ngyagi's training blog

14

2009-06-21T23:56:00.004+01:00

(as promised...)

A little montage of some of the footage collected during my two months in London...

I returned to Brisbane on the 10th of June and, after a slightly prolonged battle with jet lag, have returned to regular training and teaching. I learned a lot during my time in London and want to extend my thanks once again to all those who spent time training with me.

Looking forward to heading back already!

13

2009-05-23T00:04:00.007+01:00

(the why...)

Around February 2007 I attended my first Parkour jam in Brisbane. Soon I was training regularly and began to realise that Parkour was making some really positive differences in my life. I embraced the training and became more and more dedicated to learning and improving. As I learned more I also began to help others with their technique and training methods. It was October 2007 when I made the decision to make training Parkour and eventually teaching Parkour an integral part of my life.

Since then I have been training solidly and working towards an established school of Parkour in Brisbane. In a year I had gone from teaching one regular student to leading outdoor classes of 10-15 students and, just before leaving Australia, leading groups of up to 40 students in the Brisbane Indoor class. (Before I go on - a shout out to those who inspired and helped along the way - Swift, Spidermonkey, Tayjay, KT, Chippa, OZ, IMB crew, Sunday S&C crew, Jerds, Puppeteer, Howler, K8 and, always, Mum and Dad).

So why London? 

In one word: Perspective.
First and foremost from a teaching point of view - I came to answer questions such as "How are some of the original practitioners teaching their art?", "What is the standard of delivery in classes, indoor and out?", "What are the expectations at different levels of training?", "How is the focus distributed between conditioning and technique, physical and mental training, work and play?".

I hope to use the answers to these questions to further improve the standard of my own teaching back in Australia, and to pass on to other instructors.

I also came to gain perspective on my own training. Challenging myself in new environments with, in some cases, wildly different architecture to my hometown. Training with locals, each with their own approaches to training Parkour/freerunning. Taking the opportunity to train mentally, especially at height, but also testing my limits at the boundary of body and mind (where the mind can make the jump but the body cannot and vice versa). I found it was this boundary that the PKGen Advanced class explored.

I attended Johann's Advanced class, John being the only other student, in order to appreciate just what was meant by 'Advanced'. From the very beginning it was clear that this was no ordinary outdoor class. The 'warmup' consisted of continuous movement, crossing the Vauxhall hotspot at every paver row and executing a wall run, climb-up, demi-tour, demi-tour, saut de fond at each end. This meant about 30 repetitions. By 25 I was slowed to a half jog/walk and feeling light headed. Johann gently reminded us that it was OK to vomit. We had 2 minutes rest and moved on to route tracing. The routes were only short, but were to be repeated back to back 5 times. Nausea set in on my fourth lap and I completed my fifth on the brink of bringing up my stomach contents. Another 2 minutes break. Then another route. Slightly shorter this time but with more explosive movements. Once again my fifth lap was haunted by reverse peristalsis. Both these routes were neither mentally nor physically challenging at face value, but we were able to basically break ourselves down to the point where we struggled to convince our mind and body to complete them.

Another short break and we moved on to a running precision. The distance is not that great, only about a foot on top of my standing jump, but the run up is a claustrophobic three steps along the length of a narrow wall. The task, according to Johann, was to land six jumps. Three on either leg. I had already battled with this jump previous to this class. I'd be happy to land just one! Anyway, I gave it a couple of goes, not generating enough power off my final step and falling just short. Johann quietly suggested that I either do the jump, or stop mid-run, but not to fall short again... Or... One thousand squats!

I moved off the wall to let John have a go. He made the jump three times  on his right leg, but failed three times on his left. He moved to the side and started into his 1000 squats while I returned to the wall, sizing up the jump once more.

I spent nearly ten minutes psyching myself up, relaxing, breathing, stepping through the run, freaking out, psyching myself up, relaxing, breathing, then one-two-three-jump!...  I floated, reached out, calculated, groaned mid-flight and bailed, one foot on, one foot off my landing.

I joined John, who was already past his first hundred squats. Johann sat on the wall, keeping an eye on the time while John and I kept count. 632 squats later, Johann stopped us, telling us to move into chair position against the wall. The first minute felt like two minutes, the second minute just felt surreal. Not really painful, certainly not comfortable, definitely existentially challenging. And then the class was over...

