new website

I haven't written in here in a while but i'm moving.... hahaha

check it!


www.mykelabelle.com

Insert dirty mustache photo here:

En-route to Chuckanut

So the training has begun for my first ultra in almost a year a half. The training runs are still short but are coming along quite nicely. Coach Noa has been keep a watchful eye on my progress to ensure everything goes smoothly (this is why she is a wicked coach!). The body is feeling good. No real glute problems anymore which I believe it contributed to a healthy diet of yoga and Dr. Salmon digging her fingers into me a couple times a week. I haven't really chat with anybody about what to expect at Chuckanut other than it is a very runnable course at the beginning and at the end with the mountain running in the middle.

I have been feeling really inspired lately. For reasons I can't really explain other than I wanna complete the races I set out a few years ago to complete. Western States and Badwater, primarily. I was cruising on youtube the other night watching some footage from Western states and came across this video. What I was impressed by was look at Geoff Roes pace that he is running at (remember he has just ran 158km, climbed some 15 thousand feet and descended another 22 thousand).

A little update...

Well I'm not gonna lie, I haven't been doing much running since the GoodLife Vic Marathon. My glute has been bugging me but its getting a lot better and Dr. Salmon got me into a great pair of orthotics (which I wasn't too pleased about but they have made a world of difference). I've also been doing some yoga and have been attempting to do some boot camp classes at Body Dynamics Headquarters next to lululemon on Johnson street. I hate going to the gym and this seems appropriate for myself. I've also been looking at races for next year and below is a list of the the ones I'm planning on doing. The Canadian Death Race in Grande Cache, Alberta and the New York City Marathon are my two big ones. I discovered last night as I was applying for the lottery that I have a half marathon time from this year that gives me a guaranteed entry (Thanks Oak Bay Kool Half Marathon! haha).

Thursday November 11: Thetis Lake Relay

Saturday November 27: Gunner Shaw 10k 

Saturday December 7: Stewart Mountain 10 miler 

Sunday January 9^th 2011: Pioneer 8k 

Sunday March 6^th: Bazan Bay 5k 

Saturday March 19^th: Chuckanut 50k (Bellingham, Washington) 

Sunday April 24^th: Capitol Peaks 55k (Olympia, Washington)

Sunday May 15^th: Oak Bay ½ Marathon

Sunday June 4^th: The Great Walk 63.5k (Gold River to Tahsis, BC) OR North Olympic Discovery Marathon (Port Angeles, Washington)

Saturday June 18^th: Kusam Klimb 23k (Sayward, BC)

Saturday June 25^th: Scorched Sole 50miler (Kelowna, BC)

Saturday/Sunday August Long Weekend (July 31^st to August 1^st, 2011): The North Face Canadian Death Race (Grande Cache, Alberta)

November 6^th: New York City Marathon

They are colour coded for Coach Noa's sake and Black represents my goal races, Dark Blue represents my B races so races I don't taper for but race, Blue is a training race and Red is just for run!

GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon - Oct 10th, 2010

What a day....

Starting at 6:45am I headed to lululemon to set up some cheer stuff and cheer the half marathoners on. Very inspiring and really got the juices flowing for the adventure that was going to take place. Looking on the map of the course, the marathon did seem a little daunting. I hadn't done a long run longer than 2 hours where I got 28km done and was fatigued for a few days afterwards so I knew I was going to have to be extremely aware of what my body was telling me and my pace.

I started back with Lindsay Cristante and Erica Summers (two of my clinic athletes) and we got going at a pretty quick 4mins per km pace. I slowed down to adjust and made the right hand turn up Johnson street. Outside of lululemon and Body Dynamics HQ were tons of my coworkers and other supporters with cowbells and it was awesome to see them! but this was only 2km and I had 40km more to go. I knew with my lack of training, my walk breaks would be crucial and keeping hydrated and fueled would prevent my body from breaking apart. Heading into beacon hill park I settled into a comfortable pace and got through that section pretty comfortably. We hit the 10k time mat and this was the first major check for me. I was just over 43 minutes at 10k and knew I was probably going a little to quick. I had planned on doing a 1hr30min half and then go from there so I adjusted my pace. Heading into Oak Bay I saw some of my former clinic members (Jenny and Carrie) and one of my clinic athletes wife Claire all cheering me on which was amazing. Heading down from Oak Bay towards the water, you could feel the wind and cold coming off the ocean. It didn't bother me but I was glad I had arm warmers on. I caught up to a fellow from Portland, Oregon and we chatted briefly about the race course and he asked which were the worst hills. I said the one coming up (leading up to the golf course). So we cruised along and running along beach drive was awesome! So many people out cheering!

