Hurricane Sandy and running

The first thing I thought about when I heard Hurricane Sandy is hitting us tonight was

I’m still going to the gym!

This sugar addiction has got to stop!

So guess what I ate all day today:

My addiction with sugar is getting out of control and it needs to stop!

I was successful in cutting out diet drinks out of my life but for some reason, pastries are harder to control.

I literally ate this the whole day. While its going to be excellent fuel for my morning jog tomorrow, I need to get this nutrition thing in check because its getting ridiculous!!

My parents are very hard-working people. They work full-time jobs, teach part-time at the university and take care of us kids (well, we’re old now. lol) They aren’t lazy. However, as they’ve gotten older, they got into a routine of not taking care of their health because they’re always on the run.

After years and years of nagging and bribing, I FINALLY convinced my Dad to go running with me!

We made plans to go on Monday night but that got cancelled. Tuesday I had plans so we postponed for Wednsday. But I ended up falling asleep right after work and waking up at 11pm. Finally, we decided to go last night and….it finally happened!!

Here’s my Dad getting ready to go out for his very first jog in years:

I went to the local store and got him all his gear so that he’ll never have any excuse to skip out I bought -track pants -fitted work-out shirt -running jacket for colder days -running shoes -socks -gloves -headband (for his ears on colder days) It turned out to be a pretty mild evening so all he needed was his long sleeve thermal shirt and track pants.

We left around 7:15 and walked out of our neightborhood as a warm-up. As soon as we hit the main street, I started him off with a light 5 minute jog and instructed him on proper breathing patterns. I reminded him of breathing in and out so that he can have the proper airflow while jogging. He did pretty good for his first time.

We walked another 5 minutes and then we started jogging again. I kept on reminding him that as his first time, he was doing well and this was just the beggining so to not be discouraged.

We continued on the loop around my neightborhood walking for 3 minutes and running for 2 then speed walking for 3 minutes and running for 2 to keep his heartrate up.

After 25 minutes of this, we went back home, high-fiving each other on the way back back. I’m so proud of my Dad!

It’s a huge step to make an informed decision about getting back into shape! We’re supposed to go running tonight again and we’ll continue this running thing until he’ll be inspired to do it on his own!

Go Dad!!!

 

Runner’s music list- Part 1

As a runner, I think it’s extremely important to have a good playlist in your Mp3 player.

I’m not sure about most, but music keeps me going. Especially high-speed, fast energy music. There are times when your going uphill or downhill and you want to feel like your in a movie scene or chased by something. haha.

Here are the top 20 songs which I feel like runners should look into adding to their list

1) Black Eyed Peas- Don’t stop the party (My ultimate favourite!)

2) Katy Perry- Part of Me

3) Ida Corr- What goes around

4) Jaguar- Kigeugeu

5) Theophilus London- Why even try

6)Rihanna ft. Chris Brown- Birthday Cake

7) Phonique- Feel what you want to want

8) Awolnation- Burn it down

9)Daft Punk- Around the World

10) Ashlee Simpson- Outta my head

11) Metro Station- Shake it

12)Chemical Brothers- Believe

13) Ke$ha- Kiss and Tell

14) Bob Sinclair- World Hold On

15)Boney M- Gonna go home

16) Calvin Harris- Disco Heat

17) Nine Inch Nail- Closer

18) Daft Punk-Human after all

19) David Guetta ft. Akon- Sexy Bitch

20) Calvin Harris- Dance Wiv Me

Ok ok…I need to add a few more because I’m on a roll:

Chemical Brothers- Do it again

Edward Maya- This is my life

Eminem- Rain Man

Fergie- Fergalicious

Joe Budden- Fire (yes yes y’all)

Ting Tings- Fruit Machine

If you need anymore or would like to add some, feel free to comment or send me a message!

-Martine

I have better runs in the morning

Last September, our family moved from the central suburbia of Orleans to the bushes of Navan. It’s not the complete “boonies” , but then again, pretty much.

I still live in the suburbs but in order to get into my neightborhood, you need to drive 10 minutes into the sticks until you find my house. You know what that means? That means that it’s real dark in the morning and at night. It’s so dark that people need to switch on their highbeams when driving. So as you can imagine, it’s pretty dangerous to be running in the wee hours of the morning when it’s still dark. I would hate to end u as roadkill.

For that reason I drive my car to my cousin’s house for my morning jogs since she lives right near my old house. It used to be a pain to have to warm up my car and scrape off my windows before being able to go but I feel like it wakes me right up.

