Brentano-Murphy's Adventures

 The skies blessed us with another weekend filled with raindrops (ok yes it has been 2 weeks now...) Waking up at 4:45am on Saturday to hear the dripping outside, wondering if track training was going to happen or if we would do something on the road. I had my smoothie (hemp, dates, oat milk, blueberries and cashews) along with my herbalife tea, while heating up my hamstrings with a bean bag. At about 5:20am the message came through that training was cancelled and to do a easy 30 minute run when the weather allowed. I then got a private message asking me to do the planned session on the road, when weather allowed. The weather forecast looked bleak for the day, and not knowing what to do, I made myself a cup of coffee (not something I usually have before a run). I decided to go and do my session at Ruimsig stadium, at least its safer than the wet roads and so be it if I get wet (also I know I would not want to train later in the day if the weather cleared). Honestly I am glad I went thr

 It has been a while since my last post, so I thought I would just do an introduction of myself and quick update.. Hi, I am Zoe Brentano-Murphy, 30, living in Johannesburg, South Africa. I started running at about the age of 8 - my sister and dad are both runners. I won my first cross country race at the age of 9 and probably since then I have been hooked on winning. Growing up I cant really say I enjoyed running, but I always enjoyed the taste of victory and the attention it brought so I continued on with it until I matriculated in 2008. After this I ran on and off - my only interest was actually Cross Country which I did every year. I was still active - I cycled and took part in the sun city swim in 2001, even though I swim like a rock. In 2015 I joined a coach and was happy with my progression until I picked up a calf/ achilles injury during a race in September. I continued with it until February 2016 when I went for a platelet injection in my achilles. This left me recovering for m

HIIT otherwise known as High Intensity Interval Training is a great way to get your heartrate up and get a full body workout in a short amount of time.  As the name suggests, the exercises used are often intense and the short recovery adds to it.  Most HIIT sessions are 20 seconds of workout, 10 seconds of recovery. I like to do 2 exercises per set, for 4 reps with 1 minute recovery and 4 sets in total to make up 20 minutes. If you are feeling up to it, you can increase a rep a week, but remember it is about intensity and not about overall time or seeing how much you can do.  Below are the exercises that I did yesterday: The workout I did: Set 1: Hurdles & Cones / Shuttle Runs (4 sets - 20 seconds hurdles, 10 seconds recovery, 20 seconds Shuttle Run, 10 seconds recovery) Set 2: Speed band high knees / Shuttle Runs (4 sets - 20 seconds High Knees, 10 seconds recovery, 20 seconds Shuttle Run, 10 seconds recovery) Set 3: Banded lateral shuffle / Shuttle Runs (4 sets - 20 se

So we have made it 4 days into lockdown... yippeee :) I thought I would recap my first 4 days into lockdown. To start off, I am still working, from home of course, so I still need to be available from about 7am to about 4pm. As such, I try get my workouts in before and after this time except on the weekend and the pre-lunch workouts (which are nice and quick). Day 1 Friday, 27 March My dads birthday - we were planning on going to craft beer library in Linden but of course with the lockdown we were not able to (something to do once we are out of lockdown). I decided to make one of my favorite cakes, an almond cake, but I made it gluten free as I am trying to be 80-90% gluten free following doctors orders. I started nice and early, so that it would be ready for my dads teatime break. The recipe can be found here , but I doubled up because it looked on the thin side: 230g Butter 4 Eggs 2 cup gluten free flour 2 cups castor sugar 4 tsp almond extract Sliced almond

South Africa went into a 21 day lockdown from Midnight 26/27 March, with the first full day being Friday 27 March. For our lockdown, only those providing an essential service or those collecting essential goods (e.g. food and medicines) are allowed out on the streets - this means no exercising or walking dogs outside of houses or in parks. For many of us, exercise is a daily essential; a way of letting off steam, getting the body moving after sitting behind a computer all day, a way of managing anxiety or stress and for pure enjoyment. Not everyone is fortunate enough to have access to swimming pools, treadmills or stationary bicycles to keep active and to keep up some kind of fitness. For many, it is also going to be hard to keep motivated, so being dedicated and planning will be vital. My plan of action is as follows: Monday AM: Meditation (2-5 minutes) Yoga +- 10 Minutes Morning Exercise routine (10-15 minutes) Pre-Lunch USN Daily Challenge (you can find it on the

Sunday, 15 March 2020   St Johns Collage Gauteng Relays 2020 Relays are not exactly my favorite and with this year’s relay being at my not so favorite map, I was contemplating putting my name down for a little. With the Raco ladies leading the events this year, I knew that I was needed, to have a strong team. I was paired up with Sarah and Tania Wimberley and was happy to be running the first leg. I knew that all I needed to do was try concentrate and not get disqualified. The first leg is my favorite, it is the mass start and I find that I push a bit harder and my concentration is better, despite other people around. I did a morning run of 1 hour and my left leg was feeling a bit twitchy with my left foot (fascia) tight, so I was going in with excuses already – but luckily working at registration I didn’t actually get to talk to my teammates, so I didn’t voice my excuses. The way the relay works, is the first leg has a mass start, does their course and then hands over