A little test triathlon

I've been doing little "test triathlons" every week for several weeks now... I get up on Saturday, drink too much coffee, procrastinate until it's hotter than unholy hell and then drag ass out to a reservoir for a little one-man triathlon.

Last Saturday, I did one at the Boulder Reservoir (the week before was Chatfield. My swimming is still fairly lame... but I'm feeling WAY more confident than I did when I first started swimming 11 weeks ago. I'm trying to remind myself that I essentially JUST started and to go easy on my expectations. Anyway, I swam in the Boulder Res (1000 meters), then biked up to Longmont and back (20 miles) and then ran a 5K around part of the reservoir. By the end, it was my favorite temperature (evidently): 95 degrees. I think my brain got a little cooked. I was kind of a zombie the rest of the day.

But it felt good, oddly.

To finish it, I mean. :-)

Do you hallucinate when you run?

It's hot outside. I know this personally.

Yesterday, during the last half mile of my little 4 mile run, my mind drifted off... I began fantasizing that it was winter in Japan. I imagined that I was walking through a mild, late afternoon snow storm in some rural town in a wooded part of Japan. Walking through the little town, I happened upon a small restaurant waiting for me in the late afternoon light. An old man sat me at a table by the window. I sat there and slowly ate Sushi while sipping hot tea... Snowflakes lightly falling, quieting the already quiet town, and me inside... I sat there looking out, thinking. My heavy, charcoal-colored, wool coat was slung over the back of my chair.


I actually SAW this scene in my head, like a mirage. Strange.

I didn't hallucinate today. At least I don't think I did. Here are some BEFORE pictures...




And this is my watch. It's set to zero. It's waiting for me to stop fucking around and take it running.



And this is me, irrationally excited to go running. So excited, in fact, that I decided to act like I was already running... (I know.... I am a dork.)


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And these are the AFTER pictures. A lot more sweat, a lot less clowning...




And this is me, sitting at that table in that restaurant in Japan on that snowy afternoon in my mind...

I must enjoy suffering...

I must enjoy suffering... It's 97 degrees right now at 2:15PM, on it's way to 100 degrees and I'm about to go for a run. Look, this is the first chance I've gotten to run today. And I've learned that the MOST important determining factor in me working out isn't the weather, it's my motivation. And right now, inexplicably, I want to go for a run.

So I suppose I will go for a run.

If you see a John-shaped puddle somewhere in North Denver, you'll know what happened.

Lyons Folks Festival... Cool News!!

I got a phone call today telling me that I got chosen out of a bunch of songwriters as a finalist in the Lyons Folks Festival. HOW COOL!!! A long list of seriously amazing national artists play this thing (see below) and it's turned into one of CO's premier festivals...

I've never submitted to one of these songwriter things before, but my friens Brian McRae and Zach Ginsberg basically leaned on me until I dit it. Thanks Brian and Zach... The song I submitted was LGM, from WHY BIRDS FLY.

Check it out: Lyons Folks Festival

In the last several years, Jeff Tweedy, Steve Earle, Martin Sexton, Mason Jennings, Ani DiFranco, Richard Thomson, Ben Kweller, Indigo Girls, and Patty Griffin have all played this festival.

THIS YEAR, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Ray LaMontagne, Chris Isaak and a bunch of other national acts are playing it! And me too!

I'll be playing along with the other 10 finalists on Friday, August 17th on the main stage around 12PM. And the next night, Saturday, August 18th, my band and I will be playing in Lyons at Oskar Blues for a really cool show with other Colorado artists, Jack Redell, Bella Karoli, Greg Alan Isakov, A Ballad Nightly and Martin Barclay.

This Old House: Denver

My Dad flew in to Denver a couple of days ago... We're hanging out and working on a bunch of home improvement projects inside and outside my house... a little brick bungalow that was built in 1927. She's a sweetie - but she needs a little love.

Anyway, we're having a great time. This is us having coffee on the front porch, plotting and scheming about what projects to do today on THIS OLD HOUSE: DENVER. Notice how gangsta we get in some of these photos. Impressive...

Video for LGM

A film crew descended on to my house on July 9th and 10th to shoot a video for a song named LGM from WHY BIRDS FLY... what an incredible process! The original concept for the video came from Zach Ginsberg and was further developed by me and Breck Larson, the director.


