Nov 10 19:07:39 108 PA - The Running Man Two

From Chronicles

Nov 10 19:07:39 108 PA.

NEAR THE LANDING STRIP

Who says you can't exercise at sunset? Gabriel is out in a grassy area south of Kingsdale's landing strip, doing some jogging and shadow boxing as he goes - occasionally pulling a knife out of seemingly nowhere, slashing and making it disappear as fast as it had come. He has apparently decided that winter is officially here, having changed into his cream-and-white, more insulating clothing. The drizzle has never bothered him, however. He may have the luxury of a hat and waterproof clothing, but people have seen him for a year now getting around in terrible conditions with a smile on his face and spring in his step. For now, he just simply seems to be waiting for someone, occasionally looking up as a larger aircraft touches down.

Jaxain arrives early, jogging towards Gabriel and raising a hand in greeting. He is wearing a simple black T-shirt with brown pants, and his new black combat boots. By the look of things, he should be freezing his balls off, but then again he is in startlingly good shape so that might explain the smile on his face as he closes the distance.

Gabriel is nothing if not swift on details, and catches Jaxain approaching at a good distance away. He jogs his way over to meet the other man. "Evening, Jax. Looks nice, you've been practicing." He then jumps right in to instruction, leaving pleasantries or discussions of yesterday's action for later times. "Right now without running to check, what do you think are your strengths, and what are your weaknesses when it comes to maximizing your efficiency?"

Jaxain nods, also getting straight into it and apparently looking forward to continuing his training. "Good evening, Special Agent." He gives the other man a smile. "Well, to be honest I had hoped to ask you that same question. What I THINK is that I have trouble keeping my arms pacing as I run, and that is due to my many years of practice wielding a sword, where you are taught just the opposite." He spreads his legs and raises his arms as though holding an imaginary sword, then takes a few steps forwards. His center of mass stays perfectly balanced, and his arms and shoulders do not move until *woosh* he suddenly completes an arc. Straightening up, he faces Gabriel again. "My strengths are posture, and leg positioning. I found those easiest to learn."

"That's good, that's good," Gabriel says, nodding pleasantly enough. "You can just call be Gabriel now, you've earned it, plebe." He smirks at that. "This kind of running isn't about combat, it's not about running at a man with a sword held high. This is about keeping up a decent speed for a *long* time. Endurance is more important than speed, really. Tortoise and the Hare." He narrows one eye. "They still have that story around, right?"

Jaxain shakes his head, "No, never heard that one. Why would a tortoise need hair?" He cocks his head to the side, his confusion plain. "But thank you, Gabriel." He beams, unable to contain his pleasure at the surprising compliment. "Yeah, I don't know how much it's slowing me down, just a different style I was taught. I'll have to make some adjustments later, to make sure I can run at top speed while wielding a sword properly." He reaches up to stroke his chin, considering.

Gabriel smirks at something, but asks, "The difference, plebe, is that you aren't going to be running ten miles with your sword raised to slice one guy." He holds a hand out as he explains. "This *will* make you faster - I see that it already has. But it is primarily for getting from place to place. Your sprinting abilities for combat itself are when top speed, wielding a sword comes into play. The 'Tortoise and the Hare' is an old story, apparently, that teaches the importance of doing something at a good and steady pace versus doing something in bursts that burn you out, and the slower guy passes you while you're trying to catch your breath." He nods once and then jabs his head once in the direction of the row of mechanic's shops. "Gimme a good run, show me your best."

Jaxain raises his eyebrows and exclaims in surprise, "Oh! That sounds like 'The Knight and the Hatchling'. It's a story where a knight manages to beat a teleporting hatchling in a long race, because the hatchling kept getting distracted or lost, whereas the slower knight stayed true and steady." He purses his lips, trying to remember something. "I think the knight's name was Sir Horace, and this happened about 80 or 90 years ago." He then nods to Gabriel, and gets ready to go, and takes off. His posture is good, though he does sometimes move his arms in strange ways when passing through difficult terrain, and while he does make some mistakes, they are few and far between. He looks almost 50% faster than he was before... quite the improvement a bit of ergonomic movement makes!

In the roll of instructor, Gabriel excels. He follows Jaxain's run with his eyes the whole time, taking mental notes. When his student nears him, he starts to correct mistakes. "Jax, the main purpose of an arm swing is to provide balance and coordination with your legs. Remember, *loose* and *relaxed* near the body. No tension up in the shoulders - you are *not* carrying a sword into battle right now." He turns his head to the side and asks, "Right? You're going to run to a battlefield to get there as soon as you can. *Then* you're going to pause momentarily to assess the situation, then remove the sword, *then* make the final charge. I don't care about the final charge, that's left to your grandfather. I'm worried about getting you there in the first place. Shake 'em out, and run again. Exaggerate it this time. Go."

