Late on the blog post this week because we were at Disney World for my birthday/anniversary/family reunion thing.  Had a great time, and got to use some practical application!  Josh and I got separated from my family in a crowd, and ran along the empty benches in the middle of the walkway to catch up.  Yay pathmaking!

Had a dream last night, that I was hanging out with WFPF guys and Danny Ilabaca told me to jump for a bar.  I looked at it, and it looked too high... then I saw someone else make the jump with a tic tac, and I tried it... made the grab, swung, and rolled clumsily... I know it was just a dream, but it was my brain telling me that I know how to do this, I've got the visualization down and I could apply it if I would just try.

I guess what's left is to try...

We finally picked up a video camera!  For our vacation in Florida next week... It's just a bitty little thing, but Josh is happy with it.  He says he'll film me for practice before we leave, so I'll probably do some precisions off the front steps just to (finally) get a look at my technique.  Rolls too.  Call it a baseline video.

Also, check out Parkour Playhouse -- they just put some new videos up, and they're showcasing Daniel Arroyo as a budding director and editor.  He's got some really beautiful stuff on the site, and I can't wait to see what he's working on next.  I've also heard a rumor about a "Women's Corner" at the Playhouse, which could be really cool -- I'd love to see some input from female athletes, for female athletes. I only have one reservation -- will it be a boon or a detriment to female athletes to set them apart from the rest of the population?  I'm interested to see where this goes...

This was a crazy week, had a lot of old friends in town so I didn't get to any training but I did a lot of talking and got to show some of my favorite parkour videos.  If you haven't checked out the episodes of the Parkour Playhouse yet, get on over -- they're hilarious!  I've got a few more crazy weeks coming up, so my training schedule will be off for a while but I'll have some good vacation times to unwind and enjoy my summer.  Can't wait to see more from the crash tour!

Happy yesterday birthday to David Thompson, and to me!  I turned 30 yesterday... anyway.

Kept up with my progressive running this week, finished a very difficult month at work and made the trek to visit family for my birthday and the 4th of July celebrations.  I've done nothing but eat since I got here, so I'll need to get back on schedule once I get home.  Looking forward to hearing more from the Parkour Playhouse Crash Tour!  I'm gonna go enjoy the rest of my relaxing time while I can...

I can do a chin up!  A real one!  From a dead hang and I pulled myself all the way up!  I don't think I've done that in 20 years.

So, progress on arms.  Wanting to practice handstands for balance, but arms aren't there yet.  Starting a progressive endurance running program to build stamina.  Eagerly awaiting the debut of Parkour Playhouse (unless I missed it already).  And spent 3 days on the couch watching NCIS.  It's been a good week.

Spent a good amount of time in the WFPF user chat room this week.  Lots of new connections, excellent training tips and support, and some pure gamer talk.  Saw a lot of personal links thrown around, and some wet-behind-the-ears traceurs getting some on-the-spot technique feedback from some more experienced eyes.  Got some new motivation for myself while I was at it -- started doing random sets of 10 pushups whenever the opportunity presents to try and build my arms.  I love all the support I get as a fledgling traceuse (even almost 9 months in) and a part of me still gets a kick out of the reactions to a girl being in the chat.  (Speaking of, it was great finally getting to talk some with fellow traceuse Isa in Columbia!)

Kept my mouth going outside of the rooms, too, and got to introduce yet another friend to the world of parkour. Even if I can't earned my stripes as an athlete yet, I can still do my part by spreading the message outside of the chatrooms and voicing my enthusiasm from within.

Loved the season finale of UPC, and the best part is that we got a new recruit out of it. We had a couple of friends over to watch, and I may have a new training buddy. It'll be interesting training – completely different body types, my tiny frame next to his very tall and lanky one. Still, nice to have another source of motivation in the area.

I love kindling the flame. I love opening eyes to a new way of thinking, of moving. I love sharing the philosophy, the motivation, and watching the passion light in their eyes. We started with the season finale of UPC, told the stories of each athlete and how accessible they are to fans and practitioners worldwide. We moved on to the Hollyridge Castle episode, and the opening scene of District B13. The story of WFPF, the story of David Belle and Sebastien Foucan. I still have more videos that I want to show them, but getting them started was enough.

Core work is going well, not too sore but I feel good. Josh is helping me with my arms – lifting me to chin-level on the bar and seeing how long I can hold myself up. 4.5 seconds, I'll keep trying. I still need more hours in the day.

Back on my strength training – we put up a pullup bar, and my arms are a long way from where they need to be. I won't be pulling myself up and over anything for a while. At least my core is still decent. I've got a photo shoot with friends on Friday, modeling a Final Fantasy fighter-type look, so all the more reason to get buffed up.

UPC at Pershing Square was gorgeous, the videos this week were a lot closer to what people recognize from the internet, and you could tell the guys were having a lot of fun. I'm glad Pip won, the runs were incredible but he really went all out on that run. Beautiful course and terrific show guys, I'm looking forward to the season finale but I'll be sad to see it finish.

So, a little WFPF drama lighting up the 'nets – Steve 'Grip' Dahlin is making a bid to get on the show, and getting all kinds of responses. Honestly, the fact that he got -any- response is cause for excitement, and shows that the WFPF is still listening to the voice of the multitude. Personally, I'd love to see traceurs like Grip get a chance to showcase what they've got – and if it happens to bring the WFPF to Chicago, that's a close enough drive that I could actually show up, and I could use a workshop with some experienced traceurs. Keeping my fingers crossed to see how this one ends.

Speaking of getting answers: I'd love to know when the Women's fitted tees in the online store will be available, and if the same design could be applied to the American Apparel Baby Rib Spaghetti Tank. I would wear both styles, and constantly. Also, once the KO's go up in popularity, I'd love to see them in women's (or something small enough to fit a US women's 6-7). These would make me very, very happy, and I'm willing to be patient in the meantime.

For now: Core. Arms. Rolls. Precisions. Let's go!

Was it just me, or was the "Hollyridge Castle" actually Bam Margera's house?  He's worked with MTV before, and if anyone would be cool with a bunch of guys climbing through his house, it'd be Bam.  Anyway, Episode 4 was the best yet -- Oleg, Livewire, and Ilabaca put together an amazing video, and it was awesome seeing Danny and Oleg get to do their first skills rounds, especially with the opportunity to show off their bar work.  Sucks that the time slot got dropped to midnight, but hopefully viewer feedback will help there.

