Log [Alison, Haroun] Training Days...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Friday afternoon, after Haroun returns from doing wild wild things with Scott in the Blackbird. (No, not those kind of wild things, honestly.) Now that she's all better again, that can only mean one thing - Alison has to start training again. And then some.



Now that she wasn't hurting anymore, she could feel the differences with every move she made. The quiet solidity beneath every move wasn't there anymore, at least nowhere near what it had been before. She didn't hurt, even the stiffness that should have been there being absent instead - whatever the gem shards had done to her had had some beneficial side effects it seemed - at least one, which had been a thorough healing. It had also been based on her current condition however, leaving her healed yes, but not returned to what she had used to be - just to what she could be now instead.

While she normally wore lycra biker pants and a matching top, she'd had enough of anything close to synthsilk for a while. This time instead she wore looser cotton workout pants and a simple tank top. Funny. Just a few days of being back to normal and I'm already feeling cranky about it. Idiot. The sheer delight in being able to feel things normally again was still there, but the need to get back to form was nagging and then some. Training would settle things at least, it was as simple as that - and it was certainly something Alison could commit to, even with Madelyn and the others keeping a stern eye on her schedule and everything she did, or almost. They'd already worked out a primary training schedule, with possibilities added on depending on how she felt, Madelyn trusting her not to push to hard and to check up with her regularly. Taking a deep breath, Alison surveyed the gym pensively, waiting.

Haroun walked in a few moments later, dressed in a white wifebeater T-shirt, camouflage pants and combat boots. "Hey." he said, looking at Alison appreciatively. "You wanted my help in getting back into fighting trim, right?" he asked her. "Well, I'm here and ready to help." he grinned as he effortlessly sank into a full side-split and started stretching his upper body out. "Get warmed up. Then I'll walk you through some partner stretches, and we'll see how things go from there."

Grumbling good-naturedly as she eyed the split, Alison still wasted no time in doing just that, working her way through one of the more methodical warm-up sessions she knew, following Madelyn's orders scrupulously on the not skipping a single thing. She knew were the colder medical instruments were kept, and how cold they were at that. "Medstaff aren't letting me train alone," she hummed. There were people in the medlab to visit later and she'd blown up Cain of all things and lord were there things to be dealt with there, but he had woken up and she was healthy and that was still something to be content with. And taking things moment by moment was something she was getting scarily good at. "Feels good. Even if I'm starting over again, or almost." She grinned at him, luxuriating in the warm-up, as simple a thing it was.

Haroun wrapped up his stretching fairly quickly, to watch Alison stretch and to get a feel for her flexibility. When she was done warming up, he led her over to the nearest wall. "Feet flush in the corner, back against the wall." he directed her. Once she had complied, he grinned at her. "Lift your right leg straight up as high as you can take it." he then asked her.

Alison smiled faintly at the request and pressed her hands flat against the wall, taking a moment to press her back to the wall properly. "See, I used to be veeeeery good at this," she murmured, before slowly lifting up her right leg, testing herself at the same time. She stopped far short of what she used to be able to do, drawing a small frown in response though giving in to the temptation to push wasn't even an issue - straining something would be plain stupid right now. At least it wasn't quite as bad as she'd feared. Apparently, ending up with a bazillion shards of crystal embedded in her body had some sort of positive result. Bleah.

Haroun picked up Alison's leg, and hoisted it a little higher for her. "I can see we have our work cut out for us." he said with a pleasant smile. He was a fairly hard taskmaster, pushing Alison hard on the stretches. Both legs. Once the front stretches were done, he grinned at her. "Turn sideways. Same deal, different angle, different set of muscles." he said, waiting for her to extend her leg out from her body.

A half turn, body aligned properly with one hand on the wall - both to keep her from overbalancing the wrong way, or cheating without meaning to as her body tried to tilt to the side to adjust. "Right side's always been better than the left on this one." Even when she'd tried to balance it out, it hadn't really evened properly - now that she was starting over again, Alison figured it'd be back to square one on this. And then some, she realized, wincing a bit - her muscle tone was not what it had been. "I'm going to have to be careful about what I was used to being able to do, compared to what I can do now," she sighed, shaking her head. Going from fully fit to invalid to somewhere not quite in between. She smiled wryly. "Not complaining. Just saying."

