Run? Must in August.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

A beautiful day here in Sydney today - spring is not far away and you northern hemisphere RCers must be shivering in anticipation of another long, cold hard winter ahead. And serve you right for beating us at cricket.

No but seriously it was such a stunning still and sunny winter's day that I had no choice but to don the running shorts and hit the trail for a serious run. Bored with the usual targets and set routes though I decided to be a little different and wired myself up to the mp3-thingy witrh the aim of running through an entire album. So, without watch, GPS or heart rate monitor I took off in the company of Slippery When Wet and had a whale of a time.

I thought this would be a sort of fartlek, adjusting my pace to suit the music but it ended up being a tempo run, gradually building up to the point where I was actually belting along at what must have been better than 5km PB pace to the appropriately named final track Wild In The Streets. Clearly my mediocre short runs (and there have been precious few of those in recent weeks) have kept me in better form than I thought.

I might have hit upon something here. An album (classic 60s-80s music at least) is just the right length for a decent 5 - 6km (maybe 7km?) hit out. Any other suggestions for running albums?

Album du Jour: Slippery When Wet - Bon Jovi, 1986
Track du Jour: Wild In The Streets





P.S. Today also happened to be the 40th running of the annual City to Surf 14km fun run here in Sydney. Labelled the "world's biggest fun run" it attracted over 80,000 entrants... I don't know about you, but as much as I would like to run it some day, that kind of crowd is just a tad daunting.

[marathondan]

I like your style, MLCM, and a great choice of album. Could be a good excuse to revisit a few classics.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Regret to say the second instalment of "Running Classic Albums" was rather harder than the first. I'm not sure why, but what should have been a simpler, easier run was rather a struggle. After a few days of foul weather had precluded the chance of a reasonable run I finalyl couldn't stand it any more and headed out the door into the teeth of a gale and immediately thought "Alice Cooper". Specifically, I thought "Welcome To My Nightmare", but sadly that wasn't loaded on my mp3-box-thing-of-tricks and so I settled for his live 1997 opus "A Fistful of Alice".

It started out well enough, with a fine rendition of "School's Out" (featuring former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar), but soon after I began to struggle with a slight but lengthy incline. This was nothing really tricky and I've run it many times before, but today I was reduced to a walk at one point, something unexpected and not a little disappointing.

"Lost in America" revived me somewhat but the run was cut shorter than the entire album and required another walk break before the end came mercifully into view.

So, not a great run but I still enjoyed the concept and remain enthusiastic. Hopefully another run not too far away.

Album du Jour: A Fistful of Alice, 1997 (live, US version).
Track du Jour: Welcome To My Nightmare

[Sweder]

I've been en joying Alice's back catalogue recently. He occasionally plucks juicy fruits from his discography on his Planet Rock morning show, one of which happened to be 'Lost in America'. I missed out on Coopermania at the time, so it's good to have this opportunity to catch up.

Walking up hills comes to us all at time. My 10k blast through Niguel's back yard exacted a heavy toll on my not-quite-ready quads, leaving me to take on the steepest climbs at a brisk walk. No shame there. It'll get better.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Another glorious late-winter's day here, the kind of sunny and warm but with a gentle cooling breeze day that reminds of days out with the family as a kid, when we would go on picnics in perfect weather and have a ball with nothing more than a beaut day, a peaceful setting and a ball to kick around or a fishing rod to dip in a stream somewhere.

What I didn't do as a kid in those days was go running, but today I did. Another classic album day, with Oasis' 1995 monster, (What's The Story) Morning Glory? I love this album a lot, but in hindsight it's not such a great album to run to, as most of the tracks are actually quite slow, although it doesn't seem that way as they have such a huge sound.

But slow they are and it took me a good half hour to find some rhythm to this one. Still, it was fun and I covered a shade over 7km non-stop, so a much better run than my previous effort.

Album du jour: (What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Track du jour: Don't Look Back In Anger.

[El Gordo]

Remiss of me not to have visited for over a week. I've missed out on this thread so far.

Good man MLCM -- great to hear you panting again.

Used to be quite an Alice fan back in the 70s. All that spidery/theatrical stuff had a particular appeal to schoolboys. Went to one of his gigs -- absolutely great. I can still see Alice draped across that giant spider's web, high above the stage, screaming "Welcome to my Nightmare".

I love the Oasis wall of sound, but I find their songs slightly annoying. From what I can see, the lyrics are just tossed off to fit in with the tunes that drop into their heads. "Slowly walking down the hall/Faster than a cannon ball".