I hit the half way mark at 1:30:20 (officially) and felt pretty good. My tight calves were feeling like they might cramp up but I was drinking enough fluids and taking in my gels adequately enough that I avoided any issues with cramping. The last marathon I did in Kelowna I cramped up like there was no tomorrow from 25k onward. It was pretty cool running along beach drive seeing the athletes who had turned around already on their way back. After I turned around at Exeter it was like I was reborn. My energy was great and I just maintained pace and the kilometers just started ticking off. I saw so many people on the way back that I knew and it was great to cheer them on. Of course I stopped at the aid station on beach drive, went to the bathroom. Drank some gatorade and carried on. Just before the climb to golf course I came upon a guy who look like he needed some help. So I asked him how he was doing and he was cramping badly, so I gave him a salt pill and some water and carried on. I noticed he was wearing track spikes... without the studs in them of course but I can't even fathom how destroyed my body would have been after 5k of running on the road in spikeless track shoes. Cudos to you bud! So as I ran up the hill I was reminded of the guy from Portland whom I had told the hill up to the golf course on the way out to the turn around was the hardest hill. I was definitely wrong. The climb from the Oak Bay Marina to the golf course on the way back was pretty damn tough. I came over the top to hear the DJ playing some awesome music, but I also heard some angry yelling. Maybe I was going crazy at that point but it sounded like some old guy yelling from the golf course at the DJ... who knows. I came to the crest of the hill and saw Mike Suminski and my coworker Steph (she was dressed with cowbells and a toque of a cow) and carried on with a good level of thankfulness that these guys were out there.

Turning off beach drive was tough mentally. Winding through Oak Bay was a bit difficult as my energy was a little low, but I caught up to Mathias and he said he was feeling the same low-energy feeling. Cruising through towards Dallas road, I caught up to Rob Mackay, one of our lululemon ambassadors as he was doing the marathon as a training run gearing up for the Haney 2 Harrison 100k. I keep up with my fluid intake, my gels and my walk breaks. I took a few extra because I was feeling some light little twitches in my calves, so I did it to avoid cramping. Finally getting onto Dallas road was a amazing. It was getting hot though. And I began to climb from Ross bay and I thought this was a tough little hill, it kept going for what felt like eternity, which in reality was probably 3 minutes. I got to Dallas and Douglas (around 38 - 39k) and realized a sub 3hr was not likely today but It would be close. So I continued at my pace and came down to the final aid station where I knew some of my coworkers from lululemon would be. Of course I had my moustache 'Carl' on for the event and was no more than 5 feet away from Sheryl before she realized it was me. My manager Paula I could tell 'loved' it. So I carried on towards the finish line and was just enjoying the run. I finally saw the finish line and heard the voice of announcer Steve King (who is from my hometown of Penticton) and crossed the finish line with a gun time of 3 hours 1 min 16s and a chip time of 3 hours 58 seconds. Pretty stoked about my performance given that I had two long runs before hand. One being 90 minutes and the other being 2 hours and no speed work.

I headed back to lululemon after wards and my Chiropractor Kristine Salmon from Synergy Health Management was there giving free treatments. She loosened up my calves, hamstrings, and hip flexors and just hung out for a bit before the awards ceremony and then enjoying a fabulous turkey dinner. I would say this was a successful event for me (all things considered) but I'm happy to be back training and happy with a good solid race under my belt. This was my longest race since the Stormy 50 miler in august of last year so it was nice to be out there and enjoying the event. As for the Marathon it self. Best. Marathon. Ever. Sorry Kelowna, but this marathon course is epic and awesome and all things of the sort. I would recommend this race to everyone, just make sure you get some hill training in!!

So Whats next? well here it is...

Thursday November 11: Thetis Lake Relay

Saturday November 27: Gunner Shaw 10k

Saturday December 7: Stewart Mountain 10 miler



Here's a photo for the photo album...

 

Myself (equipped with moustache) and Dr. Salmon post-marathon

Life happens...

So I haven't written in here in real long time and I actually removed my blog for a while. This year has been an important one. Numerous life changes and accomplishments all of which were non-running related. I've had many conversations with athletes and friends saying what a roller coaster 2010 has been. From injury, to lack of motivation to just being so busy, the running could not happen. I am fortunate enough to plowed through most of the year unharmed and finally finished my undergrad degree in Political Science at UVic. I changed jobs, now at lululemon on Johnson street, although still very much apart of the Peninsula Runners family (did you really think I would leave those guys completely? heck no, they're like family to me!).

