Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: 2016 US Two-Day Classic Championships and Sprint Relay
 

HVO US Championships Day 1 at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, NY. This was a pretty good run for me in terrain that while not the most technical, is more technical than I usually get to race or train in locally. I hoped to run a fairly clean race since I feel that I'm lacking running speed and climbing ability. That largely happened relatively speaking; I usually lose much more time for errors. A couple of things came together for me on this. Getting further recovered from back problems in 2015 was a big one. I've been running better in cooler weather too, and had been putting in more training volume more over a hot DC summer. I lost enough weight for it to make a difference too--that took some focus. I loved the park. It was so open as to be conducive to going straight a lot--that's something I fall into when I don't quickly see a better route like better navigators do, and my accuracy improves in open terrain relative to others. One last thing that helped me a lot was the high quality of the map. I tend to make more errors than others when the map isn't up to date. I got 2nd in M55+ which is a big improvement from earlier.

S-1 - I was getting into reading the map heading out, and not doing it that well. Call it early jitters and not slowing down enough to run and read--I read the contours but mistook the first wall. I pulled-uphill early and too high, then corrected well.

1-2 - I read the contours and went straight there.

2-3 - This seemed easy enough and I knew the first control to the left wasn't mine. However, with it so open and not seeing the control ahead, I paused and got close enough to the other control on the left before going on straight to it.

3-4 - I went around to the left, and was happy to be reading the little things pretty well. Literally just before the control, I popped-up and stood on the cliff above it w/o seeing it. E. Matveeva gave it away but I was headed there anyway.

4-5 - I almost did what a few others did by starting to head downhill. A quick check of the compass set me straight. However, I wasn't very focused. I ran without a good plan and stuck to the trail even though I was having trouble reading while on the run. I figured I was making good time in the terrain and headed the right direction with the marsh to funnel me in. I ran parts of the marsh that were dry and attacked just before the 2 boulders 3-4 contours below the control. I walked up, even going through the green, but I was confident and right on.

5-6 - A cadet or other younger runner was leaving #6 just behind me. I ran straight as I could and didn't look back. I slowed after 3 contours and contoured along a stone wall to a reentrant between the hills. Going straight through the green from there, I spiked it.

6-7 - Once again I ran straight as I could, without getting stopped by vegetation in the marsh. Taking the trail for a short distance, I stayed with it until it climbed. Ahead I wasn't seeing what I expected. I hadn't realized that the hill on the straight line had 3 formlines. I was planning to go around that to the left, and did but I was very unconfident and hesitant until I got to the depression north of the control.

7-8 - I realize from past experiences that when I string together a decent start that I often make a mistake around this point in a race. I decided to go left a little but not all the way to the marsh, but just left of the initial spurs. I didn't read all of the detail but approaching the control, I could read the contours across the dry marsh and went up. I spiked it and was happy!

8-9 - I underestimated this one though I was still trying to be careful. I crossed the marsh and got on the trail eventually. I thought I was reading the trail bends well but at one bend, it seemed to disappear. Rather than stop, I went on, albeit to the right a bit. The hill ahead looked right, and I figured I was SE of the control. I saw ahead (NW) another runner figuring that person to be on my course. Though it didn't turn out to be whom I thought it was, the control became visible as I got close and the person moved off.

9-10 - Most of the time while running this, I figured that someone like Ernst would have found a really nice route that I was missing. I ran pretty straight, a little confused by some of the ups and downs in the first 1/3 of the way, but I clearly recognized the steep hillside near the big trail/road and marsh. I ran confidently to it, and crossed the road between the water stop and the dry pond. I was cautious for a little bit until confirming the double stone wall. Running over near the spurs, I felt good, but crossing the last stone wall with a cliff, I felt inclined to go more to the left to a boulder that I could see. A check of my compass, got me to look in the right direction and I saw another (Brown course?) runner going there too. I ran fast the last bit as the boulder became more visible through the greener bits, and got there ahead of him.

10-11 - I ran up the trail initially, leaving again at a bend and almost at the same time as I caught Michael Lyons (injured). I followed a stone wall on my right and read the knoll contours to keep track of where I was. At just about the last moment, I decided to run above the control for better/faster footing. I figured the control would be visible below me as I got to the end of the spur. However, I didn't see the control as I ran faster. The end of the spur turned out to be further on the edge of the unbroken circle, and mapped as rocky ground. I think I lost 30 seconds or so coming back.

11-12 - I stayed high for the best running footing, looking for the wall intersection. I saw it much below where I was so I dropped down and crossed the wall well above the intersection. I stayed out of the mapped slash (barberry) until a break in the wall and the slash. I hadn't read the control feature and ran to what I thought was the center of the circle on the stone wall. Once there and not finding it, I turned back, losing only 5-10 seconds.

