When A Wrong Becomes A Right

PM: 45 Minutes Steady Spin Bike, 40 Minutes Run With Pat.

Everyday out the door on the road is fantastic. I will NEVER forget that. Tonight, around the streets of P-Town running with Tarpskin was fantastic. I was super warmed up off the bike and with a 5 minute transition I bounced out the door. Nothing special other than the act of running on a sore knee that is not actually all that bad for 6 miles around stomping grounds that have shaped my entire adult running career. Much more to come.

I missed the MEW tour this year. I could complain but considering I see nearly all the bands I want to (discussion with Martin Fagan today about how Flagstaff sucks ass for music, and Phoenix is not much better) so if I miss one I really shouldn't be a moaner about it. With this one I am going to moan, a lot. I basically let it fall to a part of my brain where it remained dormant. However tonight I was riding my trainer and "Introducing Palace Players", came on so I decided to check out a live version of the song (see below) and now I am depressed. Roll on U2 and Julian Plenti to curb my ailment! 

Big shout out to Mario Fraoli who is suffering yet another Sacral Stress Fracture. It sucks bro and you need to get to the bottom of the issue that is causing it. But keep the eyes open. There is a light that never goes out.

Love Kel

Reebok Loves U2

Ladies and Gents

Kevin Adams, Lee Cox, and myself did the drawing for store clerks to come and see U2 at Foxboro. To keep things exciting and honest we filmed the event, captured on a small digital camera (classy, I know) To see who won check out the action below. Thanks to all who participated.

Could There Be A Love Beneath These Wings

PM: 51 Minutes, RIC, Steady. Some Core.

Weekends, especially long ones go by so quickly. Not that I did much other than training on my bike and a few scoops. Its just nice to switch off. With that being said it was nice to get back into routine today. Didn't run until this evening when I managed to grab a few miles with Pat. We ran at a little more of an uptempo clip, I think Pat had the race pace in his legs from yesterday. Fantastic.

My knee didn't hurt until the latter stages of the run. Frustrating, but its all part of the game. I was chatting with John Supsic tonight. John is a talented runner who suffers the same fate as the likes of myself and Thom McArdle. He trains, gets fit, but always falls victim to injury before he can race. So what keeps us all going? Its a discussion I had with John and I really don't have an answer. It is quite torturous. Most runners get hurt and I laugh when some runners get injured for the first time and you would think their small world has completely crashed.......little do they know what it is like to have your entire running career marred by injury. John was asking me what keeps me coming back for more, knowing that the end result will most likely (given the odds) be another injury. I simply think I am addicted to running, but not in a psycho way, rather I truly love it and while I can still manage something the desire to get out and run will never go away, and neither will the dreams. There is a light that never goes out.

Listening to Florence And The Machine today. How good is the song in the youtube clip below.

Love Kel

The Dream Of Horsemen

AM: 45 Minutes Run, RIC
PM: 2:10 Bike Ride, w/ Tempo

Didn't feel as tired this morning as I thought I would. In fact I jumped out of the bed feeling bouncy. Met Kurt for an easy 45 minutes around RIC. The one thing I lost touch with was running hills. I spent a lot of time running up and down the Blvd and as much as I love it there is no replacement for hills. Knee wasn't too sore but then again I did not pound on it. This is the new way. And I am still focusing on mid-foot landing which seems to continue to help.

Labor day was seriously lazy for me so I was very happy to get out for a Bike Ride. Did a loop around North Providence and finished with a hard 4 laps (10 Miles) of Lincoln Woods. I was racing cars like I was in a Peleton. Unsafe? Yes, Great Fun? Yes! Felt fantastic all the way.

Lovely start to the week. Lots of goals and things to cross off over the next 7 days. Time to stop messing around and get back at it, hard.