Much more important, it's good to see you out there again. I think the revival is just about hanging on in there. I'm doing a lot of exercise at present but no running. Off to spin class in 5 minutes. Must dash.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

In 1975 I was a gangly 14 year old raised largely on a diet of British pop and rock - Beatles, Stones, The Who etc. There were a few Australian bands making an impression, but these were mostly emulating the British Scene: The Easybeats being the prime example. A unique Aussie sound was being formed by such bands as Daddy Cool and Skyhooks, but '75 was the watershed for Aussie rock when AC/DC burst onto the international scene with their second album, T.N.T. and it's global hit It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll).

Suddenly short-panted school uniforms, flat caps and bagpipes were cool and every school boy was an instant fan or at worst pretended to be.

The film clip which was simply the band playing the song on the back of a flat tray track as they paraded around the streets of Melbourne also became an instant classic, still regularly aired to this day.

The album is also a great running album, and despite suffering cramps and tiredness after a long, tiring day at work, this was great fun to run to, even though the mp3-box-of-trickery insisted on shuffling the tracks on me. Left calf cramps slowed me down somewhat from about half way through, but I completed a reasonable 6km and was happy with the run.

Also this evening I kicked off the six week 200 sit ups challenge, having been suggested by Andy and being undertaken by at least three of us here (EG, Sweder and myself). My inital "test" was 22, which is "poor", but hey, come back and see me in six weeks baby. Well that all begins in earnest next Monday. But for now, it's a glass of nature's best antioxidant (ie a fine glass of Clare Valley cabernet sauvignon) and a good night's kip.

Gettin' old
Gettin' grey
Gettin' ripped off
Under-paid
Gettin' sold
Second hand
That's how it goes
Playin' in a band

Album du jour: T.N.T. - AC/DC, 1975
Track du jour: T.N.T.

[Sweder]

Watch me exploooooode ....

Simply superb choice

[glaconman]

I think alot of people have a soft spot for AC DC. I spent ages perfecting the logo on my school books and bags; along with MSG, Jethro Tull, Ozzy etc. etc. When I started listening to them again after 20 years I couldn't believe how great they still sounded. A common experience no doubt.

[Sweder]

I think alot of people have a soft spot for AC DC.

Saw them no end of times at Hammy Odeon in the late '70's and early '80's with Bon Scott at the helm. Security took my learner bass off me the first time but let me keep my grey flannel shorts, blazer, Billy Bunter cap and weather-beaten satchel. The oddest thing about that was no-one in the +4000 crowd batted an eyelid as I sucked on a Rothmans, huddled under the flyover on the rain-lashed Hammersmith pavement.

I've struggled to warm to the post-Scott output (very good though much of it is). Scott was, for me, the heart of ACDC.
Every bloke wanted to have a pint with him; every girl wanted to shag his brains out.

[El Gordo]

I did the deed. Downloaded the AC/DC album in question and played it on Saturday morning. It wasn't long before my pulse was racing -- though I suspect that listening to it on the treadmill may have had something to do with this.

The sad fact is that whatever appeal there may once have been, it had now long gone. I should have discovered it aged 15, and not aged 53. The theme of 2 of the first 3 songs -- I wanna be a rock 'n' roll star -- is guaranteed to wind up the heart rate of an adolescent boy, but it's a long-standing bête noire of mine. Sorry guys, but it left me cold. I think I got to track 5 before turning gratefully to Bob Dylan Studio Outtakes Volume 4: 1962-64. Phew.

No need to rush to TNT's defence. I'm certain I would have loved it in my teens. But 40 years on, hearing it for the first time, it seemed too tinny and superficial, compared with the real heavyweights of the genre. Perhaps too much rock music has flown under the bridge since then. And my mindset has changed too much. Neither is the fault of the band.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

I did the deed. Downloaded the AC/DC album in question and played it on Saturday morning.

Good man!

The sad fact is that whatever appeal there may once have been, it had now long gone...Sorry guys, but it left me cold.

Gadzooks ... treason at the helm!

I think I got to track 5 before turning gratefully to Bob Dylan Studio Outtakes Volume 4: 1962-64. Phew.

Well I'm a big fan of His Bobness too, but running material??

No need to rush to TNT's defence.

Well, maybe. But I will anyway. It's simply astonishingly great running rock .... look I can't articulate it accurately, but as the late, great Bon Scott would have said, "Rip the head of THAT one, Angus!"

Oi!

[marathondan]

In a moment of slight synchronicity, as I read the above discussion I was listening to Blow Up Your Video. Perhaps not a favourite among you old-school purists, but quite a corker for this relative latecomer.