Recovery training (open)

[Kiarra Leyanne]

Kiarra walked slowly into the fitness center, wearing blue sport shorts and a matching spaghetti-strap top. She had a white hand towel around her neck and a water bottle in a holder strapped around her waist. She strode up to the treadmill and stepped on. She turned it on and set it at a gradually advancing speed and started walking. As the treadmill's speed increased, Kiarra picked up her pace. After about fifteen minutes, she pushed a button to turn off the treadmill and stepped off, panting. Her skin shone with a slight sweat, but that was only a warmup.

After a drink from the bottle, Kiarra moved to a pull-up bar and grasped it with thumbs meeting her fingers on the opposite side. She pulled herself up, getting her chin above the bar. After only a few times, her right shoulder started to burn. She dropped, bending her knees on impact. "Gotta do more of those," she said to herself, massaging her shoulder with her left hand. Her fingers brushed the scar on the front of her shoulder, just above her chest. Her bright blue-green eyes darken slightly, hating the feeling of weakness the injury had given her, and it still was. The doctors had said that it would take a while for her shoulder muscles to be up to what it used to, but that didn't mean Kiarra had to like that.

Kiarra shook her head and pulled her dark red hair into a ponytail with the hairband around her wrist. Even that simple movement made her shoulder twinge, and Kiarra winced slightly. She moved to one of the workout balls and laid down on it, her stomach toward the cieling. She clasped her hands behind her head and started doing crunches, the ball allowing a fuller range of motion than the floor. Despite the twinge in her shoulder from the angle, she pressed on and did about fourty before stopping and standing up. She used one end of the towel around her neck to wipe the sweat off her forehead, then took another drink from her water bottle. After pushing the ball out of the way, Kiarra stood and began stretching.

After some stretching, Kiarra sat down on a bench by the wall. She kept thinking back to what happened in the stables the other day with Damian. She had thouroughly embarrassed herself because of her complete lapse in concentration. She closed her eyes, trying to block it out. While horses needed training, the riders had to keep fit if they wanted to go anywhere. That had been the promise she'd made, both to herself and her parents. She would get back into shape, then get back in the arena. She stood up and went back to the treadmill, turning it on low. Sitting down had been a mistake; she had forgotten that sitting down after excersizing made the lactic acid in muscles build up, making them burn. A slow pace was what Kiarra often did to ease off that feeling.

[Sara Lyena]

Sara was upset; she hadn’t been able to find a horse to take out that morning, as she didn’t have a class, so she decided to go to the fitness center instead to find some way to vent off energy. She started with weights, the things she hated the most, but she knew it would help her. She really wanted to get to the pool, but that would defeat the purpose of coming. She liked swimming, it relaxed her, and it was a good way to work on muscles without gravity having any effect. It was said to be even better than running, especially for the skeleton, because there was no jarring impact on the bones. After she finished with her weights, smiling at the pitiful amount she was actually lifting, she headed to the treadmills. She had never liked lifting, but she needed the shoulder muscles to swim her favorite stroke, butterfly.

She set the treadmill she was on to a medium pace. Running might not be good for bones, but it still made her feel good to go so and so many miles in a day. Today, she promised herself to jog at least ten miles before she let herself go change into her swimming gear to cool off. Just then, she noticed the girl walking next to her. She recognized the red hair. “You’re in a few of my classes, aren’t you?” She thought that the girl was, but she couldn’t place exactly which ones that would be.

OOC;; Yeah, feel free to make up a class or two. I couldn't think of any class.

[Kiarra Leyanne]

Kiarra didn't pay attention to the girl on the treadmill next to her until she spoke. Kiarra turned to the girl, nodding when she recognized the girl. "Yeah," she said. "Equestrian Biology and History, I think." She slowed the treadmill down and took a drink from her water bottle. She put the bottle back in the harness on her hip before setting the treadmill to slightly slower than what it had been just minutes ago.

"I just got the go-ahead from my doctor," Kiarra said to the girl whose name she couldn't remember. "I'm allowed back in the arena, but I'm a bit out of shape. In order to be a good rider, you gotta keep in shape." She slowed the pace and turned the treadmill off, unaware of the scar showing on the front of her shoulder. "I need to get back in shape before I can get back in the arena." She stepped off, turning to the rest of the room.

