Josh Kelly started training with Run2PB online coach, Brady Threlfall at the start of March in 2018. When Josh commenced his program with Brady his 5km PB was 21:42 and he had the goal of breaking 20 minutes for the 5km distance.
Fast forward now to the start of 2019 Josh has PBs of 18:43 for 5km, 39:11 for 10km and 1:29 for the Half Marathon 1:28:58. We caught up with Josh to hear how his consistent year of training really paid off with some impressive PBs.
How has Run2PB coaching changed your running?
Over 2018, having signed up for some structured training with Brady at Run2PB, I feel my training has taken my running to levels that I don’t feel I could have achieved on my own. Knowing that there is another party who is also invested in helping me to achieve my goals definitely makes it easier to get out the door, be it on a frosty morning or otherwise.
The support and encouragement I've received has given me the belief and confidence in my own abilities, as a ‘new’ runner. All of my goals were surpassed last year, some of which I thought may have just been a pipe dream, but I'm now looking to set new time goals that, with the continual adaptation from varied training, should also be achievable.
Is it true that having a structured running program has had a positive impact in other areas of your life as well?
As someone who had only ever participated in sports previously, and not been at any sort of fitness level to compete, this program has changed my personal outlook on life and the challenges that we all face. Proving that with the right training and also mindset, achieving is well within the reaches of those who dedicate time to bettering themselves.
Running has not only given me the benefit of achievement, but it has also had a positive affect on my own mental health and clarity, to get me through the stresses of being self-employed, and through the huge impact of a marriage breakdown.
You PB'd at parkrun, Shepparton Running Festival 10km and Melbourne Half Marathon during 2018. Tell us a bit about how you felt going into those parkruns & races? Going into those races over the previous 7 months, I felt very well prepared physically and also mentally. Knowing that the hard work had already been done, it was just a matter of executing the plan, to achieve the desired goal.
Obviously, there were a few moments of butterflies and thoughts that maybe what I was aiming for may have been a bit out of reach, but they were quickly negated upon going back through my training history to see that the results we were chasing were certainly within reach.
Going back through the races I have done this year, Gold Coast 10km, Echuca parkrun, Shepparton 10km and Melbourne Half Marathon, the pre-race plan has played out exactly as was described by Brady. At Melbourne, we planned to take it a little conservative at the start and the feeling of coming through the field in the second half of a race, while others were blowing up, can’t be underestimated, it felt great to finish strong. .
Being able to pick people off, who I'd seen warming up and thinking they were much better than me and then going past them later on gave me a great boost in the closing stages of a race.
A conservative first half definitely makes for a good race in the second half and leaves you feeling positive for the next challenge to come, rather than feeling busted and down in the dumps about a bad race experience. This is one thing I've really learned to implement come race day.I am certainly looking forward to where we can move on to together, building up, racing more and continuing to achieve goals.
Want to join the Run2PB team and be personally coached online by an elite athlete with a proven record of helping runners achieve their PBs?
If so, check out all the details at www.run2pb.co and fill out the 'Sign Up' form to start achieving your personal best today!