Claire Leckey

Blackmores Sydney Running Festival 21km 2016

The night before blog post!

It's been a few weeks since I have posted but wanted to do one last one blog post and only seems appropriate to do it the night before the actual run!

I can't believe it's been 14 weeks since I starting training for this event. It's been totally awesome and I can't thank all my Cantoo running buddies and supporters for getting me through. The cold, dark mornings, early nights, listening to my "running chat" and most of all sponsoring me to raise money for the fantastic charity organisation that is Cantoo.

I'm feeling nervous and excited, loaded up on carbs, running kit is laid out ready to go! All that is left now is to set my alarm (4am - ouch!) then get running... 21km here we come.. Go Cantoo East!!!

Week 8 - a very wet week impacted training a bit :(

This week was a super wet week, it rained basically non-stop so my training didnt exactly go according to plan this week. I didn't get in the km's I have in the weeks prior but I did make it to a few different gym classes, strength and conditioning classes which has been a bit neglected and I know is good to help with running! It felt great to be lifting weights again. My running buddy Lesley and I have started a 2 week trial of classpass, it's great, basically we get to trial loads of different gyms and yoga studios. We tried out 3 different places this week. They were all great! We love variety in our training so it's right up our alley!

Wednesday lashed it down.. I mean it was horrible! We honestly thought training would be cancelled, we were watching facebook all day then our coach posted 'training still on - rain, hail or shine!' Booo!! We went along but we really didnt think we'd be running, it was so wet you could hardly see in front of you! We were meant to have pub night after so we honestly were convinced we'd just change the run to the next night and go to the pub instead.. wishful thinking! We had to run in the rain! The track was so slippy, the route tonight was 200m with a 45 sec rest, then 400m with 60 sec rest, then 800m with 90 sec rest then 1km, then back down. It was only 4km altogether. Thankfully there was no core work to go with it, a short cool down then we all got out of there for a warm shower - pub postponed to next week! I guess we should practice running in that kind of weather in case it does on the day but man it took until Saturday for my trainers to dry!

Saturday was 14km. After only 8km from our recovery week last week I was abit worried I'd be ok running it. My running buddy found out on friday she has shin splints (poor thing) so she was out for Saturday training! Devo!! Anyway she came along and was our champion motivator and giving out water and jelly snakes at the half way point.. The first half was fine, it was pretty slow and steady, the way back however, had 1.5km of hills. A constant uphill battle, it was tough, like seriously tough, the coach was giving us lots of motivation through out, stand tall, look 3-4 metres in front of you, don't drop your head, and breathe slowly, all well and good but it wasn't easy. Just at the point when I really wanted to stop came the last bit of motivation 'remember why you are doing this..' of course I couldnt stop then could i! I kept going, made it to the top of the hill and then slowly after some gasping breathes getting back on the flat I was ok again! The run overall was hard and time was slow, it didn't make me feel great as I feel like I regressed a little but this week I WILL get in some more km's and next Saturday is 16km (also my birthday) so I hope it'll be a good run!

Until next week... Hope your all enjoying the blog by the way!! Would love to hear if you are reading it and enjoying it! :-)

Week 7 & the half way mark has passed!

This week has been great. On Tuesday night we had our charity trivia night. It went so well. Lesley and I had done a lot of planning for it. Turns out we make a very good planning team. I thought I was organised but not a patch on my running buddy! We had 11 teams all set and our local bar the Wanderer was opening especially for us. Their trivia is always awesome, so we'd decided to use their trivia master, stick with the expertise, whilst we're good organisers, not sure about coming up with questions, haha! We had so many great prizes donated from our local favourite hairdresser, beautician, massage therapist, gyms and of course some alcohol. Everyone seemed to really get into it, getting a bit competitive and having a few Tuesday night drinks! Most importantly we raised over $1,400 for Cantoo! This meant I hit my fundraising target - yay!!

Wednesday night was also a good training session. 4 rounds of 3 laps of the running track with 2 mins break in between when our running coach had us doing some abs work. The first lap was meant to be at 'less than our 5km pace', the second lap 'at 5km race pace' then the third lap faster again. I enjoyed it as with the 2 min semi break in between it was enough to get your breath back and then go again and give it your all! It flew by!

Saturday was our recovery week run, just 8km. I didn't think I'd be saying 'just 8km' 8 weeks ago! :) we'd done this run before so we knew the way and we had a good chat on the way our little group. The group has now split into 2 smaller groups for our Saturday groups, heads and tails. The group I'm in is heads so we run at 645am. We're all relatively similar pace so it's nice to run together! It was a lovely day, blue skies! After the run I dashed off as my boyfriend and I were heading up to the blue mountains for the night. We did 2 big walks up there, Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, not long but sooo many steps! My calves are in bits! They feel like rocks, haha! Time for some Sunday night foam rolling and a glass of red to ease the pain!

