NINJA GIRL IN TRAINING HAS MOVED

Hey everyone,
Thank you so much for reading! I love sharing my adventures with you and encouraging others to get outside to move around and play. I wanted to give my blog a bit of a makeover and make it easier for me to keep growing and sharing as much as I can with you so I've moved to a new address:

www.ninjagirlintraining.wordpress.com

I hope you will continue following along with my parkour training and adventures there!

xx A

New Tricks & New Friends

Week 81

What an awesome week! Whenever I can fit in training sessions every day, it is a good week. I try to aim for every day, but life tends to have surprises sometimes and it just doesn't always work out. Anyways, I was lucky enough to fit in a lot of training this week and my body feels exhausted fantastic. I met some of the locals too!

One of the girls that I trained with at European Girls Parkour Day, A, lives in Paris and she invited me to come train with her at one of the well-known spots in Paris— Dunois. You can check out the spot in this video. Not only was it an awesome spot, but there were also tons of people there. I'm used to a very small community in the U.S. Not even in the numbers but in the sense that everybody knows each other. If I go to a park in Washington, D.C. and see someone doing parkour, I probably know who they are. And there's probably not more than 6-10 of us, if that, unless it's an organized event.

The other day at this spot in Paris, there were at least 20 traceurs there just to train and hangout. It wasn't organized. They weren't all best friends. They were all just there. I felt silly being excited by this but I mean seriously, how cool is it that there are that many people who do parkour on any random afternoon in a little corner of Paris? I loved it! I met some of the guys and made friends with this kid, B, who taught us how to do a wall spin. A wanted to learn them so we just spent hours jumping and spinning against a wall.

I can't remember the last time I picked one skill like that and just said, I'm going to stay here and train until I master this. Usually I'm too busy to do that. I have to go to class, I have to go to the grocery store, I don't have time, etc. but on this day, I had the whole afternoon free and I could just focus on parkour. So that's exactly what I did. I stayed glued to that wall until I could spin. I started using two hands going to the left. Once I mastered that, I moved on to the right side. What's the point in learning a skill if you can't do it on both sides?

Once I mastered both sides, B told me to do it with one hand. I laughed nervously. Okay, fine, I'll try it. The first time I went for it, my chest was too far forward and I went flying towards the ground, but I managed to right myself by spinning in circles until I was vertical again. Following my momentum can look really funny and awkward sometimes, but it usually works. Excited by getting so close, I kept trying until I got it. By the end of the session, I was doing it on one hand to the left and to the right. Mission. Accomplished. What's next?

I love learning new things. It sounds so silly and cliché, but there's really nothing quite like it. It's that feeling when you're presented with something you can't do at all (at the time) and then you leave having completely mastered it. Whether it's a jump that seemed out of reach, a balance challenge that was kicking your ass, or a new skill like spinning around on a wall, it is such an amazing feeling to learn a new trick. It's like being a little kid again and running home to your parents telling them you scored a goal in your soccer game. Guys, guess what I did?! I did it! I really did it! Seriously, I sound and look exactly like that child when I learn something new. And it's the best.

Hopefully I can train with these guys again soon. It was so much fun and I just loved seeing so many traceurs out and about in the city!

Me and a Bench

Week 79

This week, I sort of spontaneously began experimenting with using one obstacle for an entire training session. The other day, that obstacle was a bench.

I was running around in the park and I was getting a little tired after conditioning so I decided to stop and play on a nearby bench. At first, I was working on simple vaults just going up and over the bench in different ways. And then I started getting more creative. I didn't realize what I was doing until I looked at the film later and showed some other friends who gave me props for creativity—one of my favorite compliments because it means I'm being open-minded and true to myself as a movement artist. 

Since Instagram (my main outlet for video sharing) only allows 15 second clips, I decided to make a video on my computer to share more of my bench training. It sounds silly, but you can really do a lot with one obstacle. Try it sometime. Find a rail, wall, curb, or bench and spend 30 seconds continuously moving up, over, and around it. Then try one minute. Then five. Then an hour. See how much you can do. Open your mind and clean those parkour goggles of yours. A lot of what I was doing was quite simple but I was having so much fun just twirling around and using the bench to inspire my movements. Okay I'm done preaching... here you go... me... and a bench...

FAMJAM 2014: International Parkour/Freerunning Jam

Traveling Ninja: Munich Edition

I am completely exhausted and my body is in desperate need of rest, but I am absolutely loving life.

Earlier this month, I spent four days in Munich for FAMJAM 2014 hosted by Free Arts of Movement (FAM). I took the train in from Paris without knowing a word of German or a single person going to the jam. And it was one of the best decisions I've made this summer.

... even if things did not always go as planned. Upon arrival Wednesday night, I attempted to figure out the trains but I soon gave up and took a taxi with a driver who spoke no English. Of course. I had written down the address but something got lost in translation because he pulled up next to an old gas station and told me we were there. No, I tried to explain, I don't think this is it... I pointed at the address again, starting to feel a bit desperate at the thought of being abandoned in a foreign city but he seemed to have a moment of clarity and took off driving again, yelling at me in German for the rest of the ride.

Somehow, we arrived at the correct street but we couldn't find the building. Luckily, I saw a young man in sweatpants. Sweatpants = parkour. English? Yes, he answered. Thank God! Where is the gym? He pointed me in the right direction and I took off running after professing my love for him for saving me from the angry taxi man.

It was quite overwhelming at first but I met a nice guy from the organization who introduced me to some other girls and coaches. Soon after I arrived, it was time for "night's rest" and I was happy to collapse on the thin mat between me and the gym floor.