Haroun nodded, stretching Alison out rather thoroughly. First one leg, than the other, making notes of her range and her flexibility. "Good, good." he said. "Damage isn't as bad as it could have been. You were in excellent shape before the accident, and that's really helped you. Now - away from the wall. Sit down, legs spread. We're going to do some ground partner stretching now." he said with no trace of lechery.

Nodding absently Alison sat down slowly, not quite with the same grace she used to have - every move was tested, compared to how it had been before the accident, and during her convalescence. The irony that she had been speed-tracked to recovery while Cain lay in the medlab still didn't escape her and she looked somber for a moment, though she returned her attention to the exercises quickly enough.

Haroun sat down opposite Alison, facing her. He put his own feet on her ankles and then held out his hands for her to grab. "OK, this one could get kinda rough." he said by way of a warning. Once she took his hands, he applied pressure in two dimensions - pulling her upper body towards him, while using his legs to force her legs even further apart, deepening the stretch.

She was already warmed up and it wasn't hard to actually just follow the motion, relaxing bit by bit as muscles were stretched further. "Not so bad so far..." There was still a certain degree of tension however, the trick to it being to counter balance things properly, so that she wouldn't just fall into it without actually stretching the proper set of muscles. The new limits she had were fuzzy at best or so it felt like. "I think that's almost it," she finally remarked, although she was still working into the stretch slowly.

Haroun was somewhat merciless, stretching her _hard_. After the leg stretches - down to the middle, plus once each over each knee - he had her bring the legs together and go down to put nose to knees. He scooted around behind her, to push her even further through the stretch. "Come on, you're more flexible than this. You know it, I know it."

"You know it, I know it, but my body's kinda forgotten it," Alison replied in a pleasant sing song, shifting a bit under his hands as she stretched that much more. Her muscles were starting to protest, a light burn that didn't feel very bothersome to her at all - Madelyn had warned to be careful of that, which was why Alison didn't dismiss it as inconsequential outright, instead just making sure that it had faded entirely before inching further through the exercise. "Was annoying when Madelyn took me out too." She made a face at that. "Being in a bar brawl when you can't stand to hit something to save your life is a challenge."

"You should really leave the bar-brawls to us professionals." he said with a smirk. "But seriously, though. I'm very proud of you. Hurt and all, you accounted for yourself well. OK, that's it for partner stretches. Now we work the heavy bags. Did you remember to tape your wrists?"

"It was a bar brawl," Alison muttered, and then grinned a bit. Of course she'd accounted herself well - for one thing, hurting was a good reason to not want to get hit. And for another, despite everything else there was nothing wrong with her ability to duck. She rose to her feet, taking her time and feeling the motion out, testing her balance. "Have my hand guards. Support's built-in for the wrists..."

"OK, good. I'll hold, you get to pummel. Strength and cardio this time. Two minutes, let's see how many good solid hits you can work in." he told her, then moved to the other side of the heavy bag to brace it for her. "Whenever you're ready." he told her pleasantly.

"Okay." Taking up a stance that still felt lacking somehow, she started slow, giving herself a regular pace that felt good before actually trying to build up strength and then speed into it. While she normally favored not using her hands to hit things, wearing the protective gloves changes things a bit. While the better part of her strikes weren't the more standard fist-to-punching-bag variety, she was still effectively working her way up to something decent.

Haroun, on the other hand, looked somewhat disgusted. "I think I'll start stocking milk of magnesia for you in your fridge. My aged grandmother hits faster than this. Yeah yeah yeah, I know, injured, long recovery. I know. But if you're not pushing, you're not helping yourself." he said crossly.

Laughing quietly, Alison waited until she was comfortable with that level, and then edged the limits higher, still not throwing all that many traditional punches in favor for every other alternative in creation or almost. They'd passed the two minute cap she knew, but it felt good to keep going anyway - even though her breathing was already starting to go, which was infuriating, but she ignored it in favor of adding a bit more power to each hit. "Reflex they never managed to train me out of," she clarified, with another elbow strikes. "Hate punching things with my hands."

