The King Of Limbs

This morning Radiohead exclaimed to the world that they are releasing a new album titled 'The King Of Limbs'. The album, the bands 8th studio, will be available in digital download formats MP3 and WAV from this Saturday, Feb 19th. You can also go here and pre-order a Newspaper Album with 2 clear 10" vinyls, a CD, artwork, and obviously a digital download. I Pre-Ordered the Newspaper album, and will also purchase any other limited edition releases that may follow. Word around the campfire is that the album will have 8 tracks. I suspect they will release an EP later in the year given the material they have. Some sites/blogs have started to speculate what the 8 tracks will be but I am trying to avoid playing this guessing game because I don't want to be let down. Although, I really, really, really hope Present Tense is on there. It's my favorite of the new songs played over the last 2 years. I've been on a high all day. I even ran 30 minutes at 80% on the alter-g and my knee bothered me after but I wasn't really fussed. I hammered through a hard bike session tonight and overall I am counting down the hours to Saturday. Radiohead certainly don't follow the norm with their recent album release methods and this is no different. The group has such a cult following that the announcement this morning stating the album will be available in 5 days literally crashed Radiohead sites. Some of the messageboards are still not available. Crazy. Its amazing to see how big the band is given the lack of promotion they do. The album will be released on Radiohead's own Ticker Tape imprint by TBD in North America and XL for the rest of the world outside of Asia. Hostess will take care of that release.  Its going to be a truly magical album, I have no doubt about it.

My knee is improving slowly but surely and my mood is obviously buoyed by this news which helps, I think? This week I will do another 3 runs on the Alter-G and bring my body weight to about 85% of normal. I don't want to pretend I am getting better If I'm not. Likewise I don't want to hurt myself so I'll be very careful. What about Kim Smith running 67:36 for the half marathon? Its a little depressing to think I may never run that fast again! Kim and the Guru Ray Treacy (who had another athlete go sub 4 this weekend) are doing something right. I believe she will win Boston if her training continues to improve over the next 8 weeks. OK, off to the Big Apple tomorrow morning so time to chill.

Love Kel

Lets Exchange The Experience

Can't believe its been a week since the Boston Indoor Games. The meet was pretty good highlighted by an unbelievable Mens 3k. Mo Farah is one of the toughest runners I've ever seen. As I progress through the years I become less and less interested in the sprints. I'm not talking about the 100m Olympic final, I'm talking general sprints like the Indoor 60m. It was the case once that I stood up for everything track and field but at the indoor games I was dead bored during the sprints and engaged in conversation while watching disinterested. Sorry if I offend any of my sprinting buddies but the distance races make the meet. The 3k really saved the afternoon athletics from being a lackluster affair. The mens and womens mile races take 2nd and 3rd respectively in my picks of the meet.

It was an intense week of rehab on my right peg and we finally made some progress. I managed to coax Mike into letting me jog at 75% body weight on the alter-g. Progress has been slow and I wanted to test it to see if the pain was any different. I walked for a couple of minutes before breaking into a jog for 10 minutes. It was awesome and the first pain free run I've had since March of 09. Of course it wasn't a real run but thats irrelevant, its progress and I either have to loose 45 lbs or more realistically take the positives and keep using the alter-g with slightly more weight added each week. Yesterday I ran 25 minutes at 75% and it was magical. I understand the false hope that the alter-g can present however false hope is better than no hope and no hope is where I've been for the last 2 years.

Mike let me borrow his Game Ready machine. I find icing to be a bit of a pain but the Game Ready has changed that. This thing is awesome and has definitely helped. I might be over doing it but it works great. It ices such a large area and also compresses leaving my calf, hammy and quad feeling like I just took them out of the Boulder Creek after every use. I am using it about 4 times a day for 20-30 minutes. Colleges and Universities all over the NCAA have these machines by the boat load. Kids in college don't know how good they have it. My injury woes didn't really start until after college (with the exception of a stress fracture my freshman year) so I never needed to use the trainers room. Now PC has an awesome facility with these machines and other gadgets that help with healing. College athletes have no excuses and its certainly showing with faster and faster times being recorded every year.