The Advanced class taught me a lot, not just about Parkour, but about my mind and its limits. It was a pleasure (in retrospect) to work with Johann, someone who has trained long enough to be so sensitive to the limits of other practitioners that he knows how and where to push. Nothing we did in that class was dangerous, yet my mind and body were equally exhausted the next day. In a strange way I also felt refreshed.  I have never been pushed that hard in my training and feel as though something has been unlocked by experiencing that level of challenge. Like a little window into the possibilities the future holds.

There is a great phenomenon in Parkour training such that when you finally make the jump that has been at the edge of your limit for however long, after a brief celebration your vision is irreversably shifted. Now you can see ten more jumps that are just at the edge of your new limit. I think that part of the amazing feeling, part of the drive that pushes me to train more and more, is that little glimpse of the infinite - just as I'm about to touch down, when I know I've made it.

12

2009-05-19T22:06:00.006+01:00

(eight days a week)
(i la,ah,ah,ah,ahve you)

Tuesday - roll ankle on running arm-jump takeoff at Vauxhall, call it a day 20 minutes into training.
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - rest strained peroneus longus muscle, upper body conditioning, low spirits, apathy.
Saturday - sunshine, balance training, more upper body conditioning, leg is healed.
Sunday - run to Greenwich, eat sashimi for breakfast, stand on the beginning of time, explore Abbey Wood estate with John, run on the rooftops, tackle some buildering problems, trace a few routes.
Monday - 50 cat-pass precisions, solo training Vauxhall, upper body conditioning at Nunhead with John.
Tuesday - gentle training at Abbey Rd with Lauri and Dave, Parkour Generations Advanced class with Johann at Vauxhall, route tracing to nausea, failed running precisions = 632 squats (will write more about this later)
Wednesday - Early morning run, Kickboxing to music followed by sauna
Thursday - Vauxhall with Lauri, return to ankle trauma jump - complete jump unscathed.
Friday - 2 hour gymnastic rings session with Joe and Panos at Battersea park, Outdoor class with Johann
Saturday - 8 mile run Canada water to Notting Hill, Nunhead, cat-pass/arm-jump with Ryan and John
Sunday - rest day, ate roast, cooked apple crumble, befriended couch.
Monday - Southbank/Vauxhall route tracing with Ryan, Indoor class with Dan and Chris
Tuesday - Gymnastics at Beckton Gym with Lauri, frontsaults backsaults, diving cat-pass, muscleups, balance and precision at Surrey Quays.

11

2009-05-01T10:58:00.003+01:00

(nothing sinister...)

Just saying goodbye to a favourite pair of shoes.

10

2009-04-30T21:31:00.004+01:00

(brought to you by the letter F)

It's been almost a week since I posted and, not coincidentally, a week since my last rest day. I woke up sore this morning, feeling the build up of the last seven days of training, like wire, cold and stiff, tangled through my muscles. I smiled and stretched, feeling the pain in a healthy, respectful way, reflecting on all the work I'd done to bring me here. As each muscle contracted and relaxed, from my fingers, to my neck, through my core, to my toes, I visualised the other work that was going on now. Repair, rebuild, build stronger. Which brings me to the first 'F':

Food... For this trip I wanted to make a real effort to be diet conscious, with a focus on breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Every day I start with a variation on tamago-gohan, a traditional Japanese meal consisting of steamed rice and raw egg. To this I add natto (a sticky fermented soy bean product), pumpkin seeds, wakame (seaweed), kinako (roasted soybean flour) and a dash of soy sauce. The mixture of steamed rice, raw egg and natto provides a complex and complete, bioavailable combination of amino acids for protein assimilation, as well as some complex carbohydrates for lasting energy. The seaweed and pumpkin seeds deliver high levels of zinc and vitamin C (for immune system health, general repair), magnesium and potassium (for muscle performance, reduced cramping) and a few other essential vitamins and minerals. To round it off with a burst of energy I'll have a banana or orange and a cup of tea or juice. Lunch and dinner are more variable. Dinner is usually my vege loading meal, with lunch providing a midday boost, a bridge of carbs and a little protein to get me through the rest of the day's training.