"So step up and use elbows." he suggested. "It's dangerous in the Real World, but the bag won't hit back." he said sweetly. "And you've passed your mark. You want to keep going, or switch to footwork?" he asked.

"Bit more," she grunted, settling into a simpler pattern and going from elbow strike to forearm hit, sometimes doubling up on the former just because. She was starting to work up a sweat, far too early to do so she thought, until she reminded herself again, that she was training to get back into shape. She stopped once she couldn't hit harder, not wanting to wait until she started to weaken, and took a step back, shaking her arms slightly while taking a step back. "Okay. Footwork now, huh?"

Haroun nodded. "Step away from the bag. Let's keep the cardio going as well." he said, reaching behind him to snag a jumprope, and tossing it to her. "Two minutes." he said, waiting for her to get ready before starting the stopwatch.

She was going to bed for a massage and probably fall sleep once they were done, she decided. They weren't going to be done anytime soon however, she knew, having nagged at Madelyn to add that much more to the training regimen, but she was going to be wiped once they were done. She wasn't counting the skips or the passing seconds, losing herself in the momentum of the exercise itself instead, trying to keep her breathing as steady as possible, eyes glazing over just a touch the only indication of what she was doing.

"And stop." he said, clicking the stopwatch when the two-minute mark was reached. "Take five, get your breath back." he said with a smile. "You're doing well. Getting a good baseline here so we can really push you later." he added. "More footwork when your breather is over."

"Gotcha," she huffed, trying not to and not really managing much of anything else but being out of breath. "Baselines are good." Walking slowly so as to not cool down too much and waiting until she'd caught her breath just a little had been a good idea. She didn't sound like a dying Chevy so much anymore - at least her recuperation time was there. Some. "Thanks," Alison flashed him a grin.

At the end of her breather period, he put her in front of the Dodge Ball - a large leather-wrapped ball suspended between floor and ceiling on a taut cord. "Now you get to play duck and weave." he said, giving his own punch to the dodgeball to get it swinging wildly. "Stick and move. Remember to breathe, and don't let yourself get bogged down in one place."

"Shall do." Now this, Alison smiled, she could enjoy. Even taking into account that she might be a bit slower, at least in ways she'd noticed during the bar brawl for one thing, it was decidedly easy to just fall into the not-quite-rhythm of things. The reflexes were still there, her body weaving through the patterns easily.

Haroun watched her move with appreciation and with a grin. "Good!" he told her as she ducked, moved, and occasionally struck at the ball to keep things moving along. "You'll get back up to speed in no time." He reassured her.

The forced downtime and her power going haywire had messed her up way too much, in her own estimate, but she was more than willing to go with his conclusion - she certainly planned on getting back up to speed as quickly as humanly possible, even if it meant reporting to the medlab every other day still for check-ups purely due to the training. "At least I can do something now," she nodded, taking a step back at his signal for another breather, feeling the strain in her limbs. Alison kept walking slowly as she cooled down, flashing him a quick smile.

Haroun watched her move and struggle to get her breath back. "A couple of laps around the Gym, and then strength training, and we'll call it an afternoon." he said with a smile. "So rest quickly."

She did, actually pausing only to stretch out her legs a bit again, using that time to regulate her breathing as well. "Sounds good to me," was the answer, Alison not even going into how little that was compared to what she'd been doing before. Of course they'd have to work her up to more. "Just let me take off the gloves..." She did just that, slipping them off quickly and dropping them near her gym bag.

"I'm not trying to break you here, we're working up slowly. As you prove able to handle the workouts, we'll increase the load appropriately until all that nasty stiffness is All Gone." he said, innocent of the potential double meaning in his words. "So get moving! Give me ten laps around the Gym." he barked at her.

She was so wangling a massage out of him after this. Not that there would be any problems doing that, she knew. With a small grin at the implications of what he'd just said but without pointing it out to him, Alison snapped a salute at him before trotting towards the track obediently. It didn't matter to her that she'd probably hate herself once this was all done, right now the thought of settling into a nice jogging rhythm was perfectly acceptable to her.