I am thoroughly enjoying a 4-day holiday weekend: saw Prince of Persia (better than it had any right to be, and David Belle's choreography was solid), played some DnD, went to a cookout, and tomorrow (or maybe today) I'll drag Josh out with me to work on my rolls.  I've been outside the last few days, walks and such, and I'm trying to layer on a tan without burning -- a half hour in the sun gets me noticibly red right now, so I'm trying to be careful and build up protection slowly.  Progressively, even?  Stay in the sun too long, and you get burned.  Try tricks you're not ready for, and you'll get hurt.  That's all the philosophy I've got in me for today, I've got an hour left of sunlight and rolls to practice!

Loved the 3rd UPC episode, the movie set gave the guys a lot of room to play.  The videos were awesome for tricks, and the skill challenge was almost reminiscent of the firstspecial -- definitely want to see more of that.  Commenting on the MTV site seems to help, each show gets better and you can tell they're listening to the feedback.

I need to find time to get outside, still.  Got to show off a bit, go over precisions and stress the importance of not only distance but also control.  I need to work on my rolls and see if I can keep from bruising my back -- Joe Rudy started up a training YouTube channel for us and put up a roll tutorial for me.  Once I get a camera, I'll post a vid of me practicing, and he'll be able to give me feedback.  It's an awesome idea, I just need to get up and use it.  Accountability helps -- the more people shame me into getting out, the more chance that I'll actually do it.  Man, I wish there were more traceurs in my area, having someone local to meet up with and train with would help.  Still, it's nice knowing that there's places around the States -- PA, GA, CO -- that have traceurs that I'd love the chance to train with.  It's a great feeling, being a part of that kind of community.

Practiced handstands this week.  I'm not very good at them.  I had a decent time holding my balance once I was up, but I need to learn how to get into the handstand without needing to be braced.  Josh tried to get me to do a handstand pushup -- I crumpled (but not fast enough to hurt myself) and that put an end to that.

Episode 2 of UPC aired last Thursday, and Josh and I happened to be hanging out with some buddies at the time, so we got them to watch.  Much tighter show this time around, and I was ecstatic to see that several fan grievances seemed to be taken to heart.  Andy Bell was less irritating, the post-run interviews were taken out and there was no leading questions or rivalry-inciting suggestions this time around.  The athletes have shown time and again that they're not in it to win, they're in it to showcase the sport and their talents apart and together.  Even at the end of the show, the two athletes vying for first place were shown side-by-side, and when the winner was announced, they hugged and got immediately dog-piled by the rest of the athletes.  THAT was the message that I've been wanting to see -- camaraderie and brotherhood, not rivalry and competition.  Well done there.

The course did worry me a bit -- it seemed overly ambitious (the 18' precisions nearly stopped my heart) and unnecessarily dangerous at times (WHY WAS THERE FIRE?!)
 and the guys stuttered a lot in their runs because of it.  They got to shine in their videos though, using the natural landscape and producing two beautifully thought-out concepts.  I loved Danny Ilabaca's explanation of the 4 Elements video, and Team 2's Street Performer concept worked beautifully for the Venice Beach setting.  Seeing the making-of footage of those videos, plus the monologue interviews with the athletes, really let the audience relate to the athletes, and that's going to be the biggest selling point to new viewers.  Thanks guys so much for another great show, for listening to the feedback and tweaking as you go.  It means a lot to see that our voice is being heard and aptly represented, you guys are working hard and doing great.

Gratz on the Ultimate Parkour Challenge airing guys, it was a great show! I went all over work on Thursday telling people to tune into the new episode, caught some flak for it being MTV but got a few people to check it out. We've got some MMA fighters at work, and I'll talk training with them sometimes, so it was nice to be able to steer them towards the show.

My favorite thing about the new show: color commentary. I was so happy to see Travis Wong co-hosting, he had great camera presence and I was so grateful to have an actual practitioner doing commentary for the runs. Andy Bell does what he does, but his commentary on the first special was stilted, you could tell he wasn't familiar with the moves or the jargon. Having the runs live and Travis to run commentary really had a positive impact.

Also, great energy from all of the athletes, thanks so much guys! It was hilarious when Andy Bell would say, “Hey, that was an awesome run, do you think so-and-so up next will beat your time?” and the response was ALWAYS, “If they do, they do, I don't mind, we're just having fun.” Thanks guys, for keeping the distinction between competition and camaraderie. It's cool to pit yourself against someone else, to push yourself by letting them push you, but in the end it's for the betterment of everyone, not just the achievement of the top dogs. You guys really let that shine through, thank you so much for that.

Having so much of the show live, and having to deal with the changes in lighting, weather, audio issues, and generally being on-the-spot – you guys handled it so well. It was pointed out that so much of the sport's exposure is through viral videos, and it's just kids grabbing a camera and running outside – that's what this show felt like. Even with all the tech and sponsorship, it still felt like a bunch of friends grabbing their cameras to make a video. It's not clean and perfect, and it's not meant to be. We're not edited to a polish, we're running around with no strings attached, and showing people that what they see is what they get, there are no gimmicks, there's only the moment and the movement.

Great show guys, I can't wait for next Thursday.

Off-topic: Game Crazy is closing all of thier stores.  This matters to me because I work for their refurbishing company.  Should be an interesting couple of weeks.  (PS if anyone has store credit with them, use it or lose it by the end of the month!)  Speaking of work, I am stressed out of my head right now and finding no time to train.  How to remedy this?

Hey!  The new Ultimate Parkour Challenge series aires this week!  Seeing the athletes who inspired me to start training in an otherwise PK-starved town kick off their brand-new series should be just the jolt I need to get back into my zone.  Right?  I hope...

All my muscles are healed and functioning properly again, which is good.  Work has been eating my time for upwards of 50 hours each week, which is bad for training.  Once again, waiting for enough time and energy free to get in a workout somewhere...

So, I got sick of having nothing to write, so I picked up a piece of chalk and walked out on my front step. And felt like an idiot. And walked around the back yard, stared at the back stoop, and walked back to the front. Realized I'd locked myself out of the house. Took a breath, and jumped off the stoop.

I made it to just past a crack in the sidewalk. Five, maybe six feet, from two steps up. Landed with both feet, legs bent, didn't feel like I was over-stressing anything that couldn't handle it – ankles, knees, joints were happy. I drew a rectangle around the space where I landed – many thanks to Brian Taylor for that tip! -- and walked back up the steps. I jumped again, and again, and didn't keep count. I forgot that people might see me, though I'd still wait for cars to pass before making another jump.  All I saw was the rectangle, and all I thought was getting my feet into it.