Thursday was the official start of the jam. After check-in and an opening speech, we dove into workshops for the day. In the morning, I joined a group of about 10(?) girls for a "Girl Power" workshop. The workshop was led by two very talented traceuses—Daria (Russia) and Katie McDonnell (UK). We had a lot of fun jumping around and working on bar flow, specifically focusing on listening to your body and moving in a way that uses the least amount of energy. Later in the afternoon, I spent some more time playing on the bars and working on connecting movements with Thomas & Thomas (Czech Republic).

Day Two's workshops were quite different but just as fun. In the morning, I went "buildering" (which I learned is a real word... I just thought people were mis-pronouncing bouldering... awkward) with Andy Day (UK). This was a lot of fun but the bridge we were climbing was covered, I mean saturated, in spiders. The spiders scared me more than the height of the climb. Sigh.

Climbing somewhere in Munich!

The afternoon workshop was much less scary. Led by Daniel Ilabaca (UK) and some of his friends, we talked about the idea of connecting through play and experiencing the positive energy of movement. We played a few different games to warm up with some slackline thrown in, and then we tried out a really fun game as a group. All you need is a soccer ball and a vault box. For those of you who were at (B)East Coast 2014 at Great Falls (or read about it on my blog), the game was similar to our improv game of frisolleyoccer. Basically, we stood in a circle and passed the ball around but every time you touched the ball, you went over the vault box and filled in the circle somewhere else. It was a lot of fun and there were a few moments where you could really feel it— everyone was in the moment and as free as a child at play.

When there were not workshops going on, we were lying around stretching outside, playing games like add-on, challenging each other and just hanging out.

I wasn't thinking about taking photos or videos most of the time because I wanted to be in the moment and just have fun with everyone but here's a short clip of things from when I did remember to take a few videos:

I spent most of the jam by the gym but I did get to train in a really cool spot over the weekend when I stayed at the house of one of the coaches (Thank you, Nadja!)

The spot is called Red City and it is hands-down the coolest spot I have ever seen. I went with Katie and Josh and there were a few other traceurs there but it was still pretty empty so we spent a couple of hours just jumping around and climbing on the walls. It was absolutely perfect. I was in great company, the sun was shining, and the concrete jungle in front of me had endless possibilities. If you ever have the opportunity to go to Munich, go to Red City.

Me & Katie McDonnell (aka one of the coolest traceuses I know) hanging out at the Red City!

Getting ready for a precision jump @ Red City

Josh taking a break (and making weird faces) @ Red City

Climbing around @ Red City

There were traceurs, freerunners and movement artists from Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, England, Belgium, Spain, Russia, Denmark, Poland, Italy, and so many other countries. I also found a couple of Americans! I saw a kid wearing a PK Visions shirt and I was like Hey, that's in Seattle, right? and we got to talking, realizing we had a few mutual friends back in the States. Small world! The only other American I found there was Josh Yadon from Tempest Freerunning. I saw him a lot throughout the weekend and I had a lot of fun training with him and watching him move. I don't know if it was his skill or lack of fear but some of the things he was trying were crazy to me. He actually landed a gainer (it's like a back flip but you're going forwards while you do it) off a mini tramp onto a rail. Yes, landing on a rail and staying there is as difficult as you think it is. There were lots of people trying crazy tricks like this or other super powerful moves so if you ever needed to take a breather, there was plenty of cool stuff to watch!

I loved meeting all of these interesting people. Katie and I had a blast jumping around and exploring Munich together; I loved spending time with and learning from the people I met through workshops like Andy and Daniel, and the others I met randomly throughout the event like Josh, James (UK), Bryan, Jack (Ireland), Nadja, Mona (DE), Kim (Singapore), Chris (DK), and Drew from Team Storror (who were constantly being asked to apologize every time anyone climbed a roof they weren't supposed to... but they were good sports about it!)

Team Farang also stopped by for a few hours one night when we were having the Q&A with the coaches. I was sitting talking with a couple of guys and one of them said, "Oh, Pasha is here," nonchalantly. The other guy (a huge fan of Team Farang) said, "Yeah, okay..." turning around to look. He whipped his head back around and whisper-yelled, "GUYS, PASHA IS HERE." I guess he didn't believe us. Pasha came over to say hi to everyone and then this kid ran off to find the rest of the team since they were the reason he got into freerunning. It was fun to see him so excited and able to meet the people who inspire him.

It was a really great environment at this jam. It didn't matter if it was your first day out or you'd been training for ten years, if you had 1,000,000 views on YouTube or didn't know how to use a camera, everyone was equal. We all share the same parkour spirit. This is what I saw at FAMJAM. A community. A family. A group of weird and crazy-talented individuals getting together to have fun.

I learned so much in just four short days. New skills. New techniques. New ways to move. I met some amazing people. Learned new ways of seeing things and looking at the world. Got into some really interesting discussions about movement and the parkour lifestyle. And most importantly, I had the time of my life.

It's taken me so long to write about this because I've been traveling and I was having trouble finding the words for such an amazing experience. I want to share this experience with you and this is the best way I know how. To write. To pour my thoughts out onto a page (or several). And to encourage you to go out and explore the world.

Travel. Meet new people. Attend an event where you don't know anybody at all.

Workout with people from other countries and new perspectives. Connect with people.

And most importantly, play. Never stop playing.

Thanks for sticking with me for such a long post! Believe it or not I've cut this down a million times... sigh. So much to share! And so little time to write these days. Oh well... until the next adventure :)

European Girls Parkour Day 2014

Traveling Ninja: Mulhouse Edition

Day One: Group Shot @ Abandoned House
Photo: Saïmiri Parkour

This weekend, I had the pleasure of joining about 15-20 women from all over France (+ one from Switzerland!) for the third annual European Girls Parkour Day. It was a two-day event hosted by Saïmiri Parkour in Mulhouse, France with all sorts of fun, training, challenges, and delicious flammekeuche (or however you spell it)!

