6 Months and you guys haven't improved; what have you guys been doing?

So this last few weeks have been quite a change, I quit my job (I can hear a groan from all tax payers already, don't worry i'm on the look out for anouther and i'm not claiming JSA).

Anyway this has freed up a fair amount of time so I have decided to start turning up to weekly jams again, which has been awesome cause Matt and Ben have both been back from their new homes (Prague and scarborough respectively) so it's been really nice training with old friends.

However as with all nice things there is always a grey cloud on the horizon; those people that drove the majority of the comitted traceurs away from training in swindon apart from alone. they were just as annoying as I remember with their terrible self control, attrocious assumptions about parkour and their unbelievable lack of self preservation.

Ben and I were stood in a car park (a new spot that they had found),that just screamed hobo house, we were listening to the vast array of loud noises produced by careless landings, poor running technique and infact poor technique on nearly every front. The major bit of irony was when one of them(whom shall remain nameless at the moment) pointed out that one of the others had not protected his joints by not landing two footed into a cat leap but then proceded to make some of the worst cases of noisy landings I have ever witnessed, however nothing he could have done could possibly prepare me for the amount of noise that anouther one of the members of their group was making! the next statement is as honest as I can possibly make it without video or scientific evidence, the boys landings were so poor that not only could I hear it over the sound of a car passing by right next to me whilst he was at least 3 meters away BUT I could actually feel the floor vibrate everytime he made the same drop which in total was about 2 meters which wasn't just a straight drop but a vault intended to slow him down; needless to say everytime he approached a rail Ben and I tensed up and cringed as he landed, it often makes me wonder what his body will be like when he is 20. It has also evaded me how he could possibly make such a loud noise in a situation that could easily be recreated without so much as a tap when the concrete touched the person's feet; I can only presume that he was landing on his heels first and I know that he did little in the way of bending his knees to absorb any excess energy or shock. all in all this was the worst case of self harm I've ever witnessed.

After seeing how they train and the fact that every movement eventually ends up on camera no matter how un-fluid the motion is or how unimpressive in everyway (both in size and in my opinion more importantly technicality) it is; Ben pointed out to me that it is no surprise that in the 6 months we had been away they had not improved at all. I recognise that in the 6 months that my training has been scarce at best; I have decreased in strength, confidence and technical abilty, but every second I train it comes back very quickly where as these guys who have presumably been out regularly have not improved at all .

I can only put it down to a terrible partnership
A. fair weather traceurship (Never training when it's raining)
B. poor weather

midway through they day the majority of the guys left including the "commited, long term, X-TREME " members of the group leaving Ben and I with 3 other guys one of whom would leave within 10 minutes and one of the others within an extra 15. all because of the weather. what ever happened to training in the snow, ice, wind, rain and all the other things that mother nature could throw at you ?

Given this year the weather has pretty much been the worst on record there is no surprise that they have not improved at all, nor will it be any surprise when I have regained my strength, confidence and technical abilty alot quicker than any of them will be able to imagine and nor will it when I surpass my previous abilitys.

I find myself competing with them alot, which to be honest is a very bad thing! I should be competing with myself not others but I see them doing things that really haven't impressed me for a very long time and then them strutting about and boasting about it and I can't help but feel a need to throw a little something back in their faces, I will use this to my advantage, I will use this small annoyance they create as something to spur me on to TRAIN more NOT to out do them. I will know in myself that I am better than them , just as if ever I met any of my idols (Blaine, Jin, Daniel Illabaca, etc) they would know they are better than I am inside themselves but would use it in a positive way (e.g "well I was at that level once, I'm much better now, if I train hard I'll be anouther step up on the staircase that is parkour")

All in all I've really enjoyed myself recently and it's good that now i'm setting up jams with other friends i've not seen in a while, but I have alot to work towards.
I think tomorrow I am going to set up a list of things that I could do, Things that are now troubling me that I could do before and targets for the end of january (i.e back to my previous ability and then surpass it)