Sky Scholar Paralympian Olivia Breen fit and ready for summer

Olivia Breen: Busy preparing for the new season

It's been a lively few months for Olivia Breen as she prepares for a hectic summer on the track.

The 18-year-old, bronze medallist at the London Paralympics, has got an eye firmly fixed on more medals at the Rio Games but she knows there is 18 months of hard graft.

It's been a winter of smashing personal bests on the indoors track and in the gym, getting stuck into her study books, overcoming sickness and is now set to kick off her summer season in great shape. Here's Olivia's latest blog....

On the whole I have had a great winter season. I have become so much stronger and my ability in the gym is much improved. I have finished the winter season being able to deadlift 92.5 kgs which was always beyond my wildest dreams!

The Paralympic head coach always referred to me as the weakest athlete she had ever seen so I am really pleased to see such an improvement. I also feel much more confident in the gym and in my abilities.

We have also worked really hard at my block starts over the winter. For someone with cerebral palsy doing a block start is really difficult. Having to hold myself in the blocks is a real challenge. This is where I can really notice how much stronger I have become.

I was very happy with my indoor season at the start of the year. I only ran two 60m races and was delighted to achieve a significant PB of 8.61 seconds, beating my 9.12s. This put me in a really good frame of mind to go to the Dubai Grand Prix at the end of February with Team GB.

I didn't get a PB in the 100, but I was happy with my time of 13.71 as I ran it at the end of my indoor season and had not been properly preparing for a 100m and concentrating on the 60m instead. I feel I executed all aspects of the race well and was particularly happy with my start.

I was also really happy with my 200m there and got a PB of 28.83. There's no 200m race in my class scheduled for Rio so I haven't been training for that race. It's still encouraging to see I've improved there though.

Dubai was great fun. There were quite a few of us from Team GB competing and it was good to get together with the guys again. Unfortunately quite a few of us caught a flu type bug when we came back.

I had managed to keep myself really healthy so to catch something at the end of winter was really annoying. I was due to take a break after Dubai so I spent this time of rest feeling poorly and then I had to take another week off to recover fully.

I have come back from the bug and now feel stronger than ever, which is great. I have been in Tenerife with my training group for three weeks for warm weather training. We stayed in an apartment which is literally opposite the track and gym so it's all really convenient and we don't have to worry about travel arrangements or anything like that.

There is also the advantage of no jet lag so we started training feeling fresh.

My parents and younger brother came out to Tenerife as well. It was good to see them but I trained so hard and was really tired so didn't actually see much of them! They have enjoyed the sunshine though!

Olivia: Warm weather training in Tenerife

The weather there was really good. It was tough on some of the really hot days but overall it was perfect training weather. I feel as though I am working harder than I ever have and hopefully I will see the benefits of all the hard work in the new season. 

It has been an exciting winter in other ways too. Jonas and Julie Dodoo (my coaches) had their beautiful baby boy Logan in January and it's been lovely to see them growing as a family. Logan came out with them to Tenerife with his grandparents as babysitters and he loved it. 

I am still at Oaklands College in St Albans where I am finishing my BTEC in Coaching and Fitness. I am still deciding about what to do about college next year as my priority is getting ready for Rio and doing all I can to medal there.

I have become an ambassador for another charity this year - The Dame Vera Lynn Trust for Children with Cerebral Palsy.  I went to one of the charity's schools in Billinghurst when I was a toddler so it is a charity close to my heart.

I will start my season on May 6 at the Herts County Champs doing a 100m and longjump and I'm really excited.

My first big event is at the Loughborough Internationals on May 17 where there is an ambulant (not confined to bed) race for disabled athletes. This season will be a long one with the IPC World Championships in Doha not until October so we have to plan things carefully. I can't wait to get started!

Olivia Breen is one of 12 athletes being supported through the Sky Academy Sports Scholarships scheme.

The Scholarships offer a programme of support tailored to each athletes specific requirements covering areas such as funding, media coaching, mentoring and wider developmental support.

Read here for full details of the scheme