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.
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.
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.
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.
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| View from the top of the fountain @ Meridian Hill Park |
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 |
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.
