Training Log Archive: Nadim

North American Orienteering Long Championships on the Burnt Mountain map near Hanover, NH. This was a pretty fun day for me, despite the problems I had navigating. It's not often that one gets to run in such challenging terrain. I was probably reading half of what should have. My eyes just weren't distinguishing things like lines of cliffs apart from trails. There were times when I was able to know the control would be below me on a particular cliff or around a boulder but mostly, from the map, I was just getting an impression of things that were in the terrain. I relied on contours and even vegetation a lot to get me close. I managed to not make any big errors on the first part of the course and felt good about that. I hesitated a lot and got drawn off seeing other controls sometimes but through #7 I'd only lost a little time and didn't have to retrace my steps.

On #8, I got close and saw a few people around the control, but seeing some turn and stare at the map, got me to second thinking. I ran on past to the next knoll before turning back.

I managed to run off of the map on the long leg. It was set a bit close to the edge of the page but I also felt confident that I would have recognized a line of cliffs that I'd chosen to run to. When I started the leg I still had it in my mind that I was missing some better route. After finishing the course and seeing the trail going around the big hill, I'm amazed that others saw it; I still had trouble finding it standing around afterward. What I did had me climbing and crossing more cliffs than I knew I should, I just got confused by some parallel features--a couple of trails and a marsh that looked a little like ones shown on the map. I was probably tired enough to just be trying too hard in my head to force the terrain I was seeing onto the map. I relocated just before a paved road and came straight to the control on a planned route from there. It lost me well over 11 minutes.

I hit controls 11 and 12 pretty well but ran too confidently toward #13. I got confused by an intermittent trail, mistaking it for a larger trail just past the control. When I saw the intermittent trail, I turned back instead of crossed it. I should have played this safe by just dropping low and running the trail the whole way.

It was a pretty fun day just being out there. I look forward to another chance to go here again.

Long - Green X - Splits

Event: North American Orienteering Championships 2016
 

North American Orienteering Middle Distance Championships on the Oak Hill map near Hanover, NH. It was damp out for this but the rains had stopped when I got started. Some others had to run in the rain.

After the trail run to #1, I didn't start so well. I attacked from a trail bend going to #2 and stopped at the right distance on a water feature. However I turned left when going right would have taken me there in 10-15 seconds. Doing a little loop, I relocated and went straight to it.

I ran to the left for #3 and ran right into the barbed wire fence. This wasn't unfortunately wasn't streamered. I cut my hand on it and ripped my pants. However after the pause, I continued right to #3.

For #4, I ran straight until I got on a lower trail, then came off of a trail bend hitting the control right on.

For #5, I went straight and got just a bit to the right. Pausing before crossing the trail, I got hung up getting around some unmapped deadfall at a stream junction. After that and some cautious progress, I went straight to the control.

For #6, I went straight and was just a few steps off to the right.

For #7, I drifted left and think I crossed a trail at an intersection. I slowly relocated and went to the control cautiously, slowly.

For #8, like #6, I went straight and was just a few steps off to the right.

For #9, I plowed down the hill trying to stay on the spur. Writing this weeks later, I think I got a little past the control but came back quickly.

For #10, I used the lower trail and came off at a bend.

For #11, I stayed on the main trail until almost north of the control. I had paused/slowed a few times, to assess crossing the woods but by the time I figured it out, I was already past the point that it was best to leave the trail. I kept looking in the terrain for what looked like places easy to run fast but each time, the trail was better.

For #12, I had some hesitation at the intersections. A woman was just ahead of me starting out but I passed her at the intersection.

For #13, I went up to the middle trail, and that took me to the right instead of over the top. There were a lot of older people and women going the same direction. I got around just about all of them before popping off at a trail bend. It seemed longer than I thought it would getting to the control once I left the trail so I wonder if I really left where I thought I had.

I plowed straight up the hill and hit #14 just fine, though I slowed just before it was in sight. I think this was a partly fatigue induced checking of my location on the map. I forced myself to go on and it all worked out well.

For #15, I used the upper trail until I could turn right at an intermittent trail. That ended immediately at a fence/gate. Going down, I drifted to the right and crossed the next trail. I was just right enough that I saw a control that I went to checkout--that was even more to the right. I wandered back at the same elevation and seeing some movement I ran, seeing a woman lead me into the control. It was behind some deadfall.

For #16, I was a little excited getting near the end and going downhill. I wasn't reading well so I ran more slowly.

For #17, I still wasn't reading very well but made the right decisions. I led a few others to get close, then saw more ahead leading me into the control.