Week 8 starts tomorrow, I can't believe it! The half way mark passed, it's been awesome so far and I hope the next 7 weeks as the distances start getting really solid continues to go well! A few photos from the trivia night are loaded in my gallery!

Week 6 - 14km and straights and curves!

This week I've been feeling tired, Wednesday was raining all day long so I really wasnt massively looking forward to training BUT.. I committed and I didnt want to let my running buddy Lesley down (I always pick her up on Wednesdays!) and to be fair I didn't want to let myself down so I put on my gym gear and off we drove to the track! Thankfully by the time we got there it had stopped raining, we had a speaker before we starting warming up, she was one of the researchers that we are running to raise money for. She talked to us about her experience in research which was really great to hear and to understand more about exactly where our fundraising money is going to. It really is such an awesome charity! She talked about how you have to be able to face rejection in the industry she works in and how your constantly trying to 'search' for answers but you have to keep re-doing and re-searching over and over. Sounds tough but as she said even a small bit of progress is massive when it comes to understanding cancer cures!

The run this evening was 1km straights and curves (5 times), that means run at around 90% on the straights and then reduce it down to around 70% on the curves! It was tough, seriously tough but I know this is the kind of training that makes you faster so the end result is a good one! :) That kept me going throughout the 14 laps. And I was meeting some friends for dinner afterwards so that also kept me going! hehe!

Saturday was 14km, a run down to Mrs Macquaries Chair and back. It was a gorgeous run, an early start this week as our distances are getting longer - 645am ouch! The sun was out and it was beautiful by the water, the water was so still. I enjoyed it mostly and legs held up well. After the run was time to do some final planning for our fundraising trivia night on Tuesday. We're all organised so fingers crossed it goes well!

A few downsides of running hit me this week... my bum, what bum... it's only been 6-7 weeks and it's hardly there anymore, I'm not joking! I did do one training session during the week with heavy squats and lunges but jeez it wrecked my legs for days so wasn't such a clever idea I discovered. I think its going to have to be a case of 'goodbye bum for 14 weeks!' and post 18th September can work on that again for summer, hahaha!! The other thing, I'm hungry ALL the time and not just a bit hungry, its like it hits me all of a sudden and I just have to eat quick sharp, I'm quite used to carrying snacks with me but now it's all the time, an apple or some sort of nuts in my bag in case of a 'hangry emergency!' And the last thing, running socks... I've discovered expensive socks with plenty of padding are a bloody good investment when pounding the streets! :-)

Anyway I just thought I'd share some of these things as it's not all glamorous this running malarkey!!

Next week we drop down to 8km as a bit of a rest week.. that's going to feel like a treat run.. I didnt think I'd be saying that 6 weeks ago!

Week 5 12km running with all the other pods!

This morning was our 12km run, instead of meeting at Centennial Park as we normally do we met at Liechhardt Oval. We were running with all of the other half marathon pods this morning. There was easily 100 of us and the CEO and Founder of Cantoo was there. They did a little talk first of all and introduced a few Cantoo legends, one guy who was on is 16th program and had raised over $32k, what a legend! After that we did a quick warm up then we were on our way. Running in masses this morning! But very soon we split into smaller groups! I ran with my running buddy Lesley for the first 6km, chatting most of the way about the things we love, food / restaurants and exercise, made the time fly by! At the 6km mark we split and did the second half separately! It was a perfect morning for it, crisp but dry, nice to be running somewhere new and taking in the views. No traffic lights so we got a solid 12km in! It wasnt easy and I fear my legs are going to be very sore tomorrow but we did it! Our pod did VERY well with quite a few of us coming back within an hour 5-10 mins! Whohoo! Afterwards there were a few people selling protein balls and goodies for Cantoo, so we scoffed some of them then headed home for showers and to give the legs a break!

Photo in black and white this morning as after 12km I have to say we probably werent all looking our best! :)

Next week its another 2km added on.. 14km and it's a hilly route.. eeek!!

Week 4! 5km benchmark and 10km long run!

Its week 4 and this week has been a big one. On Wednesday night we did our first 5km benchmark, at first I thought this was just 'how fast can I run 5km!' however turns out there's a lot more to it than that.. The aim was to ensure our first km and last km were of equal pace and also similar to average pace throughout. Between thinking about this as well as trying to count 12.5 loops around the 400m track at ES Marks it kept me on my toes. A new guy joined the group this evening and he was great, he set the pace for me the whole way (thanks Brad!) I followed his lead and he had a good steady pace. I have to confess I did have a little bit of energy left in the last 100m and finished with a sprint to overtake him (sorry!!)

