Royal breaking free — she initially sprints, then jogs (9)

I believe the answer is:

refreshes

'jogs' is the definition.
(as in jogging or refreshing someone's memory)

'royal breaking free she initially sprints' is the wordplay.
'royal' becomes 'r' (abbreviation**).
'breaking' indicates an anagram.
'initially' suggests taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'sprints' is 's'.
'free' is an anagram of 'efre'.
'r'+'efre'+'she'+'s'='REFRESHES'

'then' is the link.

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app