Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: 2013 U.S. Individual Championships/Team Trials
 

EMPO US Sprint Championships at Camp Wakpominee, NY (near Lake George). Warm-up along the camp road going back and forth. Sometimes, Max would play by trying to bump me as I passed so I did likewise. I looped by the finish at one point.

EMPO US Sprint Championships at Camp Wakpominee, NY (near Lake George). I started feeling okay; I took the trail but pulled up short of the first control. I was confused by the scale (1:5,000) and the small size of symbols. Leaving #1 kicking myself for the hesitation, I didn't read the leg well. I went straight and in doing so felt that initially using the trail would have been better. Getting back to the trail, I cut across the next corner only when the slope wasn't too steep. When I hit the next trail, I climbed but couldn't gauge my location accurately. I hesitated looking for a bend in the trail that the map showed but was unsure I that I was seeing. I used the boulders to work my way in and spike it but I had already lost time.

Going to #3 I started fine but got confused with the stony ground and the wall. The scale got me again and I plowed past the control missing it to the right. I had completely missed that there was a stream to follow ;(. I couldn't make sense of the trail, and seeing another control. I went to on near #4. I cut back and found it but lost 1.5 to 2 minutes. I ran with a poor bearing to the same control that I'd been near before then corrected to #4.

#5 was finally better. I took trails to the right, and popped up jus past the control at the building. I went around to the left to #6, spiking it. I spiked #7 but I was hesitating. #8 was easy. I headed for the trail to go to #9. I hit the power line first then moved slowly on it thinking I was on a trail to the left; I didn't see the power line until I didn't see an expected trail bend. I adjusted but I'd lost some time. I was a little slow hesitating whether to use the trail or go straight. I took trails around to the left going to #11 because I didn't feel that I was running well in this type of forest. Along the was, I saw Tom Overbaugh who'd started 2 minutes ahead of me and had been leaving #12. Spiking #11, I went straight to #12 but got on the left side of the building and had to go between them to get to the control.

For #13, I used the trails at first, then went straight and spiked it. I went straight and along the shore somewhat to spike #14. I had to get around 2 people at the end. I hesitated leaving #14, then still wasn't running with confidence; I feared mis-punching but it wasn't to be. The run-in was so short that I couldn't get up to speed.

The day wasn't terrible but it wasn't a good day for me.

Sprint Green - Splits

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. It was rainy today again, and I expected to need to work late so I didn't plan a run from work. I didn't work very late. I felt that getting out would help my digestion. I also felt sluggish on this 59 F damp night.

Event: QOC Pohick Bay
 

From Carderock, the C&O Canal Towpath to Angler's Towpath (Berma Rd.), to the Uplands Spur Trail, to the C&O Towpath, to the Billygoat Trail Section A, then back to the C&O Towpath, to the Billygoat Trail Section B, then back to the C&O Towpath to Carderock. I missed the QOC meet today since Max had a birthday party to go to and I had to be here for him when he returned. I had set out for a modest recovery run. I was feeling fine and was increasing speed. I saw a fat carp in the canal. Once near a planned turnaround at a bridge, I decided to add on. The uplands took me further and slowed me a bit on the climb. However, turning around before the tavern and then getting on Section A of the Billygoat Trail was much more work and even slower. The Billygoat Trail Section A is Very Rocky. After a while, the rocky dirt trail gives way to boulder hopping and some rock scrambling along cliffs. There were a number of reentrants to cross that I didn't remember since I hadn't been on the trail in a long while. Each was around 1 to 2 contours but often steep and with sharp slippery rocks. There were some rather pretty vernal pools in the south. The Billygoat Section B is far more runnable but still with areas that require a walking pace. The river views were really nice on this clear 61 F day, especially around the islands. I saw a Great Blue Heron landing between 2 narrowly spaced islands, with its wings spread wide. Back on the towpath I finished up slowly.

Event: QOC Morven Park Night-O
 

QOC: Morven. Night-O. Running on a new map, I was looking forward to a rare night-o event. We got to the meet site at around 8:30 but it took a while to get registered and get everyone's lighting ready. I left in a hurry with an hour to go before the courses closed. In doing so, I left my glasses. That didn't seem to bother me too much at first.

Out of the start, I had a little trouble making sense of the trail and not seeing the reentrant nor the ditches leading to #1. It felt steep right away and that wasn't making me feel good. I decided to give going straight a try rather than climbing the trail up the hill and around to #2. I read my way across okay but didn't see much to confirm where I was except for the larger reentrants. I knew I was a bit high and south of #2 but corrected to hit the ditches that led me in. It seemed to take a long while getting to #3. I was going to follow the reentrant up but it was green there. I took a straighter route across trails and came-in just south of #3 before hitting it. I stayed somewhat high going to #4, but still on the hillside. I started catching others who started earlier. A reentrant prior to #4 was much more pronounced than it appeared on the map and several young guys were looking around as a team in it. I went on confident and spiked #4.

