One of the main Olympic hopefuls for next year is athlete, Kelly Proper.
Selected to compete in the World Championships in Beijing, Kelly competes in Long Jump, 200m and the 100m.
She has won 15 national outdoor track and field titles and placed 5th in the semi-final of 200m at the 2014 European Championships.
What is your training routine like?
"Usually in the off season which would be September to December, it would be a heavy load, so we’d do a track session on Monday which would be long intervals but it is quite difficult. Tuesday would be a weights session, Tuesday afternoon we do a trimetrics session and speed work. Wednesday night, we’d do a short interval track session. Thursday morning, we do reactive weights and Thursday afternoon we do circuit training. Friday morning I do weights again and then I do a tempo run in the evening and then on Saturday morning we do hills and I rest on a Sunday.
Every day you’d be doing something totally different.
This time of the year, we’re coming up to competition so we’re really trying to fine tune everything. All the work is done, we’re just trying to get the most out of my ability.
We’re really concentrating on getting the speed going and feeling really fresh because it’s so important to be fresh coming up to the competition.
That would be typical of a competition week.
You love competing, that’s what you’re training for and that’s the hard work. In the winter it’s tough, there’s nothing that breaks it up. Every week, it’s kind of a slog but at least then when the competitions are on, especially for me, things are going really well right now. That’s what you’re hoping for every season.
What keeps you focused?
You’d sit down at the end of every season and think, what were our strengths, what were our weaknesses and how are we going to improve. After Zurich last year in the Europeans, a huge thing was improving, my flat speed over 100.
We’d really focus on just trying to improve the plan or how my time can be better used because there’s only so much training you can do.
How important is rest?
One of my downfalls over the years would have been, I hate cooling down. That’s definitely something I’ve addressed. I just focus a good bit on my cool time so I don’t have that many pains the next day.
I’d always be at the physio or at a massage therapist. I’d go to the physio at least three times a week just to make sure everything is on track.
When you’re training so much, you would have little niggles. You are going to get injuries because you’re pushing yourself day in and day out but it’s just how you manage them and you have to know when to stop as well.
What's your nutrition like?
I’m just quite normal. I try to eat healthy and I try stay away from sugar but I never go hungry. I always find in the off season when I’m doing the high volume training, I find I would be quite hungry. Once I get into competition season, you’re not as hungry because you’re not working out as much.
I just try to keep it really healthy, fish, chicken, veg, things like that.
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