12 - 13 - I figure that I was kind of oxygen deprived. I certainly wasn't thinking or reading that well. I ran straight across the stream and only then distinguished the mapped trail from the mapped wall well enough to go on. I contoured across the white woods while climbing, to avoid the barberry--reading the course notes helped there since from the edge, it almost looked passable. Others who when into it said they lost time. I hit the wall and found the streamers for the white course along with a kid with his father. I ran up, not running with much purpose until I could see the road and a way around the green. The mowed trail at the end was nice; I saw what Francis Hogel and some others looked like with hitchickers on their pants because they missed the unmapped trail.

13-F - Half thinking a few seconds might not matter too much, I didn't push a lot initially. Once I did, I had to slow down way before the finish just to be safe on the steep downhill.

It was a lot of fun running this park. Despite my sometimes poor decisions and ill-advised risk taking (mostly not slowing down enough to stay in better contact), I was happy not making a big mistake for a change. I enjoyed the course setting too.

Saturday - Green X - Splits

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. Some of the areas with road construction have been completed so the ride was a lot smoother.

Washington, D.C. From 12th & Independence Ave., SW, down Independence Ave., to 17th St., along the Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial circle, to Ohio Dr. to the Rock Creek Trail, to P St., NW., to 20th St., NW., to the Dupont Circle Metro Station at Q St., NW. The weather was much more comfortable today; probably in the mid or upper 70s F and there was not much humidity. I felt that I was running faster but I didn't feel strong. I just was able to keep up a focus and drive most of the way. The last few blocks on city sidewalks that were uphill felt slow, like I had run out of steam. My quads were tired. This was about 2:30 minutes faster than 2 weeks ago in slightly warmer weather.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. at dusk. There were a few stops and go's. I was sweaty and the breeze felt good, almost cold.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was still comfortable this morning when I rode. At Bradley Blvd., another commuter cyclist merged onto Fall Rd. not far behind me. He looked a little overweight and about my age but also looked fit. I think the rough road from construction slowed him up more than it did for me. I got on the Capital Crescent Trail and moved along pretty well. I felt more at ease cycling today than yesterday. At about the Dalecarlia Reservoir, the cyclist I'd seen a few miles back at Bradley Blvd. passed me. He seemed to be on a fixed gear bike but with an unusually heavy looking hub. I didn't think it was electric. I tucked in behind him moving pretty fast until the trestle bridge at the bottom of this hill; he stopped there. I continued on at a good but more manageable pace into Georgetown. In some traffic, just as I was about to split off on the Rock Creek Trail, the same commuter passed me and headed onto K St. I rode pretty well the rest of the way. The willows along the river gave only a hint of a possible tailwind. I thought I was riding a little faster than the time I ended with.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I started at 5:57pm. My legs were sore from the morning and the rides the previous day. After rounding the Jefferson Memorial, with headwinds getting to Georgetown, I was slow. After reaching the other side and another mile later, a rider passed me so I drafted. He was shorter and seemed to me to be older. However, he was moving really well, even as we turned uphill. He blocked enough air for me to keep up at a comfortable pace, with me having to push only now and then as we passed others or hit a bridge overpass. He turned away at Dorset Ave. so after that I moved slower again, even though I was putting in a little more effort. We had been moving up the hill rather well together so I must have been moving rather a lot more slowly early on.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. There was some traffic (construction, buses) and headwinds. I felt I was moving well but my legs didn't feel like I'd been cycling much. I rode alone passing a steady stream of other cyclists.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. There was a pretty good tailwind most of the way home. Another nice part was passing the electric biker. He kept slowing a lot each time he passed other riders. I passed him when he was seemingly slow to accelerate. I got passed caught the guy and passed him back as he slowed, then near Fletcher's Boathouse he went on quickly. I moved confidently throughout.

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. After the long time out yesterday I had eaten twice and drank well but my weight was still down a lot.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd. in the dark. This was just before 8pm. I had a busy day at work and was hungry when I got home. That killed plans for a short run but I was pretty tempted to do one late in the evening with the nice weather.

Event: QOC Lake Accotink
 

QOC: Lake Accotink. Warm-up from the registration area to the start, below the dam.

QOC: Lake Accotink Park, VA. This was a repeat run of a course that Victor Lin set on 9/22/2013, 3 years back. I did better then, by 18 minutes, and back then, I didn't think I did so well either. Interestingly, I blew some of the same controls. That doesn't say much for my technique, nor for learning from mistakes. I did however, have fun today and viewed this as some much needed tuning-up. The Summer Short Series events are fun and they get us out for physical training, but they are often not technical because people are less enthused to set courses in hilly forests with summer undergrowth and +90 F days.

S-1 I'm not sure where everyone else went and am surprised that I got the second fastest split on this. It was a steep climb and I have lost a lot of climbing ability. Since it was the first control, I did push up the hill on the trail and threaded my way past a bunch of people. I short cut right instead of taking the big trail bend. I got a little past the green and then walked-up the steep hill until I was past the steepest part. I forced myself right a little and got over the spur overlooking the reentrant. My first inclination was that the control would be low but I didn't see it and I soon saw a guy who'd started ahead of me coming up the reentrant. I went higher not seeing the ditch until in some underbrush and was happy to find the control.