The result my fastest ever 5km - 24 mins 20 secs. Super proud! I've realised how much these mid week track sessions really do help your speeed. Everyone did great, so many of the group setting PB's! Whohoo! Afterwards we went to the pub to celebrate :)

Saturday was the next long run.. 10km, distance does feel to be stepping up quickly. I couldnt make it to join the group unfortunately as I'm away for the weekend down in Bowral BUT I still made sure I got my run in. I planned a little route and got slightly lost running around Bowral but I did the distance anyway. A few sneaky hills in there which were bloody tough but all good for the training (or so I tried to tell myself when I was huffing and puffing running up the side of what felt like a motorway!) Ooops!

Next Saturday 12km.. week 5 bring it on...


Saturday number 2 - 6km, 7 degrees!

This morning I woke before my alarm at 6.15am, not sure why my body thinks I'll sleep through my alarm on a Saturday when I don't any other day of the week but for some reason it did this morning! I turned off my alarm and got up at 6.30am. No more Saturday morning lie-ins for the next 12 weeks! My running buddy was picking me up at 7, as we realised after last week it doesnt take 45 mins to get from our house to Centennial park 3km away! Oops! :-) It was chilly, I-phone said 7.5 degrees but feels like 3.5. We met at our usual spot and everyone was bouncing around trying to keep warm. Long trousers and long tops for sure this morning!

We ran 6km, a bit through the park (hilly to start) then out of the park down Moore Park road.. all down hill til we reached the 3km mark then turned to go back! Hilly on the way back up, there was definitely a bit of huffing and puffing but the last km was all downhill to finish - yay!! Last night I'd done a yin yoga class so was hoping my legs would feel super loose, it wasn't quite the case.. maybe one yoga class isn't enough.. damn.. luckily I've seen up for a 2 week trial at a lovely yogabar in the city so will definitely try fit in a few more classes over the next few weeks.

After the run, the sun came out in perfect time for some stretches and cool down then we headed to the Centennial Park cafe for breakfast and coffee. Was good to get to know some of the other Cantoo'ers better and hear about their awesome fundraising ideas!

Got a few action shot photos today so check out my gallery..

Next week jumps up to 8km and 800m track runs on Satuday.. eeek it's stepping up fast!

A soggy Saturday run!

Today was our first Saturday 'long run' - not too far today just 4km. It was WET WET WET! My running buddy Lesley picked me up at 645am (ouch) and off we went layered up to the max, so eager we arrived about 20 mins early so casually sat in the car avoiding the rain before we had to brave it to run! After a bit of a jog to warm up and some dynamic stretches off we went! A little bit of chatting on the way (coach was giving us some technique tips), splashing through the puddles and trying to run a bit too fast for my own good (ooops!) we'd completed our 4km by 8am. Pace was a bit all over the place so that's the aim for next week to try and get that a little better. Apparently the norm is to go for coffee afterwards but everyone was so drenched a hot shower seemed more appealing today! Hopefully next week so we can get to know a few more people in the group! It was the longest a few people in the group had ever run - go team!

Check out my post run drenched pic.. promise there won't be one of these jumping photos after every run!

First training session done! :-)

So tonight was the first cantoo training session and it was great! I picked up my training partner Lesley and we headed to ES Marks Field like 2 kids excited for a party!

After an initial introduction to the program, the trainers, my mentors (awesome Kayleigh my inspiration to sign up) and the other 34 people that I'll be training with over the next 14 weeks we started with a warm up! It was pretty cold (about 14 degrees - cold in Aus) lots of jogging, high knees and butt kicks then straight into running! First time I've run on a track since school.. tonight's session involved 400m (1 loop of the track) at around 70% intensity then a 200m recovery before repeating. We did it 6 times! On the recoveries I got to know some of the other cantoo'ers, hearing all their stories is fascinating and made me feel even more passionate about what we're doing! It really is about raising money for an incredible cause as well as kicking a personal goal.

On Saturday is our first long run, not too bad hopefully at just 4km.. already can't wait! :)

Check out my first pic with my mentor Kay and my official Cantoo running top!

Training starts this week - whohoo!

So this week, 1 month after signing up to the half marathon with Cantoo official training begins!