By midday my muscles have relaxed into the gentle thrum of repair, no longer sore, not yet ready to be pushed to their limit. I reflect on the other work I've been doing this week, with another 'F':

Fear... On Sunday I joined about 25 other traceurs and traceuses for the monthly 'Off the Wall' jam (as pictured above), organised by Parkour Generations. We were training at a playground not far from Archway tube station when I found a simple precision jump that welded my feet to the brickwork. The jump was small, maybe 7 feet. The gap enclosed a small garden, 4 feet below. On the other side of the jump, however, was a 12 foot drop into a driveway. I knew I could technically make the jump (coming from the other direction was as comfortable as at ground level), but as the drop on the other side came into view I lost power. My legs would not move. I forced myself to jump twice, both times undershooting and bouncing back into an arm-jump position. Then I was able to jump and land in a crane position, keeping one leg on the 'safe' side. I could not bring myself to precision jump the 7 feet. I left it for another day, focusing on some other techniques in the area.

On Wednesday, Lauri invited me back to Archway. Immediately the jump came to mind and I said to myself "today you will make it, precise and controlled". Two hours later I was on top of the wall. Thinking.
I asked myself what it would take for me to complete the jump. I thought about different ways of visualising the jump - imagining that the drop wasn't there, trying to enlarge the landing in my minds eye, pretending that I had already made the jump.  Looking back, I am glad that these techniques didn't work. What finally gave me the power to overcome my fear was not a trick. I didn't have to rely on an illusion, or change anything about the way I saw my environment. Instead I made a plan, based on the possible outcomes of me jumping from A to B. As I saw it there were three possible outcomes: An undershoot, an overshoot, or a stable landing. I had already practiced undershooting and catching myself and I was comfortable with a stable landing. So I looked at what an overshoot entailed. It was a big drop, but I realised that if I had enough forward momentum I could take the drop with a roll. So in the case of an overshoot, the plan was to add a gentle push, succumb to gravity momentarily and roll out.
Suddenly I noticed something happen, as I focused on my target with my plan at the ready, the landing became about 20% larger. It was as though I had, by changing my internal approach to the environment, given myself more space to move in that environment. In essence, that is exactly what I had done. I had given myself options.

Fear was overcome not by discounting the possibility that I might go over the edge, but by being prepared to go over the edge... I jumped, landing precisely, controlled and balanced. Not without a big hit of adrenaline, of course: I'm still scared of heights! I jumped another ten times, letting myself feel the technique whilst paying particular attention the effects of the chemicals flooding my system. I felt enlightened, and a little high...

My last two 'Fs' are Focus and Flow, and it was my experience at the top of the wall that made me think of a relationship between these two which I hadn't really thought about before. As practitioners of Parkour (of life), in order to flow from here to there we must focus. This is a simple concept to grasp: To trace the path from A to B we must focus on that path. And naturally all the critical moments or obstacles within that path will attract higher levels of focus as we move from point to point. What struck me about my experience on the wall was that our focus not only includes our projected path, but should also include, to a certain degree, other possible paths. This makes even more sense when B, our goal, is also moving, but still holds true when we are aiming to reach a fixed point.  To move confidently we need to not only be prepared to trace the path we desire, but also prepare ourselves at each moment to embrace the path into which we are flung by chance. Otherwise, at the slightest slip or imbalance or a turn of events that is unexpected, we are lost, stopped, frozen to the spot. Without a flexible focus, our flow is fragile.

09

2009-04-24T10:38:00.002+01:00

(urban, natural, indoor)

After having a day off on Wednesday (still a bit low on energy post-cold) I get straight back into it on Thursday. I meet with Lauri and Joe at Vauxhall at 1:30pm and we are lucky enough to see some of the Parkour Generations team running through the technical trials for the ADAPT certificate. Having had a huge day of strength and conditioning testing the day before, a lot of the participants are sore and tired, however they push through and put in a great effort for their technical routes. Joe, Lauri and I work on wall run/vault combinations for a while before moving into the dense architecture of the Vauxhall hotspot. I shift my focus to flow and foot placement, tracing a few challenging routes until they feel natural. One route included a cat-pass/precision at a strange angle which played with my mind for some time. Joe worked on a running precision that had been toying with him for ages and Lauri decided to master all the jumps that he had been too scared to do, with great success!