I got the new PJ Harvey album and I'm listening to it now. Just getting into the second half as I write this so I have to reserve judgment until I get through the thing a couple of times. Thus far its very good. More of a low key affair despite the album title the some of the songs seem to reflect sitting in a cottage on a damp, gray afternoon. There is also a lot more melody compared to her earlier records. Her voice sounds excellent and even though I don't get the references to English history which have been regular so far the songs are lyrically rich and deep. I am eager to read about the songs. I came across another band yesterday called Minks. I know nothing about them other than they hail from Brooklyn. There are only a few songs floating around the intertubes but the ones I've heard are brilliant. I'm hopefully going to see them play with Dum Dum Girls in March. They have a Joy Division sounding baseline to their tunes and a post wave thing going on that I love. Check it.

Peace and love
Kel

Good Old Fashion Streaking

I had mixed feelings at the Terrier Classic last Saturday. The fan in me loved watching the 3k and 5k. Especially and very specifically the seeded 3k. David McCarthy ran great and did the lions share of the pacing. He ended up 3rd in 7:53 behind Masters and Korir who ran :53 and :51 respectively. Great racing, and its fantastic to see a Friar on the brink of really big things. And then there is the bitter old man in me who wishes desperately to be out on the track racing in the 3k (or 5k or mile) . It is difficult to separate the two. I work in running so I am around it all the time and believe me that doesn't make it easier. Neither does watching great track races. I'm subjecting myself to more torture this weekend at the Boston Indoor Games. Reebok no longer sponsors the meet so I will try and be a fan and just enjoy it. I know I'll get down, especially given the distance races for men and women are the highlight of the meet with 2 3ks and the mile making up the last 3 races of the program.

After Terrier there were no mixed feelings. Mixed drinks maybe, but only very good + positive feelings. Thom McArdle had a housewarming party and it was awesome, even if it did get a little crazy. I will be moving to Boston to live with Thom in April so it was great to see my new digs, even if I didn't leave my intense conversations in the kitchen all night. I don't really remember mingling at the party, rather I took up residence speaking with one of my new neighbors Tom Coogan about life. It was a great laugh and only went downhill when we hit up An Tua Nua, a dodgy college club on Beacon Street. Even if I can't remember the music there was no stopping me throwing shapes to top 40 music. This is something that everyone who knows me knows I don't do. But there was something in the Whiskey or maybe some demons from the Terrier that resulted in too much energy and I found myself dancing with the many great people from the party. A horrible walk home mind you. And then I passed out and on Sunday, with a headache to beat the band, decided I was never drinking again.

I had a dogfish head 90min IPA last night because I was hanging with Joe Savic and talking cycling. It seems that all I do is talk about training and racing while I get fat. However, the all clear to get on my bike has been given so I will jump in head first and start jamming. Bar Biking this Sunday morning will be a nice launch pad.

The problem with Dogfish Head 90 min IPA is that its simply too nice. I really struggle to only have one. After drinking these and developing a taste for them, anything under 8% kind of tastes like water. Next week the Wild Colonial is celebrating their Birthday with some Dogfish Head Burton Baton on tap. The Burton is 10% and is my favorite beer. To call it beautiful is a disservice. Drinking one pint gives you a buzz and drinking one pint and stopping is literally impossible. I can't do it, and don't want to. I always have a minimum of 2 of these bad boys. At the Colonial next week I'll be upping that so hopefully I can punish myself on the bike before hand and develop a thirst........

I have been really diligent with treatment on the tendinopathy in the back of my knee. Its slowly getting better but I am weeks from attempting running. The eyes are still very wide and very much on the prize but in the meantime its back on the trainer and lots of one hour + easy spinning to wake up the legs and maybe reduce the bloating all over my body.



Memory Tapes is releasing a new album soon. It has no title that I know of yet but he gave us a sneak peek by allowing one of the singles to appear on an anniversary compilation for the London based label Something In Construction. It sounds good.

Love Kel