How to prepare for a half-marathon in 2 1/2 Months

It's crazy to realize that this is my first blog post in 5 years!!

A few months ago, I decided to sign up for a half-marathon happening in less than three months, having never done long runs before and knowing nothing about the subject. Many people told me I was crazy, I won't have enough time to train, that I'm gonna fail, etc. Well I'm here to tell you that it is possible, and these are the things that I've done to prepared for it. I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life. You can do it too, I'm here to tell you how!

1. Run 3 times a week

I live in Quebec and the winter is dreadfully long, so I joined a gym. I basically started running 3 times a week on the treadmill. I do two shorter runs (around 7km) and a longer run (around 12km) on the weekends. A good tip is not to run everyday, but give it at least a day of rest between running. Also, use 2 degrees of incline on the treadmill, it's better for the knees.

Occasionally, if the weather is nice, I would go for a run outside. I don't have a FitBit, but I use the FitBit app to track my runs. It's helpful because it times my runs and tells me how far my runs are.

I drink a big cafe latte before running, I find that it raises my heart-rate and gives me more energy. I also find that eating two donuts an hour before running gives me a lot of energy!

2. Do exercise videos on the days in between running

It isn't a good idea to run everyday, so I do exercise videos at home on the days in between. My favourite in-between run workouts are the P90X Core Synergistics, and upper body workouts. I figured since I'm working out my legs by running a lot, I would do more upper body workouts to balance it out.

3. Build a playlist for running

This is the really fun part of doing a marathon. I find that music gives me a lot of adrenaline and just make the runs not boring. I love House and dance music, something with a really good, hard hitting beat. Some of my favourite artists to listen to while running are: Clean Bandit, Daft Punk, David Guetta and Calvin Harris.

4. Put Voltaren on injuries

I was stupid enough one day that I went for a run outside when there was still lots of snow on the trails, injuring my knee. I highly recommend that you do not run outside when there's still snow, especially if you're a beginner runner like me. I had to stop running for 2 weeks because of my injury. My sister-in-law, who is an osteopath, recommended using Voltaren. This is a miracle cream! You could get it behind the counter at any pharmacy, but you don't need a prescription. I just rub it on and it stops hurting. I could run again! Be careful not to injure yourself, but if you ever do, Voltaren could be your saviour.

5. Getting advice from friends and the Internet

I've also got some invaluable advice from friends. For example, start off slow and pass people, you'll feel much better that way. Having a good running form is important also!

My final result: 21k in 2 hours and 9 minutes.

Running is definitely an addictive sport. If you get hooked, you may never look back :)  

Career change/Going to Tokyo

Since Leon's arrival I've been thinking about a career change to become a teacher, since it would be hard for Leon if we both have crazy schedules working in the game industry. I had spent the month of October getting my English teaching degree at the ILSC Montreal CELTA program. It was an extremely busy month going to school full time, plus teaching practice and Leon as well. After a month of hard work, I'd successfully passed the course and made some new friends as well.

One week after I passed the course, I got my first job teaching a group of 15 students at a non-profit organization for a training program for people who want to work as testers in the game industry. I must say I'm extremely lucky and grateful for being able to find a job so quickly. It's a lot of fun teaching such a motivated and outspoken group of students. Then last week I started another job at a public school, which is a very challenging position so far. I went from no jobs to working two jobs in two months.

I'll be in Tokyo from Dec. 16 to 22nd, for my best friend's wedding. I hadn't been back to Tokyo for almost four years. I'm really excited to see my friends, eat good food and go shopping.. etc!!

レオンが来てからキャリア変わるのことを考えました。二人ともゲーム会社に仕事したらレオンにとっては大変だと思った。　十月の一ヶ月にＩＬＳＣモントリオールに英語先生になるＣＥＬＴＡ　ＣＥＲＴＩＦＩＣＡＴＥをとることにした。学校とレオン両方あってとっても忙しい一ヶ月だった。学校が終わって、ＣＥＬＴＡを取って、たくさんの友達も作りました。

一週間後、初めの仕事を見つけた。ゲーム会社に入りたいテスターたちに英語を教える仕事だった。こんなに早く仕事見つけれてとてもラッキーだった、しかもすごいモチベーション高いと楽しい学生たちだった。その後、公立学校にもう一つの仕事を見つかった。英語がほとんど０な学生たちだった。。その仕事はなぜかものすごい難しい。仕事が二ヶ月に０から２つの仕事もしてることになった。