THE CONCEPT

The idea for the video is to combine a simple song (LGM) that is basically saying: "This world can be a rough place... Let's face it together", with footage and a loose story that shows the unadorned, everyday beauty of two people living together. We decided to shoot it at my house with lots of back-lit, close-up shots... Alternating scenes of a girl and guy going about their daily life -- living together, boyfriend and girlfriend... at the dinner table. eating breakfast, writing a letter, reading a book, talking on the phone... any number of things.

There will also be some "performance shots" of me playing my acoustic guitar and singing (close-ups of hands, guitar strings, etc) as well as shots of Jeremy Lawton playing lap steel -- interspersed into the "couple living together" footage. When it's edited, it will have a washed out, over saturated film look... with sharp focus on certain areas to draw attention.... a guitar, a coffee cup, her hand, a chair... etc.


THE CAST AND CREW

I was blown away when I saw the amazing group of people that Breck pulled together from Denver's independent film scene to shoot this video... I was also amazed at alll of Breck's GEAR: lights, lights, lights, stands, cameras, lenses, cables, gels, cases, etc. It was kind of amazing to see my house turned into a movie set. We had such a good time... Here are all of the people who worked on the video:

Breck Larson: Producer, Director, Director of Photography
Mark Weiler: Camera Operator
Scott Jones: Lighting/Grip
Joshua Trager: Grip
Courney Hart: Make-up/Wardrobe
Angela Blake: Props/ Set Decorating
Laszlo Varga: Lighting/Grip
Gary Hansbrough: Audio Playback
Jen Fiskum: Actor
Matt Buckstein: Actor
Jim Biddix: Grip 2
John Common: Producer, Bartender, "Get Out Of The Way John, You're In The Shot"

Day One consisted of shooting all of the scenes with Matt and Jen (the couple). We shot my and Jeremy's performance shots on Day Two, along with a bunch of interior shots of the house. I'd never been a part of anything like this before... it's a really tiring but great process. So incredibly collaborative! I can see how you could get as addicted to making films as you can making music. I can't wait to see how this all turns out...


PICTURES FROM DAY ONE

Here are some photos I took from Day One's shoot... Sorry for the out of focus stuff. I was literally shooting from my hip, walking around, trying (and failing) to get out of everyone's way...

















And perhaps the most IMPORTANT part of the entire video... Ladies and Gentleman, I now present to you... [drum roll] THE LGM COMMEMORATIVE FRUIT PLATE !!!!!



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PICTURES FROM DAY TWO


Today was the video shoot of me singing and playing LGM out in my backyard and Jeremy playing lapsteel. Wow, what a production. Breck and Laslo and Josh and Angela and Jim built a little semi-circular rail road line on my back porch for the camera truck thingy to move around... Ah, just look at the pictures, you'll see what I mean.

Oh, and they made me wear makeup... including mascara?? "You have really light eyelashes, John, and we can't see them". Umm, okay. That was a first for me. Not having any sisters growing up, I can honestly say, today was my first time "in makeup". How do you girls do it? It feels like I have... stuff... all over my face. Wait. I do.

Anyway... Everyone who has been a part of this things has been so great! Hopefully these snapshots will convey some of the work (and passion) that went into shooting this little film...

Sleepy Head Duathlon

I was supposed to walk up at 5:15AM today and drive to Wiggins, CO (an hour or so down I-76) to do the Cabbage Head Duathlon -- a 5K run + 30K bike + 5K run. But when my alarm went off, a mere 2 hours after I had fallen asleep, I just couldn't do it. So yes, this is a bit of a confession.

You see, we played a gig in Boulder last night that got me to bed around 2:30... and to sleep a little after 3:00. I just didn't relish the idea of doing a race on 2 hours of sleep. That seemed like punishment, not fun. So I called my triathlon friend Eliza and bailed on her at 5:30, after 15 minutes of guilt-ridden consternation. She said, "Yeh, I wasn't going to say anything when you told me about your gig..."

So I went back to bed.

Then I woke up around 10AM, drank a pot of coffee, and turned on some music. By 11AM I was feeling roughly human enough to go do my own one-man race... I've decided to name it THE SLEEPY HEAD DUATHLON -- a 3.6 mile run + 20 mile bike + 3.6 mile run.

It was really hot.