Peace and Love
Kel

Your Weightless, Semi-Erotic

AM: 61 Miles Bike, 2:48, Flat Course, Hard Effort

I rode some miles in Providence before making my way down to Narragansett. I even took a swing into Goddard State park to check out the old stomping grounds. Haven't been there this year yet. My fast time was due to a tail wind on the way down to the beach. I had a good 25 miles of strong wind helping me maintain 24-28 miles an hour on the flat. I turned into a strong headwind for the last 10 miles but by that point I had done a long tempo effort so I cruised the last 30 minutes. Despite the tailwind I hammered and really punished myself. In fact the wind encouraged me to hammer and I kept the HR high for about 90 minutes of the ride. Very tired now, and very satisfied.

I watched the Soloist tonight and enjoyed it very much. Frankie and I talked about needing to get some classical music into our life. Too much music, too little time. Quite day on the sounds aside from almost three hours of shuffle on the old ride. Everything from Grizzly Bear to Bat For Lashes. I do need to revamp the playlist on my iPod.  I haven't updated in several weeks. Shoddy. Big week ahead. All is full of love,

Kel

I Promise To Commit No Acts Of Violence, Neither Physical Or Otherwise

AM: 36 Minutes Run, Roads

PM: 65 Minutes Trainer Ride

Hit the road early this morning with Pat Tarpy and Kurt B. The new system of running  plan on sustaining is actually helpful. By new I mean normal pace. Some could say slow? I run too fast by myself and the lads tend to leave the hard running to specific sessions so I am running their recovery runs and it is helping big style. Knee still hurts like hell but it is tolerable and I feel that if I continue to run 6:45 mile pace I can probably get back to 60 miles a week pretty quickly.

I did a workout on the trainer in the afternoon but had to cut it short. The planned session called for 90 minutes riding but it was so hot inside and I was sans fan. The sweat was bucketing off me and by 50 minutes I was becoming dehydrated. I warmed up 20 minutes pretty hard and then did 12 minutes big gear tempo. I took a short recovery and followed it up with 8 reps of 20 seconds on, 40 seconds off. The 20 seconds on was extremely hard, flat out sprinting in a big gear. The 40 seconds recovery was fast spinning. It sounds really easy but if you do it as hard as you can it is anything but easy. By the 8th rep I was nearly throwing up. Lovely.

I listened to a lot of music today. And for some reason one song was played several times. "Strange Overtones" by David Byrne and Brian Eno is such a great track. It ranked in my top 20 tunes of last year but I have not listened to it in a while. While a playlist was on shuffle today it came on and it set the tone for my morning. Great song. Check it out below.

Love Kel

If There Is Nothing Left To Burn You Have To Set Yourself On Fire

We are entering a new chapter. New decisions, new goals, new focus, new situation. The last week has been a little crazy hence my absence from the blog. Basically these are the most significant changes in the lives of Frankie and I since we started our relationship. 

Francine is returning to Canada to attend the University of Waterloo and pursue her Masters In Public Health. Before kicking off grad school she is accepting an offer to work an internship at the World Health Organization in Switzerland. She is heading off on the 26th of the month after we see Julian Plenti in NYC. 

We have moved from the East Side back to the Northside and are renting a room off Kim Smith and Pat Tarpy, good friends, great people. Once Frankie leaves I'll be staying through the Fall. 

Since I have been denied surgery I have decided to get back at it. Basically I will try and start a new training program. I am going to use pain as a guide. Any run over a 5/10 is cause for concern and I'll back off. If I can run below 5 on the scale I will try and maintain 6-8 miles a day for 2 months. As little as this is I'll actually get quite fit off it. My bike riding will continue and I'll try ride 6-10 hours a week. Finally I am going to Aqua Jog for a couple of hours and even do some swimming. It will be Triathlon training with the goal of getting back to a decent level of running fitness. If I can't race due to pain I'll fight to get surgery paid for or I'll hang em up. There really is nothing left to burn so I am setting myself on fire. If my knee cracks again so be it. Time to go all in.

Back to regular training and music posting tomorrow. So much good stuff to discuss. 

Love Kel