I got there just in time for the afternoon session on Saturday. I was a little nervous because I didn't know a single person there and my French isn't exactly perfect (I'm working on it!) but everyone was super friendly and welcoming and the nerves quickly went away. We started with a group warm up—a little follow-the-leader parkour run & some creative challenges using the scaffolding under an outdoor stage—and then we headed down to an old abandoned stone/brick house (every adventurer's paradise). The house was one of my favorite parts of the day because it was the most challenging for me both physically and mentally.

Day One: climbing around under the stage (Photo: Saïmiri Parkour)

Day One: abandoned House (Photo: Saïmiri Parkour)

The challenge was basically to climb around the entire building. It was difficult but doable, and some parts were definitely easier than others. At the end of the third wall, the grip changed a bit presenting a new challenge for me. Up until this point, it was large enough for all of your fingers, but now the grip was only wide enough for the very tips of your fingers. Slightly difficult. Especially for someone who doesn't work on grip strength very often.

At the corner of the third and fourth wall, I looked down to analyze the one-story drop to the ground. If I fell, I'd be tumbling into the bushes or on a parked car beside them. For some reason, I was completely un-phased by this. Re-directing my attention, I focused on the challenge ahead: the fourth and final wall. There were two areas between the windows that were just barely out of reach for me (see photo below). I almost considered not doing it but I had made it so close to scaling the entire house, I didn't want to give up. Realizing I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the gap if I was still holding on with my left hand, I decided to take a calculated risk. I knew if I failed, I could bail by hitting the pavement and rolling. I slid my left hand to the side of the stone square and pressed my fingertips against it rather than actually wrapping my fingertips around it. Using the force of my fingers pressed against the side, I kept my body close to the wall and slowly inched my way towards the righthand grip. I felt my fingertips against the right grip, released the left, and grabbed onto the new square in front of me. Phew. Breathe out. One more gap like this and I was back where we started. I climbed down and took a deep breath, amazed with myself. Challenge complete. What an incredible feeling!

One of the girls traversing the fourth wall (Photo: Saïmiri Parkour)

I stayed there to watch the other girls and spot in case anyone fell. Some of them took it on fearlessly and some stayed up there to help the others by placing a hand on their backs as they slid across. In the end, everyone who wanted to attempt it was able to with the help of the group. The whole weekend was like this—everyone helping each other and making sure no one was left behind. It was a great atmosphere.

After the house, we headed back to the warm-up spot where we worked on jumps and vaults, then to another spot that was great for wall runs and cool variations of tac to wall runs in the corner. I attempted a wall-run 360 but couldn't quite keep the grip. One of the Saïmiri guys joked, is that really parkour? Okay fine, so it's not very useful. But it was fun!

One more spot and then it was time to eat and rest. We had a delicious Alsatian meal of flammekueche and then we played on the slackline for a bit. We made it to bed around midnight that night... I had to use parkour to get into my bunk bed because the ladder was broken. I did half a wall climb and then slid my body into the bed like a seal. I was truly exhausted.

The next day consisted of more awesome training and traceuse bonding. We hit a few different spots with a delicious BBQ in between in the hills of Soulzmatt.

Day Two: driving in between spots--the scenery was absolutely gorgeous!
(Photo: my super fancy iPhone)

We ended the day with some balance and jumping on a bridge across the river in Mulhouse. We were having lots of fun but eventually it was time to say our goodbyes. Saïmiri gave us souvenir bags with a sandwich and a drink for the trip home which was great. There were lots of these little personal touches throughout the event. It made me feel like I was visiting a family friend, not a group of traceuses I've never met before. It was really nice to be welcomed into the community like that.

Day Two: Group Shot 

Day Two: Group Shot with our "Traceuse de France" T-Shirts :)

One of the things we talked about during the event was, "Why girls parkour?" We had a really great discussion and it was especially interesting for me to listen to the European girls share their opinions when I've had so many similar talks with people in the U.S. about this. In the end, I think the point is that it creates a community within a community. Why have different parkour associations in different cities? Why not just one giant parkour group or everyone do their own thing? Because we want to connect with people. Just like traceurs in Boston or New Orleans want to meet each other and train together, traceuses from all over the world want to connect with other traceuses. We're a minority and it's really cool to meet other people who share such a unique interest.

Day Two: group push-ups over the stairs (I'm the one with the obnoxiously bright sneakers)

Overall, it was a fantastic event. I'm so glad I was able to go. Saïmiri did a great job of organizing everything including food, housing, sweet training spots, and event t-shirts! Even though they're not fluent in English and my French isn't perfect, we were all able to communicate well enough. And to be honest, I don't think you need to speak the same language to train together. Sorry to be cheesy, but movement is truly universal.

Thank you, Saïmiri Parkour for an amazing experience! I can't wait to train with you all again someday.

Jumping & Stair Torture: Training at the Park

Week 74: Training at Parc de Bercy

I'm absolutely loving my training routine here. One of the main parkour spots (as far as I can tell from online stalking) is at Bercy Park which is an easy 20ish minute walk from my apartment. I love the walk too because I get to stroll along the river and across one of the many beautiful bridges to get there. This week, I made it out there three times, including a 2.5 hour session yesterday morning.

