Can You Live With The Way They Make You Look Unreal?

AM: 4:15 Ride, Hard, Rolling Hills.

Rode with Dan Davenport this AM in Conneticut. It was really hard. I have been dealing with allergies so I was flat from the off. We rode hard all the way and after it was all said and done I went to Starbucks and got meself a large Frappacino drink. Completely cooked I was! But what a fantastic ride. Beautiful countryside and monster hills, dirt road sections, and quaint little towns. Epic end to the week.

Thom Yorke performed a solo show at the Latitude Festival in the UK today. Naturally it depresses me that I miss these events. I would love to see Thom solo and I get very envious when I watch live shows on the web. Anyway, it was an amazing performance as usual. Thom is simply on another level, end of story. And to make the day even better, Thom played a NEW song. Its called "Present Tense", and it sounds fantastic. I included it on the youtube clip below. I have been listening to this gig non stop since it leaked onto the web. I have not found perfect recordings of the songs but BBC played two tracks this afternoon so they have a full recording and they need to unleash it to the Radiohead die hards!!!
Some one got the set list and nice enough to post it on some fansites. Needless to say I am in top form based on new Radiohead material starting to see the light. I am not going to Reading or Leeds festivals but the lucky punters who are better have some kick ass recording equipment!

Love Kel

My Sails Are Flapping In The Wind

AM: 2:10 Trainer Ride

The Tour stage this morning was epic. I jumped on the trainer because I figured I would watch a bit of the intro and head outside but I ended up watching the entire stage and found myself racing in the breakaway, pounding the pedals with a fan blasting in my face. It was a great ride and I felt fantastic. It was certainly a little odd that I didn't go out side considering the weather was perfect but watching big George Hincapie trying to grab yellow was too enthralling to miss.

After the ride I got a phone call from Dr. Brian McKeon. What ortho rings a patient on the weekend to discuss issues relating to the patients injury when in all fairness it is nothing compared to the problems that some people have to deal with. I thought this was truly amazing, especially given the fact that the surgeon who did my knee op last time has never enquired as to my health even though he is the Providence College team Doctor. Its because he is average and does a good job. Dr McKeon is amazing and there is a reason he is hard to become a patient of. He understands the need of an athlete and working with the Celtics has given him perspective. When I told him that Kevin Garnett is not in my league in terms of desperation to compete again I figured he understood. He disagreed at first but after several visits he started to come round. The phone call today solidified my belief in the guy and I know if he can't fix me no one can.

The surgery will take place in Sept to allow me time to build up my glut and quad. He wants me to put on a few inches of mass because I will be immobile for 12 weeks post-op. The procedure he is going to do is known as OATS. Basically he will remove a plug of healthy cartilage from one part of my knee that does not bear much weight and transplant it into the defect. There will be some game day decisions so if its bad he will do some microfracture, a procedure he hopes to avoid. Either way he will do what ever he can and he will be brutally honest. If the surgery is not going to be a success he will tell me as soon as I wake. He is that kind of Doctor and that is why I want to work with him.

So where does that leave me in terms of running? Simply, running is an after thought. I need to get healthy, I cannot continue to walk around in pain and I certainly cannot continue to jog in agony. I believe I will be able to run again but I know I will never be able to pound again. All I want is the ability to get out 5 or 6 times a week for pain free running. I will continue to bike and I am planning on learning how to swim more efficiently so I can do some triathlon to fulfill my competition needs. However, if I can run there is no doubt I will be giving another XC title a crack in 2010. It may be inter-counties in November 2010 but I have no doubt that if the pain goes away I will indeed be back.

Another journey is about to start and I am really looking forward to it. Until then its the music makers and the dreamers of dreams.......

Love Kel

Give Some Meaning To The Means

PM: 70 Minutes Trainer Ride

Feeling like complete rubbish today. What ever ailment I have needs to be remedied asap. Not going out to Boston tonight which sucks because I was looking forward to it. Felt flat on the bike, no energy and a really bad headache to boot. Basically little to be positive about so I'm not going to force it. Will be speaking to Dr. McKeon tomorrow and I am looking forward to that.

Peace and Love,

KEL

I Drink Your Milkshake

PM: 70 Minutes Trainer Ride

My friend Marshall Armitage arrived in town today so I only had the energy to do a quick ride on the trainer. I have been dealing with a nagging head cold and it is getting worse with these allergies I am having to deal with at the same time. I rode pretty steady and had lost a lot of fluids, it was very humid.

I might take a day or two off because my knee is actually really sore and very frustrating. I contacted Dr. McKeon and I will be chatting with him tomorrow regarding the next steps. I might have him go in with a camera and look at the damage. In the meantime, it is music and friends to get through the tough times.

