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Winter Training. Do I really Hate it this much?

Seeing that I haven’t been out lately I find myself wishing for sun and better weather. It seems (since I live in UT) the weather is in a cycle, whenever it looks to be getting better, it snows again. Almost every week I say to myself, “finally the weather is picking up, I’ll be able to get out for more Parkour.” But then just like the week before, it snows and I am once again denied the fun and creativity I want from running around looking like an idiot to other people.

Maybe it’s my inability to learn from weather patterns? Or maybe I’m a procrastinator, or just lazy? Whichever it is, I’m not getting out when I want to.

To stand for what I wanted, and go against the weather, I decided to go out no matter how bad the conditions were. I didn’t procrastinate the day and went for it. Wednesday the 6th of February 2 days away. I was determined not to be lazy.

The weather ended up looked fairly good the night before. I was hoping to get some snow and my wish was temporarily fulfilled the morning of, but by the afternoon it had stopped snowing. Still fine though, the weather was still cold and not the best for parkour; so that afternoon I strapped on my PK shoes, plugged in to listen to the Bourn Movie Soundtracks, and sent out to change the world PK style.

As I set out for this adventure I wanted to see what kind of possibilities snow could have in parkour. I figured I could use the snow as a padding for landings, which I found was good if you want to get wet. Overall it was mostly dry on my run but in using snow as pads in my landings I got uncomfortable because I got wet. Also it is much easier to learn new tricks in the gym where you have more control of the environment. I went to do a front flip just like I do at home into the cushions; when I did this I also almost died or rather broke my leg by twisting my leg in a bad way on my landing. The snow didn’t help me in the way I wanted plus I was doing a trick really wasn’t capable of doing.

The snow also did hinder the places in which I could go. I found two new PK spots. One was covered but looked real promising. The other was where I ended up spending most of my time; working on my under bar techniques. Snow limits the simple places where I would have usually done a vault but couldn’t. I also had to look at where I would be landing for fear of slipping; but things had dried up and I didn’t have much of a problem with traction or slipping.

In the two and a half hours I was out I got a good workout and spread the word of PK. There was a Lady who was smiling at me. Like really BIG and kind of creepy like. I told her I was doing parkour. “Oh, for the body,” She really liked what I was doing and I told her a basic speel about what PK is and

Many of you other traceurs have found ways to get out (or rather in) for parkour by going to the Gym Jams. I don’t prefer the Gym environment compared to an outdoor scenario, but I think I’m more open to the idea. Winter training was more difficult than I thought it would be. Either way I could use a Gym environment to build on my weaknesses. Whatever you need from parkour make sure your not limiting the opportunities you have to get out.

Don’t be lazy. Just get out and PK.

-ERIC-

Next article; Something about confidence?