After maybe a half dozen jumps I turned in my rectangle and looked at the steps. I didn't think I could make it to the top (second) step, so I jumped to the first. Made it, easily, and landed solidly. I had more trouble keeping my balance when I jumped out to my rectangle.

I started feeling tired fast, maybe after 5 or 10 jumps, so I set a goal to do ten sets – from the top step to the rectangle, and back to the bottom step. My quads started losing steam first, and quickly. My brain started re-calculating – that rectangle started looking farther away, and I wanted to move forward just an inch, so my toes were past the lip of the step, and I knew I would make it. It was really hard to keep back. My rectangle landings started getting sloppy – falling just short, launching too far and not being able to check my momentum. Landed on my ass once, but it wasn't a far fall. My jumps from the rectangle to the step stayed true, though I was using my arms a lot in the launch to compensate for my legs tiring.

I made it to ten sets, got Josh to let me back into the house so I could chug some orange juice, and managed to crank out 15 more sets. My quads bitched, and I started losing control of my rectangle landings. I remembered something that Brian said in his new warm-up video, about paying attention to how your body reacts to focused thought. Meditation through action, mind over matter, about all that I've said about visualization. And it helped, if I kept my focus.

Some things for future training:

Need to tie on my glasses, or get sports glasses, or just be very very careful

Need to tie back and braid my hair, because it flies everywhere when I land.

Need to get the right pants. My young mens' jeans are great for length and mobility, but they snap and worse, unsnap at unfortunate times.

Need to pick a time when Josh can watch/spot, and hopefully get a camera. I'm not too worried about my form for jumps – I feel pretty natural – but I'd like the input.

I got back inside and my quads and hams are jelly. I squatted down to put my shoes away, and for a moment I actually couldn't rise back to my feet. I'm having trouble keeping my feet when I walk, my legs will just kind of give out at odd times. And I cannot, absolutely cannot, stop smiling.

Oh!  And additionally -- I heard the WFPF podcast of Brian Taylor interviewing Livewire and wow!  Two great athletes and inspirational role models, what a great talk.  Brian's slowly becoming something of a role model/mentor to me, and it's great to see more of his work on the site.  And kudos to Joe Rudy, getting his question on the air!  I can't wait to hear the next podcasts.  Great work, guys!

Happy Easter/Spring holiday to those who celebrate!  Though I think the new spring weather is celebration enough!  Now if I could just find time to enjoy it...

This was a zero training week. Work kicked the fight out of me this week, overtime 4 nights and I felt every minute of it.  We tried to go on a walk on Tuesday, we really did, but by the time dinner got figured out and the sun was going down and it just didn't happen.  I still feel good at least, like I'm not losing much ground (running around at work might have something to do with that, I swear I'm going to wear a pedometer one of these days) and I've noticed that since I started popping vitamins again and drinking less soda (or trying to) I've started having more energy again.  What doesn't help is the stress of overtime, the rush at mealtimes which leads to more fast food as we sacrificed nutrition for convenience, the added stress of spending money on junk food for meals... It was a crazy week, likely at least one more to follow, but so help me I love the work.  Yes, I could use a break, yes I could use several hours to train and just cleanse my mind and body, burn out all of the doubt and frustration in the push and flow of movement.  I just feel like there's never enough time.

I'm still learning balance.  I love my job and the company that I work for, I've watched it grow over the last few years, and I don't mind giving 40-50+ hours a week to see it thrive.  I just haven't learned how to do all of it yet -- the large chunks of time dedicated to work, the leisure of reading and video games, and the self-improvement investment that is my training.  What did Danny Ilabaca say?  "Do it because you want to."  Giving myself time to rest during a rough week and picking up my training when I have more time and energy and will -- I'm alright with that, with not being able to indulge every facet of my life all the time.  Work will fall back into routine eventually, I'll see the 40-hour work weeks again before long and then I'll have evenings with hours of sunshine and summer weekends with all the time in the world.

In the meantime, I take care of myself, my health, my mentality.  I'll be glad when I can prioritize my physical training back into my schedule, but for now I have to keep my focus elsewhere.  As always, comments help keep the spark going, and I'd love advice on how athletes manage to balance their training with full-time schedules.  Get some sun for me!

Finally, some sunshine!  Now I just need to find a solid place to train...

I spent the week walking, though -- Josh is stressing cardio.  Doing workouts is one thing, but we need stamina too, even if it's just from a steady walk.  It's so nice to be out in the fresh air, we've found time to get out three, four times this week and it feels great.  Plus we're planning a trip to Florida in July, so I'm trying to get some sun now so I don't crisp on the first day.

I'm really proud of my walks, though -- over three miles on a track on Tuesday, then a couple of laps with Josh on Wednesday, a trek around the mall, then a couple hours out in the sunshine today.  We walked as far as the plaza where we normally go -- maybe a half-mile down the highway -- and then said, you know what?  Let's keep going until we hit the gas station down the road.  I don't know the total distance, but it was about an hour and a half round-trip.  I just feel good, even if we're not getting into technical training yet.  I've been cooped up inside for too long, and now I'm just stretching winter muscles and getting back into the feeling of being out under the sun.

Hopefully I'll feel up to more than just walks next week -- still pulling tons of overtime, though we've been good about getting outside whenever we're home early enough.  Here's to the light at the end of winter's dark tunnel!

I am so angry that the only days below 60 degrees were over the weekend. Josh and I still managed to go out on three long walks, Tuesday and Thursday to enjoy the sunny evenings, and today for several laps around the mall. Did a few aerobics sessions, and going to work more on my core tonight.  Oh, and I figured out that I can precision jump from the couch to the floor and back to get over the pile of junk in the room that we're tring to clean.  The rest of the week flew by in overtime and Final Fantasy XIII – whatcha gonna do? Once I'm done with my gaming binge, I'll get back to more training.

The snow is finally melted, but the rain won't stop.  I'm continully working 12-hour days for at least 3 days out of the week for the forseeable future.  Managed a walk or two and the odd aerobics workout, but I haven't had the time/energy for much else.  I'm restless, though.  My mind is churning for one, and I'm imbibing the Ender's Game quartet like it's water -- 200, 300 pages in a night, pouring stories into my head.  I'll probably break down and start working on my own book again soon, I have scenes in my head that need work but not the motivation to sort them out and get them down.  I've only slept 6 hours apiece for the last few nights, unable to fall asleep and then waking up unusually early.  Maybe daylight savings time will sort me out.  The disarray of the house has some to do with it -- we're in the midst of massive cleaning in most of the house (it's a small house), which has everything churned up and turned over.  It's hard to find a place to relax, when all you can see is projects surrounding you.