The confidence didn't do me well going to #5. I ran at an angle up the big spur, then angled down in the other direction when I got past the trail. I hit the mapped green and went due south to get around it. It seemed like there was a distinct edge to follow easterly at first, and that matched the map. At some unmapped rootstocks, the edge no longer made sense. I went on and noticed the ground flattening. I hit some things I thought might have been the mapped trails but none of it lined-up. When I started seeing some reentrants, I got to thinking that I had passed the control. In reality, based on my GPS track, I had pulled-up about 90m short. I looped back up the slope to where the steepness of the slope had changed. I think the younger guys I'd seen when approaching #4 were coming down. On my second try going down, I kept the green vegetation farther on my left but again got to the reentrants. I went further that time past the reentrant and found some kind of trail that I thought made sense. When I noticed some green bushes before an intersection and some small bits of green on the map, I thought I'd relocated myself and my track confirms it. However, my attack from there was too high. My GPS track shows I passed the control only 30m away. The trails there weren't making sense to me. I started following them and went through some intersections until I ended up seeing a control. This wasn't the one I needed but it was near a wider dirt road. Unfortunately, the unfinished map didn't distinguish one type of trail from another. I did see a paved road a short way away but still couldn't be sure of where I was. Tom Wells was hunting in the area too. We both stood there staring at our maps and not knowing that we were looking for the same control. I ran down the road about 400m, not seeing an intersection and still unsure of where I had gotten to; I'd pulled up and did a u-turn just short of an intersection that might have helped me relocate again. I saw Tom again, then went off on other trails. Eventually I figured I'd gotten on a trail that was taking me due north. I didn't see a key intersection off of that that should have taken me west, right to #5. When I'd gone far enough (almost off the map), I u-turned and eventually went across the woods to the west. I hit a trail, right at a dead end that I recognized to be due north of the control. I followed trails around to get me close, then attacked and finally got there. That was about a 26:30 minute error in which I ran an extra 2.6K.

I ran straightish toward #6 and hit green before the trail. Running northwest on the trail, I tried to make things shorter but turned back. Eventually, I attacked #6 in the field, from almost due north. I realized at this point that I was going to be coming-in past the course closure time if I finished it out. I wasn't very close to the finish so I decided to finish a loop and head in from #11. I ran straightish on mostly grass rather than roads to spike #7. #8 was easy too; just straight over the grassy hill. I ran around the forest edge to #9, spiking it and being surprised at how quickly it came up. Going to #10 is where my glasses would have helped. I couldn't tell whether or not the trail on the edge of the mapped terrain went all the way through the thick forest. To play it safe, I went around to the right. Looking for a forest break, I pulled into the forest a little early in a small patch of white, that I had to back out of. Following the edge of the field around was easy.

Going to #11, I went very straight at first. I got through the tree lines and ditches easily and passed 2 younger guys running together. At the last tree line (I hadn't used the road), I paused. A big lighted mansion was very visible ahead to the right. The angle of it wasn't making sense with a large building that I could see on the map that was almost due north of #11. I cut left to line-up better with the mansion and the control. I saw the pond on my left and was confused again. The two guys I'd passed earlier were moving up the hill and got to a control on a tree up there just before me. I guess I didn't check the code since I was worried about being late. I punched but it was the wrong control and I didn't know it. I had mistaken the very large mansion I'd seen for another large building that was further NW and more prominent on the map.

Crossing fields and scattered trees didn't make a lot of sense going toward the start (because I wasn't leaving from #11) but I found my way there without trouble. A lot of people were there. I checked to see if I could finish the course and got a nod. I must have been pretty tired and not thinking straight. I saw parallel black lines on the map that were in between me and a trailhead I had wanted to use. Since I'd seen this on some maps before, I interpreted these as out-of-bounds; in reality, they were long parallel buildings that I couldn't see in the dark. To get around what I thought was out of bounds, I headed into some green woods and was going to cut west to the trail. I never got there. The green wasn't bad at first until I hit a stream. After that it was horrible. I got turned and headed down the stream, running right through it. I climbed out eventually but hit a barbed wire fence. I kept going to where I could and eventually came out at the road, very near the finish :(. I ran the edge of the forest to the field, then up to the control. Even there, the contours weren't making a lot of sense and that was because I missed a small cut-through and approached it from and unexpected angle. I got to the control just before someone else who'd taken the trail. That was about a 6:15 minute error.

I ran hard to finish-up and stay ahead of whoever it was behind me. I kept thinking the guy was right behind me but I was hearing the noise of my battery bouncing around in a waist pouch as I was running faster. I hit #13 okay with a slight bearing correction. I ran straight toward #14, cutting through the lines of trees when going around could have been equally as fast. I punched, and rounded the barn. It was then that I saw the other runner was well behind, still approaching the barn. I couldn't read the detail at the finish but knew it was on the other side of the road.

I guess today was a good kick in the pants. I ran 6.85 miles on a 6.9K course. Night-O forces one to plan better and I'll need to do that next week. I'll also need to remember my glasses and not get into a rushed navigation state-of-mind.

Long Adv - Splits