Weathered!
[Carolina Kluft]
The Alarm went off at 4:30 am yesterday and I was on the road to Austin for the Thrower’s Meet at 5:05. I was also thinking that I must have lost my mind. The temperature was 69 degrees, skies were cloudy, but dry. Two hours later, and 30 minutes outside of Austin the rain started falling and the temperature dropped to 54 degrees. I checked the flags flying at a car dealership I passed and the winds were whipping them straight out toward the south. This would mean a strong tailwind for the discus throw (bad), and a side wind for javelin (couldn’t help any). It was at this point that I began rethinking my plans for personal records in all my events.
When I arrived, Seth (the meet director) was just shaking his head. “It hasn’t rained here in three months”, he said, “And now this!” I decided I wasn’t going to let a little weather get in my way, so I optimistically began my routine. Hit the bathroom…take off glasses…put in contact lenses…get my stuff out of the trunk - implements, water bottle, towel, notebook for recording measurements…eat a donut…put on throwing shoes.
I ambled over to the shot put area and inspected the newly extended landing area. They put in a nice bed of level, crushed granite all the way out to 60 feet. Sometimes my shot put will roll that far, but that would be about the only benefit I would be getting from all the work they did. Oh well.
All the familiar faces were there, and it was good to see them again. That’s about all you could see of them though, because everyone was wearing hoods and hats and sweats or rain suits. I on the other hand had decided that the 69 degrees weather I had left back home was plenty warm so I only had sweat bottoms and a T-shirt...not good.
I warmed up a little and was concerned that I was throwing about 2 feet less than my normal practice distances. By the time the competition began I was thoroughly soaked, with water dripping off my hair like I had just stepped out of the shower. My towel for cleaning off the shot was completely saturated. This was a problem because after each throw the shot would wind up completely caked with wet crushed granite chips, then after a quick wipe with the towel it would be nice and shiny and very wet and slick.
My first throw in competition was tentative, as I was not use to standing in puddles when beginning my glide, and I produced a very embarrassing 31’-3” effort. The remaining throws went 32’-1”, 32’-11.5”, and 33’-5.5”. My conclusion is that for an 8:00 am start in the cold and wet, and after a 2-1/2 hours car ride, I apparently need longer than normal to warm up. Each of my throws averaged 8” further than the preceding one, and I’m convinced that I could have continued this trend for a couple more throws at least. I’m just not sure how I can warm up sufficiently with about 10 other thrower sharing one ring. I’m definitely going to have to figure this out!
Javelin was a joke. First of all, I suck at javelin…I’ve been about a 100’ foot thrower since I first picked one up about a year ago. But, my last throw in my last practice before the meet was around 117’, so I was encouraged. That optimism went away in a hurry at the meet. Even though I wear spikes, every time I planted my plant foot the spike would dig into the sod, but the sod under my feet would break lose and start sliding forward. It was goo! Several people slipped and fell while throwing, and no one really seemed pleased with their performances. My best?...93’-4”. Ouch!
Ok, time for discus. Time to kick some butt. I got to the ring early and began my warm-ups. My standing throws were sailing pretty far, and even with the conditions I was thinking 130’ was still possible. After all, I had spent a lot of time working on being slow out of the back and on-balance throughout the throw. Both are good things to have when throwing from a wet surface.
I had time for one last practice throw before the competition began. My plan was to “dial it up” a little on this one to get the feel of a full effort. Slipping had not been a problem as yet, and it appeared the concrete surface was rough enough to allow full throws even when wet. What I hadn’t accounted for were the random leaves and grass that had begun to accumulate on the ring during the warm ups. As I threw, I came out of the back ok, but when I landed in the second single-support my foot slipped on a leaf. I knew I was off-balance at that point so I aborted the throw and just released the disc rather than throwing it. It was at about this point that I felt something pop between my shoulder blades. No pain – just a funny sensation.
As I entered the ring for my first competition throw I felt pretty good…a little tight in my upper back…but good. My plan was to post a nice, controlled, legal throw so I could really let loose on the remaining 3 throws. All went well, and my throw sailed out to what appeared was a respectable distance. Then it happened. It felt like someone had stuck an ice pick between my shoulder blades.
Had this been the last meet of the season instead of the first, I might have tried to throw again, but after all, I have another meet in just 2 weeks and I didn’t want to screw up my chances to be healthy in that one. So…I passed on my other 3 throws. And I scratched on the remaining events – Hammer, Weight, and SuperWeight. I REALLY wasn't looking forward to throwing hammer from a wet surface anway.
My one, easy, controlled discus throw wound up being 121’-4.5”, which was good enough for first place. That was nice…and there’s some added consolation for my crappy distances in each of the three events because they all would up being above my season average for last year. I just need to make sure that these marks wind up being my worst performances for this season.
So, after the discus throw I headed back to Houston. Believe it or not, 30 minutes outside of Austin the temperature went back up to 69 degrees, and the skies returned to being cloudy, but dry. Go figure!