1-2 I ran up until hitting the paved trail near an intersection with a dirt trail. I took the dirt trail almost the whole way there but things didn't look quite right with the trail mapping.

2-3 I took trails the whole way, going on what was shown as open ground (it wasn't open).

3-4 I back tracked, then got just past the control to a trail. I dropped-into the reentrant just after a young woman had punched.

4-5 - I took the trails around to the left to save climb. With extra unmapped trails, I got past the control and relocated low, near the fence corner along the main Accotink Trail. From there I was almost on target; I'd been looking for a ditch reading the center of the control circle instead of the control description. The mapped pit looked like a formline or part of a ditch to me. I fumbled into it with no more errors but some hesitation. The woman at #3 was just punching again when I got there.

5-6 - With so many controls on the narrow and legs criss-crossing, I ran toward control 16 instead of control 6. The extra unmapped trails were making it more difficult for me. Struggling, I was disappointed more at finding that I was attacking the wrong control. Once I realized it I went straight to control 6. Had I headed there to begin with, it would have been an easier trail run and attack. I picked-up this control after the event and though it matched-up with my attack point during the race, a control very close by on the further away trail bend didn't. That leads me to think something might be wrong with the ditch or trail mapping. The woman whom I'd seen at #4 and #5 was again, just leaving the control #6 ahead of me.

6-7 - I ran on bearing to a trail, then stayed high on that as it paralleled the reentrant. The woman who was at the last few controls dropped lower before me. I dropped low near the end and still had to run up the reentrant a little bit to the control.

7-8 - In the past I've usually run similar legs by staying low. However summertime vegetation discouraged me from that. I ran the left side of the reentrant with much of it on the trail. A guy running with a dog on a leash was just behind me. I pulled ahead and attacked from above. As I did, I tripped and caught myself okay. I was happy about not hurting myself more since my hand still hurts from a fall on a curb in Bar Harbor, ME. The guy with the dog wasn't so sure that I was okay but I ran on and hit the control well.

8-9 - Rather than go north and around, I went more directly on trails and a bearing. I didn't think I had the speed to make going around work for me. I wasn't positive that the control was in the field but this time, I did read the control description.

9-10 - I ran the field length, then along the fence. After cutting in at the reentrant I took the trail.

10-11 - I took the unmapped trail down toward 11. I got lower than necessary since I was thinking the control would be low on the earthbank. Looking at the circle instead of the control description, I made the right bet, but with a little hesitation.

11-12. I took trails and ran bearings somewhat directly toward 12. I probably stayed on one trail too long, and had some extra green to get through as a result.

12-13 - I ran trails to the stream, but crossed it late. I ducked under the control a little. Again, not reading the control description and not recognizing the mapped pit, I got confused and lost time figuring it out.

13-14 - I took trails and forced myself left when they didn't make sense. I hesitated at an unmapped ditch a little before the control.

14-15 - I started to go across on trails but ended up following the one taking me north to the main Lake Accotink Trail. That offered better running and I figured I'd be faster while saving energy. It may have saved me energy but it wasn't faster. I spiked the control.

15-16 - I ran up on trails and when they started not to make sense, I ignored them to go on bearing. I spiked it.

16-17 - I took trails along the tracks and spiked it.

17-18 - I doubled back on my route to 17, along the tracks. I next took the unmapped trail south of 18 until it turned away. I attacked on bearing and spiked it.

18-19 - I recalled there being a way through the fencing so when I saw a break to get in the enclosure I figured I'd find a way out. As I got to the other side, I didn't see it and got discouraged about going through the green along the fence and between the marsh. I backed-up a lot getting out of the enclosure on the north side. From there I took the main Accotink Trail and spiked it. I wasn't running that fast since I was getting tired.

19-20 - This seemed cruel at first since it was basically to the top of the hill from near the bottom. Accotink doesn't have that much land so it didn't bother me too much. I short cut over to the paved trail and ran up it slowly. I cut left but things didn't seem like they were matching up. I cut further up and into the reentrant. Later, I saw that the same trail would have taken me right to the control.

20-F - I ran down the mapped and unmapped trails past a lot of people, and I was glad that I hadn't overrun the finish.

QOC: Lake Accotink Park, VA. With mountain biking having been offered much earlier in the morning and this being the first meet of the season, QOC was short on volunteers for pickup. I was a little reluctant before going out on my course but it was getting late and Jon Baker, who was operating as director and course setter this weekend, was planning to go out injured again to pickup controls. I didn't want to leave with him that short handed and went to help too.

I was weak/tired but jogged the whole way. I hadn't realized that the first control I went to was a water control. It was above the main trail, on a steep hill so I packed-up the water trash in a bag and tossed it down to pickup on my way back. The bag opened so I had a mess to clean up when I returned. I hit everything well except for control 108. Something didn't seem to make much sense there; perhaps an extra trail. Control 103 also didn't line-up well with control 130, as mapped but the placements matched the descriptions--perhaps there's something wrong with the map around here. My run back was pretty slow for being on a good trails; just 10 min/K. I was however carrying controls and another bag for trash.

Red - Splits