Training Log Archive: Nadim

Event: US Sprint & UltraLong champs
 

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. Warm-up from the parking area to the start area. I cut the time a bit close thinking I had a 10:06am start but it turned out okay. I actually was to start the race at 10:09am.

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. US Sprint Championships. I started out okay but made too many bobbles and was probably just running too slow too. None of my errors were huge but amounted to half a minute here and there. Along the way, I'd caught Clint Morris and Jeff Shapiro. Clint passed me back when I made an error and did not recover with a poorer route choice going around instead of crossing some rough open. I felt just enough winded along the way that I didn't feel I was able to run fast when needed. Whenever I got off course a little bit, the 1:4,000 wooded map also had me appearing to make a much bigger error. I guess this is a baseline for a return to A-meet racing.

ROC A-Meet, Mendon Ponds Park, NY. Middle Distance. I started out getting drawn off my line by a control that I shouldn't have gone too. I think the switch from 1:4,000 in the morning to 1:10,000 in this race contributed to that. I was feeling better when I spiked the next two and caught-up to Clint Morris who had started two minutes ahead of me. However, as I was leading Clint toward #6, I got confused by a trail that I couldn't see on the map--it was partially obscured by the course leg line to the control. Clint got away and made-up the time I'd caught on him after that. Also from that point on, it seemed like most of the trails on the map confused me. For a while I started ignoring the trails--my eyes aren't as good as they were. At least some of what I saw were newly created elephant trails from orienteers going to various controls. I was hesitant and made errors in the rough open areas too. I had hoped to do better but it will have to be another day.

Middle: Red X - Splits

Sprint: Red - Splits

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. I returned in the middle of the day to pickup Max and head out for the ROC A-meet.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was much cooler this morning. We got a late start and also ran into much more traffic along the way.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was nice and cool returning to home and drier than it was in the morning. I ran into some traffic again getting through downton Bethesda. I came pretty close to running late this evening but I had too many errands to do and spent a while inspecting construction at home.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. This day just started off wrong. After I got the scale to work, I weighed in heavy somewhat inexplicably and nothing else seemed to work either--not even the toaster. I wanted to run later but I couldn't locate both my work shoes and running shoes. I gave up on that but still planned to drive to the metro station and I found that the interior lights had been left on, killing the battery. I finally got my bike and trailer ready and endured the chain skipping while trying not to sweat in my work clothes again.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. After dinner out and another trip to the store to pickout building materials for our house addition work, Peggy and Max dropped me back at the Bethesda Metro Station in the dark so that I could get my bike and trailer. It was pleasantly cooler.

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max via the Georgetown Branch Trail, then after dropping him and his trailer off, to the Bethesda Metro Station via the Air Rights Building tunnel. It was yet another nice cool morning. I was a bit sore this morning. Had it not been for the ROC US Sprint and Long Champs races coming up, I would have liked to have ridden all the way into work.

From the Bethesda Metro Station, to Maple Ave. to pickup Max's trailer, then to Northfield Rd. via the Air Rights Building tunnel. I left work with clouds in the sky and by the time I reached Bethesda on the metro train, the rain there was over. I had intended to run on the way home but I'd left too late for that. The result was having to ride home in my work clothes with it still warm out and the humidity being very high. I sweat a bunch more than I'd wanted to :( To make matters worse, my bike chain, which had been skipping a lot for a while now, was getting worse. Just starting from a stop to cross a road popped it off the crank today--I thought I'd broken it. I had tried derailer adjustment before the ride yesterday but it's something like a bad chain link that squeaks and skips with two different cycle periods yet it is still regular. Being stuck in the busy intersection and having my fingers get greasy while sweating in my work clothes wasn't fun. I managed to push myself and the trailer across.

One other development that's a bit disconcerting is the development of some foot pain. As I was going to lunch after getting off the elevator and while walking across a flat lobby my left foot gave some sharp pain below and in front of what I'll call my elbow (outer side ball-like joint). I hadn't tripped or anything. My left knee had also been feeling uncomfortable before this, like it needed to be popped but it wouldn't. The pain on my foot felt similar except a lot more intense--like something was going to pop outward from the top left side of my foot if I put too much pressure on it. I was worried I'd have to turn back but I shook it off. It hurt a few more times like that during the day but with less intensity. Maybe it was the result of pushing too hard on the ride yesterday. I'll have to just watch this for a while.

C • foot 8

From Northfield Rd. to Maple Ave. with Max in his trailer, then to C St., SW, Washington, D.C. via the Capital Crescent Trail and Ohio Dr. I had a hard time getting to sleep last night and woke-up tired. Having seen the weather forecast, the best in over a week, I had already planned to ride all the way in to work. I was 9:48 getting to Maple Ave. which is one of the fastest times to there that I can remember. It was pleasantly cool though I still managed to sweat some. I was doing 21-22mph down the grade and 19-20mph on the flats. I got passed just before getting into Georgetown but that guy slowed down there and I passed him back. I ran into a few areas with traffic slow downs. Overall I was faster than the my last rides all the way in to work which were in mid-August.

From C St . SW, Washington, D.C. to Maple Ave., then to Northfield Rd., Bethesda, MD. I rushed out of my office just before my bike got locked in the courtyard and that got me going pretty good from the beginning. The conditions were oddly average--not much wind, humidity or heat. There were lots of other cyclists and runners out and this created some traffic starting out and near the end. Somewhere after Georgetown I picked-up a drafter and pulled him until just after the Air Rights Building tunnel in Bethesda. I guess he kept me a bit more interested in pushing harder than I should have. I also didn't know how fast I was going. In my rush to leave the office I'd left my cycling computer there so I timed using my wrist watch and used the distance from many earlier rides. I got to Maple Ave. in just under 38 minutes and home with the trailer in under 10 minutes from there.

Event: QOC Hemlock Overlook
 

QOC: Hemlock Overlook Regional Park, VA. I did the Freestyle Long course--it was a fun score-o with no time limit other than being in by 4pm. The time limit was not totally trivial since Peggy and I were splitting watching Max (I got a lot of help from Dasha Merka and the Lennon family). Victor Lin was the course setter and setup the event to be similar to a rogaine. Victor stated the distance of my course to be approximately 9.2K though my route was not quite as efficient as that. It was too bad that I left my GPS at home too. I wonder how far I really ran. I started running a few seconds after seeing the map for the race and didn't do any extensive control planning. I made a few errors but none were big. Perhaps the worst was one in which I looked for a depression in a small clearing (#133). Having reached the clearing I expected to see the control on one side and missed seeing it for about a minute behind some grasses on the other. I also over ran a pit on a ridge (#137) and missed a shallow ditch in some green (#120). I also had a change in direction going first for one control then changing my mind when almost there to go for another. I left the geener areas in the north which also happened to have some steep hills for the end. With only one water stop early on and it being somewhat warm, I was running out of steam by the time I got to that loop and was a bit slower than expected. I was a bit disappointed at not having broken 10 minutes per kilometer. Besides the small errors and sub-optimal route, there was a fairly good amount of climb and an unfield checked green area that contributed to that.