I try to go pretty early in the morning 1) to avoid the heat and 2) to avoid the people. Although, as far as I can tell parkour is pretty normal here. In DC, people always stopped to stare or ask me what on earth I was doing. Or my favorite, please don't hurt yourself! Thanks, dear stranger. Here they yell Bon Courage! as they walk by and if people stop to watch or glance over as they walk by, it's more like they're watching a street artist doing what they love, not because they think I'm crazy.

Anyways, I had an awesome training session yesterday morning. I started with a little stair torture at one of the entrances to the park. There's one set of stairs there that has three flights with little platforms in between. So I went right grapevine, left grapevine, forwards on the way up and then backwards, right, left, on the way back down. After a few rounds of stair runs, I was feeling ready for my next challenge. Forwards QM down three flights (not terrible) and backwards QM up three flights of stairs (yes, terrible).

Feeling tired but warm, I headed over to the basketball court to work on balance along the fence and some vaults back and forth. I saw some older guys doing pull ups in a little corner of the court that I totally would have missed myself but now I have somewhere to work muscle-ups! Yay!

Next, I headed over to the parkour/skate park corner of the park. I worked on dive kongs for about 30 minutes on a concrete ping pong table. I couldn't quite get the distance--I kept tapping one foot at the end) so I'm putting that on my goal list. I felt my energy declining after this so I threw in a few balance squats, precision jumps in the fountain, and plank holds on the rails, and then I called it quits for the day.

I threw together a little video of my first few training sessions here in Paris... Nothing crazy, just my workout challenges & lots of jumping. I'm not that person with an expensive camera, hours of magical editing time/skills, and a long list of flips to show the world with dubstep in the background BUT I do want my non-parkour friends & family back home to see what I'm up to so... here you go! :)

Starting a New Routine

I'm finally starting to feel like I could live here. Not that I have a choice... I've already sort of committed but it's nice to know that feeling is there. I've had a few awesome early morning training sessions now and I'm really enjoying it here. The sun rises around 6am and even though I fight with my snooze button every time, my body usually wins when I feel how restless I am and how desperately I need to train to be my happy self. This morning was no different.

It was a perfect day. Sunny, warm, barely a cloud in the sky. I ran down to the quay to play. Across the street from my usual jumping spot there's a huge set of stairs perfect for torturing oneself via exercise. I did a couple of rounds of stair runs (forwards, backwards, grapevine left and right) and then decided I was done with cardio for the day. I'm such a baby when it comes to cardio. I'm working on it.

Next, I ran over the bridge and forgot I was there to workout as I gazed out at the colors of the early morning sun playing on the water. I turned around and saw some metal beams connecting the two foot bridges over the water. They were just begging to be climbed on, but there were too many people around at that point for me to quite pull it off, and I'm still trying to navigate what I'm allowed to play on in Paris without getting arrested. At least in the U.S. I could talk my way out of the crazy things I was doing when I trained. My French isn't quite good enough to argue with policemen so I'm trying to play it safe.

Sadly, I walked away from my metal bridge beams and jogged down to some steps to work on precisions and broad/box jumps. I did a little grip work on a nearby wall too. I would love to see the faces of the people walking by as I just hung there facing the wall doing absolutely nothing (my fingers were doing all the work). Maybe they thought I was meditating.

Tired from my cliffhanger practice, I ran along a little wall back to my original spot. Thanks to Bastille Day, this spot now looked like the aftermath of a pirate's party. It's like people just ran around smashing bottles on each other's heads while chain-smoking. I've never seen so much broken glass. It made for quite the obstacle course though... talk about motivation to stick your landing.

I did some cool 180 jumps and mostly focused on conditioning that didn't require me to move too much in the pirate's cove. I also did some cool strides/jumps on these nearby nautical stumps (I have no idea what these are actually called or used for). I was having way too much fun playing this morning and I almost forgot I had to leave for class (I intentionally ignored the clock on my phone). Realizing how late I was, I ran home and threw on some jeans and a tshirt and headed to class. Hopefully I'll get a longer training session soon but I'm loving these early morning workouts by the river. It's the best way to start your day.

Traveling Ninja: First Week in France

As some of you know, I recently moved to France for six months. Conveniently and by pure coincidence... I chose to study abroad in the birthplace of parkour. I haven't done nearly enough exploring since I got here but then again, I have six months so I'm not too worried about it.

I spent last weekend in Provence with my family which meant an opportunity for natural training! We went for a run through the forest and came across an old abandoned house by the river. My cousins went to jump in the river and sit by the rocks but my first instinct (thank you, parkour goggles) was to explore the house and see what I could climb on.

I stayed close to the ground for my cousin's sake. They're not used to being around ninjas and I didn't want them to worry too much. But I got enough exploring in jumping around inside and climbing over a few old walls. After a little while I joined my cousins on the rocks and worked on some jumping and climbing. No, I can't just sit on the rocks and enjoy the sun.

Later in the week, I was getting restless in the city and decided to get up early one morning to explore a spot by the river.

My new playground :)

The spot was perfect, especially in the morning because there was almost no one around. It was beautiful by the river and there are tons of things to jump around on. I only had about 30 minutes to play because I had to go to class but hopefully I'll make it back ASAP to do some more exploring. I also know there's a huge park across the river from me that is great for training but I haven't made it out there yet. Hopefully soon. So many things to explore!

Parkour Goggles

So, do you just walk around and look for things to jump/climb on? This is one of the most common questions I get when I tell people I train parkour. And the answer is yes. Yes, I absolutely do.

Honestly, one of the coolest things about training parkour is that your entire perception of the world changes. Handrails, benches, jersey barriers, walls, lines on the sidewalk... they all become opportunities. Every morning when I walk to the metro, I balance on the curb and make the jump when there's an opening for a walkway. Yes, I do this wearing sneakers, boots, Sperry's or whatever I happen to be wearing that day and with my backpack full of books, etc.

