Update on my Free Running progress

Everything is going great! Today, I had a very intense free-run. I climbed my tree twice to warm up, then did some stretching. Usually, I stretch first, but this time I wanted to jump right in. I might have skipped the stretching altogether, except that I'm being careful to nurture my growth in this new activity. Stretching warms up the muscles and helps prevent injuries.

After my stretching, I did a lot of jumps and ran back and forth a few times across a 15-foot fallen tree that stretches across a creek. This creek has a lot of big rocks strewn all throughout its length, so I typically run and jump on these rocks until I get to another fallen tree, where I exit the creekbed and do some tumbling in a grassy field. Today, I spent more time jumping around on the rocks, enjoying the jumping and finding some slightly more challenging jumps.

When I got into the grassy field, I did some rolls, diving forward onto my hands, then right shoulder, then my back, and up onto my feet. I've begun conditioning my arms to take the impact of my body weight, and I felt extra-energetic today, so I spent some time doing forward lunges onto my arms, keeping one foot on the ground. I took about 20 to 30 seconds to pace and shake out my arms before I did it again, and repeated the hand-lunges and pacing several times before I did a hand-stand for a few seconds. I continued to pace between each hand stand, but now I was flexing, twisting, and stretching my arms in between, preparing them for the next one. I did all of this several times before I progressed to walking on my hands for a few steps, then did this a few times with the same breaks in between. Besides giving my arms and shoulders a chance to recouperate, the breaks also served to allow me to keep my breathing deep and rhythmic. Free Running creates moments of short but very intense use of many muscle groups that aren't used in other activities, which can create a good sweat and the need for a lot of good deep, heavy breathing.

After I finished in the field, I ran up to the train tracks. I've gotten very good at walking on the train tracks now. The last couple of times I've been out, I've been working on my speed. I can now move at a pace equivalent to fast walking. I still fall off occassionally when walking about 100 yards on the tracks at normal walking speed to fast walking speed. Usually, if I start to lose my balance, I can catch myself by stopping and adjusting myself subtly with twisting motions, or by jumping across to the other rail. Seeing how much better I've already gotten at this particular activity, I anticipate eventually being able to move quickly down the tracks without falling off at all. It does wear out certain muscles, though, especially around the ankles and calves. Last week, after a long run down the tracks, I did a jump and both of my calves cramped up for a few seconds. They were sore the rest of that day, but were completely fine the next day.

After this run down the tracks, I went to another section of the creek and did some jumps back and forth across a narrow gap, about six feet wide. Sometimes I did running jumps, and sometimes I did standing jumps, just to improve my ability with each type of jump and landing. I also did some jumps up onto a low drainage wall (about four feet high) and back down a few times, just to vary the way I was using my muscles for the jumps and strengthening my structure for the landing impacts. On my way home, I did a few more rolls and walked on my hands for a few steps again. When I got home, I still felt very energetic, though a lot of my muscles felt nicely used and tired.

I've been making a rich shake to support my free running. My goals in creating this shake were to give my body more nutrients for faster recovery and growth, and to give me extra energy so that I can push myself further as well as protect myself from injury with a sharper focus and quicker reflexes. My shake is made with a chocolate health shake powder plus extra branched chain amino acids, creatine and glutamine, plus chocolate ice cream and chocolate milk powder for taste and energy. I make one gallon at a time, which I drink over the course of several days, mostly in the morning. I fill about two thirds of it with organic milk and the other third with strong coffee. I sometimes drink a glass of it as my breakfast. I drink it slowly, a sip at a time, savoring it. I take a day off from free running between most of my free running days, though sometimes I will go out two days in a row if I'm feeling completely or mostly healed and energetic. On the days I go out, I generally drink a glass of my shake shortly before I go.

I'm very pleased with my progress. I'm quickly growing stronger, more energetic, and happier. It's only been a month since I took up free running, and I've already improved significantly in the activities I've chosen to focus on so far. I highly recommend free running to anyone who thinks they might be up for it. The key, if you're just starting out, is to start small, enjoy yourself, be patient, and trust that you will be able to do more intense activities over time.