Anybody miss me?? 

I'm back from camping! Pretty exciting... Not as much exercise as I was hoping for, seeing as there were no parents ( ) and we had a four-wheel-drive pickup with us.  Lots of driving and not as much walking, although there was still a lot.

Basically, the focus that week was on overcoming fear. Or at least, continuing to forward even though you're too scared to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other. Like walking little trails along the side of a very steep hill that you just know you're going to fall over. And balance.

Did a little rock climbing. We were camped above a stream that was full of boulders, so for two days did a lot of rock hopping, working on precisions kind of. My shoes are very worn down and don't grip at all on wet rocks, so I didn't do very much work on jumping far, but rather worked on landing in such a way that my feet wouldn't slide out from under me, and balance. I have horrible trouble landing and not continuing to move forward. I just lwatched Ozzie's precision jump tutorial, and that ought to help a lot!

Tiny bit of rock climbing on a rocky cliff side thing over the side of the stream. That was a LOT scarier than I expected, but even though I wanted to  turn around and find a different way over the obstacle (we kids were traveling down stream from our campsite to see how far down we could get on the rocks without getting wet or dunked), I made myself move forward, and I did it without falling off and breaking my neck like I knew I would!

Not as much kong work as I hoped for. The picnic table at our campsite was very rickety, and tipped over if there wasn't the same weight on both sides. Along one of the trails though, there were some concrete tables that I did a little work on. I got to where I could jump my feet up from the bench to the table top, same level as my hands. I've never been to do that! Banged my shins up a lot though in the process, and they are still very sore. After all the banging from jumping from bench to table, I didn't care to try jumping from the ground to table top yet...

We found a cool spot with a wooden pole fence that we tried to balance and vault over a little. I attempted and few vaults, but they all turned into sitting on the pole and swinging my legs over.  I managed to balance a tiny bit, but the rails were all loose, and I couldn't keep my balance. The pole kept turning in the mortice and dumping me off. My brothers had no problem walking along the top, and doing various vaults. I felt very inadequate.

I was very happy to find that my endurance for running uphill has greatly improved since last camping trip! And QM came in very handy for walking up really steep places!

The toilet buildings in the camping areas were ideal for cat work. When I first started, I didn't have a clue what I was doing. I worked for half-an-hour or so running up and trying to land in a cat hang. To get to the wall I had to run through a puddle, and my shoes wouldn't stick to the wall at all. After many, many failed attempts, I quit until the puddle dried up. When I went back to try again, the first time my feet stuck to the wall, and that shocked me so much I forgot to grab on with my hands and almost landed on my head. I couldn't seem to get the hang of getting my feet to stay up and gripping the ledge with my hands. I tried grabbing the corner of the ledge opposite me, but after slamming my wrists painfully onto the nearest corner a few times, decided that was a bad idea. We had to go home Tuesday to get more water and other supplies, so I checked out Urban Current's cat tutorial, and that helped alot. We switched campsites that day, and the toilet building for the new site was newer, and painted with high-gloss paint. I had a terrible time getting my feet to stay up. Every time I had to use the toilet, I spent a few minutes trying to step into a cat. I got to where I could hold one for 2 or 3 seconds, but it could take a while to actually get into one to hold it. (Does that whole paragraph make any sense? So sorry if it doesn't...)

That's all I can remember from the camping trip. There was a lot of other cool stuff, but it's not Parkour related. Now I'm home, and I seem to have lost my drive to practice. I just pulled out of another week long depression phase (I really hate those, and wish I knew how to avoid them). We're in trouble with the neighbors again, and we have to go through our stuff and get rid of a lot more.

Hopefully, I can get back to work outs. I know I really need to work on upper body strength, but I'm frustrated that I seem to be stuck, getting no where.

Yes, I've been slacking off lately. 1, I've been busy, and 2, I've been struggling with lack of energy and depression (probably connected).

Figured it's time to look at my goals I had when I started and re-evaluate things:


1: Not completed yet. Can't do a pullup, but I can hold myself up for longer than a second!

2: My squats are WAY better. Before, my knees would hurt real bad if I did more than a few squats, but I've learned better form, and it even feels good to do squats!

3: Eh... I don't know where I am on this. I don't think I'm there yet. Haven't done as much work on running lately as I would like.