When I'm on the metro wondering why everyone looks so miserable all the time, I think about how much fun it would be to swing around on those bars. If there's not a lot of people on the train, then I'll hang on the bar above my head in between stops—the goal is to hang on as long as possible. This gets really exciting when you have a crazy train driver and your body starts swinging around. Best not to do this during rush hour. I also like to "metro surf" (balancing in the middle without holding onto anything). People give me strange looks but it keeps me entertained while I commute.

In the summer I like to walk to the gym instead of metro-ing which means even more opportunities. It's great because I'm already in gym clothes and I only have a small backpack on so it's easier to jump around.

On my way to class the other day, I saw a handrail coming up on my right that looked perfect for a safety vault. I swerved my path a little to the right, vaulted the first rail, then the next one then casually started walking along the sidewalk again. I kept going, balancing on the curb and jumping around on the lines of the sidewalk. Next up, two jersey barriers going right where I needed to cross the street. How convenient. I ran up to them and jumped up on one foot, ran/balanced my way across them, then kept going.

I've also started training during my breaks in class this summer. I'm taking statistics which basically sucks all of the life out of me so when we get a 10-minute break (class is 2.5 hours), I run outside and start jumping around. My classmates think I'm on crack, especially when I come back to class sweating and covered in dirt or blood (this only happened once, I swear) but it keeps me awake for the second half of class. Here's a little clip of training before class one day.

Am I conscious of the looks people give me? Of course. But I'm having more fun than they are. Life is better through parkour goggles. It doesn't matter what is around you, what you're wearing or how much time you have. It's just movement. Precision jumps on a curb. Balance on a rail. Cartwheels and handstands in the grass. I promise you no matter where you are, there is something you can do to move.

I'll Never Grow Up!

Week 69

What an awesome morning! I finally got to move around after such a long week. I have so much going on right now so I haven't had much time for training. My body (and mind) start to get really upset with me when I don't move around enough. I get restless and anxious. I need to move. I need to play.

Lucky for me, I have lots of friends who feel the same way! This morning, I headed out to Anacostia Park with a few of the girls to jump around and climb on things. The park just got some new workout equipment there which I was completely fascinated by because the machines operate on your own weight. Like the seat moves up as you move the bars with your arms... I don't know how to explain it. But it was really cool. Anyways...

The best part about this park is the giant pirate-ship-shaped playground in the middle. I'm not kidding. This thing was awesome. We did all sorts of challenges on the pirate ship like precisions around the ship, balance/climbing challenges, and QM-ing down the climbing walls along the sides. We also attempted to QM backwards back up the side of the ship but... well... it didn't go very well. I made it one or two steps and then went for the next hand grip and went head first into the ground. Don't worry, I did a sweet ninja side roll so I didn't get hurt.

Naturally, the main challenge in our minds was getting to the top of the mast of the ship to sit in the basket. This was until we realized that climbing a large pole Mulan-style is actually quite difficult. I did manage to make it up to one of the sails though.

It looks like it was built for climbing, but once I got up there it felt like I was on a real ship because the mast started swaying with the wind. Time to get down...

We kept playing around and we were about to head over to the grass to do some gymnastics-y stuff when this little kid (9) looks at us and goes, "wanna race?" Can't say no to that. We raced him and his brother (6) around the pirate ship and did some cartwheels and handstands with them. They were pretty awesome. The little one was hanging upside down on a bar after we helped him get up to it, and he goes "LOOK! I'M SPIDERMAN!" Pretty much made my morning.

I felt like Peter Pan running around on the pirate ship with my friends and finding new challenges. The kids kept giving us jump challenges or things to climb up to. It was a lot of fun. Just what I needed to de-stress and relax my mind a bit: a pirate ship and some awesome people. You're never too old to play on the playground!

Sometimes I think I'm a mermaid...

Surprise! Consistent Training Leads to Progress

Week 66

It's time for some new conditioning goals! It is such a satisfying feeling when you can cross something off your list. Especially a goal that has been sitting on said list for almost six months. I started working on this one at the end of October but looking back at my training journal, I realized that I've only focused specifically on this goal in about sixteen of my training sessions since then. The most consistent training (every week) was in April and May. Surprise! Consistent training = progress.

What was I working so hard to accomplish? The muscle-up. The elusive "king of bodyweight exercises" that everyone wants to do and apparently not many people can. It is a mix of strength and technique and it can be frustrating because it does not necessarily have any prerequisites (There are people who can do a million pull ups but can't do a muscle-up, and then there's me who can do maybe 7 pull ups if I'm feeling good that day but I can do a muscle-up...) I didn't know all of these things while I was training it. I just knew it was hard and it was something I wanted to do.

My training program was pretty simple: do five muscle-ups (band-assisted) every time I go to conditioning class, with about a minute and a half of rest in between. What does this look like? Glad you asked! Here's some product placement for you (and me being an awkward turtle):

I didn't train muscle-ups every time I stepped foot in the gym (which was stupid, I know) but when I wasn't training muscle-ups specifically, I was doing climb ups, dips, rows, pull ups, and negative pull ups somewhere in my training/conditioning.

After a few months, I was feeling pretty good about my muscle-ups and I wanted to try it without the band just to see how much work I had to do. I made it to the turning point on the bar—the top of the pull up where you need to rotate and push up—and I got stuck. I was high enough that I could keep pushing, but it was a serious struggle. I actually spent several torturous seconds squirming around on top of that bar, determined to get up. I finally did it and was amazed with myself. A few of the guys got excited for me and told me I did a muscle-up and I was like what? that doesn't count. I'm still a gymnast at heart. Unless it's done with good form, it doesn't count.