We moved on, picking up a bite to eat and catching a bus to Battersea park. Joe led us to the best little parkour hill I have ever seen in my life. In the middle of the park is a small hill that has been landscaped to simulate a rocky outcrop, complete with ponds and shrubbery. The 'rocks' are all sprayed concrete, making the grip very reliable and most of the ponds are empty, giving more room for movement. We spent a while picking out precision jumps amongst the features of the rockery, but soon moved on to tracing routes up and down the hill. After settling on a couple of routes we worked at getting them as smooth as possible, especially the descent, which required very careful foot placement. The more 'natural' angles and shapes were a pleasure to work with after playing in the strictly 9o degree themed Vauxhall area. The flow was more challenging from a foot placement perspective, yet the movement seemed to be more instinctive... Joe was nice enough to take some footage, so you'll see what I'm talking about when it all gets cut together...

Back onto the train and all the way out to the Moberly Sports Centre where I join Joe, Brett and about 30 others for a Parkour Generations indoor class. Tonight Forrest is leading the class, getting us warmed up with some light jogging on the spot, some killer arm isometrics, exhausted diving monkey pushups, and completely exhausted hand-clap pushups... Then the lesson began. We broke up into six groups and worked in stations: a long cat balance; slide-monkey (lazy-vault) combinations; reverse step-vault/tic tac combinations; palm-spin practice; slide-monkey to reverse step-vault and my favourite: Playing with chairs... Yes, one of the stations had us using regular chairs to hone our skills as traceurs. Our group lined all the chairs up and created a complex route of swing-throughs, tic-tac to sitting and some other ingenious chair stunts...
Before I knew it we were all back on the floor working our abdominals to hernia point and I was reminded of what it feels like to fall down from plank position... It's been a while. Forrest was eventually merciful and warmed us down with a yoga-esque stretching session. The smile never left his face all night.

08

2009-04-21T21:57:00.004+01:00

(sunshine)

Sunday. Sun day. Sunny day.
I met up with Jayden, Joe (in the background), Gaz, Ishta, John, Blane and Steve (elsewhere for this shot) for a thorough working over of the Brockley/Nunhead hotspots. We warmed up at the playground and were soon sizing up some running precisions. I was able to make the first with no trouble, however the next one gave me the heebyjeebies. I knew I could make the distance but couldn't commit to the leap. Even some encouraging words from Blane couldn't silence the "stop!" signal going off in my head. I'll be revisiting this jump until I stick it with confidence...
We traveled from spot to spot, eventually settling in at the major Brockley hotspot. The eight of us shared a great energy, trying new things and feeding off each others' creativity. I really focused on flow, keeping my strides even and confident. This culminated in the highlight of my day which found me striding across the courtyard and gardens from wall to wall to wall to rail precision, then spin 180 degrees on the rail, back the way I came, swing around the tree and straight back into the circuit... I made 3 laps of the circuit before the rail gave way and I ended up on my back, lamenting the loss of such a sweet route... Oh well...

After a solid 3 hours of training we had a break in the sun (see pic), eating icecream and bananas and apple cake and watching as Joe and Jayden worked tirelessly at an awkward running precision... We trained a little longer and went our separate ways, Blane and I following John back to his place for an awesome Sunday roast. Big love to John and Steph and Cyril for cooking.

My cold has cleared up a bit (still found myself sniffling mid-flight in a cat-pass to arm-jump - multitasking eh?) but I can definitely feel my strength and health returning. Especially with all this sunshine about...

07

2009-04-18T21:18:00.004+01:00

(down time)

Moved to my good friend Luke's place on Wednesday. Trained at the Vauxhall hotspot with John on Wednesday night. Some bad foot placement found me stretched uncomfortably between three walls. Banged knee, bruised quadriceps, lost confidence...

The next morning I wake up with a cold. What!? I have been eating vitamin C and echinacea since I arrived in preparation for change of climate induced immune distress and still! A cold!
Thursday and Friday I spend housebound. Cooking spicy curries, eating more vitamin C and drinking magic tea (cinnamon, garlic, ginger, lemon, manuka honey). Today I felt a bit better. The sun was shining - I escape from the house - spend the day walking around Brick Lane, Spitalfields, Petticoat, Chinatown... I made two great purchases: natto (fermented soybeans) without MSG and a pair of Nike Darts on sale for 25GBP (about 50AUD).

Tomorrow, unless I wake up feeling terrible again, I am joining John and a few others to train at the Brockley area. Looking forward to training again.