For #18, I went down to the north to get around the green. I think at the time, I was reading leg #17. Thing didn't make much sense until I got around the vegetation. I took a direct path from there. I had to pause at the go control, waiting for others to finish punching.

On the run in, I took a more direct line than others and passed them. I was worried about the jarring on the fast downhill, especially crossing a sort of ditch in the grass at the bottom of the steep parts of the hill. I ran harder a little past there. I was somewhat surprised that I could run fast; I had done a little, but not much sprinting since back troubles emerged 2 years ago.

Though my result wasn't that good, I again felt alright about how I did. I got a bit excited early and made a mistake. On my mistakes, I was generally able to relocate quickly.

Middle - Green X - Splits

From Northfield Rd., to the Bethesda Metro Station via Charlcotte Rd.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Northfield Rd.

From Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD, to 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C. I was still tired and a little sore from my late night run. Maybe I'm not fully recovered from the weekend. I carried my work laptop and the usual change of clothes. The winds were calm. It was still humid but slightly cooler. I set out going easy and got into some traffic delays. On the CCT, I moved a little faster. There were fewer runners but a lot of cyclists. I eventually got passed even though I was moving pretty well. The first rider seemed a lot faster and I tried to speed up for the 2nd but it felt too hard for what I should be doing. They got ahead but as I slowed, so did at least one of them. I caught the 2nd rider in Georgetown where there was more traffic.

From 13th & C St. SW, Washington, D.C., to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I left work with 15 seconds to spare before they closed the gate. The winds were neutral but the traffic wasn't. A tourist bus kept slowing down and speeding up to get around the Tidal Basin and the Jefferson Memorial. On paved trails, unlike the morning there were lots of runners. Traffic through Georgetown was average. I cruised along by myself for a long while. My legs were still sore but not so bad after warming up. I kept trying not to push too hard. I geared down as I started the climb after Fletcher's Boathouse. Near Massachusetts Ave., a few cyclists passed me. At least 2 were roadies. After the bumpy spots where there was rough road ready for repaving, and less than 1 mile from home, I got a flat front tire. I fixed it in 11-12 minutes and during that time I got lots of offers for help from both walkers and other cyclist commuters.

From Northfield Rd., through Greenwich Park to Old Georgetown Pike, to W. Cedar La. to the Elmhirst Trail, to Cedar La. to the Rock Creek Trail, to Beach Dr. to Grosvenor La. to the Bethesda Trolley Trail, to Old Georgetown Rd. and to Northfield Rd. via Greenwich Park. I haven't done this route much lately. Mostly that's been because it's been too far for me and having some lower motivation for late runs after work. Working off site today, I felt it best to get home so I ate dinner and was still motivated to run late. It was 70 F out when I finished with small pockets of air that almost felt cool. However it was 94% relative humidity. I was sweating enough to have my shorts start to sag off my hips. I was feeling tired that last mile. Going out my first mile was just under 8:40 and finishing-up the last mile was 8:35.

45 sit ups.

HVO US Championships Day 2 at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, NY. I knew that a lot of competitors who've been doing better than I had were close enough behind me from Day 1, that they could easily catch me. I kind of forgot about all of that after making an error early on, and just feeling winded on the early legs. I also had a good time trying to keep ahead of Neal Barlow, who caught me early. He said it was at #2 that he caught me, and I thought I was seeing him for the first time as I got ahead of him just before #3. After that, I kept a slight lead the rest of the race. I got 2nd in M55+ again and finished the 2 day total in second--yay!--even though there were some notable M55+ runners not racing.

S-1 - I ran on bearing and was more focused on the index contour than the one below it. I ran over the top of the control until a change in slope, confirming where I was by seeing the trail bend and intersection on my right. I ran back straight away but seemed to have lost a minute.

1-2 - I ran back to the trails and left on a broad spur with the right angle rock wall corner. Charlie Deweese was just ahead of me as I attacked off the broad spur and spiked it.

2-3 - I ran the trails to the right but was not doing so very swiftly. I almost miscounted the bends, probably being out of breath. I didn't even realize that I'd run on the same trail going the other direction on Saturday. I left the trail from a bend and mostly kept a good bearing. I saw Neal Barlow on my right and was making a little better time than he was when crossing the dry marsh. Seeing the rock walls on my right helped. The leg line hid part of the contour on the spur before the control so when I climbed that, I expected to see the control. I realized what happened and kept going straight to the control. I'd seen this control the previous day but again, I hadn't realized it was the same one. Neal was pretty close behind me when I punched.

3-4 - I went left around the initial knoll and queued off of the trail bend to correct and attack. I went right to the correct cliff and was happy about that. Neal was still very close behind me.

