Thank you for visiting my website www.melbreen.com
If it is for the first time it is great to have you and I trust you will come back. If you are a regular then it makes me happy to know you are staying in contact and up to date with me.
I hope you will join me in my journey to become one of the fastest females in the world. Already I have experienced some amazing moments, and I am only at the beginning of my career which means I look forward to sharing many years of wonderful moments and experiences with you.
Through my website you will be able to keep track of upcoming competitions and results. The website also contains a link to my photos, athlete bio and background so you really get to know where I have come from and where I am focused on heading to.
Please continue to share in my journey.
Mel xo
Canberra – Adelaide – Dubai – Frankfurt – Cologne … 31 hours door to door but a very smooth trip with Lauren and Matt.
I have now settled into our house in Cologne, this is the first year that we have based in a house usually we stay at the Athletics Australian headquarters hotel. The house is great, definitely enough space, by July there will be five in the house, with Brandon Starc and his coach Alex Stewart arriving soon.
We have had a busy day exploring our surroundings, and getting used to the heat! It is actually hot here, unsure how long the 30 degree days will last but for now it’s beautiful. Today we worked out the tram lines, did some grocery shopping, checked out the nearest track and gym to our place and thankfully we have bikes on loan from school where the track and gym are located.
Tomorrow we’ll be back into the normal swing of things, track in the morning, and treatment in the afternoon.
Mel xo
The Canberra Times: Chris Dutton
16 June 2013
INJURIES, an Olympic Games and a wedding to plan – Canberra hurdler Lauren Boden is using her whirlwind three years on and off the track to break a personal-best drought on a European mission.
Boden, Melissa Breen and rising star Chloe Jamieson – all from the Matt Beckenham-trained stable – will leave the capital on Sunday to begin their world championship preparations.
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Breen has also had her injury woes in the lead up to the world championships, which will be held in Moscow from August 10-18.
The 100 metre and 200 metre sprinter injured her calf and suffered multiple bouts of food poisoning on a two-week tour of Asia.
But the 22-year-old is confident she can make the world championship semi finals.
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Please check out The Canberra Times or click here to continue reading this article.
Mel xo
Tomorrow marks one week until I fly to Europe, to finalise my preparations for the World Championships in Moscow. This year I will once again base in Cologne Germany, with my training partner Lauren Boden, and coach Matt Beckenham. This year we have a house, much better than living out of a hotel room for more than a month!
Cologne is a fantastic base for the European Season for many reason, it is very central, easy to travel around Europe to different meets, excellent transport system, the training facilities at the university are awesome. Since 2009 I have been coming to Cologne, so much can be said about being comfortable in an environment, knowing your way around. It’s almost like a coming home.
My first competition will be on the 29 June in Nivelles Belgium, where I will race the 100m. Other years I have raced straight off the plane, but this year I get to settle in, fully adjust to the time zone and race ten days after landing. At this stage I am looking at having about five meets before the World Championships.
- 29 June Meeting International EAP – Nivelles Belgium 100m
- 6 July Memorial Léon Buyle – Oordegem Beglium 200m
- 10 July Naimette-Xhovémont – Liège Belgium 100m
- 27 July Ninove Flanders Cup Meeting – Ninove Belgium 100m & 200m
After my last competition in Ninove, I will head to Tonbridge UK. This is the Athletics Australia holding camp, the same location we based before the London 2012 Olympic. It is compulsory that all team members and coaches to be in camp, which includes Matt as he has been named as a team coach for the World Championships, well deserved! From then we will all head to Moscow on 6th August.
Training has been going well in cold Canberra since returning from Sir Lanka in the middle of May. I have had a few issues with my health but after getting my final blood test results yesterday I am definitely on the mend! Despite this, training has been going very well, getting through the longer speed endurance sessions and continually working on my technique.
One more week in cold Canberra and then we’re off to Europe.
Mel xo
The Canberra Times: Lee Gaskin
16 May 2013
Multiple bouts of food poisoning, her Australian 4x100m women’s relay team missing out on a world championship berth by a fraction of a second and a random drug test on her arrival back to Canberra on Tuesday night.
It’s no surprise then that sprinter Melissa Breen was relieved to be home after an eventful two-week tour of Asia.
The London Olympian underwent blood tests on Tuesday as a precaution to determine any lingering effects from constant stomach troubles during recent competitions in Japan, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
But in a positive sign, Breen is over the worse of the calf injury that forced her to sit out the national titles, and the 22-year-old has set her sights on the world titles in Moscow in August.
”It was pretty much the worst possible two weeks you could probably ask for in trying to qualify the country,” she said.
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Please check out The Canberra Times or click here to continue reading this article.
Mel xo
I will be competing again in Japan on Friday the 3rd of May.
I will be running in the 200m at 4.00pm (5.00pm AEST).
It is going to be a bit f a test running a 200m with minimal training done but I am excited to get another run in my legs.
I have pulled up well from my first competition back on Monday, and have trained well this week, bring on Friday, and please be a tail wind!
I will post results as soon as I can.
Mel xo
Ticking boxes. I got through my first competition in seven weeks, I didn’t feel my calf at all, although it felt very rusty and a little foreign after having a month off the track and only two weeks running I am happy to be back racing. It wasn’t as fast or didn’t feel as good as I though it might, but perspective is an amazing thing!
I was feeling good in warm up, for the heats and was ready to execute a good race, unfortunately some of my old habits decided to come out and play, and I ran with some tension especially in the first part of my race, not allowing maximum acceleration through drive phase. But lesson learnt, so my aim for the final was to set up my race better, allow myself to push off the ground without rushing it. And in the final, I achieved this, if it was a race to 70m then I would be very happy, I just lots a little bit of technique over the final stage of the race which cost me.
Despite these mistakes, I got through my first competition in seven weeks, so ticking boxes! I have a lot of racing coming up over the next two weeks, which may seem like throwing me in the deep end, but I need to get back in the deep end, continue to work on aspects of my race, get that feeling back of timing and enjoy racing without pressure, because I’ve already got the A and it’s all about Moscow now and being in the best possible shape come August 11th.
I head off to Shizuoka today by train, I will spend the week there and race again on Friday in a 200m, that will be a bit of a test as I haven’t had the track work I did before Sydney, but it’s all about exposing myself to racing again, getting through it in one piece and keeping the big picture in mind!
Mel xo
I have arrived safely in Japan, I will be competing in three meets:
- 29 April 2013 – 100m 47th Mikio Oda Memorial Track & Field Meet Hiroshima Japan
- 3 May 2013 – 200m JAAF National GP Series Shizuoka Japan
- 5 May 2013 – 100m Tokyo Grand Prix Tokyo Japan
For the sixth year in a row I will compete in Japan, perhaps this year is the most unknown though. I will compete for the first time in Hiroshima since I strained my soleus six weeks ago. I have been back in full training for a few weeks now, and I am feeling good and excited about being able to race again.
A massive positive though, is for the first time I have already achieved the A standard before racing in Japan, so unlike previous years, the pressure is off so to speak!
Race day here in Hiroshima in on Monday 29th, the 100m heats are on at 11.55pm (12.55pm AEST) and the 100m final is on at 2.50pm (3.50pm AEST).
I will post results as soon as I can.
Mel xo