My body's feeling the restlessness, too.  Last night, I did aerobics just to wear myself out and fall asleep.  I'm back to doing 2 sets of 30 pushups on my knees, not great but at least I'm doing something again.  Josh tried to introduce me to squat thrusts, which I already hate, but I may start trying to do them again anyway.  He wants me to start at 4 a day, add one each week, until I can do 100.  I'm not enthusiastic about it, I'm really not.  I'll try for it, though -- the exercise doesn't take much room, and the EA Active is out until Josh finishes our new entertainment room and hooks up the Wii.  Unfortunately for my exercises, he's already hooked up the PS3 and Xbox 360, and we've got a new copy of Final Fantasy XIII.  I'll balance the gaming with my exercises, but it's hard to balance anything with 49-hour work weeks.  I'm not giving up on my training, but I will have to give it a lower priority until work settles down.  I know I don't want to stop my training, I know that the extra energy will be a welcome effect.  Work is moving at an intense pace, and it's stressful but I'm enjoying the challenge, but I also know I'll want something that's just mine in the coming weeks.  Training will fill that.  Brian Taylor made a recent post about action as meditation, and I can really see how my training will also give me time to focus on myself, and everything else is more manageable when my mind is clear and my body is primed.  It made me thing of Tai Chi, of movement with purpose meant to engage the mind as well as strengthen the body.  That's the mindset that I'll take with me during my training -- remind myself that even in exercise, there's purpose to every movement.  Obstacles don't have to be physical, right?  Ok, enough platitudes, I'm done now.  I'll do my pushups and squat thrusts too, I promise.

Two EA Active workouts and a short walk.  Now I am starting to notice a loss in my progress, mostly my arms.  Excuse is that 49-hour work weeks kill exercise motivation.  Good news is that nearly all of the snow and ice is melted, the weather looks to stay in the 50s  through the week, and Josh wants to start taking walks after work on the days that we aren't working 12-hour shifts.  I'm so glad to have (more) days where I can leave before the sun is down.

If we can start packing lunches, we can walk to work, it's only a few blocks and it's really ridiculous for us to drive but we're bad with timing in the mornings.  Waking up earlier might be a good goal as well.  Exercising in the mornings, for that matter.   Now that spring looks like it's getting a foothold, let's see if I can get my momentum back.

The walk yesterday was nice -- good weather, and there are some retaining walls along the new sidewalk.  It was easy enough to walk or run along them and keep a mind for balance, but there was still something undeniably positive about seeing Josh walk along the wall.  It's a little thing, but it gave me warm fuzzies for reasons I can't really quantify.  We're getting the weather to start our training in earnest.  I just hope that work doesn't sap all of our energy, or that we can convince ourselves that an exercise regimen will give us more energy to be able to work and train with.

Winter's over.  Time to stop hibernating.

Finally started a new 30-Day Challenge on EA Active and man, I need to stop stopping my training. A 30-minute workout on a video game should not kick my ass the way it did. I thought I hadn't lost much of what I'd gained as far as toning and strength, but my stamina was crap and exercises that I should breeze through were not nearly as easy as they were a few weeks ago. I need to do a favor to myself and stop lazing out on my workouts.

Part of the reason that it took me so long to start up again tied in well with something that nomadic said on my last post – essentially that your surroundings reflect your state of mind, and that is very true for me. In my case, I stopped exercising because the house is more of a mess than usual and I had no space to exercise. The house is more of a mess than usual because I haven't cleaned. I haven't cleaned because I've been busy. Being busy led to me being stressed out. And one of the things that I've been stressed out about is that the house is a mess. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Actually though, you can tell my state of mind pretty easily by the state of my house. My surroundings are always in a general sort of organized disorder, and that's how I function best -- things might be piled everywhere, but I know where everything is. The mild disarray shows that I'm comfortable with where I am and how I'm doing. It's when I'm overwhelmed that the mess gets out of hand and I sort of shut down rather than try to cope with organizing it all. The other extreme is that, when I'm in the midst of a meltdown, I clean like a madwoman – a spotless house is a sign that I feel out of touch and out of control of the rest of my life. I've had friends turn tail and run when my house is that clean.  So yeah, to wrap up a very long comparison, mentality is important in training, and an untidy mind is the first barrier to successful training.

On the plus side, the weather is getting warmer and the snow is starting to melt, so I'm hopeful that we'll have dry ground again soon. What, training outside? Madness!

Lesson learned: After having an alcoholic beverage with dinner and Car-Bomb Cupcakes for dessert, drink water before working out.

Another philosophy over physicality week. I know that this is a training blog, but I like sharing other facets of my life – I like showing that being an athlete is only a part of who I am. Plus, it makes me feel less pathetic when I don't have any actual training to share.

I spent most of the week helping my parents prepare for our annual Chinese New Year party, and had no time to do any training. I got to do a lot of talking – training, philosophy, healthy living, community – so this was a week of spreading the message. My family has been very supportive of the sport, and of me and Josh pursuing healthier eating and a more active lifestyle. We all chipped in for a gift card for Josh's birthday, took him to a kitchen specialty store and let him spend it as he wanted. We've got some awesome grilling stuff now: new tongs, cedar grilling planks, cast-iron humidifiers, applewood-smoked black pepper, java barbecue rub, smoky apple barbecue sauce, and a really fantastic balsamic dressing that will make an amazing marinade. First thing on the menu: peppered grilled salmon. My sister comes to visit this weekend, I can't wait.

In addition to showing internet videos to my family, I also got to showcase EA Active. I think I sold at least 3 more copies in that 20-minute workout. I strained a muscle in my calf in the process, so I've been trying to stretch it out. I need to start my pushups again, and start another 30-Day Challenge, and drink more soymilk. And go walking again. At least I'm not losing muscle definition yet.

I'm sore in the legs right now, though – I spent 11 hours in a car yesterday to get home from the party, and we got in a bit of an accident on the way home. Some idiot merged into our lane without looking, we hit ice on the shoulder and we swerved across the median, into oncoming traffic, and back again before regaining control. No one was hurt and the car (my cousin's) only had a cracked bumper and a bit of pull on the alignment, so other than a few bumps and bruises and an adrenaline spike, we walked away just fine. Josh and I took the day off work, and I'm still bitching every time I try to walk. A 6-day vacation was great and all, but I've got tons of work waiting for me already, and I need to get back.