Haroun watched Alison run her laps, and on Lap Nine he told her. "After next lap, give me twenty knuckle pushups." He waited for her to round out her laps, and when she dropped to do the pushups he dropped along with her, to do them with her. "Good. Now do crunches. Two minutes, as many as you can." he told her before settling in to do them along with her.

The knuckle push-ups had been one thing, but there was always a mat to use for those and her hands were fine. But the crunches were a pain to do, quite literally. Being out of breath again from the jogging meant she had to struggle a bit to keep a regular pace doing them along with trying to keep a firm control on her air intake. Her abdominal muscles were burning halfway through, along with a definite protest coming  from her lower back, though she ignored both determinedly, pushing as hard as she could without hurting herself. "Hot bath after this. Oh so much," she grunted out between crunches. And the massage too, yes.

"Finish your crunches." he said in short sharp words, and then when the time came around he stopped and called "Time." before standing back up. "Good first-day workout. Tomorrow will be harder." he promised. "More laps, more crunches, more pushups, more bag time, more stretching. More, more, more. You're probably going to hate me by the time we're done." he said with a grin. "But when we are done, you will be strong and flexible."

Forcing herself to stand up, to keep moving to avoid any sort of cramping until she'd properly cooled down, Alison flashed him a quick grin. "Am not going to hate you," she stated firmly, taking in deep breaths. "Already hoping to do to twice a day sessions, thank you very much." She paused again, walking around slowly, waiting for her breathing to settle. Laughing a bit raggedly she shook her head. "And Madelyn said she'd help too. I'm looking forward to it all. Besides. You get to make up for the pushing even if the others don't," she added, winking at him cheerfully.

"I like pushing." he said, completely deadpan. "And I get a workout alongside of yours. Now come on, I think you mentioned something about a soak and a backrub?" he told her with a perfectly innocent leer on his face. "Since a certain someone is all better, I'd better make sure I don't miss a single muscle with that rubdown."

Which reminded her that she owed the medstaff a day at the Spa. Alison made a mental note to see about that, even though with the holidays coming up it might have to wait a bit. "Don't even try to look innocent when you say that," she wagged a finger at him, then stopped for a moment, testing one leg carefully, stretching it out and then nodding in satisfaction. No seizing up. "I did indeed. A very hot bath. And a backrub." She grinned at that, backing towards her gym back while pondering a full body stretch just because she could do a full body stretch. She had the sneaking suspicion she might fall asleep on him during the backrub, though.

Haroun grabbed his own things and followed Alison back to her own room. "Bath first, then backrub?" he suggested, waiting for her to make the next move.

She didn't bother untying her running shoes, prying them off at the heel even as she dropped her gymbag on the ground. "That's the idea..." And then the rest of that caught up and Alison found herself smiling a bit sheepishly - while the scars on her arm were barely visible thanks to the healing Amanda had done while she was still in isolation, the one that ran down her leg very much was. And she didn't like the idea of anyone seeing it. At all.

"The scar makes me feel awkward." She'd closed her eyes while saying that, the words expelled in one breath before looking at him again. This whole talking business was hard to stick to sometimes but she'd stick to it as best she could, hoping he'd understand what she was getting at, forgetting she'd never even brought it up with him at all, though he'd probably seen the medical reports on her at one point or other.

Haroun nodded. "We all have our scars. Mine got covered with synthetic skin for the most part." he said. "But it's your decision. If you want to take that bath solo and then cover up before the backrub, that's fine. I'd prefer it straight-up, but I know all about body-image issues." he said with a straight face. "So it's your decision."

"Mmrgn." It felt silly in a sense, but she couldn't let it go. "I didn't have to think about it before, but it's been pretty much there in my face since..." She trailed off, not sure how to call the events in the medlab which had led to her 'miraculous' healing. Wandering over to him, she leaned against him lightly, smiling just a bit. "I won't be long." She meant the bath but possibly the rest as well, at that.