As new opportunities arose, I had to take them on and found no room for running; however, now that I'm done school, the motivation, time and ability to run has come back. My goal: The GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon. I'll be the first to say, don't expect any sub 2:40 performance from me as this is simply a race of reward. Go out, have fun, walk when you want, and soak in the environment of 13 000+ athletes out there working their butts off. So I may continue to blog after this... maybe but I will definitely continue to run and as the title is called, accept that life happens and be flexible to whatever it throws at me.

TC10k - Sunday April 25th, 2010

I posted this yesterday but I thought I would add this little preamble today. I have been struggling to find my hammer. Yes my hammer. My hammer is what I have when the runs get tough, earlier (in the morning) or or just down right ugly. I lost it probably sometime after being sick and having my Achilles injury. I had no real consistency in my training and I had no motivation to get out the door and hammer out some long runs. So I decided to get my hammer back, I went for a little run...

Well this would be the first race I've done in a real long time. It help put a lot of things in perspective for me. I knew I needed to race and I had to accept the likely suffering that would ensue. I had planned to just run 40 minute 10k and call it a day but after the start of the race, I thought why not see what the old body can do. Well being sick with some chest cold or something, and not having any sort of consistency in my training I think today was a bit of a rebirth for me.

I found the race was great and the pace wasn't anything unmanageable for me (3:35min/km); however, around km 4, things fell apart in a big way. I start feeling my chest cold and a nasty side stitch began to annoy me. I was feeling great (not pushing the pace) up until this point. I kept trying to fight it but the body was not having any of it. I got to the aid station, walked (ugh) and drank some water and began running again. The rest of the race was a disaster needless to say. I crossed the line in 35:59 and went straight to the medical tent to get checked out after I was feeling a quite light headed after the race. I got the opportunity to meet a good chunk of the Kenyan runners who destroyed the race in the tent and their coach Mike, also from Kenya which was amazing. After the race, I was definitely a little upset, but this is the fire I need.

I've scraped my race plans for the year and just gonna get back to the basics of why I run. Its gotta be fun and today proved it can be. For the first 4km I was having a blast, for the last 6km it was brutal. However mentally challenging and possibly detrimental to my health this race was, today I rediscovered why I love to run.

Gunner Shaw 10k - November 28th

It's a good thing I write my race reports as soon as I complete the races.....

So Tyler and I headed to Thetis lake for another fall cross country classic and it was a wet day. So wet in fact, I had to decided what clothing and shoes would retain the least amount of mud and water. So I went with my Brooks Element Sprinter short tights and my Nike Free's and a White (Yes, white because I love to show how much mud I can kick up) Peninsula Runners shirt. I had heard so many good things about this race and just never got around to doing until this year. My training leading up to the race however was anything but consistent or meaningful. School was busy this semester and that dug into my training big time.

So we charged down this road and took a sharp corner and immediately I settled into a very uncomfortable and unfamiliar pace. My body was basically pulling a "wtf?!" moment. For two reasons really: the first was 10k pace felt like I was running to save my life, the second was my legs werent too happy they were racing, at least just yet.

The first few km's are pretty easy going until you get into the real trails. Then there are some sections of straight up and straight down leading to the first "puddle." I ran right into and the freezing water stung at first but then it was all about getting out and get running again. Once I left my legs were sluggish and it took a while to get going again. I heard a male voice scream "F@#$!!!!!" going into the water, I knew exactly who it was: Tyler.


The course continued over various terrain and I was definitely starting to feel it. I kept pushing hoping to avoid getting caught by Tyler but I was pretty sure he was close by. I reached the second puddle and it looked more like a swamp with a tree fallen right in the middle. It was waist deep and climbing over the tree was entertaining. I exited the puddle and carried on to lots of mud and trails that had turned into creeks. It was AWESOME! Continuing to push I looked back and thought I saw Tyler and figured I really had to push. However It turned out not to be him so I tagged on and we pushed it to the final three hills. They were nasty, the first one was pretty good however my shoe lace had come undone. After reaching the summit of the second one however I was ready to barf. The Third one was brutal and with about 800m to go I just wanted to finish. Coming around to the final few meters I wasn't sure how we would be finishing. The bunting was set up in the lake so I figured we must be finishing on the sand. Nope. We ran right through the water and to the finish. Total time: 36:27 in 14th overall.