Athlete Profiles – Patti Nahrung
Today’s athlete profile: Patti Nahrung. Keep an eye out – more athlete stories to follow. Patti decided to start doing Adventurethon after watching her husband enjoying them and is admired by all who meet her.
Have you always been active? Not in a do it yourself sense. I rode horses and competed in ponyclub up until I was 19, then took up netball, dabbled in hockey, golf, then started Adventure racing 3 years ago.
Why Adventurethon? I was sitting on the sidelines watching my husband David racing, and realised that Adventure racing was something I could have a go at. It is something you can do at your own pace, and training for it (or doing the time) is enjoyable.
Tell us about why do you do off road events – I love the freedom and non stressed hustle bustle challenging environment. Riding my bike takes me back to my fun adventures horse riding.
How do you feel about your win on Maggie? (Patti came first in the Female Masters 40+ Enduro Adventurethon, racing against women younger than herself) I had no idea about the time. I have only paddled 10 times since Maggi last year so my paddling leg was quite ordinary and unstable. I was going quite well in the bike leg, until the flat tyre saga, which left me no choice but to run as much as I could. I am very proud that I managed the 14.5k of running straight off the bat. It has really inspired me to find other ways to train for the run leg.
Where do you feel your strengths lie? I may not be the ideal picture of an athlete and I do carry a few little unforgiving physical injuries, but I make up for all of that with pure “MONGREL” mentality, throwing myself at whatever comes my way.
Who inspires you to push yourself? That would have to be my Husband David Nahrung. He is always coming home and telling me how fast he has done some leg of his training, so I take it as a challenge!! David too has had his fair share of injuries but he is very compliant about his rehab, something I am slowly learning to implement into my lifetime regime.
Describe the atmosphere on magnetic island during race weekend? It is always exciting. One looks forward to catching up with friends met over the previous races, and meeting new friends or even just chatting with anybody and everybody about the ups and downs in the race. Everyone supports each other the entire weekend. There is something for the whole family. Definitely a well organised event and a great family weekend.
Where do you live and play? OK, so I have to brag here. I live in the best Adventure Playground Community, Pallarenda. I could not ask for anything more. So many places to play right in my own back yard.
How important is your support crew to achieving your goals? I don’t normally have a support crew, though David did come in handy when I found my camel back bladder had burst at the start of the leg run. You need to be really organised, I certainly learnt from 2015 Maggi race that you need to look at a back up plan to keep you in the race.
What does your race day breakfast look like? This race it was 2 hot cross buns, some water and then a GU just before the start of the race. I am learning to eat better leading up to the race.
What’s the one piece of equipment that goes with you to every race and why? I would have to say my broad brimmed hat. Everyone has a little laugh about it because it is totally sexy of course, especially under my bike helmet. It keeps the hot sun from beating down on me throughout the whole race and is quite cool temperature wise.
What piece of advice would you give someone attempting their first Adventurethon? Hang out, chat, train with other adventure racers. I mainly concentrate on building up to the distance or near to of each leg, but not necessarily going hard at it. Train one leg per session, building up to combining them into 3. I want my body and mind to be used to the time out there. My aim is to complete. What come after that is a blessing!!
What is the difference between Maggie island Adventurethon and (Pallarenda) National Challenge I find that the Maggi race is about trying to stay ahead of the heat and keeping your mind and body ticking over. It is definitely an endurance event for me. Pallarenda Enduro is more of a sprint and I have to do extremely well in the paddle and the bike to be able to compete against the runners in the run leg. Maggi is a good stepping stone for competing in the Pallarenda Ultra, which I am hoping to do this year, all going well.