１２月１６から２２日までに東京に居ます。親友の結婚式に行きます！４年ぶりの日本だから友達会うと、ラーメン食べるとショッピングすることを楽しみしてます！！！

Nothing's going right

So Saturday is Leon's 2 years old birthday party. Then on Saturday night I'm leaving for Barcelona with my friend Eve-Marie. Crazy busy this week preparing for everything. When bad things happen they happen all at the same time. First the couch we ordered for the basement didn't fit through the stairway down to the basement, so the delivery guys had to take it back. So we still don't have a couch for our basement. Then my 2 month old iPhone 3GS broke. I didn't do anything to it, didn't even drop it. It just suddenly decided not to turn on. We tried everything. Sylvain tried to back it up but didn't work, apparently I had lost all the photos, videos, contact phone numbers - the works. I lost EVERYTHING on my phone!! Then yesterday Leon pooped in the bath it was a huge mess, today he peed all over the little couch we got for him. He was getting so good at potty training but every now and then there are still accidents. I'm really hoping things turn for the better real soon, especially in Barcelona!!

A word to Apple -- I'm so pissed off, your product sucks, how can it break only after 2 months. Arg!! That's it.

今週の土曜日はレオンの２歳誕生日パーティー。同じ日の夜は友達のEve-Marieとバーセロナに一週間旅行。今週はものすごい忙しかった、そして悪いことはぜーんぶ同じ時に行う。まず地下室のために買ったソファは大きいすぎて、階段に降りれなかった。そして、２ヶ月前買ったiPhone 3GSは壊れてしまった。私は何もしてなかったのに、いきなり動けなくなってた。シルバンはいろいろ試してみた、バックアップもしてみたが、データがぜーんぶなくなりました！！そして夕べレオンはお風呂にウンチしてしまって、掃除が超大変だった。今日もレオンの小さいソファにオシッコしてしまった。トイレトレーニングは本当にうまくいってるのに、時々また事故が。バーセロナにいろいろうまく行くように・・。

アップルにひとこと：超むかつく！！不良品バッカ！！どうして２ヶ月だけでもう壊れてしまったの。こんにゃろー！！　以上。

Potty training started

So I was on the phone with my Mom the other day and we started talking about Leon, and she said "how come he's not potty trained yet?" Then I was chatting with my Vietnamese neighbor and she said "what! Leon's not potty trained yet!? My 2 kids were trained by 16 months etc" Asian kids tend to be potty trained earlier than North Americans from what I've heard. Leon is almost 2 years old now, so we decided that it is time. We have been training him since Friday afternoon.

So off with the diapers since Friday afternoon and on the potty every 15 to 30 minutes. Nothing in the potty except messes to clean up. Then Saturday he actually pooped twice and peed twice in the potty!! Now I thought this is getting somewhere. But no! This morning Sylvain found poop on the carpet! Apparently he forgot how to poop in the potty. Good thing I covered the carpet with a towel. At the end of the day he had done 4 peepees in the potty, although I still had to clean up like 5 accidents. At least this is getting somewhere, and I'm starting to recognize his wiggling dance when he wants to go now.

The conclusion is potty training is hard! I think Leon has made an amazing progress. But bottom line is cleaning up sucks and I hope he gets it real soon!!

In other news, Mart was here and helped me dig out 3 plants and planted new ones plus finishing the edging of my front garden. He did an amazing job, merci Mart!!! Also thanks to Ayako for taking us to the best ramen joint in Montreal, called Ichiban. It was the best ramen I've had in Montreal by far!! We have to go again.

Recent pics here! (No pics of pees or poops!)

お母さんと電話して、レオンの話しとかしたら、「まだトイレトレーニングしてなかったの！」と言われた。隣のベトナム人のおばさんと話したら、「なに！まだトイレトレーニングしてなかった？私の子供たちはみんな１６ヶ月に全部終わったなどなど」。アジア人はみんなアメリカ人より早い気がする。レオンはもうすぐ２歳だから、そろそろ始まろうと決まった。金曜日からオムツがオフしました！

金曜日に１５分か３０分つづPotty（子供用トイレ）に座ったけど、その日なにもpottyに入らなかった。そして土曜に２回もPottyにウンチした！おしっこも２回した！これでよしっと思った。まだまだ！今朝シルバンはカーペットにウンチ見つかった！Pottyにウンチするのが忘れたみたい。カーペットにタオルかけて良かった。今日の終わりにPottyに４回おしっこしたけど、５回の事故の掃除もした。する前の小さいダンスのパターンをちゃんとわかるようになったけどね。

トイレトレーニングは難しい！でもレオンはずいぶん上手になった。事故の掃除はとても大変だから、早くできるといいな。

友達のアヤコはずいぶん美味しいラーメン屋さんに連れてきた！「ICHIBAN」という台湾人がやってるところ。とんこつなど書いてないけど、とんこつの味。なぜかしょーゆーラーメンもとんこつの色。モントリオールに食べたラーメンに一番美味しかったから、また行きたい！！

最近の写真はここ。（ウンチの写真なし）

Long time no blog!

