Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: DVOA Pocono Environmental Education Center
 

DVOA PEEC Sprint 1. I had arrived at the site at about 4:15 and was on the course by 4:45, just before it was to close. Rain had started to fall relatively hard; it had been dry earlier. I discovered that I had left my running shorts at home so I ran with the shorts I had driven up with, adding gaitors and changing my shoes/shirt. My glasses did fog and I was a bit stiff after the 5 hour drive. Right away I had made a mistake with the wrong bearing for #1. I corrected okay. My I hesitated but went cleanly to #2 and most of the subsequent controls. My routes weren't always efficient and I only made one other real error going the wrong direction after rounding a cabin. That only lost me 30 seconds or so. I finished just before the course closed for dinner.

Sprint1 - Splits

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station. I ran into several areas of traffic.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to Folkstone Rd., with Samantha on her trail-a-bike, then back. Max left early for a trip to Monticello.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was humid again and about 75 F upon arriving--it felt warmer. There was just a little wind along the river. I rode alone steadily making my way past other riders.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I ran into traffic lights early-on but after that I had a good tailwind most of the way home. The slowdowns were in getting through Georgetown, and waiting to pass other riders. I did get passed on the flats by 2 people but I stayed with the second before passing him and eventually dropping him.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to Folkstone Rd., with Samantha on her trail-a-bike. Samantha yelled to catch Max. We did but he started pushing harder. I answered and he thought it wasn't fair because he thought I had a faster bike. I was able to keep ahead of him to Samantha's glee. After dropping them off, I towed Samantha's trail-a-bike and held Max's bicycle bike with one had going back.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. It was humid. I started easy and that coincided with my legs feeling tired. There was traffic in several areas. I rode alone steadily passing people the whole way. There was a hint of a headwind.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. After getting to the Potomac River, I merged right behind a Rock Creek Velo (RCV) teenage racer group of 6 male riders. They were moving easily but I figured it best to stay behind them. There was a slight headwind and it's hard to gauge the effort required to go faster than a group when one is behind it. As we approached Georgetown some of directly riders in front of me were unsure which direction to go and they were falling behind. I passed them skirting the waterfront before getting onto Water St. I caught the others passing them, and several more before leaving Georgetown. I kept my own pace but it wasn't strong. I still felt the slight headwind. A short way past the trestle bridge, the RCV group and one other commuter passed me. I kept pace until the water treatment plant, then backed-off at the bridge. The rest of the way I was moving okay and into a more discernible wind.

I spent the day finishing old projects around the home. I was planning run but ran out of time. My legs were feeling tired anyway since I'd been on my feet almost the whole time. I built a birdhouse with Samantha, cleaned-up camping gear and did some vacuuming. I build a small garden in a spot that had been a bit of an eye sore, near the neighbor's garbage. To do that I made a small retaining wall out of stones that I'd purchased. They were about 50lbs each, but on top of that I had gotten sod, soil and mulch which meant I was tossing around 1,000 lbs. I had to fix a drainage pipe in the area which meant hacking through some thick roots. The bent over lifting and hatchet swinging strained my back which was additional reason not to go running. After plants Samantha helped with the watering, I did drive her to her school to help her practice bicycling but the rear tired had flattened and she wasn't too into that. Instead, I had to play tag with her. In the evening, I got groceries and changed my own flat bicycle tire, however I did get to see the anniversary showing of Back to the Future; some of that with Max.

Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV. From the Rohrbaugh Trail, (TR 508) to the Wildlife Trail (TR 560), to Forest Rd. 75. It had been hard to sleep overnight. I was sleeping in between Max and Samantha but neither moved for long. Both fell asleep quickly, after 10pm when I had gotten in the tent, and probably because they were tired. I however had a hard time right away. My pack in the vestibule was at the bottom of all the other packs and I hadn't already made a pillow out of my extra clothes like I usually do. The ground wasn't too lumpy but had a slight backward arch to it. It hurt me to lay on my back but I grit it out until it was easier to hold the position. Eventually when I needed to turn on my side, I found that my head wouldn't reach the ground. I tried the left side first. I found that my left shoulder problems, also experienced last year that also got better, weren't completely gone. I found it hard to adjust and angle my shoulder without more pain or just plain stiff inability to bend. I turned to my right side eventually. That worked better but with the bumps on the ground, it wasn't so easy either. I went through the same 3 positions over and over again, eventually falling asleep but waking regularly.

This was only broken-up by Max's usual wild dreams. One time he woke to say aloud that he didn't know where he was--he started feeling around in a mild panic. I experienced enough of Max's sleep walking to know he was basically in the same state of mind. He did similar things a few more times, and remembered none of it in the morning.

By the time it was light enough outside, Peggy thought it was time to wake up. Later she realized it was only 6:20am, not 8:20am as she thought. I had also been warm when I went to bed but as it got colder out, I found myself zipping-up and tightening my sleeping bag a lot to stay warm. Samantha woke us up for good a little before 8am. It had never rained on us. The storms Max and had seen the night before kept west of us.

We ate breakfast on the cliffs again and packed up. The way back was primarily uphill--about 700 vertical feet by the time we were done. Samantha again didn't like the mud but she did move through most of it better than the day before. When she got tired we'd take breaks but the cumulative effect wore her down enough to get her cranky. She got fussier with the mud and wouldn't move. To motivate her we'd wait behind her. She was sometimes standing on the trail and asking which way, partly meaning how do I get through the mud. It was like we were teaching her to walk again. When waiting behind her got too frustrating we'd move ahead of her. She eventually would move for this but was upset by it being akin to leaving her--a central and common adopted child deep-seated fear. She got upset enough at one point that she left the new hiking had that Peggy had gotten for her. I didn't see her set it down. When we caught with Peggy and Max, Peggy noticed and hiked back a quarter mile down the hill to retrieve it.

Making it back eventually, all of our spirits were better. We drove over to Mouth of Seneca for a view of the famed rocks, and some lunch. Rain finally fell as we drove there--lucky us. We were all too tired to hike-up the back side of Seneca Rocks (as I'd done before). Max wasn't interested in the few climbing stories I had when I'd scaled the wall in years past. We did however go to the visitor center. The old stores in Mouth of Seneca hadn't changed much since the 80s and 90s but the visitor center was completely different.