Jaxain nods, listening carefully to the older man's advice, and does his best to follow instructions. He's not even breathing heavy after his run, though a bit more steam is rising from his body. He does a few quick stretches and then shakes out his arms, and takes off again. This time, the movements are exaggerated. And it looks like it is helping; his stride flows better over rough patches and his movement on the whole is a bit more streamlined. He's not a master, but he has been spending hours and hours every day practicing, and it's starting to show off.

"Better," Gabriel states flatly. "Here, feel this. Do a lap like you have a stick up your ass. No movement above the waist, arms straight at your sides, only move your neck enough to keep from spraining it. Then do a lap like you're trying to learn to fly by throwing yourself at the ground and missing. Then come back, and we'll talk about it again." He glances up at the sky as lighting flashes a thunder follows almost instantly on its heels. "Better move, lighting's faster than you are. Go."

Jaxain looks up, wishing he had those swords from Pavel, and then looks back at Gabriel and nods, and does the laps. He is slow and award the first lap, the lack of movement obviously hindering him due to lack of synergy of motion. He still managed to travel at a decent clip, but when he returns he is breathing heavier than before. He pauses just a moment, then goes all out. He nearly slips in the mud several times, and is leaning forward as far as he can. He actually manages to go pretty darn fast, though there is tonnes and tonnes of wasted movement going on and he is breathing heavier still, sweat coming off his body. "Whew...."

"Yeah. That's why form is important, and efficiency of motion rather than thinking about speed." Gabriel starts to circle Jaxain, talking as he goes. "There is a mental component. When you learn this, you won't know that you're thinking about it, but when you're learning, you do need to consciously think about. Remember that nothing should be wasted in life. In this case, that's movement, which translates to energy, which translates to how fast you'll move from place to place." He comes to a halt before the other man and looks him in the eyes. "Go, do it right this time."

Jaxain listens carefully again, able to clearly see the improvements himself, especially after this demonstration. "I see what you mean. It's all designed to get the most out of every motion." he nods slowly, taking a moment to think over what Gabriel has just said before taking his stance, and running again. His motions start off overly exaggerated and a bit awkward as he thinks just a bit too much about it, but he easily corrects the problem after a dozen steps or so, and he breaks into his stride. Not breakneck, but a fast sustainable run. His motions with his arms are better this time, though possibly just slightly exaggerated as he focuses his concentration on it. When he arrives back at Gabriel, he's actually seeming even less tired than after the last lap. "Yeah, much much better. I can keep this up all day, but the others tired me out fast."

This time, it's nice enough that Gabriel actually offers encouragement for the first time as Jaxain moves. "Okay. Head up. Good. Keep the knees in." He quiets down as his student comes to a halt. "Looks much better. You're finally improving, plebe. Almost call you done! Not done, but almost. It'll take you *years* to get it down right, no matter how proud of yourself you might be." He literally pokes Jaxain's nose with an index finger. "There is no better strength than experience. For instance, you're still overstriding." He looks down at the man's legs. "Concentrate on running quick and light. Keep it like a rotary motion with your foot landing *directly* under your center of gravity at the bottom of each cycle. I said this last time, I guess you just need some reminding?" His words end on a questioning note before he inclines his head toward the landing strip again and simply says, "Go."

Jaxain nods, "Yeah, I'm not all that smart." he winks at Gabe, and takes off again. This time he tries to keep the new instructions in mind, placing each downward leg movement right under his center of gravity. He is a bit slower at first as he focuses on this, but then reaches a point he is comfortable with and completes the lap. "Damn, I think I need more practice... What did you think of my arm movement?"

Gabriel hesitates to judge, looking over the other man as the rain continues to intensify. Belatedly, "Not bad. You're close enough to practice that part on your own from now on." Another pause. "Never land on your heel, that acts like a brake. You want to catch up to your forward foot, pushing off so to speak with the other. Of course, it should be more smooth than that." Backing up, he seems to think something a few times, swishing his lips side to side. "Visualize trying to sneak up on someone, and keep the knees down. You're bringing them up a little - I told you, high knees are for sprinting, not running. Gimme another one."

Jaxain bends down, trying out the new posture a few times. "Ok, like this." he says, moving as told, lifting his legs up as little as possible. Then he finds a happy middle, lifting his feet enough to clear the ground but saving the economy of movement gained. He looks at Gabriel.

Gabriel looks back at him and narrows his eyes. "Waiting for an engraved invitation or something? I told you what to do, now do it! Go!"

