Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: QOC Fountainhead
 

QOC: Fountainhead Regional Park. VA. Having spent considerable time course setting for the US Ultralong Championship held here last year, I had a bit of a familiarity advantage. It took a while to get into step. With tired and somewhat weak legs, I was being extra careful not to trip on tree roots. Prior to running, my left heel was hurting. That was new but it went away while I was running. My steps were stiff and whenever I climbed more than a short way, I walked.

I spiked #1 using the trail and going left around the fence.

I spiked #2 too, staying low on the trail the whole way around. However, I was just a little hesitant at the end.

My first error was going to #16 instead of #3; the leg 2-3 line went right through #16. I went around the big complex reentrant for #3 and used a deer trail to get through the deadfall--other than my stop for #16, I spiked it.

I went fairly straight for #4, using the tops of the reentrants to attack. By this time, I was loosened-up and running better both up (when not too steep) and downhill.

I passed 2 women adventure racers on the way to #5, spiking that with just a little hesitation right before seeing the control.

I spiked #6 too.

For #7, I crossed the ridge, then went low along the creek (using both sides).

For #8, I think the control circle was obscuring the reentrant too much. I hesitated there before realizing how high up it was.

For #9, I went straight over the top. I hesitated again at the reentrant junction but my instinct and location were good.

I left #9 a little to the left, to get around a downed tree. Crossing the power lines between the reentrant, I angled left across the spur and saw the control. Along the way, I convinced myself that it was just some white rocks; I couldn't see the flag and the water jugs made the whiteness. I angled further down passing the control for a short way before looking back and making up for my error.

I left #10 okay but misinterpreted the first reentrant junction. I climbed early and had to go over a second reentrant. This wasn't so bad since I realized my error quickly enough and being higher up, I didn't have to climb the steeper reentrants on my previously planned route. I crossed the ridge just above the saddle and went down a reentrant until it started leveling out. Cutting left from there, I spiked the control, but I have to count this as a miss for the earlier error.

Going over the short hill for #12, I was off to the right, and dropped a little before realizing the error.

For #13, I dropped low and thought to stay low to the control, but at the ride (which I never saw in the forest), I decided that going around was just too far out of the way. I dropped into the next reentrant, and up the one with the control. I didn't see it in the reentrant and was somewhat worried when it wasn't behind the fallen tree, but I looked right and found it on the dot knoll. Tom Wells was passing by on the Green course.

For #14, I climbed to the saddle and used the ride. I jumped off the ride in the right place but I let myself get suckered to the right a little. I didn't waste much time. I cut left toward the control. I could see Ted Good approaching from the way I had planned to come, and I got there just ahead of him.

Ted passed me quickly as we climbed. I pursued and had no choice but to follow him in to #15.

I'd been to #16 before so even though Ted had been faster leaving #15, when he paused after the trail, I made up some distance on him. Ted still punched ahead of me, but hadn't gained much.

Ted was slower leaving #16. I just went for the trail. Ted was faster going down the steep and rooted trail. I lost sight of him briefly but gained it back at the bottom after crossing the creek. I was familiar with the stream valley so every time Ted pulled ahead, I made up the distance when he paused or slowed to read. After we crossed the creek on another bridge, Ted cut more right than I'd expected. I wasn't sure if he was making a mistake. I ran on, eventually passing #1. There I saw Peggy approaching the same reentrant from high. She'd taken a route that took her past the start, and had started about 15 minutes before I had. Again, I had to follow; this time Peggy, into the control.

I started to pass Peggy after she took a more direct climb toward #18. I wanted to get in the reentrant and moved ahead a bit. However, I got distracted by another control on a trail and had gone out of the way just enough to get behind Peggy again. She punched ahead of me, and I'd glimpsed Ted ahead of us.

Going to the Go control, I thought I'd pass Peggy on the road but she'd picked up the pace. As we left the road to pass the start, I passed her on the inside of the turn, and went on to the trail intersection near the cemetery.

It was hard to read the map here due to the leg line, but again, I was familiar enough with the area to know to take the right trail. I had to slow for another man on the trail. When we broke into the field, I passed him as his kids were cheering and I didn't feel quite right about that. As Peggy pointed out, our son Max had been cheering somewhat too; rather he cheered me to go and commented that I had beat Peggy.

It was the best run for me in a long while. I am happy that I was able to keep up with Ted toward the end, even though I benefited by being behind him. He pushed me physically in a way that I need to do more. I hope to lose more weight and run faster in the future. I enjoyed the course and thought that it'd be a bit harder going into it.