But this was good for me because it meant I should move down in band resistance. I moved to a smaller band that I nicknamed "Little Red" in my training journal. I was much more reliable this time in terms of sticking to a schedule. I did muscle-up training with Little Red every week in April and May. Five each time (sometimes six), with a minute of rest in between.

About two weeks ago, I did a real, good-form muscle-up with no band which was awesome. I did one. This is good. But I wasn't done. The next time I came in I wanted to do my normal set of five without the band.

I came in the next week and got set up to do it. But all of a sudden I was pulling that chicken wing crap with my right arm going first. Umm hello, Body... what are you doing!? I was so frustrated. I didn't know why it was happening. I went back to the band so I could fix my form before progressing any further and adopting the bad habit.

I'm not sure what happened between that session and the next one but I finally accomplished my goal. No chicken wings. No band. Oh, and no kipping. That feels like cheating to me.

I went over to the bar without stressing too much about it and thought let's see what happens! I did the first one and I was sitting on top of the bar when my trainer walked in. His eyes got all wide like what are you doing up there? and I yelled to him Look, I'm strong now! He laughed but was excited for me and gave me a high-five me when I got down. I did my set of five with no band and even did a few more later on because I had to prove to some of the other guys who missed it that I could do it.

I kept forgetting to get the final result on camera until the other night after my workout. It's not exactly perfect because I was tired but here you go:

I know I've said this before, but it is just so cool to see the results of my training. It always feels like a bottomless pit when you're working towards something that really does take weeks or months to achieve. But nothing beats the feeling when you finally reach your goal. Now, on to the next challenge...

(B)East Coast 2014: Part 2

Sunday was the last day of the event, and my favorite day. We all headed out to Great Falls (Virginia side) to play in the woods and barbecue in the park. We got there late morning and lay out on our blankets to relax for a bit, then a very interesting game started...

The game was dubbed frisolleyoccer. I'm sorry, what was that, A? You heard me. Frisolleyoccer. A combination of frisbee, volleyball, and soccer. We stood in a circle of about 15-30 people (people came in and out) and played catch with the frisbee, while also attempting to keep the volleyball in the air, and kicking the soccer ball back and forth. Because we can't just play one game... that would be boring. It also sounded like an auction because in order to keep track of the ball people would yell the name of the ball as it came near them or as they got rid of it. It got really overwhelming when all three came your way. I was scared I'd get hit in the face but it was so much fun! Quite the mental & physical workout too because it was so hard to keep track of things.

After our epic game of frisolleyoccer (I really just like saying that word..), we ate some hot dogs & burgers and then headed out for a hike.

Group Photo @ Great Falls, VA
Photo Credit: Mike M.

We started along the trail until we got to the giant rocks along the water where we could climb around and play (see below). There are tons of different levels here which is what makes it so perfect. The climbs range from little taste of adventure to crazy scary. I also find this part of the day highly entertaining because our group tends to do the same climbs as other people with ropes... except we do it without any equipment. Sorry we're that cool?

I'm that spot in the distance with neon green shirt & hot pink shoes...
Photo Credit: SH

I was proud of myself this weekend because I did a few climbs that were really challenging for me. I don't know what it is but I feel so comfortable out on the rocks. It's like I flip a switch in my brain and go into primal mode, climbing around on all fours and scrambling up the rock face searching for the next grip or foothold. My mind was completely free and I was just absorbed in my movement.

We did a few awesome climbs as we made our way up and down and up and back down to the water again. While we were on a rock near the water, we took turns laying down to stick our hand in to cool off. Don't worry, we held each other down so no one went flying in. The current was so strong that when you stuck your arm in, it felt like the wind pressing against your arm when you stick your hand out the car window. I wanted to put my head under to cool off so I had someone hold me down as I bent from the hips, held the rocks next to me, and stuck my head down into the swirling water. That was exciting! It felt so good though. Definitely worth it.

We kept climbing around, feeling refreshed after our mini bath, and continued pushing ourselves as we chose new paths to get up the rocks. Every now and then we would pause to sit and enjoy the absolutely beautiful view around us. Ah, nature. Sorry for the lack of photos, but we were too busy enjoying ourselves to document the adventure.

After a while, we decided to head back because we lost most of our group and a backpack somewhere along the way. As we ran back, striding from rock to rock to tree root to rock, we kept an eye out for the lost bag. Finally, we saw it sitting on a rock by the water towards the beginning of the trail. Naturally, we wanted to race for it. M stayed at the top and I heard someone yelling at me to be careful as I started down but I was in primal mode, mind blank, like a lizard scurrying down the rocks and striding across them once I got to the bottom. Of course, as we learned at the Savage Race, I'm not very good at like... walking... or standing. I made it to the bag first (which is kind of amazing) and then threw my arms up in triumph... and flew back onto my ass. Luckily, nothing was hurt. Only my dignity. I really wish we had that on film.

We collected the bag and made it back up the rocks to the trail so we could head back to the BBQ area. When we got back, we lay down in the grass and did nothing for the next few hours. It was absolutely perfect.

I had the time of my life this weekend and met so many amazing people. Not only is everyone in the parkour community incredibly talented in their own unique ways, but they're also just really cool people. As my roommate said at one point this weekend, we're really good at fun.

It's always sad to say goodbye but I'm sure most of us will meet again. At the very least, there's always next year! Thank you to M2, Ryland, and the entire APK crew that made this weekend possible. I love being a part of this extraordinary community. Never stop playing!