Hopefully by next week, my life will be less exciting and this will be a training journal again.

This week proved that your mental state is (arguably) the most important part of training. I spent this week dealing with a pile of stressful situations – both at work and in my social life – and as a result I did absolutely nothing towards my physical training. I didn't have time to go walking, I never turned on EA Active, and I haven't done a single push-up. Luckily, I don't feel like I've lost any of my muscle tone yet, and I've only got a 2 day work week next week, so I'll be able to make up some lost time. I'll be going to my parents' on Wednesday to prep for our annual Chinese New Year's party, and I plan to take advantage of the time off of work to do some working out. It'll give me time to re-evaluate my training in a supportive environment – I'll be surrounded by members of my family who are all interested in increasing the level of activity and healthy habits in their life, and I can't wait to see them. There will be a lot of epic cooking too, and I'm definitely looking forward to that.

There is one thing I did this week that I suppose could count towards my training. I watched the Fight Science episode on ninjitsu (I'll get into that later) and they had a master of Qi Gong put a bamboo spear to his throat, lean into it with over 2000 lbs of force, and have an assistant break a rod over his back – and the only thing protecting him was the focus of his chi at his throat. I practiced Yi Ren Qi Gong for a year in college, and I still use the rudimentary skills in my every day life. Specifically, Qi Gong focuses on breathing and visualization to direct the chi in your body for protection and healing. I haven't really taken the time to meditate in a while, but once I got a quiet moment this weekend I took a look at what my body was telling me. I felt a painful tightness in my chest and back, and a sluggishness to my entire system. I spent probably an hour circulating my chi and stimulating the muscles until I felt relaxed again. I worked up a bit of a sweat too, which felt good – energy work can be as exhausting as a workout, just look at Tai Chi. I felt great after that, and I'll likely do the meditation again tonight.

Another high point was the new Fight Science episode on ninjitsu, which included appearances by “urban ninjas” Danny Ilabaca and Ryan Doyle. Ryan took a flying leap and flip off a 9' ledge, and his landing impact was so light that the scientist thought her instruments were wrong. Her data was a potent visual example of how important rolls are to absorbing and transferring impact. Definitely something to take away from the experiment. Danny Ilabaca was going for a long leap, and he did 15' and 17' trials (with a 30% difference in power just between those two) before attempting the 19' jump. He was standing at the edge of the ramp and started telling them to move the target – when they finally had it where he wanted it, the final distance was 19'10”. The paramedics were on hand because they were afraid that he was about to dive headfirst into a wall, but Danny was all smiles and saying that he wished his friends were there to try the jump with him. He made it, and he made it look beautiful – busted his finger open on a pipe behind the gripping bar when he grabbed on, but they bandaged him up and he was still all smiles. He showed his bleeding hand to the camera and said, “This is why you shouldn't try this at home.” He never stopped grinning.

Another highlight, I got to be a part of the WFPF “celebrity chat” with Tim “Livewire” Shieff and Ryan Doyle, and in addition to some great amateur athletes, we also had appearances by WFPF co-founders Vito and David, and Shaun Wood of Sydney stopped by for a bit. Tim took the stage for a bit as Ryan was late in coming, fielding questions about training, Rubix cubes, breakdancing, and the Atlas tattoo on his back. I didn't tonge-tie the way I did with Danny Ilabaca, so I got to thank Livewire for the autograph at Christmas and tell him how much his accessibility means to those who look up to him. Vito and David were active in the chat, answering as many questions as they could about WFPF events and various networking sites. Vito recognized me because of the debacle with getting my WFPF shirt (and I love it!) that was the other half of my Christmas present from Josh, and David recognized me from these blogs. ^_^ So, it's great to know that they're out there, watching the community grow. David asked me when I'll have a video up, and I promised a 'baseline' video of an early training session come spring, but I won't be ready for a demo for another year or so. After Tim left and the night got late, Ryan and Shaun stepped up with some stories from Red Bull Art of Motion and their opinions of competition. The general consensus seemed to be, as athletes that represent the sport, we need to be visible in competitions but let our attitudes show that we would rather push and aid and better each other as athletes than create rivalries as competitors. That seems to embody the spirit of the WFPF, and it's the reason I joined this community. Seeing people willing to step into the spotlight and spread the message is heartening, because it means that those of us who are just starting out will have a bright future of support and challenge ahead of us as we progress.

I got to spend a while chatting with fellow “amateurs,” staying on late after the chat with Jon Hensley of GA, and teammates from Argentina, Gera and Manu. I really enjoyed getting to know some of my fellow traceurs, and especially to see how the message has spread to countries across the world. I really felt like a part of something big tonight, and it was something important and good. I'd love to see more events like this, just scheduled chat events that might have a theme or even an affiliate team to talk to (Team Momenta was a great help on the last chat!) where we can really see what the community is made of. It was a great evening guys, thanks for chatting, and as always, thanks for reading!

Much love, L

Watched the Fight Science episode with Daniel Ilabaca, absolutely fascinating. Crane style really caught my interest and I've been paying attention to my balance ever since. I'm already short and nimble, so my center of gravity stays low and it's easy for me to weave and dodge – I want to gain strength and better control over my muscles to really be able to control, direct, and cancel my inertia. I've considered doing a training session or two in a compression shirt, because it shifts my center of gravity even lower and inward, I'd just have to really monitor how deeply I'm able to breathe with my torso strapped in three layers of stiff nylon.

Better week in training, though I still haven't had the chance to work on handstands. I pushed myself harder during my conditioning, and reminded myself that as much as I hate doing reps, the exercising feels good and gives me more energy. Plus, I love the feeling of slightly sore muscles – it reminds me that I'm being active, and gives me a better awareness of when and how I'm using those muscles every day. I'm seeing evidence of toning again, and that's also helping my self-esteem and motivation.

On a mental front, I've had a lot of stressful events this week but I noticed that getting into my exercise routine helps relieve some of that stress and get me re-focused. I need to keep that mindset whenever I feel to lazy to do my routine, because I almost always feel better afterwards. (I say almost because the times when I've been foolish enough to exercise without eating well enough first, those sessions have not gone well and I end up frustrated and irritable.)

I still find that I enjoy having a glass of soy milk immediately after a workout, and this has led to a craving for soy milk during my session.

