Lessons learned.

I start this post exactly 24 hours after I began my first outdoor class with Parkour Generations, London. Running the class were instructors Stephane and Johann Vigroux, and Chris 'Blane' Rowat was floating around giving assistance also.
I am tired, sore, and broken... but I have learned some valuable lessons, and things about myself.

1. You are not tough.

Granted, I hadn't done real physical activity since I left Canberra 1.5 months ago, but even so, just getting through the first part of the warm up was one of the hardest things I've ever done, and brought back memories of the APA workshop a few months ago. First up was five different types of quadrupedie, each type forwards and backwards, no resting, waiting in the push up position for your turn - there were around 15 attendees. Some of these versions required more flexibility than I have, which made it even harder - looks like I've got some homework -, I nearly puked and was bleeding due to glass, but I made it.

2. You are not strong.

We moved on to some scaffolding: the aim was to grab hold and climb along to the end, without touching the ground or using your feet. I managed to get to the end of the bar... however the last 2 feet was wooden planks with metal edges... at this point I couldn't feel or move my hands, and the planks got the better of me, at least I was done. What was that??? Now do it the other way?

Afterwards, it took about 10 minutes to get the tension and shaking out of my forearms, and feeling back into my fingers. I asked one of the regular students "does it get easier?" He replies "not really... it's different every week, so you don't really have a chance to get good at one thing".

We moved on to a playground next, finally done with the warm ups and conditioning. We were given the choice of 3 different sizes of precision to choose from, and since the idea was repetition, not limit distance (and 'cause I was pretty screwed physically already), I chose the middle distance, between 2 low walls, which was easily within my range. We concentrated on technique: jumping up, getting the legs high, and landing softly. There was another Aussie at the class (Daryll, an Adelaidian), who was sketching out a bit as he's not too good with precisions... he progressed well though, and when the class went on to test our limit lengths at ground level, his standing jump was huge - only just shy of Stephane!


3. You are not invincible.

We were nearing the end of the class, and a run was set up for us all to follow: over a fence, small precision, small drop, small climb, over a wall, back over the wall, arm jump to play equipment, drop and roll.
It was fairly straight forward, but you could tell that people were tired and some basic mistakes and minor mishaps occurred.
I was no exception.
I got through most of it fine, and all I had left was to drop about 1.5m off the play equipment, and go into a roll. At this point I had a few niggling thoughts going on in the back of my mind:

1. It's been 2 months since you've done this... you didn't even warm up using rolls!
2. You're pretty tired already... your landing is bound to be a bit sketchy.
3. Which is my good rolling side again?

These thoughts went through my head in a split second, and I chose to ignore them all.

I dropped down, landed wobbly, rolled to the wrong side, threw technique out the window, and drove my left shoulder straight into the ground... it made a funny noise.
I got up cradling my arm, and made the "I'm out" motion. The instructors and a few others came over and had a look... not broken, not dislocated... give it a rest for a few days, and see a doc if it doesn't get better.

Long story short: "Acromioclavicular sublaxation" - in layman's terms, I've torn some ligaments, and will know more when a specialist looks at it. It shouldn't require surgery, and function will be near normal with proper rehab, which can start fairly soon.

4. Man up and get on with it.

So I've got some time out from upper body work and rolling. Meanwhile, I've got some flexibility homework, legs to work on, and some shoulder rehab to get stuck into.

I have to chuck my ego out the window, and start listening to the back of my mind... also warm up properly - joints, muscles, and movements.

I'll be back at class as soon as I can.

London update.

Well I've been over here for a bit over a month now, and between looking for work, accommodation, sightseeing and just being lazy, I haven't actually done any training!

That's not strictly true actually... Abou 5 days ago I went for a run near Kensington Palace Gardens... and forgot that I hadn't done any running for a while. I was feeling good, so I did some jogging, followed by sets of sprints. Long story short, I destroyed myself with insane calf DOMS, and couldn't put tension down them for days. I can now walk properly again, but it's still sore.

I've got in touch with Spidermonkey (an aussie traceur living in London), and I'm gonna call him up when I'm ready to train. It will be nice to have someone to show me around a bit, but I don't think it'll be hard to find people to train with over here. PKGen run heaps of classes also, so I'm going to pop along to some of those.

We're finally moving into a proper sharehouse tomorrow, and the stability will make it easier to get out and about.

There's also what looks like a pretty good gym just down the road, so I can get back into weights also.

I've lost a bit of weight due to eating cheap (not sure how much), but hopefully it's mostly insulation.

peace out

J