Kiarra unconsciously massaged her right shoulder with her left hand. She sighed quietly, her mood suddenly low. "I can't believe I was so stupid..." she muttered. "T was my fault... I should've been more focused... I could've prevented this... I knew better... And he still drills me about it..." She sighed and shook her head, almost dejected. "I deserved it though... He didn't have to deal with me..." She slowly started to walk away, towards a bench, wiping her face with the towel around her neck as she went.

[Sara Lyena]

Sara nodded, "That's right, I knew it was something." She didn't sit next to Kiarra or anything, but she noticed the people in her class, it was something she always did. She slowed the treadmill down a little bit, changing the speed to a slow jog that she could keep up while talking.

"That's good, isn't it? If I had to stay off of horses, I would be going stir crazy." Sara noticed the scar on the girl's shoulder, but didn't say anything, thinking it was what had kept her out of the arena. "Yes, I guess that would be a good idea, to get back in shape."

As Kiarra walked away, murmuring, Sara heard a few words of what she said, but didn't really listen. She finished her goal of ten miles and slowed the treadmill down even further, to a gentle walking speed. She didn't really want to follow her classmate, it wouldn't be polite to hang on to her like that, so Sara just slowed the treadmill down to a walking speed and walked a mile, facing forward but watching the girl out of the corner of her eye. She didn't know if they would be friends, but she sure hoped so. Kiarra seemed like a nice enough person. After she finished the mile, she stopped the machine and picked up her bag, ready to head to the locker room. On the way there, she passed Kiarra again and said, "I'm going to go swimming. Would you like to come with me? It's good for regaining strength."

[Kiarra Leyanne]

Kiarra turned quickly when the girl--Sara was her name--asked about swimming. She tilted her head, dark red hair falling in a rope down her back due to her hairband. Her lips twitched in an almost-smile as she nodded. "Alright," she said quietly. "I guess swimming would be good." She reached into her bag, searching. "I actually grabbed my swimsuit before I came here," she said, surprised. She stood up and started walking toward the locker room. She opened the door, then looked back at Sara. "You coming?" she asked before walking in.

Kiarra quickly changed into her swimsuit, a one-piece that wouldn't have looked out of place in a Japanese manga about high school girls. She tied her hair up in a makeshift bun before slipping her clear goggles over her head. She emerged from the locker room with her towel wrapped around her shoulders. She walked toward the pool, stopping near the edge to drop her towel. She jumped in, splashing only the very edge of the pool, along with anything directly nearby. She surfaced, gasping for breath and wiping water out of her eyes. She snapped her goggles over her eyes and turned, waiting for Sara for a moment before she started to swim laps.

Sara had been right. Swimming was a good way to excersize without straining your muscles. Kiarra remembered her therapist saying to swim whenever possible in order to build up muscle without straining it. The pain that had been building in her shoulder was starting to lessen, as was the pain in her legs from all the running. She would have to swim more often starting today.

[Sara Lyena]

Sara smiled and nodded, "It's a good way to relax, I find." She watched Kiarra search through her bag and smiled, "That would be very helpful to going swimming." There was a sarcastic hint in her voice, the comment was meant to evoke laughter. She followed the girl into the locker, where her swimsuit was locked in her locker, the one that had her favorite number, 209. She twirled the numbers on her lock around absently, not really paying attention. She knew the code by heart. She opened the door and then pulled on her suit quickly, not wanting to be left behind when Kiarra left. Her swim suit was a slim, understated black and grey suit with a red stripe running down each side. She pulled her up in a bun and then pulled a cap over it, a black one with a trident down the side. It was a cheap cap, the only Silicone one she had found since her old one ripped. Too many people these days preferred swimming with latex or cloth these days. She grabbed her old goggles, a few years old and showing it, and followed Kiarra, her towel loosely hanging around her shoulders. She stepped through the door to the pool and stopped to put her towel on the edge of the bench there, then slipped her goggles over her eyes. She moved to the edge of the pool. Without stopping to test the water, she dived in. Kiarra was on the other side of the pool, she had checked, didn't want to hurt anyone. She started stroking away, choosing to start with some freestyle to stretch out.

OOC;: Sorry, posted with the wrong account. I hope it doesn't happen again.

[Kiarra Leyanne]

OOC: No big. I'm low on muse right now, but I'll reply when I have more.