splits

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. This morning it was vastly cooler, drier, and sunny too :).

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd. to the Bethesda Metro Station. I was a lazy man today by not biking all the way to work, but there was a high chance of rain predicted and I could still use the rest. I didn't feel that I slept well. I took my road bike. Peggy had Max for Bring Your Child to Work Day. It was very humid and the temperatures were in the 60s F. I felt hot and a bit more sweaty than I'm comfortable with in my work clothes.

From the Bethesda Metro Station to Northfield Rd. It was warm but there was a nice headwind to keep me from sweating much. I listened to music on the way back. I've rarely tried doing it when riding. It's a bit of a distraction but okay on a leisurely ride like this.

From Northfield Rd. to Cordell Ave. via Park St. and Glenwood Rd., then to the Bethesda Trolley Trail to Old Georgetown Rd. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. Max powered me along on his trail-a-bike as he, Peggy and I went downtown for dinner.

From Northfield Rd., to Old Georgetown Rd. to Johnson Ave. to Heamsteadt Ave. to McKinley Ave. to Garfield St. to Roosevelt. Ave. to Jefferson St. to Northfield Rd. I was feeling rather tired much of the day. With rain threatening, I didn't bike, but I got out for this short run and took it easy starting out. I was about 7:52 at the first mile but steadily picked-up the pace.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to Arlington Ave. with Max on his trail-a-bike, then to 12th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I woke-up a bit late and as I bent down I could hear some not so good sounds coming from my left knee. My right forefoot was achy too. I decided to ride, spinned well and wasn't that tired from the run yesterday. It was comfortable and breezy getting to Georgetown. Tree leaf cover protected me from the winds. I pulled a rider from Dalecarlia to Georgetown. After Georgetown, the headwinds were strong, coming from the SW. I slowed a lot until I rounded the Jefferson Memorial. Interestingly and without monitoring it, I finished the ride with the exact same time to the second, as I did last week.

From 12th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Arlington Rd., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I enjoyed a great tailwind that came from the SW for practically the whole way. There were lots of other cyclists out. Two passed me and I rode my pace.