I've been slacking off on blogging recently, partly due to how easy it is to post stuff on Facebook. Anyways we're doing great, the weather in Montreal had been exceptionally warm this year. We've been playing outside from pretty much morning to night!

A few weeks ago, while playing at our friend's backyard, Leon fell on marble stairs and chipped a tooth. When it happened I completely freaked out, he was crying so much and I cried with him T-T I took him to the dentist that same afternoon, and the dentist said he's fine, just watch for discoloration. If the tooth turns gray it could mean the nerves were damaged. So far the tooth is still white, although he's unable to bite with his front teeth anymore, since it apparently still hurts. No more corn on the cob for Leon until he gets his permanent teeth, I guess.

2 Weekends ago we went to Ottawa to the tulip festival! That was a really nice trip overall although the first night we didn't get 2 double beds as requested, resulting in Leon sleeping on the same bed with us, that was awful. He was jumping around until half past 10pm, then woke up at 5am. The next day we walked in front of the Canadian parliament building and Sylvain said we have to go in because it's part of visiting the Capital. Of course Leon had a tantrum halfway through the very boring for babies tour and cried all the way out until he fell asleep. The other 2 days were awesome, we went to Dow's lake pavilion to see tulips, it was certainly impressive! We also rode a pedal boat with Leon, which was his first time in a boat :) On the 3rd day we went to an amazing park containing 5 different play structures, along with a water park. It was the nicest park for kids I've ever been to and it was all free, people are lucky to live in the capital of Canada! Pictures of Ottawa trip here.

Leon will be 2 years old in June, and I'm still trying to find a job, although no luck yet. Yesterday I went to work for my friend's communication firm who needed help preparing for a big convention. I worked from 9AM to 11PM and listened to French all day! Anyway, I'm thinking of going to get a licence to teach English in the fall, if I don't find a job by then. As of now I'm taking advantage of having a nice summer with Leon, and I'm going with my friend Eve-Marie to Barcelona at the end of June!!

Facebookの方のポストが速いから、最近ブログさぼっていました。とにかく元気です！！今年モントリオールの天気は意外に暖かったので、朝から夜まで外に遊びばかりだった！

何週間まえ、友達の庭に遊んだとき、レオンは階段に落ちて、前歯を折ってしまった。同じ日に歯医者さんに見てもらって、心配しないで大丈夫と言われた。ただ、もし歯の色が灰色に変わったら、神経のダメージがあると。今でもまだ歯は白いだけど、前歯まだ痛くて、それをつかって噛むことはほとんどできない。とうもろこしが大好きだったレオンは新しい歯を出る前とてもかわいそうね。

二週間前カナダの首都オタワに行ってきた！チューリップフェスティバルは素晴らしかった。いい旅行だったが、最初の晩ホテルに二つのベッド頼んでたのにひとつしかなかった。レオンと一緒に寝るのが最悪だった。夜１０時半過ぎてまだジャンプしたり、午前中５時起き。次の日シルバンはどうしてもParliamentの中に入りたくて、途中にレオンはおお泣き始まって寝るまでとまらなかったorz　次の二日はとても良かった！Dow's Lake Pavilionに素晴らしいチューリップいっぱい見えた！湖に船にも乗ってみた。レオン初めての船！三日目に超大きい公園に遊びに行った。今までそういうすごい公園行ったことなかった。さすが首都の公園だね！オタワの写真はここ。

レオンは６月に２歳になるんだけど、まだ仕事探してなかなか見つけれない。昨日は友達のオフィスに朝９時から夜１１まで仕事した、フランス語もばかり聴いてたｗ　もし秋まで仕事見つけれなかったら、英語先生になるライセンスを取りに行くと思う。今はレオンと一緒にいい夏すごして、それから６月終わりに友達のEve－Marieとバーセロナに遊びに行くぜ！！