(B)East Coast 2014: Part 1

APK Girls at (B)East Coast 2014
Photo Credit: Peter Waterman

It's that time of year again. A time for all ninjas, traceurs/traceuses, freerunners, and all around crazy athletic acrobatic people to get together and jump on things. This weekend was APK's annual national parkour jam, (B)East Coast. It was a long and relatively sleepless weekend but it was pretty much the most fun... ever.

What's a parkour jam, you ask? For my non-parkour readers, start with the idea of a jam. Musicians get together and jam, yes? Well, instead of getting together and freestyling with instruments, parkour people get together and freestyle by jumping and climbing on things...

The event started Friday night with an open gym session at Primal. I was working with a few other volunteers at registration so I was safely behind the tables with front row seats to the madness. There were a ton of obstacles set up all over the gym and people everywhere. At one point, I had to go upstairs to get more wristbands and it was like a video game just getting through the first part of the gym. I was weaving in and out of people, trying to avoid getting kicked in the face or run over. That being said, there was some really cool movement going on in there. I just preferred to watch from a distance...

I checked out early Friday night since we had to be at the park early Saturday morning to start setting up. We spent the day on Saturday at Gateway Park in Rosslyn. It's already an awesome park to train in but APK brought a whole bunch of new obstacles to play on, adding to the fun. I was at check-in again so I got to see everyone as they came in and have a dance-off with the other check-in volunteers. Here's a few of us being normal long enough to take a photo:

We also got bored and did random challenges like this high-five push-up trio:

This year, we wanted to find a way to include more women in the event and also make new-comers feel a little less overwhelmed so we had a mini women's meet up at the beginning of the event. There were almost twice as many women as last year which was great to see!

Women of Beast Coast 2014
Photo Credit: Kaitlin V.

We also had a female run the fast contest this year which is awesome! My roommate, M, who kicked ass even though she was running on a strained achilles and a huge rip in her hand from the night before (it's hard to tell her to take it easy). Hopefully we'll continue getting more and more women into contests like this where they can push their limits and show the world how badass girls can be. I know, I know, I should be doing the contest too if I'm preaching about more girls doing things like this but I tend to freeze up and trip over my own feet (more than usual) when there's an audience involved so uh.. I'm working on it. Maybe next year.

My roommate, M, being awesome like usual
Photo Credit: Peter Waterman

In addition to the fast contest and random playing, jamming, etc. we also had a couple of workshops on various aspects of training. One of these was led by professional parkour athlete/freerunner Jesse La Flair. Jesse is a super chill guy who's famous through his YouTube channel and took second in the Fast Contest this year. His seminar was about unique and weird movement. He talked about how all of us come from different physical backgrounds in parkour (gymnastics, ice skating, dancing, hockey, rugby, etc.) and each of us tends to incorporate our previous training into our parkour movement. He encouraged us to "get funky" basically saying don't be afraid to get a little weird and try new things.

Jesse (middle on the obstacles) demonstrating a new movement @ (B)East Coast

Jesse (standing on the far left) hanging out while (B)East attendees try out some new moves after the seminar

It was a long and fun-filled day, but it wasn't over yet! We refueled with smoothies after a relaxing cool-down/stretching session in the grass and then headed over to the National Mall for some glow-in-the-dark frisbee. I wish we had more photos of this but you'll just have to trust me that it was a blast. Each team had glow sticks in different colors for their uniform and we had a light up frisbee so we could still see it in the dark.

Glow in the Dark Frisbee Game! Thanks for the photos, JJ!

Glowstick Creations

Glow in the Dark Frisbee Game on the National Mall

I don't generally consider myself an athletic person when it comes to playing games like football, basketball, etc. because I tend to have horrible hand-eye-coordination. But somehow I managed to keep up with the frisbee game and even got our team some points. Every time I was part of an awesome catch or pass, I would yell to my team (our name was Poetry in Motion), GUYS I DID SOMETHING! The games lasted an hour or two (I think... I had no concept of time this weekend) and then we headed home to hangout for a while and maybe get a couple of hours of sleep before the next day of activities at Great Falls, VA.

To Be Continued...

Mud, Ice, and a Little Shock: Savage Race 2014

I remember going to bed Friday night thinking, "why am I doing this? Who let me sign up for this?" as I prepared myself for the Savage Race the next day. Savage is a 5.6 mile run with 25 obstacles spread throughout the course. I realize that overcoming obstacles is kind of my thing as a traceuse, but I don't often encounter barbed wire, live wires, and muddy lakes that I'm required to wade through while carrying 2x4s on each shoulder. Well, not in DC I don't... my parent's house in Maine isn't too far off from this. Just kidding (kind of).

Anyways, there were a lot of extreme challenges in this race—both mental and physical—but it was a hell of a lot of fun. I went into the race with zero expectations. I just wanted to complete every obstacle to the best of my ability and have fun with my team. Mission Accomplished.

"Big Ass Cargo Net"

Six foot walls dropped into a pit of muddy water

Me in the middle making my "why am I doing this?" face...

I won't go through all 25 obstacles for you but I'll try to cover the best and the worst of them. Most of the obstacles were challenging in an awesome kind of way, but there were also obstacles that I desperately wanted to skip. I don't know who was in charge of naming these, but what part of "Colon Blow 5000" makes you want to dive right in?

Before the race, when the dirt was dirt instead of a mud lake

I made a team member go in front of me AND behind me to talk me through this one because I was terrified of getting stuck inside. This and Tazed were the only two obstacles that I paused in front of... and felt like crying beforehand. The first one because of the small dark space and the second because, well, who likes getting an electric shock? I ended up turning and rolling sideways through the wires with my hands over my eyes instead of crawling through. I only got shocked a few times but it was so disorienting rolling around, eyes closed, getting zapped by random wires all over my body.

