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It is Monday the 13th of April 2009, a lovely sunny day with a slight wind in Parc du Seaux, somewhere between Evry and Paris.




We start running but unfortunately after 15 minutes I have to stop as my knee gets more and more painful. I have a minor injury that is called BTI. My Physio has advised me to stop running as soon as I feel the first sign of pain. When I am motivated and I feel the joy of running it is hard to stop, but Forrest forces me to stop immediately and we continue our warm-up just with another 15 minutes power walking.




We arrive at the parcours sportif track, which is a specially designed path in the park for fitness purposes. There are about 10 – 12 different stations such as parallel bars, rings, ladders, railings etc.




Our first station is the ladder. Forrest sets the rhythm with 5 sets of 5 muscles- ups, and I follow with 5 sets of 5 pull-ups. The ladder structure is like a playground for monkeys, and in fact a little boy was demonstrating some monkey swings. I just joined him, and don`t actually know if I felt like a little girl or a little monkey, but I enjoyed it very much and it was a great exercise.




We carry on to the rings. It is my first time that I try to turn 360° touch the floor and come back. I am not sure if I am strong enough to hold myself, I feel scared in case I dislocate my shoulders or fall. Forrest is next to me giving me confidence and security that if I drop he will catch me. He tells me to trust myself. So I take the challenge, touch the floor with my toes but I am not strong enough to completely come back. It just looked so easy when he was doing it, so why can`t I do it? Forrest looks at me smiles and says – “with a bit more practise you will be able to do it easily, so don`t be upset but enjoy the moment”-.




We continue our journey to the next station where we find three round low railings. The sign shows that this station is aimed for stretching, but Forrest is taking the press up position. The railing next to him is a bit higher and without much talking I just take the same position and follow him. Surprisingly I`ve already done at least 20 press-ups in a row and I still feel good, 10 others follow but Forrest still goes on and it still looks so effortless. I feel great with just the 30 so I stop and wait for him to finish. Then I ask –“what’s next"?




We walk to the next station, the surface is soft, like a kind of natural carpet and it feels like sand under our feet. Forrest is approaching two parallel bars, he lifts himself up with both hands bouncing forward and backward through the bars. Needless to say that this is something I will have difficulties to imitate, so I just choose another option thinking that it will be easier. Well, maybe it is easier but it certainly wasn’t easy. I am moving forward hand-by-hand with straight arms, which are very sore, but I have to keep control of my swinging body. After finishing the route Forrest says – “Voilà c`est fini”.




We go to stretch and enjoy the sunshine, the nice smell and beautiful surroundings of Parc du Seaux. It is always a pleasure to train together and explore different ways and places, even though we don`t necessarily do the same exercises. Men and women have different physical abilities and I believe our training need to be different too.




“Parcours sportif” is such a great idea to keep people fit in any context. I look forward to the next session in Parc du Seaux.

Labels: Training