06

2009-04-13T23:18:00.003+01:00

(thrice)

Monday... 8am... drag myself out of bed, throw on the runners, out the door, jog... 20 mins later I'm over it. I find a rail, balance for a few laps. Not feeling it. I move on to the playground,50 metres quadrupedal, 35 pushups. Still not in the mood. 50 crunches. Nope. 50 squat jumps. I look at the wall... "Climbups?". I feel a bit nauseous. I walk home.

4pm... Jump on a train to London Bridge. I find some nice rails in a park, only 2 foot off the ground. I start slow, working on balance, walking forwards and backwards until I am moving confidently. Then I add some small rail precisions, building a circuit with 4 precisions and a nice long rail balance. I trace the circuit until I have completed 10 perfect laps. I begin to feel as though today is going to be worth it, even after my disappointing morning. I finish in the park with a running rail precision progression. Running to a jump over rail #1, clear the garden bed, land on rail #2. It takes me a while to actually stick the landing and a little while longer before I stick 3 in a row, but the progression was a good workout for my mind.

I finish the afternoon with a fast paced upper body workout at my 'London Bridge smelly solo spot'. Moving quickly though sets of pushup variations, climbups (nice and slow), dips and chinup variations, I am left happily jelly-like for my train journey home.

7pm... John arrives home not long after I do and we head straight out. A short jog is followed by a long quadrupedal warmup. A few combinations in our 16m/sq play area then off to the playground. My mind gets another workout with a narrow running precision, alternate foot cat-pass takeoffs and the thought of doing 50 chinups... In the meantime, John has spied a technical cat-pass to arm jump. Launching diagonally over a signal box to catch a nearby garage roof at an odd angle. The move asks for speed and height and commitment, and we give all three until we've nailed it 5 times each. Just in time for sunset. As it gets dark we push through our chinups, 5 at a time for me, surprised my arms still have any power after this afternoon's workout and the arm jumps.

It took three goes, but I feel like I really did some good training today.

05

2009-04-12T14:18:00.000+01:00

(rain)

Well, it wouldn't be London if it didn't rain. Friday saw Brett (Science Parkour Crew WOOT!) and myself head to Elephant and Castle (that's a tube stop, no really) and brave the elements for a little circuit work. It was amazing how, with a little rain, every surface really showed it's hidden face. The pavers were slimy with old moss; the glazed bricks sleek and frictionless; the old brickwork was a lucky dip of rough and sticky or green and smooth; fencing was either slick or squeaky and the rubber floor of the playground may as well have been ice. Brett and I played add-on until we had a nice circuit that encompassed a little of each surface. We aimed to move as smoothly as possible whilst exercising caution in the semi-aquatic space we were using. I was very proud of us both for not ending up on our behinds and pulled out the camera to get some footage of Brett. Sidestepping to catch the final angle on the circuit, I ended up on the playground floor, executing a nice, slimy shoulder roll to save the camera from destruction. Cinematography is a dangerous sport.

We finished with some vault combination drills and a very welcome cup of hot chocolate...

Saturday brought with it more rain and I caught a handfull of trains to get to Latimer Rd. Here I met Joe, a friend of JB's, who got me warmed up with an inverted front-support traverse (both ways) of the nearby playground. We then made a tour of the Latimer Rd training spots, finally settling for some slightly out-of-the-weather scaffolding. After a few minutes of play we had set ourselves some challenges: A lache to arm-jump with very little backswing, a lache to lache which had little leg room on the second catch (making the swing to 3rd catch a little tricky) and, later on, a 7-8ft precision between the scaff about 8ft high from ground level (enter my mild fear of heights). We were joined by Peter and Jayden and decided (after completing our challenges) to do a little climbing. The first ascent was to the top level of the scaffolding (only 3 stories) and into the building proper. Nice and easy. Next we descended the 3 stories via the outside of the stairwell. The holds were very accomodating and I was surprised how comfortable I felt with the height, even having a good look down occasionally did not phase me... After a few more laps up and down of the stairwell, Joe, Jayden and I attempted a rail precision at the top story. Slightly comforted by the flimsy anti-pigeon wire separating us from a rooftop one story below, we each made the jump, overshooting a little on the way there and a little less on the way back.
Back down at ground level we played with some vaults, tic-tacs and precisions in the wet. Dismounting from a successful tic-tac to climb up I very nearly rolled my left ankle again. Just a tweak, but enough for me to make the decision to call it a day.