Today, the day after, I’m developing a very deep relationship with my heating pad, as my back is still a problem. Everything should be fine in 2 weeks, and I’m only anticipating a short (if any) interruption in my normal training routine between now and then.
When I arrived, Seth (the meet director) was just shaking his head. “It hasn’t rained here in three months”, he said, “And now this!” I decided I wasn’t going to let a little weather get in my way, so I optimistically began my routine. Hit the bathroom…take off glasses…put in contact lenses…get my stuff out of the trunk - implements, water bottle, towel, notebook for recording measurements…eat a donut…put on throwing shoes.
I ambled over to the shot put area and inspected the newly extended landing area. They put in a nice bed of level, crushed granite all the way out to 60 feet. Sometimes my shot put will roll that far, but that would be about the only benefit I would be getting from all the work they did. Oh well.
All the familiar faces were there, and it was good to see them again. That’s about all you could see of them though, because everyone was wearing hoods and hats and sweats or rain suits. I on the other hand had decided that the 69 degrees weather I had left back home was plenty warm so I only had sweat bottoms and a T-shirt...not good.
I warmed up a little and was concerned that I was throwing about 2 feet less than my normal practice distances. By the time the competition began I was thoroughly soaked, with water dripping off my hair like I had just stepped out of the shower. My towel for cleaning off the shot was completely saturated. This was a problem because after each throw the shot would wind up completely caked with wet crushed granite chips, then after a quick wipe with the towel it would be nice and shiny and very wet and slick.
My first throw in competition was tentative, as I was not use to standing in puddles when beginning my glide, and I produced a very embarrassing 31’-3” effort. The remaining throws went 32’-1”, 32’-11.5”, and 33’-5.5”. My conclusion is that for an 8:00 am start in the cold and wet, and after a 2-1/2 hours car ride, I apparently need longer than normal to warm up. Each of my throws averaged 8” further than the preceding one, and I’m convinced that I could have continued this trend for a couple more throws at least. I’m just not sure how I can warm up sufficiently with about 10 other thrower sharing one ring. I’m definitely going to have to figure this out!
Javelin was a joke. First of all, I suck at javelin…I’ve been about a 100’ foot thrower since I first picked one up about a year ago. But, my last throw in my last practice before the meet was around 117’, so I was encouraged. That optimism went away in a hurry at the meet. Even though I wear spikes, every time I planted my plant foot the spike would dig into the sod, but the sod under my feet would break lose and start sliding forward. It was goo! Several people slipped and fell while throwing, and no one really seemed pleased with their performances. My best?...93’-4”. Ouch!
Ok, time for discus. Time to kick some butt. I got to the ring early and began my warm-ups. My standing throws were sailing pretty far, and even with the conditions I was thinking 130’ was still possible. After all, I had spent a lot of time working on being slow out of the back and on-balance throughout the throw. Both are good things to have when throwing from a wet surface.
I had time for one last practice throw before the competition began. My plan was to “dial it up” a little on this one to get the feel of a full effort. Slipping had not been a problem as yet, and it appeared the concrete surface was rough enough to allow full throws even when wet. What I hadn’t accounted for were the random leaves and grass that had begun to accumulate on the ring during the warm ups. As I threw, I came out of the back ok, but when I landed in the second single-support my foot slipped on a leaf. I knew I was off-balance at that point so I aborted the throw and just released the disc rather than throwing it. It was at about this point that I felt something pop between my shoulder blades. No pain – just a funny sensation.
As I entered the ring for my first competition throw I felt pretty good…a little tight in my upper back…but good. My plan was to post a nice, controlled, legal throw so I could really let loose on the remaining 3 throws. All went well, and my throw sailed out to what appeared was a respectable distance. Then it happened. It felt like someone had stuck an ice pick between my shoulder blades.
Had this been the last meet of the season instead of the first, I might have tried to throw again, but after all, I have another meet in just 2 weeks and I didn’t want to screw up my chances to be healthy in that one. So…I passed on my other 3 throws. And I scratched on the remaining events – Hammer, Weight, and SuperWeight. I REALLY wasn't looking forward to throwing hammer from a wet surface anway.
My one, easy, controlled discus throw wound up being 121’-4.5”, which was good enough for first place. That was nice…and there’s some added consolation for my crappy distances in each of the three events because they all would up being above my season average for last year. I just need to make sure that these marks wind up being my worst performances for this season.
So, after the discus throw I headed back to Houston. Believe it or not, 30 minutes outside of Austin the temperature went back up to 69 degrees, and the skies returned to being cloudy, but dry. Go figure!
Today, the day after, I’m developing a very deep relationship with my heating pad, as my back is still a problem. Everything should be fine in 2 weeks, and I’m only anticipating a short (if any) interruption in my normal training routine between now and then.
posted by Jake at 10:26 AM
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