The other serious mental challenge for me was crawling under the barbed wire (yes, it's real... we checked). Nothing like a spiky canopy to make you stay low.

Me on the bottom left with my teammates

Staring at the barbed wire hoping it doesn't cut me as I pull myself out...

I was impressed by my crawling skills on the first few barbed wire obstacles (above)... until my knees were so raw on the last one (Thanks to CB 5000) that I started dragging my entire body through the mud using my arms. I looked kind of like this with less speed:

I finally made it out from under the last barbed wire only to enter a giant pool of quicksandy mud. I don't know what's wrong with me but I am completely hopeless when mud is involved. I just can't manage to stay vertical. I figured this out early on in the race after the "Nutt Smasher." This obstacle was super easy for me (it's basically just a balance beam over water) until I got to the other side, stepped into the mud, attempted to catch myself, and then gracefully flew backwards onto my butt...

I proceeded to fall in the mud over and over again throughout the course. It's amazing that I can beast out on 8 ft. walls with no assistance...

8ft. wall climb

...I can jump over fire or into a pool of ice, but I can't manage to stay standing when the ground is slippery. Oh well, I can't be good at everything, right? Walking isn't important.

Let's get back to the part where I kicked ass. My two favorite obstacles were the "Sawtooth Bars" (monkey bars over water pictured below) and "Pipe Dreams" (see below).

Again, pre-race/pre-mud lake on either side.

Testing out the obstacle - official Savage Race photo

Both of these obstacles take some serious upper body strength so I wasn't sure how I would measure up, but I wanted to push myself. I wanted a girl to have the strength to succeed on these obstacles. No feet, no falling.

It was extremely difficult and I was worried it might be slippery but the dried mud on my hands helped me keep my grip a little bit. Sawtooth was especially hard at the peak when I had to swing up and then back down on the monkey bars. I paused a few times on both of these but I knew I could do it and I kept pushing until I made it to the other side, triumphant and proud of my accomplishment.

I think the best part of the race for me was when our team high-fived one another after each obstacle, congratulating each other on getting this far and fueling us to keep going.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. I was proud of myself for running the whole thing, making it through every obstacle, and overcoming the physical (monkey bars & pipe dreams) and mental (tazed and colon blow) challenges throughout the course. Thanks, Team Primal for an awesome experience!

Post-Race Team Photo (me in the middle #2933)

I'm in a sprinting mood today... said nobody ever.

Week 62

Looks like I've been neglecting my blog for the last couple of weeks--sorry, guys! It's the last semester of my senior year of college so you could say I have some things to get done... but even major life changes and that whole graduation thing can't keep me from playing!

This week was a great training week for me. Monday night, a few of us headed over to Meridian Hill Park (pictured below) to jump around a bit. This was my first time at Meridian even though I've lived in this city for the last four years. It's absolutely gorgeous and there are so many things to jump on! Even better, there are tons of people running, doing yoga, and doing their own cross training in the park so us crazy parkour people don't look quite so crazy.

View from the top of the fountain @ Meridian Hill Park

We spent a few hours jumping, vaulting, QMing, and traversing around the fountain in strange ways. I really liked this spot so hopefully we'll make our way back soon!

I let myself rest on Tuesday, but reluctantly took out my Nike Training Club app on Wednesday. It's a love/hate relationship. I love the challenge, it always manages to kick my butt, and I love the diversity of exercises. But then the app starts talking to me saying things like, "challenge yourself!" or "you're going to feel this tomorrow." These little motivational speeches tend to pop up right when I feel like I am about to collapse. I AM CHALLENGING MYSELF, I feel like screaming. But I always feel great when I finish it so I let the voice keep yelling at me.

Opposite Arm/Opposite Leg Plank Hold from one of the #NTC workouts

Last night was my favorite night of training. You know how I love my three-hour Thursdays... when I have the energy... Anyways, I went to the gym for conditioning and I had a pretty good session. A little playing, a little intense workout. I try to keep things balanced.

After conditioning, I headed outside with the early class. We jogged over to the apartments nearby and started working on vaults. We split into two groups along the jersey barriers. One group did lazy vaults up and down the barriers (which is a lot more tiring than I expected). The other group worked on safety/speed vaults.

I was doing sprints earlier in conditioning and I wanted to do more (what is wrong with me?) so we turned our vaulting practice into a sprinting drill too. Challenge: vault over the jersey barrier, sprint down to the cone, sprint back, and try not to die on your way back over the jersey barrier. When J said it was a great idea, I shrugged and said, I'm just in a sprinting mood today, then we both laughed and followed up with a "...said nobody ever."

After vaulting, we went on a stealth adventure around the edge of the lot, down walls, through fences, around buildings, and behind dumpsters. When adventuring was over, we headed back to the gym where I finally realized how tired I was as soon as I stopped moving. Lucky for me, we were about to do wall runs for thirty or so minutes. Can I pass out yet?

To wrap up the night, we played a don't-fall-in-the-lava game where you had to jump/stride between weights (the flat, round ones) spread out across the floor. We also had to get a ball from one end of the lava pit to the other. Apparently we were no better at this game than T's kid's class. Eventually we succeeded in getting the ball across the lava by passing it to each person twice, in a specific order. We even managed to do this in 60 seconds. Pretty impressive, I know. Challenge complete. Time to stretch.

I finally made it home, stuffed my face with pasta, took a hot shower and collapsed in my bed. Happy but very sleepy ninja.