Each and every morning, I have to admit that I HATE the start of my jog. Every ounce of my being wants to turn back and go home. But then, I  remember the 10 minutes I spent scraping off my icy car window so I suck it up and keep running. As I continue running, I start getting into the rhytme as I hear the sound of my feet hitting the pavement and become aware of my breathing, form and muscles.

I see familiar faces as I pass the morning commuters that are waiting for their bus and some of them give me a slight nod. I always try to at least smile back instead of “Hello”. I used to actually say hi but I realized that since I’m usually wearing my Mp3 earbuds, my voice is loud against the silence of the early morning and it startles some people. It’s too early to be too friendly.

I’m lucky to have access to routes that have alot of various inclines. My route usually has at least 1 steep downhill and one steep uphill so I have no choice but to push myself hard at some point during my run.

There is only at one point where I walk, that I reach the midpoint of the steepest hill of my route and walk about 3 minutes until I’m past the peak. I find this hill so grueling. Sometimes I do run the whole way but most of the time, it’s way too high. One day I hope to conquer that hill after a long run without a sweat. I’ve been walking up that hill for over 5 years now, it’s time for me to do something about it!

Running in the morning is way easier. I find that it wakes me right up for the rest of the day and my boring desk job isn’t as unbearable. Morning jogs give me “alone” time before the start of my day to refocus on my goals and priorities. If I’m having a fight with someone or if I have a decision to make, I use that time to think hard, weight the pro and cons, play out scenarios in my head.

There are morning when I wake up too late to go out jogging. Those mornings reaffirm that early jogs are better because the day usually drags on since I’m usually groggy and tired the whole day.

Anyways, I’m having a long day already…woke up too late for my morning jog…

Well hello there!

If you don’t already know me from my youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/martinethelazyrunner?feature=guide), my name is Martine and I’m a runner.

I am going on my 6th year of long distance running. I was always into running but just never developed my skills. I remember back in grade 6 running a cross country race in my school.

It was approaching my last year of university and I started noticing that my naturally slim body was uhh…putting on some weight. I was completely to blame though since I had horrible eating habits. I always starved my body of nutritious food but wouldn’t refrain from munching on baked goods and candies all day long. It seemed to work in the past in maintaining a lean body but the effects started showing as I entered my twenties (I feel old saying that since I just turned 25 two weeks ago! haha).

I started seeing tagged pictures of myself on Facebook and saw that I wasn’t as slim as I used to be:

 

Now, I must add that I’ve always been a vain person. I like keeping myself fit so when I say “extra weight” I mean that I wasn’t as “skinny” as I was used to and started freaking out about it.

One night while running errands at Walmart, I picked up some running shoes. They were plain ol’ no name running kicks.  At the time I had no idea about pronating, over-pronating, gel support, cushioning etc..

The next day, I had set my alarm for 7am and went for my first jog. All I had were tights and a tshirt and since it was wintertime, I put on this winter jacket not knowing about dressing for the weather.

Everyday, I would run for about 10-15 minutes eventually working my way up to 30 minutes. I started seeing changes immediately! My face started showing more cheekbones, my legs started slimming down as well as my arms. I just became a more “sculped” version of myself. I loved it!

Since my metabolism reved up, I was also able to eat whatever I wanted without feeling bad because my fitness would make up for it.

Eventually, the summer came and I started running further distances as well as biking. I was always out and about on my bicycle, parking it, running errands and then running some more. I was so slim that people started calling me out on how “skinny” I looked and asking if I was eating. haha.

 

Anyways, beyond just my changing appearance I also felt stronger, motivated and full of purpose. Running became my passion and I was always putting running beyond anything else. I would have functions to go to but would make sure I ran before or after. If I had school or work, I would wake up early in the morning in order to go for my jog.

After a guy broke my heart (long story) that’s when I REALLY started becoming passionate about running. I would literally run until my heart was content!

Today, I’ve completed an official 10k and a half-marathon with the Somersault Events (Winterman Challenge) and am presently training for this marathon in Feb.

I don’t want to spill the beans too much on my running timeline since I want to “ease you” into my running life, but that’s the gist of it.

Running is my passion beyond just for weightloss and fitness, it actually challenges me and helps me forget troubles (or makes my think hard).

I will elaborate further into this in future posts but right now, just wanted to say “hello!”

-Martine

By the way, this is me now: