Weekly Update: 9-15 January 2017

This was another normal week training wise; I'll be busy for the next few weekends so I appreciated the standard routine. For further details on what my usual week involves, see my post here. 

Outfit
Here is a flatlay of the outfit I wore to Parkrun on Saturday. The Nike Free Run Flyknit are miracle shoes. I've seen mixed reviews but I love them. More on that later. 

Running
This week I completed three runs. Again it was hard to find the motivation for the Thursday night run because I was tired from my other training and I knew I had to be at the pool at 5.30am the next morning. However, if I didn't do it I knew I'd feel worse and see it as a wasted opportunity. I was satisfied with the run in the end. It was 7km and my average pace was 5 minutes and 17 seconds per kilometre. That's faster than I usually do for a training run. It's good to get some 7km practice in because I'll be running that distance at the Sun Run on the 4th of February. 

After last week's struggle at the Parkrun, I did much better this week back at my home Parkrun location. Despite substantial improvements in my 5km runs over the past couple of months, my self confidence took a knock after last week's experience. It was incredibly hot and humid for the Parkrun, already reaching 32 degrees by 8am. I also ran without any device telling me my pace, which is rare (I wanted to enjoy the run rather than stress about times for once), so I had no idea how fast I was going. Therefore, I didn't expect too much from today's run. It was such a shock when I found out my 5km time was 23 minutes and 38 seconds. I never expected to be under 24 minutes because it's only the second time I've achieved a time like that. My personal best is actually 23 minutes and 36 seconds so if I knew I was only two seconds off my personal best time I would have tried to run a little faster at the end. Regardless, I am very happy. 

Tennis
In addition to tennis club I played tennis on Saturday this week. The husband and I hired a court so we could hit together. We played a couple of sets of singles and practiced serving. It was really fun and made me realise how much I miss singles. At tennis club, because it's more social tennis, we only play doubles. My game is definitely more suited to singles. I can't fit anything more into my standard week but now I want to incorporate tennis singles somehow, maybe a competition here and there. 

Swimming
This week I completed five training sessions and went to usual Wednesday night swim club racing. The total kilometres was slightly less than last week with 13.625km. I also completed one of the long distance swims for the Masters Swimming Australia Endurance Program.  It's a year long program which involves 62 long distance swims. This week I finished the 30 minute breaststroke. I was pleased with my race times for Wednesday night swim club especially the 200m freestyle. 2:41.71 is a significant personal best for me. 

Improvements/Progress on Last Week
-Improve my diet. I said that last week (and for many weeks before I was doing these weekly updates). I'll leave it on the list and hope for some progress.
-Leg strength. My calves and hamstrings didn't hurt as much during my faster runs this week. I am very grateful for that. However, it's still an ongoing problem so I still hope to find some exercises to improve leg strength. 
-I didn't have much time for additional bootcamp style activities (but I did regular bootcamp on Monday) but I did some. I completed five pushups before work some mornings in the week. It's about creating the habit. I can't believe I'm capable of doing five "real" pushups now. I've never been great with body strength so it's huge progress. I think I'll be able to do ten soon. I'd like to create a similar habit with daily crunches. 

Weekly Photo
This week's random photo is from my Thursday night run along the river. On another note I love the Nike Free Run Flyknits. My best runs have been in these shoes. I'll make another post on that. 

What did you achieve this week? 

Parkrun: My Journey

First Parkrun
My first ever Parkrun was on 7th November 2015 and it took me just over half an hour to complete the 5km course (30 minutes and 50 seconds). I remember the morning well. It was before I bought my car Daisy so I had to take two buses to arrive at the Parkrun location. I got lost and took the wrong bus so, despite leaving early, I started to worry about missing the run. When I did finally arrive I spotted a marshal on the course so asked him where the start line was located. He told me it was 1km back in a completely different direction. The problem was it was already 7.55am so there was no way I could make it to the start line in under five minutes. In fact I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run the entire 5km once the race started so by adding an extra kilometre to even get to the start line, I didn't have much chance. But I was going to try because I didn't want to have to wait another week to run. So I ran as fast as I could and managed to join the run even though I was late. You can see from the picture below which is just in to the start of the run. That's me in the red box trying to make it to the start. 

I eventually joined the run and finished. I ran the whole way which was the ultimate goal. I'd taken up running in July of 2015 but by November I'd made somewhat limited progress because of constant ankle injuries. It had been many years without sport prior to that so my fitness level wasn't great either. I could run 5km on a treadmill but struggled with running outside the gym. After my first Parkrun I felt positive and was determined to come back in future weeks. 