No. I mean REALLY hot. I found out, after I'd finished, that it was 97 degrees during my second run. No wonder I was literally fantasizing about cold glasses of water! About 1/2 mile from the finish, I found an errant sprinkler that was gently spraying water in the middle of yard. I jumped on it like a homeless man jumps on a pork chop... like a convict jumps on a conjugal visit... like a... you get the point. Never has hose water tasted so damn good.

Anyway, I missed the Cabbage Head Duathlon, but founded the Sleepy Head Duathlon. That's the news. Let me know if you'd like to do it some time. I'll show you the course.

Put 'em up! Put 'em up!

This is how I will respond to open water swimming from now on:


Dorothy: Your majesty, if you were king, you wouldn't be afraid of anything?


Cowardly Lion: Not nobody. Not nohow.


Tin Woodsman: Not even a rhinoceros?


Cowardly Lion: Imposerous!


Dorothy: How about a hippopotamus?


Cowardly Lion: Why, I'd thrash him from top to bottomus.


Dorothy: Supposing you met an elephant?


Cowardly Lion: I'd knot him up in cellophant.


Scarecrow: What if it were a brontosaurus?


Cowardly Lion: I'd show him who was king of the forest [ed. water].

Open Water: Disturbing and Humbling

I drove down to Chatfield reservoir this morning to meet my friend and coach, Eddie, for a little triathlon training. We'd start with a swim, then do a bike around the park for an hour or so, and then run 2 or 3 miles -- just to start getting the feel for the whole thing. The bike and the run was no problem. The swim however, was an entirely different matter.

Holy shit.

This was my first swim in open water. The plan was to get in, swim about 300 meters (yards, basically) to a little sand bar out in the middle of the lake, and then swim 300 meters back to shore. I don't think I can communicate the psychological impact of the obvious differences between pool swimming and open water swimming: cold water temperature; deep, deep water; no visibility to see the bottom; no concrete wall to grab on to when you get tired; and the omnipresent FACT that you MUST make it to where you're swimming.

They have a word for not making it to where you're swimming. And that word is drowning.

See, in a pool, if you get tired (and I do -- all the time), you're always at least 25 meters from a wall, and frequently, you can just stand up. Voila! Not so, in a deep ass lake or reservoir.

Okay. So suffice to say, the above factors, combined with my tiny, newbie swimmie ability, conspired to raise my heart rate to the piont where I could basically only do freestyle for like... 30 or 40 meters before I ran out of breath.

Can you say UTTERLY HUMBLING?

I made it to the sand bar. Where Eddie and I had what could best be described as a "therapeutic conversation". And I made it back to shore. But it was UGLY. I was essentially breast stroking, side stroking, back stroking, doggie paddling and otherwise having a moderate aquatic freakout next to a guy who has literally done something like 12 Ironman Triathlons (2.4 MILE swim + 112 MILE bike + 26.2 MILE run).

Thankfully, Eddie is a super guy and a fabulous coach. He just said, "Well, you did it! Now you know what it's like. Trust me, it's going to be easier next time, and easier after that."

I AM glad I did it. And before I got 20 feet back onto blessed, beautiful dry land, I had already made my mind to go back once a week and do MORE open water swimming until it feels comfortable.

Now I'm pissed.

On The Waterfront

It's a hot, hot Saturday here in Denver. They say it's going to top out at 100 degrees today. After an early morning bike ride to Cherry Creek Reservoir and back (25 miles), I ended up horozontal in front of the television, feeling like I'd earned the right to be a little lazy... I was mindlessly flipping around from channel to channel when I saw Marlon Brando in a plaid workman's jacket on the screen.



I'm not sure if I've ever watched On The Waterfront in its entirety before... It's one of those Saturday afternoon movies that you just sort of happen across, and it feels right so you settle in for the ride. It's like hitchhiking... "Where you headed?" "Wherever you're headed, I guess."

This movie was released in 1954. It was REALLY NICE to be reminded of how much can be accomplished with a simple, powerful story, great acting, smart directing and a score that, although really obvious at times, was still really effective at heightening emotion. In comparison with nearly every Hollywood film I've seen over the last 20 years, it felt odd at first... Direct. Honest. Unadorned. And ultimately, better. Unlike so many of those other, more recent films, I didn't get a hangover immediately afterward... You know that post-movie feeling: "I just got hoodwinked into giving up 2 hours of my life to a glitzy trick." Instead, seven hours later, I'm still thinking about the story. Great film.