I don't have a lot more this week, so I'm going to figure out football and cheer for the Colts.

I mostly stuck to my EA Active schedule, though weekend guests threw off my schedule. I barely did any pushups this week. Motivation has been scarce to exercise, I need to actually train.  The weather was nice today though, so even though I didn't get outside today, I should be able to make it out soon. I'm ready to be done with this winter.

I got to see a bit of the celebrity chat today, with Daniel Ilabaca and Team Momenta. It was great talking with everyone, Momenta gave me some good tips for training (although it's all theory so far, I can't put it to any good use yet) and I got completely fangirl tongue-tied when I even thought about talking to Danny. So I watched him talk on chat, and hero-worshipped quietly, and felt like a dork. There are so many young traceurs (plus myself) who got inspired by him, for his incredible style of movement, his passion and philosophy of the sport, and his humility and accessibility to fans – what the hell do you say to that? But I was glad to be a part of the chat, and glad to talk to so many people and get a bunch of information. With any luck, we'll get to the midwest jam in Indy (once I find out when it is) and see Team Momenta and the guys from Chicago. Hopefully I'll have some real training under my belt by then.

Tips to put into pratice:

Practice handstands for upper body strength and balance. Work on core strength. Get outside and use actual training to get stronger, instead of just doing reps of things at home. Visualize moves to help meld mental and physical training. Actually try said moves. Practice in safe (padded) environments. Have Josh spot me. Don't land on my head.

I'm ready for winter to be over.

Had another good week and stuck to my EA Active training schedule, even when I was really tired and really didn't want to – we went out on Friday night to blow off some steam after work, and I still managed to get through my set afterwards. Remained somewhat dehydrated the next day, so that was my fault. Got a bit of a head cold this week, but worked through it and I think staying active helped clear it up faster -- I'm back to 100% today, anyway. Pushups have me extremely frustrated, partially because I skipped a few days from just being fatigued, partially because I'm having a lot more difficulty doing the sets of 20. I can usually do the first set just fine, then the next 40 reps get broken up into 15 or less. I know my training lapsed for a while, but it didn't seem to take this long before for the sets to start getting easier. I've been using the 10# resistance tube on EA Active (instead of the puny band that they give you with the game) and that makes a lot of difference. I also did a couple of nights of core work, so that felt good and my arms and abs are noticeably sore today. On the other hand, I think my legs are shaping up again, but my strength has always been in my legs, so it's a lot harder to get them working. It was just a frustrating week overall, because I feel like I'm not at the level that I wanted to be at right now, and I'm afraid I won't be ready for the outdoor training that I want to do once spring arrives. I've been kicking myself for that lapse last month, because I'm paying for it so dearly now. Lesson definitely learned.

I am pleased with how accountability keeps me on track. Having EA Active set what days I work out and what days I rest (2 days on, 1 day off) and having this blog every Sunday definitely keeps me going. And now that I know I have actual readers *waves* I want my blogs to reflect some actual progress. It helps, a lot. (Also got my last entry linked on the WFPF Facebook page, that was another boost.) Anything outside of that – walks, pushups, and core work mostly – happens when I feel like it, and tends to be more sporadic. So, even though I'm not happy with my current progress, it's still because I'm not pushing myself nearly enough to find the time and get things done. Again, my own fault.

Not many chances to get out walking this week, and we've been getting a lot of freezing rain so things are pretty treacherous. It's been great for practicing my balance, though – all of the trampled snow got coated and frozen over with ice, making the parking lot at work really slick and uneven. Friends have been commenting on my “ninja skillz” to be able to walk on the ice, in my work boots, as smoothly as level pavement.

Food is becoming more of an adventure. We've been delving into healthier eating and new recipes, eating at home more often and getting better nutrition for less money. I'm still drinking about 8-16oz of soy milk after every workout, and Josh made some amazing turkey tacos this week, so we're doing well on protein. Also, grocery shopping is an excuse to walk around for a couple of hours, and that happens today. Since we haven't gone out much this week, I'm looking forward to just getting out of the house for a while. Josh is waiting on me to get ready, so I'm off to that. Have a great week!

I had a fantastic week, and the support that I got from here made all the difference. To the people who left comments, thank you so much! Your feedback helps me out, gives me that extra push, and each day my training gets better. It's exactly what I need, and I wanted to be sure to say that you guys are the best. When Josh showed me the e-mail that said I was the Featured Member of the Week, I was speechless, and the response that I got from it was incredible. This is exactly why I wanted to be a part of this community, and that support kept my motivation going. Thank you!

For training: I'm sore again! And it feels great! I tried to step it up a bit this week, while keeping it more of the same. No easy task, since I let my training go over the last month. I've started another 30-Day Challenge on EA Active for the Wii, jumping right in at the hardest setting, and I'm using one of my brand-new resistance tubes instead of the band that comes with the game. The difference, even just using the 10lb. tube, is night and day. I've got a long way to go on my arms, I found out – I damn near pulled my right tricep on the first day.. So, I'm getting an even better workout than before in that regard, and it forces me to watch my form very carefully during exercises. Josh and I found several occasions to go out walking this week, even if it was just around stores. I also started reading through the Parkour and Freerunning Handbook by Dan Edwardes – another Christmas gift, Josh was thrilled because he saw the book recommended on americanparkour.com – and I've already started paying more attention to my balance. I'm already very good at moving silently – I actually have to take care not to sneak up on people at work, even in my steel-toed boots – and during jumping exercises, I focus on landing as softly as possible. I'm doing my 60 pushups nearly every day, with a set of 20 to start and the rest broken up into reps of 5-10. They've gotten easier again over the last two days, but I was really struggling for a while. I'm kicking myself for losing that month and now I know better than to let it happen again. I did 4 sets of 200 crunches tonight because my core is still getting the least work of anything. Any suggestions for good core-strengthening exercises?

In addition to my physical training, I had a lot of introspection this week. I got onto youtube and binged on my favorite Livewire/Ilabaca videos to keep my motivation up. Watching David Belle is fantastic, but when I watch Daniel Ilabaca and listen to his interviews, I keep thinking, “I can do this. I can totally hit these goals.” It's a long way, but it's not impossible. I watch a video, and I do more pushups, and I feel freaking invincible.

