Saturday, August 15, 2009

Track in the RAIN......and.......

Well I got up this morning feeling fantastic....got my training gear on and was going over my program when my darling husband says......"is it raining???" So I draw back the curtains and sure enough.....it is pouring!!!! I said ... Yup...and I'm going to get wet.....

Our nice new mondo track was built smack bang in the middle of reclaimed swamp and it is the habitat for many ducks and herons etc. So every time we use the track we are always walking in duck poo. Paradise duck poo is the size of a small cows!! I kid you not. On a dry day it is annoying as you try hard to dodge it but when its wet it washes over the whole track. I cant see it will ever be any different. The ducks wont leave so it will always be covered in it.

So I headed off to our track, put my jacket on and did 4 laps to warm up. My jacket annoyed me so much that I took it off. I figured I was going to get wet anyway so may as well be able to at least move my arms while training. So I started my pyramid training.

My times today were 2.13 per lap.

First 400 was way too fast....2.02...... body felt great and my breathing was fine but my lungs were burning. So I did another 400 this time 2.10...better, by now I am soaked through and the track is about an inch deep in water and the wind has picked up. So while trying to walk your feet are dragging through the water and you are slipping on the corners. GRRRR.....so next I decided to do my 800m.....4.29....2 secs slow..I can live with that. As I walk the 200m to restart my next lap, it stops raining, which is great as I was thinking about heading home.

There were some other people at the track - they had brought umbrellas with them and were checked out gear and grounds for an up coming event etc and they called out that I must be mad to be training in this weather. Just as I start the next 400 the clouds opened up and it really came down..."great!" so I started out and got 3/4 of the way round when my heel landed square centre of a large duck poo and over I went.....legs and arms everywhere. The guys came running over to see if I was ok..............I was so embarrassed...I looked like a drowned rat and to make it worse I was now covered in duck poo!!! not a good look I can tell you. So I thought to myself..there is dedication and there is madness!!!!!.....................so I went home.

My husband is still walking up behind me......quacking......he thinks it was a "quack up"....I some how don't think I will live this one down.

4 comments:

Rob Elliott said...

Hi Nyle
I was told years ago that if I missed training every time it rained I would not go out very often!
Good on you for getting a soaking, bet it felt good when you had finished and dried off! Mental toughness for days when conditions are bad in a race.
Never had problems with ducks though..............
Rob

Glennis said...

You must of smelled to high heaven! Poor you. A quack-up is right! Maybe you should of stuck feathers on it all and pretended to be a duck, you could lead them to greener pastures so your track was left alone.

Anonymous said...

Nyle this is your journey, without journey there is no destination. The destination just happens to be the World Masters Games 2009 in Sydney. Oh! I so can't wait to see you entering the stadium for the Gold Medal.

malvs2walk said...

ok, so I don't think crashing to the track in a trail of duck poo is too funny... but glad you are feeling better and getting your workouts done!
Those are some speedy 400's, especially in those conditions.