Rattlesnake Sprint Triathlon

Okay. I just signed up for my first (sprint) triathlon. August 19th. I really need to learn how to swim (better).

Big Sky Duathlon... This Morning

Hey!

I did the Big Sky duathlon this morning (2nd of three that I'm hoping to do this summer). It was a short-ish one, but still challenging. I felt GREAT during and after the race. Who'd have thought that getting up at 6AM on a Saturday to go work your ass off could be so fun... :-)

These races attract UBER-FIT people, so this whole experience -- today included -- continues to serve up PLENTY of humble pie for yours truly. People were blowing past me on all three legs of the race. I just cheer them on when they pass me - truly! I have nothing but admiration and respect for anyone who's doing this stuff: fast, medium or slow. Speed and pace aren't the point (for me). It's about competing with myself and seeing what I can do... what I can become.

Anyway... The race consisted of a 2.5 mile run followed by a 15.5 mile bike followed by a 2.5 mile run. Here's what I did:

Mile 1 - 8:22
Mile 2 - 8:42
Mile 2.5 - 3:31
Transition (run to bike) - 1:27
Bike Out: 25:52 (into a headwind)
Bike Back - 22:50 (tail wind!)
15.5 mile Total Bike - 48:42
Transition (bike to run) - 1:13
Mile 1: 9:24 (running after biking HURTS!)
Mile 2 - 8:36
Mile 2.5 - 3:33

TOTAL RACE TIME 1 hour, 33 minutes 40 seconds

Woo hoo!

~John

Hand Surgery

So... I've been in hand surgery limbo for about 6 weeks now... trying to figure out, with my doctor (and his colleagues), what course of treatment to pursue and WHEN to pursue it.

I had feared that I was headed for surgery in June that would involve my fragmented and displaced left scaphoid (the bone at the base of your thumb) getting screwed into the main scaphoid, followed by 3 months of being in a cast, followed by 3 months of rehab. Well, that's basically what IS happening, but I asked my doc if there would be any long term negative effects to me scheduling the surgery in September instead so that I could spend the summer training, doing du/triathlons, playing music, recording, etc.

He said no problem... I can do the surgery this fall!

So other than my hand hurting all the time (pain which I've had for 14 months -- eh, what's another 3 months??), I've got my summer back! Hot damn! I'm gonna go make another record...

:-)

John

Hands On My Time

Hello Figment Readers In My Imagination,

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Taos Inn... about 3 minutes from playing... it's a gorgeous evening here. Just beautiful. I can't wait to play. Should be a good time. The time between loadin/soundcheck and actually playing is a blank space that has to be filled... But it's nearly over now. Time to go play....

Swim Update #4

Just got back from another swim workout... I was thinking about writing this blog WHILE doing my swim workout. Does that make me a SWIM NERD or a WRITING NERD? Or probably just an all-around, all-American MEGA-DORK. Oh well... I make no apologies. I yam what I yam.

Up until a month or so ago, I would describe what I did when fully submerged in water as "not drowning"... or "avoiding a watery death". I feel safe in saying that where I'm headed, with a lot more training, will eventually be described as "swimming". At this point, where I am TODAY would be somewhere in between not drowing and swimming.

THE GOOD NEWS: My form is definitely better. I have moments where I feel pretty fluid every workout now. I feel like I'm snowplowing through the water less. Also, I'm resting less between laps... In general, the orchestra that is my swimming form is still like a bunch of drunk 4 year olds trying to play Beethoven's 5th... but much less of one than 3 weeks ago! I can sort of feel the different parts coming together... synching up.

THE BAD NEWS: I'm still resting between laps. I think I'm swimming too hard still... and too inefficiently. Plus, swimming is just a different kind of cardio workout, I think. I'm hoping it just takes a little while to get used to it and adapt. Oh, also, I tend to sink a little bit when I turn to breath (right or left side). What's up with that? Probably a form thing.

Perhaps there's a psychological underpinning to this stuff... maybe I could be a pioneer in swim-based psychotherapy. Instead of getting on the couch, you'd get in the pool. Your hydro-therapist would analyze your stroke... "You kick is weak... This tells me something about your relationship with your father..." or "You sink when you breath... What is this "sinking feeling" all about? Hmmm???" or "Your inability to do the breast stroke reveals major issues with women..." etc, etc, etc.

Okay. I'm ending this right now...