I'm excited and nervous at the same time, I've been doing a few runs the last few weeks to prep and this Sunday I ran 7km with my boyfriend. He's soo much faster than me so the idea was he'd put me through my paces and help me with my speed. That he absolutely did! I'm not going to lie there was nearly a fall out when I was shouting, 'this feels like a sprint and this isn't fun.' But I did run the fastest I've ever ran so I guess I achieved what I set out to do, even if it was rather painful at the time. I imagine over the next 14 weeks there'll be a lot of 'that was a painful training session' and 'that was awesome afterwards!' but that's what it's all about right, no point in having a goal if it's not a challenge?!

I'm training with my friend Lesley and this is her first half marathon (I've done one but it was 3 years ago so feels like I'm starting afresh), we're excited to have this new challenge and ready (we think) for our early Saturday mornings and quiet friday nights! But most importantly we're committed to raising money for this awesome charity!

This Wednesday is our first session so watch this space for our first picture in our orange Cantoo tops - bring it on! :-)

I'm training with Can Too for Blackmores Sydney Running Festival Half Marathon!

I am training for an event with Can Too, a health promotion organisation that engages and inspires individuals and the community to achieve personal health, wellbeing and altruistic goals.

Beginners and experienced athletes alike are given professional coaching as part of a team to run or swim in endurance events- including 10km, half-marathon and marathon runs; as well as ocean swims and triathlons.

In return, I am raising valuable funds that go towards innovation in the prevention, care and control of cancer. In 2015, Can Too community is funding 14 early career researchers through Cure Cancer Australia.

Thank you for supporting me!

‘It’s so much fun and I can’t believe I’m going to achieve this goal that I never thought possible. A great program and team support is making it possible. You Can Too!’

Thank you to my Sponsors

$199

Trivia Night

$100

Andrew Hird

$100

Anonymous

A great cause. Good luck Claire!

$100

John Leckey

$100

Wendy Cheung

$80

Wesfarmers Quiz Team

good luck!

$80

Aerial Silks Crew Melbs

Good luck Claire, Hope you smash it!!

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Sam

Can't believe you were training in this tonight you nutter! Keep it up you're going to smash it. Loads love Sam xxx

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Leanne & Tom

Fab updates Claire! All for a very worthy cause as well so keep all the training up.....even in the rain!! Lots of luck for the half marathon itself too! Lots of love Leanne & Tom! Xxxxx

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Schofe

You're doing so well with your training. Sorry I can't be there on the day! Will be thinking of you. Good luck (not that you need it) xx

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Brett Harmston

Good luck

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Lucy Nandi

Fantastic run and fantastic cause to raise funds for. Go for it Claire. I hope to see you on the track or at the finish line.

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Anna Mc

Awesome effort Claire. Good luck. Ax

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Joanne Edwards

$40

Amy And Jason

Good luck mate:)) your awesome for doing it and you'll be amazing:)) run Leckey run!!:) lots of love xxx

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Holly & Si

Go girl! Know you'll smash it. This whole thing will change your life - embrace every moment xxx

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Kate And Dan

Looking forward to the trivia! Good luck!

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Em + Max

Go Claire!

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Kay Rumbers

You are smashing it Claire! Welcome to the can too cult x x

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Mcd & Clem

Good luck Claire!! Great effort and can't wait for the Trivia night xx

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Michelle Leckey

Hope this has worked. All the best for it all ul be fab x

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Jill

Good Luck sis! Go smash it!

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Karthik

Good work. Best wishes Claire.

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Mreow

Go Claire Go!

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Natasha

Good luck, Claire!

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Jacqui Henderson

Good luck tomorrow Claire! I'm sure you'll smash it! xxx

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Neal Shah

Good Luck Claire!

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Lucy Wood

Awesome! Go Claire

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Jeanne & Barry

Good Luck, Claire! xx

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Granny Leckey

Good luck Claire proud of you

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Louise

You can do it you wee champ! You are doing amazing keep up all the training! You are motivating me from across the world hehe! Xx

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Beth Humberston

$30

Hilary Leckey

$30

Amy French

Good Luck Claire! xx

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Lily Henderson

Goooo Claire ya lil legend!! I'll bloody blink and you'll be at the finish line ya hot babe xxx

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Holly Wallace

Good luck Hun! You are a super star! Xx

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Emma Grella

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Kezz

Good work Claire Bear! Cant wait to see you smash your PB!

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Laura Handley

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Frances Taylor

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Your Legendary Sister

All the best for the run. Hope it is easier than silks ;)

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Stotty

Sub 90min?

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Evelyn Parr

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Emily Thomas

$20

Claire Leckey

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Louise

Best of luck and enjoy xx

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Misha Shliapnikoff

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Anonymous

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Bianca Share

Hi Claire. Goodluck in your fundraising mission and with the half marathon. I am looking forward to learning the art of aerial silks with Jill xoxo

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Trevor Schmidt

Thanks CLaire and good luck with the fundraising