November « 2009 «

Brass Jaw (www.brassjaw.com) hands down the best 4 piece brass quartet I’ve ever heard in Dundee.

We hit Drouthy’s in Dundee last night to catch my old buddy Paul Towndrow along with 3 colleagues Ryan Quigley, Konrad and Allon. Some totally original pieces from their new album like JC and Wake up where they displayed not just individual prowess but a superbly brassy melt of sound. Mixed in with arrangements of classic like It Ain’t Necessarily So they kept everyone happy with a funky smash up of bebop, swing and duct tape. Yes duct tape, a one point Paul Towndrow lost it slightly a taped his Tenor player to the deck!

Ryan Quigley (trumpet), Paul Towndrow (Alto)

Funny1

It was good to see their humour on and off stage. In my experience small town jazz gigs can be a bit of a serious affair but they ensured everyone cracked a smile. This animation is quite close to what it was really like! It is the funniest thing in the world apparently. I think with the 15 gigs in 7 days they might have been touring a bit too hard.

The last two weeks I’ve been hitting 30+ km in the pool and trying to get my speed up and my rest down. Fridays 100s on a 80sec cycle was a first and a landmark session for me. I know if I want to survive as a PRO in Kona I need to give my swimming the boost so as the weather gets colder I’m staying warm in the water. My ambition to take down Mike Adams in the Windsor elite race is still some way off but providing my plans for the time machine work everything else should fall in to place.

It cracks me up when people ask if I’m from a swimming background. My mother had to bribe me with toys to get me to learn and then I didn’t go back till I was in my 20s. By that time I’d broken my back in two places and lost 4cm in height so I was chronically inflexible and the wrong shape! If you’ve had a bad lot though there’s not a lot that can’t be cured with hardwork.

The glorious Dundee Olympia where I’ve been spending 10hrs a week!

Reading that you’d almost think that was the plan but in reality I’ve been struggling for the last 18 days with achilles problems. I hit the running pretty hard which must have triggered it but on the Friday I had my flu vaccine and my feet and ankles swelled up and I couldn’t run or bike (or swim since I couldn’t raise my arm). It settled down quickly but when I tried to run again the next week it quickly developed achilles tendonitis! The plan of hitting 2010 in top run shape gone.

It’s always a test trying to stay positive when injured and turn your misfortunes in to opportunities but I’d guess this is a characteristic of many successful athletes. If not it is something to definitely work on and being in triathlon your are rarely injured in all sports. I’ll certainly hit 2010 in the best swim bike shape ever so that’s nothing to get down about and I can turn the running round quickly I hope.

I was at the Commonwealth Games awards dinner on Saturday night. It was a good time, helped by the free vino and banter from MC John Beattie who got his biggest laugh when he fell off the stage backwards! It was good to meet Kerry Lang for the first time who has been one of the most successful Scottish athletes in my time. Also the rest of the Tri Scotland table including several new friends. Catriona was there having not run since Kona and having had her achillies injected last week so I was glad not to be too whiney about my own problems before she told me.
Athlete of the year went to Kathrine Granger top Scottish rower and junior of the year went to Dundee runner Sarah Kelly who used to swim with the club as well. She stopped swimming last year to concentrate on her running but would have certainly been successful in triathlon.

Resource
Other than that the night was an X factor style competition for the new anthem which looks like it will go to Scotland the brave. I voted for flower of Scotland which is the song I identify with most as a Scott but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. More on that here.