It’s been three years since threw my cap in the air as I graduated from university and entered the world of employment. Since then I have had numerous jobs; jobs I wanted and jobs I didn’t want, but three years later I have found myself settling into a role that allows me to say “I love my job.”
Today I, along with what I can only imagine to be hundreds of thousands of people, have entered the ballot for the Virgin Money 2017 London Marathon. I have never done a marathon or a half marathon before but after watching the Marathon year after year on TV and in the flesh, I have decided that I want to take on the 26.2 mile course that lights up London.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?” Marianne Williamson
I love this quote by Marianne Williamson because it highlights everything that we need in order to be successful, self belief. And it really is as simple as that but on the other hand, acquiring self belief is not so simple.
It seems a little bit ironic to be writing a blog post on how to maintain a healthy work life balance judging my current situation. The little hand on the clock has just gone past 8.30pm and after setting off for work at 8am, I’ve only just returned home. And here I am sat frantically trying to finish writing this post and cook dinner all before for my other half to return home from an even longer day at work.
You may have noticed that I been blogging a little less frequently than what I used to do and that is because I have taken a leap in my career which has thrown everything into oblivion. Between working and planning my wedding over the past few weeks I have very little time to be just “Tashi”, let alone to shoot and write blog posts!
Although my blog has a heavy fitness theme, I recently realised that I don’t actually give you much of an insight into my personal fitness routine! Yes, I share lots of tips and advice with you but I’ve never actually shown you a week in my trainers. I joined the gym in my late teenage years and although it has taken me sometime, I have developed a training method that suits both my body and my lifestyle.
My Training Method
I typically train 5 times a week and I like to train first thing in the morning for two reasons: 1) To get it out of the way and 2) Because life is much more quiet before work. Sometimes my friends want to catch up after work or Jordon wants to take me on a date. It’s very unlikely that someone will want to make plans with me at 6am in the morning, so doing my workout before I go to work frees up my evenings
I used to follow a really rigid gym routine. Leg day on a Tuesday, back and shoulders on a Wednesday, you know the drill. But I still got bored and my workouts lacked creativity. I now loosely plan my workouts and they are tailored to how my body and mind feels. My workouts are complementary and are centered around building lean muscle mass, maintaining fitness, speed and endurance.
My body responds well to explosive workouts and my sessions never last much longer than an hour. I like to keep the intensity up and this also prevents me from giving up and being half hearted with my workouts.
I love to run, but long gone are the days where I would lace up my trainers and happily let my legs tick over for a couple of miles. I have fallen in love with sprinting so although my workouts are still heavily based around running, it’s speed over distance.
HIIT Training
I tend to go to Barry’s Bootcamp 2-3 times a week. I usually go on Tuesday, which is leg day and Saturday which is full body. Depending on how I am feeling, I may also go on a Friday or a Sunday too. At the moment it’s my favourite way to work out. It’s both mentally and physically challenging, and it has helped me become a stronger runner, sculpt my body and given me bull like determination that can be transferred to everyday life.
Track Life
I try to reserve Thursday’s for track, although I must admit it’s been a few weeks since I last ran 800m around Paddington recreational track. I run with Track Mafia, it’s a free running club and our session begins 6:30pm every Thursday. There are about four different speed groups and I run with the second group. We are grouped by our 5km times and this group run 5km in 20-22minutes. I long to be with the top group who can easily sail pass the 5km mark in under 20 minutes but I am not there yet.
We usually do 5 X 800m runs, alternating between our 10k, 5k, mile and sometimes sprint speeds. We only have 90 seconds rest in between runs and after we have finished I feel exhausted but there is no greater feeling than running over the finish line knowing that I have given it my all, and I am always in great company too.
The Gym
I train by myself in the gym 2-3 times a week. The number of gym sessions typically depends on how many times I have been to Barry’s and if I have been to track or not. Because I don’t spend a lot of time in the gym, I focus on doing circuits, big compound lifts and body weight exercises to improve my fitness levels. I also do pull ups and press ups every time I go to the gym. And depending how much cardio I have done that week, I sometimes do high intensity interval training on the treadmill or stepper.
The Goal
As you can probably tell from reading this post, stretching isn’t something that I do often… I am a typical runner! All run, no stretch. I just don’t like it, but I know that stretching more will have a positive impact on my training so I am trying to do it more often.
I’m getting married in 10 months time and this month I am going to start focusing on tightening up my diet and exercise regime. Losing weight isn’t my main goal, actually it isn’t my goal at all. I just want to sculpt my body, lean out and fill my dress in the right places.
This Weeks Workout:
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Interval training on the treadmill, upper body circuits
Wednesday: Lower body circuit and pull ups
Thursday: Track. I will actually go this week!
Friday: Full Body at Barry’s Bootcamp
Saturday: Off/ Stretch
Sunday: Full Body at Barry’s Bootcamp
What does a week in your trainers look like? I would love to hear about how you like to exercise.
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It’s been almost a year and a half since I logged onto WordPress.com and opened up my little corner on the internet, Tashi Skervin.com. And in those 17 months I have learned more about myself, grown as a person and developed a passion for writing and sharing life through my eyes.
I love having a blog. It’s the place where I can be truly creative and write about things that I value. With social media sites Instagram and Facebook using their algorithms to dictate what we see and when, having a blog has become even more important. This is the only place on the web where I can’t be filtered, edited and there are no clever algorithms in place to stop my content from appearing in your inbox or on your browser.
The Internet is continually evolving and it excites me to be a part of an industry that is growing at such a rapid pace. But there is always the opportunity to learn more and here are a few things that the internet has taught me:
Have you ever done a dance class on a spin bike? I hadn’t either until a few days ago. One hour and 520 calories later, I was dripping in sweat and had learned a new dance routine to Craig David.
Groove Cycle Dance is everything that it says on the tin and a little bit more. You dance, you cycle, you have a good time and you leave feeling like you have just won the Tour de France and America’s Got Talent, at the same time. You dance whilst cycling and it’s as simple as that.