Sunday... The ankle is fine, and I just finished a bowl of fish-head and cassava soup (pretty tasty if I do say so myself). Today is rest day. It's raining outside. A little upper body workout later this evening and then maybe read a book or watch a movie. Eat some chocolate? (Happy Easter to those who East)

04

2009-04-09T19:35:00.000+01:00

(solo)

Yesterday John and I trained for about an hour in about 16 square metres of space. We had two rails, a low garden wall and a light post to play with. It was strange to think that a couple of years ago, when I started training, I would have had no idea what to do with this space. I'd probably drill a few monkey vaults, see how far I could precision from the pavement to the garden edge, get bored and move on.
Now I am at the point where even the smallest, most featureless spaces begin to look like superb training locations.

I guess this says a lot about my approach to Parkour. I am drawn very much to the technical, the micro level, the flow that occurs not only in the linking of several movements, but in each part of every movement that goes into that flow. So I am quite happy just playing with a couple of rails, expanding the space within their bounds, filling it with the myriad possibilities of movement... this foot here, hand grips this way, leg traces this arc, momentum kicks in, weight re-distributes, rotate through shoulder, lead with the head... Even though I learned the turn vault a long time ago, it is the small spaces, the tight focus, that makes me learn even more about it.

Today, I trained solo.
Just near London Bridge station I found a quiet, spacious courtyard area. Paved, bricked, broken glassed and malodorous. Perfect. All mine for the next 2 hours.

I used an extended quadrupedal warmup to check and clear the main area of debris then moved on to the drills. I started with climbups - moving from a dead hang to a kick up and then springing up onto the wall. Next was lazy vaults - continuous vaults figure-eighting between two adjacent walls. Then pop-vault to dash combinations - once again continuous - running between two adjacent blocks. All bi-lateral, of course. :) Comfortably exhausted, I moved into circuit mode. Finding a nice path that included a decent change in altitude, cat-pass, precision, turn vault, lazy, arm jump and some running, I focused on foot placement and economy of movement. I finished with a few technical problems: a (wobbly) rail precision to arm jump/climb up, and a split level cat-pass to wall pop. Then a 3min 44sec plank hold (Angus and Julia Stone's "Mango Tree"), a thorough stretch and an almond croissant from Borough Market.

03

2009-04-08T10:12:00.000+01:00

(discovery)

Still keeping it local, JB led the way to a place he had noticed in passing a few days earlier. Once again within 10 mins of home. From street level we could only see the walls and ramp (far right of picture). At the top of this ramp we were treated to a courtyard of garden edges, walls and rails. The variations in levels and distances are perfect for progressions and there are a lot of tight transitions. We spent a couple of hours here on Monday and Tuesday and I daresay you'll see more pics (the pic in the first post is from this area) and some video too. There is so much to be done here. I haven't even left the neighbourhood yet!

02

2009-04-08T08:09:00.000+01:00

Sunday 5th April, 7am: I find my runners under the seat in front of me, the fasten seatbelt sign unilluminates, backpack retrieved from overhead locker, eyes scratchy and red from 24hours of airconditioning at 30,000 feet. I mumble a hollow promise to myself (especially my numb gluteals) that next time I'll fly business class.
I am digested in slow motion through the small intestine of immigration at Heathrow, immersed in the sonic juices of Radiohead's 'amnesiac'. The official seems slightly concerned that I am unemployed and that my occupation, 'traceur', doesn't rhyme with 'pounds sterling'. I get my stamps and evacuate, enjoying the legroom on the underground, enjoying the view on the overground, enjoying the illusion of weightlessness as John Bourne helps me with my bags at the station. Australian Parkour Woohoo!

After several cups of tea (it's the British way), a decent breakfast and a spot of moxibustion on my left ankle (it's getting heaps better), JB and I head out for a tour of the local hotspots. There is a bit of everything here, within 5-10 mins jog. Many opportunites for technique drilling, balance, some flow... Getting out and training was the best thing that I could have done, peeling back layers of jet lag and replacing them with happiness. It dawned on me that my 2 month training adventure had begun.

On the jog back home (after a round of chinups) my calves started cramping. Still dehydrated from the flight. I'll be into the magnesium and H2O in a big way over the next few days...

01

2009-04-08T00:22:00.000+01:00

thanks to JB for the photography...

:::i'm in london:::

(more to come)