Part of my introspection was on my self-identity, or multiple identities, as it were. I would love to be able to confidently say, “I'm an athlete. I'm a traceuse,” but the truth is, I'm not there yet. Still, being a traceuse isn't all that I am. I'm so many things – I am a fantasy writer, for one, and I am an RPG gamer, for another. It's all creativity, words or movement, though I'm just plain better with words. And if anyone can claim to be a storyteller/gamer/traceuse in the same breath, with all of the conflicting ideas that they include and all of the massive amounts of time and energy that even being really good at only one of those entails – then I'm gonna try and do it. Because I can't be just this, a traceuse. There's more to me than that, and I want to be true to all that I am.

A few nights ago, when I was pouring videos into my head and my thoughts were flying, I found a rhythm in the passion and words to the beat. And somewhere in there, I found this (though it's not my best), and it's me, and it's truthful, and I wanted to give it to all of you:

These are the days when I feel most alive

These are the nights that define my own mind

Where I'll be the one getting up on the stand

I won't spend life with my head in the sand

Come one and come all, where freedom defines

Join the movement that's through with following lines

Though I know I can't live on the movement alone

When my freedom comes here, from being known

And of course I'll push for the shock and the awe

Til you open your eyes and pick up your jaw

But before you can see me first you gotta hear

Because this is when I'm at my most sincere

Where my words are my strength and my song is the key

And there's more to me than you may ever see

I don't yet have the tricks but I'm caught in the flow

When the rhythm's enough to keep me on the go

Til I can match the pro's pace, my prose is my action

Know obstacles, know freedom, feel the love, feed the passion

Enjoy, and keep the comments coming or drop me a message, your words mean more than you know.

-L

Winter is draining a lot of my motivation.  Still doing my 3 sets of 20 pushups, but not a lot else and not every day, and I can feel the difference.  The pushups are harder, and my energy is flagging.  I did some work on my core, and that felt good, but I don't have the sore muscles or the feeling of "I did something!" that I had when I first started.  I think I lost what muscle definition I'd gained (or thought I'd gained) and I don't feel as strong as I felt a few months ago.  I'm still eating less garbage, and that helps.  Spent over an hour walking around the mall today, which was nice, and I'm starting another EA Active 30-Day Challenge, because I obviously need a goal to keep me motivated and hold myself accountable to each day.  So, cleaning up a space in the living room (and hopefully pulling Josh off of Mass Effect) and we're gonna get this started again!

Taking a week to recover from the last few weeks at work, but still keeping a few habits going. With the weather still being so cold, Josh and I have managed to make it to the mall at least once a week and walked around for an hour or two. I'm pushing my push-ups again, switching from 4 sets of 15 to 3 sets of 20 – same reps, but longer sets.

I feel more tired lately, but I'm not sure if it's fatigue from stress at work or the fact that I've been less active because of work. I do enjoy the laps around the mall with Josh, and he's showing progress – he's losing weight according to his goals, and he's showing more interest in cooking healthier meals. Baby steps.

New year, and the most stressful part of work is over. With the return to a normal 40-hour work week, I can find my routine again. This is the week to get me back on schedule.

I hope everyone had a good holiday season! I had an excellent 4 days off of work (back tomorrow) and lots of time with family. I've also got a new, invigorated attitude towards my training, thanks greatly to a very special gift from two very special guys. But first, training updates.

Still haven't started a new EA Active 30-Day Challenge, even though I tell myself every day that I will. I'm realizing that the program itself is less important than sticking to a routine, any routine. As long as I stay active, I'm still doing good things for myself.

I'm pretty solid on sets of 15 reps of pushups, I could probably up to 20 soon. As it is, I'm doing 4 sets of 15, and one night (given enough breaks) I did 100 total to compensate for slacking off the last few weeks. I've been doing better about pushups and ab work since.

Christmas money brought us new toys for working out at home. My mom got us 10#, 15#, and 20# resistance tubes. Josh bought ab straps for the pull up bar, so I've got an awesome routine for abs. (I was already doing reps of pulling my knees up to my chest, it feels great!) I've also got a foot pedal set that sits on the floor, so I can watch TV (or blog, like now) and pedal mindlessly with my hands or my feet, and I'm still getting something done! Josh and I stopped by the only store in the area that carries Vibram Five-Fingers, and tried on a few.  He'll probably pick some up in the Spring, but I'll stick to my trainers for now.  Man, I can't wait for winter to be over. Also picked up a fresh carton of soy milk, I've been missing that lately, too.  I found parkour gloves online -- www.fluescent.com -- has anyone tried these out, so I can get a user opinion?

So, my Christmas tale. My wonderful husband, for a Christmas gift, got a wild idea in his head and got on Twitter. He tracked someone down, someone who he has never met, and made a request. After a few messages across a few time zones, a plain brown envelope was put into the mail with my name on it, and secreted away once it reached our mailbox. On Christmas Eve, my husband handed me that envelope. I opened it and pulled out a folded piece of paper, bearing a message that left me absolutely speechless:

This, exactly this, is why I love parkour, as a sport and as a community. I've said it before, Daniel Ilabaca and Tim “Livewire” Shieff are my personal icons, and I would love to jam with them someday. These guys are amazing at what they do, but the fact that they are so gracious and so accessible with their fans, it just makes me want to try all the harder. Daniel Ilabaca has said, time and again, this is a way of thinking, a way of life, a call to surmount obstacles with your mind as well as your body.

I can do this. I can get stronger, I can get better. And now, I have one little piece of paper to remind me of what the combination of strength, discipline, and passion looks like.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have pushups to do.

Good news: I decided to try for 3 sets of 15 normal pushups, and I nailed it! So, did that for a few days. Bad news is, I started getting sick on Wednesday, and I've been useless ever since. Twelve-hour shifts at work aren't helping, and I'm just counting the days until year-end. I've been sleeping 11 hours at a time, and still pretty miserable. I tried doing my pushups yesterday, got to 9 before stopping because I was afraid I'd puke.  Doctor says it's not flu because I don't have a fever, but I've got an ear infection so I'm on antibiotics for the next ten days.  I'm going back to bed soon, hopefully I'll be over this by next week.

Josh and I were talking about looking for a gym, but he pointed out that practicing on spongy ground will teach you to bounce on your landings. So, we're thinking of sticking to concrete to get the basics down. Any feedback for or against learning to jump/fall/roll on concrete rather than in a gym?

I've lost a bit of steam in the last few weeks, and I can blame the cold weather, but really it's on me.  I need to find a way to keep up my enthusiasm through the winter.  Videos help a lot, seeing what other people have accomplished gets me pumped to get to that point.