4-5 - I climbed early to get above the initial cliff, then climbed again. I intended to follow the green in, but it may have extended a little further to the east than mapped. I cut west when I didn't see what I'd expected and got to the control ahead of Neal, who'd taken a better, more direct bearing.

5-6 - I just ran straight at it, queuing off of the spur and probably the stone wall. I spiked it.

6-7 - I hadn't thought this one out well but wanted to avoid climb. I thought I knew just where I was when I crossed the first dry marsh, but I can't recall whether I saw the nearby stone walls. The climb across was looking steep and seeing an easier slope to the left, I went for it to try to avoid climb. I got further left than I knew. When I hit the stream, I crossed it and saw another. An east-west stone wall ahead clued me in that I'd gone too far, so I ran north. Along the way, I saw Neal taking a straighter route, however I got there a little ahead of him. I think I lost 20-30 seconds.

7-8 - I thought there might be a good way to use the trails but initially I got running going straight. By the time I saw a big east-west oriented cliff funneling me into a reentrant and located it on the map, I realized I'd crossed over a trail that I was considering to take to go around a hill. I then committed to my route to go straight and over the hills. I stopped hearing Neal Barlow for a while and figured he was on a different route or that I'd opened a better gap. Getting down the first hilltop felt a little slow as I hunted a safe way down from the cliffs. Fortunately I found it quickly and hop-jumped my way down the big boulders. Going up the next hill and crossing a distinct small reentrant, I was confident of my exact position SW of a marsh. I followed the green from there to the trail, then went straight. The blueberry wasn't too bad and I cut right a little to make sure I'd hit the next trail well. The shallow reentrant was easy to read so I ran over to the left side. The control was just a little past where I thought it'd be.

8-9 - Finally getting some more downhill running, I ran under the cliff and forced my way left to spike it. I was thinking that I might have lost Neal.

9-10 - Going straight initially, I cut left after looking at the scrubby green ahead. I had to climb a little to stay out of it and ended up going a bit too far left. I cut down at a gap in the green, and saw cliffs on my left. As I dropped to the right, I again cut left in a risky way, without a terrain feature to guide me. It just felt right and I knew I'd have to get through the green to get to the control. About the same time or soon after, I saw Neal coming across from my right, again having taken a more direct route. I next spyed the reentrant and ran in ahead of him. He started to close on me but I picked-up the pace after reading the map and seeing that the control should be a little further down. At the end, I saw Peggy leaving it and I was happy to have stayed ahead of Neal.

10-11 - I started letting Neal's presence affect me more, by leaving the control pretty quickly. I had earlier glanced and presumed that I'd take the trails on the right going toward #11 so I just did that without further evaluation. The trail was rocky enough that I was slow to catch Peggy on it. I was trying to read the bends a little but she was probably working hard too. When I did pass, I went by fast only to soon after have to slow again to make sure I was not going to overrun the trail intersection. I gave it an honest effort to get up the 2 1/2 contours that I could have mostly avoided going on the trails to the left. After crossing the stone walls on the downhill (unfortunate that we had to loose all of those contours on one leg), and staying above most of the barberry, I saw the unmapped deadfall. I wasn't sure which reentrant the control was in but crossed the first just above the fallen tree. Cutting right, I fell into the correct reentrant and was relieved. At the time, it seemed more like a spur, but I checked the code. I could hear Neal nearby.

11-12 - I gave this one a quick look and went. Fortunatley, I saw the control in the next reentrant over to the right and went to it. I had done this all too fast and riskily. I was mostly going on bearing and didn't stay in the reentrant that I started in. The beginnings of an elephant trail over thin forested grass helped give it away.

12-13 - I think I just knew I had to slow down before I really blew it so looking at the next leg took me time. My initial thought was to drop to the road. Fortunately, I looked at it for a long enough time (10 seconds?). I even shouted out getting frustrated at why my eyes weren't reading the leg that well--just tired and pressured by Neal I guess. I dropped to the trail and stayed on that. I felt slow and fatigued.

13-F - I didn't think I was going slow enough to make an AP calculated error on this. I did move casually around the tree line but got up to speed soon. It seemed a long way and I wasn't sure that I could keep a top speed the whole way. I paced a little until I was sure I could sprint the rest.

This was certainly a good result for me, and satisfying to have held off Neal for so long. He had taken some different routes and caught up after I'd gotten further ahead a few times. Of course after my slower start, he beat me overall this day, and easily was ahead for the 2 day total. I was happy to have semblance of being able to run faster again. For the second day, the park and course was pretty enjoyable for me.

Ward Pound Ridge Reservation, NY. From the finish arena to the designated parking lot.

Sunday - Green X - Splits