Parkrun 2015
I came back to Parkrun for the next four weeks and eventually got my time down to 27 minutes and 59 seconds. In the moment I was happy and surprised with a sub 28 minute time but looking back I struggled a lot with running then and I can tell from the photo. I didn't know the first thing about running or that it involved skill and technique. I was clueless on running shoes and hadn't heard of Nike Dri Fit or Flykit. I remember going to Kmart the night before for leggings and Trade Secret for the first pair of sports shoes I could find. 

By mid December my ankle injuries returned to the point where I struggled to walk properly. I tried to go back to Parkrun a couple more times when I really shouldn't have. On 19th December 2015 I had to walk part of the course and recorded my worst Parkrun time of 32 minutes and 11 seconds (it's the only time I've walked any of the Parkrun course). On Christmas Day 2015 I had to pull out of the run and failed to even record a time. I was so angry and frustrated especially since I couldn't find a solution to my ongoing ankle injuries. It was another three months before I ran again either at Parkrun or anywhere else. 

Parkrun Early-Mid 2016
In my break from Parkrun I'd resumed swimming after a twelve year break so I came back with much improved fitness and my body was slowly becoming stronger. My first run back was 19th March 2016 and I easily recorded a personal best time of 27 minutes and 48 seconds. In coming weeks, as swimming training increased, I improved my Parkrun time frequently without doing much other running. I was incredibly shocked when I ran sub 27 minutes for the first time on 30th April 2016 and sub 26 minutes for the first time on 14th May 2016. While I appreciate those times are certainly not outstanding, and I'd be extremely disappointed with myself if I did them now, it was a significant improvement at the time. I have never been a runner and my background is in swimming so any progress in running is a surprise. By the middle of the year I'd become a regular at Parkrun. I'd only miss a week if I had a swimming meet on at the same time. I showed up in the most wet and cold conditions throughout winter and that felt like an achievement because I became tougher in those months. 

Introducing Parkrun to Friends and Family
On 11 June 2016 my husband agreed to participate in Parkrun and he's come a total of ten times now. He walks rather than runs the course, which just goes to show Parkrun is for everyone. On 3rd September 2016 and for the two weeks after that my sister came to the Parkrun. She lives in London and was visiting Sydney for a few weeks. She's continued with Parkrun since returning to the UK. 

Parkrun Mid-Late 2016
For the first time I started to believe I may have some potential in running. This was based on the improvements I'd made throughout the year and the fact I'd started participating in other running events so was getting more experience. This was around the time I ran sub 25 minutes for the first time on 16th July 2016. It felt significant and from then on sub 5 minute kilometres became the magical number. It still wasn't easy though, I managed to run sub 25 minutes another five times before October but it hurt a lot on each occasion! I was lucky enough to sneak in a 24 minutes and 59 seconds. It was three long months without a personal best but finally on 29th October I then ran 24 minutes and 27 seconds. 

From mid November to now I noticed some more progress. Finally the mid 24 minute range started to feel comfortable. The lower end was in sight and I allowed myself to dream of whether I may be good enough for a sub 24 minute time. Much to my surprise, as I didn't think it would come so soon, on the Christmas Eve Parkrun 2016 I ran a personal best of 23 minutes and 36 seconds. I have to admit I am proud of that one. It's over 7 minutes off my first ever Parkrun time and it's a time I never would have thought myself capable of prior to a couple of months ago. That's a total of fifteen sub 25 minute runs and nine in a row at the end of the year. Not bad for a goal I never thought achievable. 

Parkrun in 2017
- My main goal for this year is to earn the 50 Parkruns shirt. I've wanted it ever since I started back in 2015. I am getting close, as of today I've completed 42 of the required 50 Parkruns so hopefully I will get it in March or April. 
- Attend a variety of different Parkrun locations. At present I've done my home Parkrun 40 times and two other Parkruns once each. There are a number in Sydney and I'd like to do some out of Sydney runs while travelling for swimming meets. 
- Complete more Parkruns with friends. Last Saturday my friend from swimming came to Parkrun and we ran a course I'd never been to before. It was fun and I look forward to it happening again. 
-Achieve a personal best. Right now it seems impossible to improve on 23 minutes and 36 seconds. But I have a whole year to get there.
- Improve fitness so 24 minutes feels a comfortable pace. 
-Attend as many Parkruns as possible to make progress towards joining the 100 club. This also seems hard right now since I'm up to 42 runs in total but every run counts. 

The benefit of Parkrun is you can make it into whatever you want it to be. It's interesting to look back and see how my goals changed over time. I was initially pleased to run the whole course no matter how long it took but now I'm disappointed every time I exceed 25 minutes for a 5km. For me it's become quite competitive and I expect a lot out of myself. It doesn't have to be that way. I hope that can change this year because I want to enjoy it more rather than having the pressure of a specific time every single week. I entirely credit swimming training for my improvement in Parkrun, I'm very thankful for the benefits of cross training. I certainly don't run a large number of kilometres per week (20km on average, the only exception being the lead up to September's half marathon). I'm very grateful my ankle injuries have improved dramatically and I've been able to run since last March. My body got stronger over time and now can handle running. When I started running my fitness was improving more rapidly than body strength and I took on too much too quickly. I understand a lot more now.