I finished my initial “30-day challenge” in EA Active, and that's helped with some toning and cardio, but it's not enough.  Josh and I got out of the house and walked around the mall for an hour, just for the exercise.  I might do that again today.  Still doing the push ups – 15 normal, 10 knees, 2 sets, and 5 normal.  I've been at that for a few weeks now, and I'm finally feeling like I could step it up again.  I've got a friend who's working up to 2 sets of 20 by the end of his winter break, I'll see if I can meet him there.  I did a bit of core work, but I'm still erratic about it, so I need to start doing a routine along with my push ups.

Josh is letting his training take a back seat for now, he has some health issues to work out before he can really start.  His goal is to start training seriously within the next year, and hopefully start shooting videos in the year after that.  He can still coach me in the meantime, so if we can push me hard enough, maybe I can get a demo out before next winter?  If not, I'll  try for the following spring.

I went out for lunch with some friends/co-workers yesterday, and they jokingly brought up “freestyle walking.”  We got to talking about freerunning and parkour and the differences between them, and one of my friends had never heard it broken down, so I got to give a lecture.  I'm more of a parkour person, it's going to be a while before I get ballsy enough to try any of the flips, and really I just want to focus on the purity of the movements.  I pulled up some videos of Daniel Ilabaca and Tim Shieff because they show up together and each have different styles that makes it easier to point out the differences between freerunning and parkour.  I love watching Tim Shieff and I'll work towards emulating Daniel Ilabaca, but Josh goes right to the source and idolizes David Belle.  This is why I love the sport and the online community, for all of the accessibility with the process and the athletes, and the real possibility of matching your hero and someday being a hero to someone else.  This is not something that I am forced to passively admire and observe from afar, I can jump in and make a place for myself and that's what appeals to me.  I'm willing to take my time to get there, but ultimately, I want people to see me and what I've done, and most importantly, I want them to have the same thought that I did: “Wow, that's awesome – I could do that, too!”

One of my blogs made Blog of the Week!  And people read it!  And the rest of my blogs aren't nearly as interesting, for which I apologize.  Any advice on wintertime training?

Didn't get outside to train (again) this week.  I wish I could say otherwise, but honestly, if I can keep to steady conditioning over the winter months so that I'm in some kind of active shape come spring, I'll consider this season a success.  I'd love for my blogs to be more interesting in the meantime, but I'll probably be sticking to rep and food updates for a while.  Like these:

Still doing push ups nightly, 2 sets of 15 normal and 10 on knees and topped with 5 normal.  I'm still having difficulty making it through the sets, so I'll keep it up until I feel like I can up my reps.  Still drinking soy milk daily for protein and calcium.  Also doing EA Active regularly, which is doing good things for my leg strength.  Not doing so much for my core – I've slacked off on my crunches.  Need to start doing those again with my push ups.  Til next week.

Went out of town for the holiday, and my training went all to hell.  I still did my pushups every day, and yesterday I managed to add in 10 more pushups like it was nothing -- maybe it was the late night coffee giving me an extra rush.

So, I wasn't as active this week, but I made up in talk -- showed my family a few videos, introduced them to the philosophy of parkour.  And we all played Wii Fit Plus together.  Does that count as being active?  Anyway, they understand better why Josh and I are getting into the sport, and they're seeing the positive effects of us being more active and doing this together.  That alone was a really positive step.

I'm going to do my darndest to keep the extra 10 pushups in my sets.

No chance to go out and train this week, but I kept on schedule with working out. I love that EA Active tracks how many calories I'm burning per session, it shows that I'm getting pushed a little harder each day. Still on the same push up reps as last week, but they're getting easier. Working on my abs, more toning than actual core strengthening, but it's progress. Mostly crunches, and reps supporting my legs. I need to put the pull up bar in a doorway to work on a) pull ups, b) bringing my knees up as high as possible, and c) holding my knees up to strengthen my core.

I'm noticing changes in my appetite and my sleep schedule. I'm sleeping less and feeling more rested. When I snack, I'm reaching less for sugar and more often for a banana, Wheat Thins, or a glass of soy milk. I'm still drinking Dr. Pepper every day, but I'm drinking juice or tea (or soy milk) just as much. I'm feeling healthier, and noticeably so. Still not making great food choices every time, but I feel it when I'm eating less-than-healthy. I'm enjoying being more active, too. EA Active gets my heart rate up, but I wish it was more challenging. The lunges are easier, so I know my legs are getting stronger. Work is limiting my free time right now, but we have the weekend free for Thanksgiving, so I'll make time to train outside then for sure.

It takes 21 days to create a habit, so I guess working out is a habit now.  I still like finding moments in the day to do push ups, and they're definitely getting easier.  I can do two sets of 10 normal, 15 on my knees, and top of with 5 normal.  I'll start upping that this week.

I've been using EA Active for the Wii at home, and yeah it's a video game, but it's great for cardio and my quads are still killing me.

Justin and I went jogging yesterday, and I managed a full mile without walking.  I did another jogged mile between walking bouts, so 2 miles all told was better than I expected to do.  Justin outdistanced me by a good bit, at least a half mile, but having him there made me push harder.  We threw a frisbee around for a while, and I broke a vessel in my knuckle -- it bruised yesterday and it's almost healed today, but it made gripping difficult.

We headed to the playground with Josh, and he helped us with our form for swinging over obstacles and practicing rolls.  My knuckle was a hinderance on swings, so I focused on rolls.  I'm landing heavy -- I know I bruised a muscle in the middle of my back -- so I'll be practicing those a lot.  I've got an old injury to watch, a lightly fractured vertebre from a car accident 5 years ago.  Calcium, then.  I tried a couple of pull-ups, only got 2 or 3, so even though the push ups are helping, I still can't support my own weight with my arms yet.

We ended with high-protein smoothies and chicken subs.  I've also been drinking soy milk, lots of calcium and protein there.

For next week:

Up the number of push-ups that I do not on my knees.

Practice pull ups.  If I can do 5, I'll be happy.  If I do a set of 10 this week, I'll be ecstatic.

Lots of core strengthening.  I can't get my knees up high enough on my swings, and I can't hold my legs up during a dead hang for more than about 10 seconds.

Keep up with EA Active and Wii Fit, just for a variety of cardio, yoga, and strength exercises -- just keep active in the evenings after work, when it's too dark to go outside.

Stretch my legs at every chance.  I don't mind being sore, but I know that the muscles need stretching.  On that note, make sure I'm getting enough protein and calcium.