Love Kel

All For The Best

PM: 2:20 Bike W/ 40 Minutes AT

I get once a year allergies. Seasonal I guess. It usually happens in May but this year it didn't. I figured it was a case of not running so no real stress. But that doesn't make sense because I was riding like a mad man. Anyway, the reason it didn't happen is because this summer the weather has been on crack. The allergies decided to come and pay a visit this weekend. And this week in particular. My allergies arrive in the form of flu like symptoms and a sore throat. I feel like I'm breathing through a straw. They first hit me my senior year of college when I raced the NCAA 10k in Oregon. I was bollixed and didn't know why. I felt like I had the flu but had no temperature and no runny nose. Just a feeling of exhaustion and inability to take deep breaths. Now I know exactly what it is and I expect it every April/May. It just came later this year and after a week of drugs it should go away.

So because of the wind and high pollen count I opted to do my workout on the trainer with the door wide open and Le Tour on the box. I rode steady for the first hour, starting out real easy and winding it up until I hit 1:20. I broke out the iPod, some techno sounds, and I lashed into AT effort or harder. Did that for 40 minutes until the sweat was unbearable and cooled down for another 20 minutes. Great session.

Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy is a tribute album to benefit Mark since his wife (album cover) passed leaving him with twin 3 year old daughters. Its very sad and I must admit I don't know much about Mark or his band Miracle Legion. What I do know is that Thom Yorke is a fan and he contributed to the album covering the song "All For The Best" by Miracle Legion. The song can be heard HERE. Its lovely. The rest of the album contributions can be seen at the link aswell.

Stereogum was inundated with video footage from the BSS show in Toronto. I liked this video of Anthems Of A Seventeen Year Old. It captures the joy of the evening.

Love Kel

One More Chance

AM: 5.5 Miles Steady Run, Blue Hills
PM: 80 Minutes Trainer, Hard Workout, 10 Min Tempo, 6 x 2 min, 6 x 1 Min HARD

It is a little bit like being caught in a round-about. Big Ben, Houses Of Parliament, Sore Knee. So I am not going on too much about it. Felt great running but knee was sore every step of the way. Ran at a decent clip focusing on landing mid-foot to ease the pain. What a great day for a run too, 78 and no humidity. Lovely.

I got home late in the day so opted to do my session on the trainer. After a nice 20 min warm up I rode a hard 10 min tempo. Brief recovery followed and then I launched into 6 x 2 min big gear hard with 1 min steady float in between. I had another short recovery and then did 6 x 1 min really hard - max effort with min float recovery. I was shattered after the session and had feelings of complete and utter joy. Hard training is something I cannot get enough of..........and I wonder why my body is broken?

Whole on the old trainer I listened to some uptempo tracks and I've got to admit I am a big fan of remixes and uplifting synth sounds during hard efforts. Its like a soundtrack to the session. Today I actually repeated on of my tunes. It was Bloc Party - One More Chance (Alex Matric Remix) You can download it here. These sounds can typically be held in sharp contrast to my actually techno favorites but I have always been a glutton for uplifting pianos.

Check out the youtube and let me know if its cheese ball. It will prob only last a few weeks on the iPod but I am lovin it. New Sally Shapiro out too which is fantastic. Some Imogen Heap to come. This will be a good week for sounds.

Love Kel

The Most Amazing Weekend.......In The History Of The World, Maybe.

Back from three days in Canada and what a three days it was. I am not going into too much detail because it does not make for great reading. The highlights were the two shows we attended. On Friday night we hit up Lee's Palace for Sunset Rubdown. Frankie and I met up with Pete Watson and kicked things off in Fresh, an amazing vegan restaurant local to the city of Toronto. Got stuck into a bowl of brown rice and veggies, washed down with some organic ale. We hit the venue early in order to get a good spot. Landing up front was pretty much as good as it gets. After that it was just an amazing 80 minutes of Sunset. Check the video I captured below. Camera is not great but you will get the idea.


The next night we went to the Breaks, Beats, and Culture Festival on Toronto's Harbor Front. It was a great event with lots of families and cool people in attendance. There were three stages one of which was a big tent with slamming techno. It was here we kicked the evening off. The main event was Broken Social Scene. Originally they were scheduled to play a festival on Toronto Island for $60 lids but when the public works of Toronto went on strike meaning no boats would be shuttling over to the island they chose to play for free. Since this was the case we were not expecting too much. How wrong we were. It was incredible. They played hard for over two hours and pretty much the whole original line up was there. After the opening song they brought out Feist, amazing. Then for the next tune they brought out Amy Millan of Stars, and next they brought out Emily Haines aka Metric. They played there own songs with the band and then for the next 9o minutes they all played together and had tonnes of fun. Feist on drums for one song, then singing, then guitar, then dancing like crazy. Carnival atmosphere really. And to boot the shoe was professionally filmed for a DVD documentary. We are privileged to have been witness to such a historical occasion. Kevin Drew is a fantastic lead guy and he really connected with the raucous crowed in attendance. Forget it being a free gig, this was simply a legendary gig.

I took some video but it came out pretty bad due to all the bumping and energy in the crowd so I stole some from youtube. Check it out. As for training, well I got in 40 minutes easy running today and thats about it. This weekend was all about sounds, good food, and good times.

Love Kel