4: I think this was not a specific enough goal. I accomplished the main thing I had in mind when I made that goal: to jump from the edge of the playground at the park onto the bench. That's no problem now. Bigger fish to fry!

5: Not anywhere closer to this than when I started. I think I'll scratch this goal for now, and just concentrate on conditioning enough that if a miracle happens and I can make it to a jam next year (crosses all fingers) I'll be able to learn stuff there.

New/Updated goals:

1. Complete 1 pullup.
2. 10 full-body, elbows-in pushups.
3. Run 400 meters.
4. 15 consecutive box jumps onto the side of one of our concrete planters. I think that's 21", or knee height for me.
5. Get a gym membership so I can do some of the weightlifting aspects, like deadlifts, cleans, snatches, etc. (I don't really know what those things are, but I understand I should be able to do them...)

Been sooo tired and blah feeling lately. Monday went to GNC and found an "Ultra-Woman Multivitamin Energy Pak" (or something like that). Went ahead and got it. Been taking it every day, and I think it is helping! The last two eight-hour cooking shifts that would normally have me feeling totally dead by the end, have almost been enjoyable, and I've had a little energy to spare! Not jump up and down energy, but energy none-the-less!

Haha, gotta love the name! Just reading that makes you feel more motivated, doesn't it?


A good trick for measuring distances w/o a tape measure: Find a mark on the ground (or make one) before you start. Jump from the mark, then turn around and walk back to it placing the heel of one foot right up against the toe of the other all the way there. Count the number of "shoes" it takes. Measure your shoe when you get home, and multiply the length of your shoe by the number of steps you took. For instance, my training shoes happen to be exactly 10" long. So I know that if I take 6 heel-to-toe steps, I've jumped 6 x 10", which is 60", or 5'.

Wednesday, November 4

Rest day, dealing with my painful toes. Second one possibly broken.

Thursday, November 5

Still some day left, so I may get an actual workout in, but I HAVE to report that I actually got a headstand today!! I just haven't been able to do planche or handstand work because of my wrist, but I thought maybe headstands would get me practice balancing, and a little weight on my wrist. Been working on them for a few weeks, and actually got a tripod today for 15 seconds! Woohoo! Still ended up with a burning wrist, but hopefully it's a getting stronger pain, not a messing up pain...

Thanks Carolyn! I never think of ice when it hurts... not sure why.

I've been letting procrastination get the upper hand lately, and have not been posting. I have, however, been working out. Nothing structured, just GTG stuff.

I read Georges Hebert's book, and I'm trying his simple arm and leg exercises every day. I can already tell I'm getting higher on my jumps, just by simply jumping every other day! Those tuck jumps though, I still can't figure them out!

Went to the chiropractor on Friday. He re-set my wrist. He was upset that it was so loose and sloppy. I'm not to do anything that bends it backwards for two weeks. Pretty discouraged about this. Will I never be able to use it properly? This has been going on for 9 months now!

I worked more on headstands, but although I can get a tripod easily enough, lifting my legs up is another matter! Going to have to put them on hold though, because of my wrist.

I started working hard on pushups again. I seem to have lost the progress I was making, and now I'm having to do them on my knuckles so I don't hurt my wrist.

I've quit negative and jumping pullups for now because I don't feel that I'm improving, and I'm not really GTG either, because I'm sick of them. For now, I'm leaning the ladder agianst the roof of the house, and messing around on the underside of it. Hanging from it and climbing up and down the underside feels like it's working my arms more than the pullup stuff was. And it's making me conquer a few more mental blocks. I seem to have an AWFUL lot of those!

Friday, November 13

Worked on precisions. Discovered that the extra set of tires that came with the boys' truck are perfect for precision practice! When laying on it's side, a tire measures 12 inches high. I can jump from tire edge to tire edge, and it's about the right height to get me past a little of my mental block about jumping distances that aren't flat on the ground (is that making any sense :\ ).

8 x 4'   working on tucking (who knew it could be so hard to tuck?)
6 x 4'8"
5 x 5'   First two were good, next two were terrible (I was feeling really shaky at that point. Not sure why), last was OK.

Confident physically that I could go farther. It's really not hard to jump 5' at all. Mentally, even though I know I can make the jump at 5', I still have fear.

Goal for next time: 5'4"