I wanted to share my experience because it shows what can be done with a goal and if you want it enough. Show up no matter what, keep going, accept no excuses and the desired results will come. 

Weekly Update: 2- 8 January 2017

This was a standard week of sport(ie. no swimming meets or running events to compete in) and these are my favourite weeks. It's a routine I've followed for close to a year now and has very much become a lifestyle. It isn't always easy (especially the days of waking up at 4.45am to go to the pool) but it's familiar and I enjoy it. 

My weekly routine
Monday: swimming am, bootcamp pm
Tuesday: running am, swimming pm
Wednesday: swim club pm
Thursday: running pm
Friday: swimming am
Saturday: Parkrun am, swimming pm
Sunday: swimming am, tennis am 

Outfit
Here is a flat lay of the outfit I wore for tennis today. It's probably my favourite at the moment. I have a large wardrobe of workout wear these days. For shoes and leggings I go with Nike and for tops I usually prefer Puma. I'll write a separate review on my favourite products later. 

Tennis
This morning I played tennis for a couple of hours at tennis club. I love tennis and I wish I had the opportunity to play more frequently. It is always a highlight of my week. Unfortunately I didn't feel I played my best today which was disappointing and I'm not entirely sure why. But it's a social competition and there's always next week. 

Running
This week I completed three runs. It's often hard to find the motivation for the Thursday night run because by that time of the week I've done lots of sport, I'm really tired and I know I have a 4.45am wakeup on Friday. Ideally I'd move this run to another day but there isn't much other time. I also don't like to go a day without sport and I don't like to move it to the morning because Wednesday is a late night. 

On Saturday I attended the Parkrun but at a different location to usual. I prefer my home Parkrun overall because it's familiar and I know exactly what I need to do there to run a good time. But at the same time I enjoyed the change and am definitely up for trying others in the coming weeks. The best news was my friend from swimming came to Parkrun this week for the first time! Training with friends is always better. However, on a more negative note, I struggled with the run more than ever before. After the run I felt like I was going to faint for at least half an hour. I couldn't stand up, my head was spinning and I couldn't see straight. It made no sense because I was over two minutes outside my best 5km time and over a minute slower than what I'd consider good for the distance. I have not ever had a response like that to a race before (not in swimming or running). I've run countless 5kms faster and multiple long races including a half marathon. I'm at a loss as to what went wrong and that's frustrating. I'm disappointed and angry at myself and doubting aspects I shouldn't be such as my fitness level. I know objectively I shouldn't be but I'm extremely harsh on myself and I always overthink setbacks.

Swimming
This week I completed five training sessions and went to the usual Wednesday night swim club racing. I'm happy with a total of 14.35km for the week. I also completed two of the long distance swims for the Masters Swimming Australia Endurance Program. It's a year long program which involves 62 long distance swims. This week I finished the 30 minute freestyle and 30 minute backstroke. I was pleased with all my race times for Wednesday night swim club especially the 100m freestyle (1:12.88) and the 100m individual medley (1:23.72) which was a personal best. 

Improvements
- Improve my diet. I've said that for so many weeks (or even months now) but it just doesn't happen. I'm putting lots of effort into training so I feel I'm letting myself down diet wise.
_  Leg strength. Whenever I run at a pace of under 5 minutes per kilometre, my legs hurt so much in the hamstrings but mainly the calves. It appears my carido level is such better than body strength. The frustrating part is I've been trying to address this for many months through weights and strengthening exercises. It may have improved a little but not substantially. I'm not entirely sure what can be done. Maybe different exercises or more of them. I'll try and research it. 
- I'd like to fit more bootcamp style activities in my standard week. I don't have time for another session but maybe an extra set of pushups here and there or a set of crunches on additional days. 

Weekly Photo
This week's random photo is of an empty pool. It's not often you see a pool which is completely free but it's ideal when it does happen. 

What did you achieve this week? 

Introduction

Hi all. Welcome to Tia Cherie Fitness. 

After many years of writing my fashion blog Tia Cherie, I've decided to create a fitness blog. It's an idea I've been thinking about for awhile now and it makes sense given sport is my main interest at the moment. While I intend to keep up my fashion/lifestyle blog in parallel, it's felt like something was missing without a space to write about sport. I am certainly not an expert so this blog is mainly intended to cover my own personal journey and will includes posts such as fitness goals, active wear fashion, daily life updates and favourite products. 

My favourite sports are swimming, tennis and running. 

Here are a few pictures from my Instagram to get started. 

Follow me on instagram as chelsea_miracle