BRIONY'S STILL RUNNING!

Well- its been months, but I've been racing and training.

City to Bay in mid September went well- got a bit warm so a little over PB time.
The Melbourne Half went really well in the end. I got sub 2:40 which was 3 minutes faster than NYC- so pleased.

Then I got sick.

A trip to South Africa in November was fabulous, but I got worse until I was sent to hospital in the 3rd week of November with suspected pneumonia. Thankfully it was not but my asthma was so bad it was replicating pneumonia. Was better by December, and then I had my Gran's 100th in early January.

January 11th I began again, birthday's over, sickness gone. 78 days later, I am still going. Inspired by a friend in the US who is currently on Streak Day #120 something. So the Streak began.... and hasn't stopped. Minimum of 7 sessions of exercise (or min 1km) across 7 days. If a day is missed because of work it is made up as soon as possible in that week. So far a success and nearly 300 kms achieved.

There has been a trip to the Tokyo Marathon with my dear friend Anthea to cheer some friends around the course, including our favourite Belgian who completed her 6th marathon major.

Last week was round 2 of Bay to City- no position to run as up until end of February my longest run had been 5km- in preparation for the Friendship Run in Tokyo. No PB but a time of 1:32 I was pleased with the result.

Next race is a 10k up in Salisbury and also on the local calendar, a 10k at Semaphore.

The big race for the year will be the Philadelphia Half in November with a warm up at the Rocky Run in Philly the week before.

Watch this space for some posts from Tokyo and Bay to City.

Thanks for following :)

MELBOURNE HALF MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 10 DAY 3

All I can say is #dontbeafraid
OMG this is my fastest ever 10 in history. Faster than the last treddy effort on the Saturday night.
Run intervals at 10/10.5 and pushing it up to 11.0km/hr.
Run intervals really 300-500 at that speed. Walk intervals 200 at the start but reduced to 100 when doing only 300 running.
OMG. So chuffed. Next goal is under 65 but that is going to take some work.
Just got to get this kind of speed up to 15km distance.
Still got 6 weeks. Hoping for some #racedaymagic.
Finally can do this without running out of air.

Giddy Up, Happy Running.

MELBOURNE HALF MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 7 DAY 6

So solo Saturday turns into a PB Party.
Was sitting at homing pining for NYC. I had 10 km planned for tomorrow as my first long run for this half (leaving it rather late as we all know!). Was so bored I got dressed and headed to the gym just after 9:00 pm to do tomorrow's 10 today.
On the treddy by 9:20. Finished by 10:30. Ran on 0 incline (because I didn't realise I had forgotten to put it up until about km #5!!!
Fastest ever everything!!!

4k @28:49
5k @35:40
6k@43:10
8k @57:00
10k @71:10

Just goes to show when you think you can't, you can.
I ran this session on intervals again with the walks at about 6.3km/hr (0.3km/hr faster than last 2 sessions) and the runs at 9.5-10km/hr.
Walks were all 200m. Run intervals varied from 500-800m and I did run a 1km interval towards the start at 9.5km/hr.
Bear in mind, I have hardly run for 2 months and just ran a PB over every distance.
This is my 5th run this week. Definitely rest day tomorrow now.
Totally smashed it out of the ball park.
So all those time trials I talked about yesterday? #doneanddusted !!!!!

Happy running, enjoy your Sunday!



#dasherlife
#racefit

MELBOURNE HALF MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 7 DAY 5

Sub 40 5 km time trial SUCCESS!!!
Ran the last couple of intervals on 9.5 and 10km/hr!

Still on the interval pyramid which I am liking for the moment.
200/200/200/500/200/600/200/800/200/600/200/500/200/500 (because I wanted my sub 40!)

Once again running on an incline and next week will up that 0.5 to 2.5 to further test my fitness.
Next goal is sub 60 8km followed by a sub 1:15 10 km
When I achieve those I will know I am moving forward to race fitness.
Hoping to get the 8km by 25 August and the 10km 10 days following that which will bring me to 2 weeks before City to Bay where I want to go for the sub 1:30 across the 12km.

Happy Running!

MELBOURNE HALF MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 7 DAY 3

So 3 days in a row. I wasn't quite fast enough on the run intervals so missed my sub 40.
Ran on a mini pyramid.
200/200/200/400/200/600/200/800/200/600/200/500/200/300/200
2.0 incline. Used 5.8-6.0 for walk intervals and runs varied from 7.5-9.5
Its the best way to push up the speed and test fitness. I used to run on zero incline but now find I can do a slight incline with no trouble.

Had a rest day on Thursday.
Happy Running

MELBOURNE HALF MARATHON TRAINING: WEEK 1 DAY 7 - I CAN STILL RUN!

So for those following at home you will know that after the NYC Half, I struggled with hamstring issues that have only had me run on race day- which is twice since March. With dry needling, I have got rid of the hamstring issue and so today, I ran.
I am 0.9kg of my 1st goal weight of 69.9 kgs (under 70) and am off to Vegas for a conference soon.
Todays session, involved 4 x 1.3 km runs at relatively good speed from 7.5-9.0/km/hr on 3 incline.
I walked 500 uphill on 9 incline, ran, then did 700 m walk intervals on 9 incline, finishing with a 1 km walk on the 9.0 incline.
After pizza for lunch, I needed to expend some energy.
Really pleased with my first actual training "run". Excited I can actually still run. Was thinking I would have been totally crap but it was actually really good. Sore hip flexors late in the peace which were relieved while sticking my fingers in them while I ran (TMI???).
Feeling ok now, hoping restless legs don't keep me up.
Happy running!

PRODUCT REVIEW: GYM BOSS miniMAX INTERVAL BEEPER

This girl is big on interval running. I never used to be. I used to think you had to run all the way to get faster times. I have had 4 PB's this year using Jeff Galloway's method of run/walk intervals. I got the gym boss to help me in the NYC Marathon in 2013 and have used it ever since. I love it.
If you have a basic Garmin or watch for running this will be the perfect accompaniment to your either of those. Available in an array of colours, the Gymboss Mini Max runs off 1 x AAA battery. You can adjust your intervals to anything you like. Maximum of 99 rounds of the 2 intervals. Beeps go off for 1, 2 or 5 seconds and the beep can be quite loud (for a race like NYC Marathon, this is essential. I had to wear it on the neck hole of my top the crowd was that loud. It's so easy to use this product, I am a big fan and recommend it to anyone who needs something to time their intervals. It means you aren't always looking at your watch.
So if you want to get the perfect interval timer click below!




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