Jaxain stifles a chuckle, "Yes, Special Agent!" he says, taking the old man's gruff comment as approval. He takes off, following the instructions given, and doesn't manage to go any faster. HOWEVER, he does manage to save a good deal of energy without wasting any speed, and when he arrives back at camp only lightly out of breath, he nods. "Ok, yep, I see what you mean. That was definitely better economy of movement."

"Much better. You actually look like you're running like a man now," Gabriel allows. A short - very short - nod of approval. Then, "Take off your boots."

Jaxain takes off his boots and... doesn't have any socks on underneath. He does have very well calloused feet, however, and in all likelihood spends a decent amount of time barefoot (or in some kind of basic sandal). "The boots took me a bit to get used too, but now I see why you wear them. Pretty good grip."

Gabriel looks on as his student stands in the increasingly soupy run. The kind of soup that he knows will give people trouble, shoes or not. With a car salesman's smile, he sweeps an arm toward the runway. "Another lap, please. Full speed."

Jaxain nods, no hesitation. Luckily, he is both dexterous and used to traveling barefoot. Unluckily, the terrain is seriously muddy and slippery... But still, he fares well and manages to traverse the muddy ground at speed for nearly the entire lap at full speed. But... then on the final quarter, only a hundred or so feet away from Gabriel, his foot lands in a puddle that was deeper than it seemed. And he goes down, hard, sliding for nearly 10 feet in the mud. He manages to quickly turn it into a roll and hop lightly to his feet, however and finishes the rest of the lap to Gabriel. He's a big muddy pile of dirt, with a brilliant white smile peeking through as he finally stops, raising a hand to wipe some mud from his face. "Better?"

"Better?" Gabriel smirks at the thought. "*NO* not 'better.' This wasn't a 'better' scenario. This is a different thing entirely. Didn't you feel it? Without a sole to take the pounding, your heel takes it, the bone feels it more. Without a sole to create more of a curve, your foot bends more directly, affecting your stance, which affects how you push off, which affects your stride, which affects your speed." He reaches over to smack some of the mud off of Jaxain's shoulder. "Maybe you didn't feel it, and yes, your speed was good - but if you had been on a longer run, you would have soon tired and become sore. You must be prepared to fight with nothing. I watched you. You ran like a barefoot man trying to run at the same speed as a man in boots. It's different."

Jaxain nods, accepting the lesson in silence as he wipes a bit more mud off. The rest of it he leaves for the rain, not bothering to smear it around. "That, and the grip, I noticed that especially. The wider boot bottom also helps bridge any holes that a smaller foot might slip into." He looks down at his boots, then at his feet. "But... I think I'll leave them off until I can dry off. I'll just have to move a bit slower and with more care."

Gabriel nods. "Okay. I'm not going to take the time to train you barefoot, you're obviously good enough to do that on your own - continuing with *lots* of practice. Keep your head in it. Now c'mon, one run around the strip." He starts off at a moderate, ground eating jog. At a distance away, he starts to call out another cadence. "One late night in the pouring rain, Gabriel said it was time for pain!"

Jaxain smiles, and joins in with Gabriel again, matching the other man's pace. He notices how much easier it is now than it was before. Because now he's more familiar with the easy movements that come so naturally to Gabriel, instead of his old rolling bull-charge of a gait. "One late night in the pouring rain, Gabriel said it was time for pain!"

Gabriel keeps moving, "Grab your ruck and follow me! Its time to do some PT!"

Jaxain follows, a smile creeping up around his muddy face. "Grab your ruck and follow me! It's time to do some PT!"

Gabriel just keeps chugging through the rain, his boots hitting the tarmac now, out of the mud. "We jogged nine miles and we ran three, the Special Agent yelling 'follow me!'"

Jaxain is glad to hit the tarmac himself, as he was a bit nervous about hitting another hole. His bare feet slap the pavement as he sings, "We jogged nine miles and we ran three, the Special Agent yelling follow me!"

The old soldier looks behind himself, laughing - and not running or tripping over anything in his way. "Almost done, kid." He turns and heads for the end of the strip, "Then we walked two miles and ran eight! Gabriel's PT sure is great!" Then pulls up to a halt. "Think, you're done, Jax. You can take it from here."

Jaxain smiles at Gabriel as he looks back, and carries on the rhythm. "Then we walked two miles and ran eight! Gabriel's PT sure is great!" He stops, beaming (though it's hard to see behind all the mud) and extends his hand. "Thanks, man. That was pretty awesome, what you showed me."

Gabriel smiles and nods, beginning to head west. "You take care of yourself, Jax, good job! Just keep running. Five miles, every morning when you wake up. Minimum. See ya in a few." He offers.. no, it's not a salute. Then moves on.