Blue - 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. I had been on my feet for a long while cleaning and rearranging space in our basement while it was raining. As a result, I was tired starting out. I felt better after a little while and reached the first mile in about 8:50. I'm faster than I had been in months but still pretty slow. Though the cycling I've been doing should help, the lack of time to adjust to the volume has me a bit over-trained. I felt tired on the run and a bit worn out overall, so I'm hoping for continued improvement in future runs.

Samantha was sick on Thursday and recovering on Friday so I stayed home with her. I got some errands done but didn't get much chance to go run or ride. Samantha was better by the afternoon.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It had rained overnight but it was still warm. That left pavement damp and the air humid. I moved along okay and picked-up speed. Just after the trestle bridge I got passed by two who I think passed me the day before. I latched-on this time. As we slowed and accelerated a few times to pass others, I eventually got dropped about a half mile before Georgetown. I thought I kept a decent speed afterward but my time seems slow--I calculated rather than use my cycle computer since that needs batteries.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. There were headwinds getting to Georgetown. I shared the load on some pulls with a guy I caught. He was taking it easy and even got a few phone calls along the way. I lost him just before River Rd. as I tired more and headwinds were present again. It was much cooler and some promised rain never materialized.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I was tired starting out. It was in the 70s F and humid. Once on the Capital Crescent Trail, there was a steady stream of cyclists. Either I slowed or one of the guys I caught speeded-up, but it worked for me to draft for a while. We got passed by 2 faster riders who ordinarily I would have latched onto. Later, I led for the guy who had been leading for me. There were headwinds along the river, and I took it easy finishing-up.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I was still feeling tired when I started. I had a tailwinds along the river in DC. Rain was threatening to fall but never did. One guy went past me when I slowed to answer Peggy's call but he would probably have passed me by anyway.

From Northfield Rd. to and from Madison St. It was Back to School night and I left to go about 10 minutes after getting home. I only had time for a snack and to change my shirt.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I woke with a crick in my right shoulder and was kind of tired. I got stuck at traffic intersections a bit. One guy got ahead of me while we waited at a traffic light on Bradley Blvd. Another trailed me for a few miles before taking over for a longer pull into and through Georgetown. I was happy to sit back taking it easier. There were some headwinds on Ohio Dr. but the breeze from auto traffic counter-acted much of that. Though there were pockets of cooler air, it was still humid.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I enjoyed a draft off of a double-decker bus to whip around the tidal basin. I backed off of the tourist bus when it slowed almost to a stop to make comments about the tidal basin to passengers. When it started up again rather quickly accelerating, another guy jumped with it and I tailed him for a way. It was all kind of close quarters and exciting. I got a nice tailwind going to Georgetown after that. I had to keep reminding myself not to push too hard. I was tired so the pace control wasn't that difficult. On the trail to Bethesda, I moved well. One roadie passed me.

Patuxent River Park, MD. I continued course setting work today. The forest continued to be pretty nice for this time of year--dry like last week with not a lot of undergrowth in most places. An annoying part was all of the spider webs. My field work took much longer than I expected. I'd brought along my mountain bike to save time on parts of it. I think it helped overall though it made me do some out and back running and riding (I would usually get near a control or a group of them, then get to them on foot). It was fun to be on the bike on single-track again and I felt that I hadn't lost too much skill. The bike helped get me up and down trails quickly, and helped me cope better with the +90 F heat. The going uphill part of cycling was satisfying since there were some steep parts which required both power and skill and I made it up some of those. I was trying to get out early this morning and while I grabbed about everything else that I anticipated needing, I forgot my cycling helmet and gloves. I was going slowly enough, even on most downhills that it didn't seem too risky. I did have my GPS with me today and I was rather surprised about registering a half marathon worth of distance. I did repeat some terrain that I'd been over the previous week, but just to get a good track of the new trail that I found. I found more of the trail today--the other end. There were a few other similar intermittent trails that I found today too, but I didn't bother trying to map those. Most of the time today, I covered areas I hadn't been to last week, and some of the places I hadn't been too at all, or not in a long time. I went through a few places that were not so pleasant but I'd expected those. As I was finishing, I saw the Wirzberg's and their 2 children, growing up fast--I almost didn't recognize them. They were out for some geocaching.

Patuxent River Park, MD. After drinking some much needed liquids, I drove over to another location for one more loop of checking controls. I did all of these on foot. A few of the legs were through the greenest terrain that I included for the event. I hadn't been in one area in a long time and needed to check it out. I'd gone through some high grass in a few places--there wasn't much of it through my route today, but I did discover a tick while driving home. It hit the road.

Once at home, I placed my GPS track over the map and immediately saw several problems in how the map lined-up. Some were surprisingly big. I had always thought the map to be very navigable. Maybe I'd just gotten used to Dave Linthicum's style of mapping, or he and Peggy did a good job putting what's relevant onto the map.