On the mend

Before the last week or so I was getting a little down about my training. My hand injury was still preventing me from doing a fair few movements to any decent extent and other things kept getting in the way. I haven't been to the gym in over 2 weeks! However the last week and especially last weekend things have changed. My hand is no where near 100% but it is now able to take the impact of a cat pass or arm jump with no pain or repercussion. This along with getting over an illness and some other minor injuries means I'm feeling great about training again.

As I'm on a high I am getting back into training like I used to - at least 3 days outdoor training with 3 days a week in the gym. My diet isn't great (being a skint student) but it is very high in protein and I do take supplements (fish oil, vitamins/minerals, creatin, protein and glucosamine sulphate). Means that, even after 1 week of good training, I am reaping the benefits :)

I have found that I have no ability what-so-ever to take off with my right foot (I am right footed but trained my 'wrong' footed take off so much it became the more natural foot) into a cat pass anymore. I suppose it is because that, since the end of August, I haven't been training any cat passes and those I have done I have taken off my left. However it is rediculous how hard it is for me now, so much so I thought it worth a mention on here :s
- Training needed.

Last weekend was amazing. It started on a downer after Alex bailed out on me to go to Moreton and train with a certain Mr Ilabaca - Who can blame him! I decided to make the most of it anyway and got some nice conditioning done Friday night in a couple of AMAZING tree's 3 min's run away, before waking up lazily Sat morning, only to ring Paul and discover they were about to set off to Stockport in their cars. Luckily they had a space left and I chucked on my trainers and sprinted my way to meet them to catch a lift. Not a great way to wake up!

We got to Stockport and everywhere was soaked but it wasn't raining so we were hopeful. The spot we met at consisted of a very steep walkway that zigzagged its way down steps between some very grippy walls. If you were ever going to design a spot for parkour it would look something like this - precisions and arm jumps everywhere!! But it was still wet and we moved on. Through the day we got to some really cool spots and did some really cool training. I managed to do some decent vaults and arm jumps for the first time in months!

Paul and Dean invited me along on a trip to London the next day to join in with another K-Swiss event (we have been doing lots of promo work for them recently). Which i grasped at with both hands as I know from previous experiences just how good London, and the traceurs that train there are.

Paul drove down but the petrol fare and what not was covered by K-Swiss so the trip ended up costing practically nothing, ACE. We parked up at Dean's brother's flat who happened to live about 5 mins from Waterloo and Southbank! We didn't really know where to go to meet the others but I suggested it would be at the famous stone circle on Southbank. Which, sure enough, it was and it was a bit manic and overwhelming. Dozens of guys there, few of which we knew, doing some very cool stuff in front of huge crowds.

As soon as we started moving away from the stone circle I got into training, loving my reborn ability to vault and arm jump. When we move on to Imax we found we had a following of about 30-40 people which was a little strange to say the least. It was like the Pied Piper or some shit, crazy stuff.

Imax was a lot of fun and I put my hand to the test with the big cat pass there, it coped well and I cleared it with a little ease... Then landed quite awkwardly (not nearly bad enough to injure myself, just stretched a little too far) as I attempted doing the same thing but with my hands at the start of the block :/
I also got 90% of some right handed OACs which I haven't been able to do since my injury, my left handed ones are starting to recover as well.

The whole day was amazing, amazing weather, training in some amazing places with some amazing people, Nick and DC from TT were cool and Rich J with Matt (mattnick) stole the show with some very impressive movements and power, along with gainers from anywhere :|

One bad thing that happened was when I was precisioning between the square pillars that held up a fence. These were quite high and the fence was one made from metal bars with ornamental spikes on top. The landings had to be precise but this wasn't too hard as the jump wasn't too large, but on my final landing my feet completely slipped from under me and I ended up sat down on the middle of this pillar. If I had been slightly more forward or backwards then I would have ended up like Alistair or worse with some of these spikes in my groin! I can't say I jumped or landed badly and other than the fact the landing was slippy, I have no explanation of why I bailed so bad, but I can say I was damn lucky to come away from it unscaved!

The journey home consisted of many hours diving in the dark and fog. It was like driving through milk at some points and if it wasn't for Paul's love of technology and his sat nav then we would have been f**ked! We even managed to get the wrong turning a few times with it because of the lack of vision!

Since the weekend I rested all Monday, had Manchesters weekly Hell Night on Tuesday and had a very good sesh lifting weights in the gym today getting close to my personal best with some lifts. Which was more than pleasing as I should have deteriated far more from the lack of training. I think it was just a random 'good' day :P

But yeah all is well, I bought a new camcorder today and was on two separate TV programs talking about parkour, all be it regional TV it was okay.

Peace people!