Man, do I ever hurt!
I hurt bad enough that I went and had my 1st derby related x-ray today. Rock on.
How did that happen, you might ask? Well, now...in case you have forgotten, roller derby is a full contact sport and I am now starting to make some contact.
I am now starting to drill with the pack. This is both exciting and terrifying to me. It's nice to feel like a part of the team but I am also very much aware of the fact that I am not yet possessing the skills I need to perform up to par with them. I'm like the fat kid in gym class that's forced to climb the rope...class is over but the teacher won't let anyone leave until we all get up the rope and my fat ass simply cannot do it in a timely fashion. I feel as if someone has thrown me into the deep end before teaching me how to tread water first...not that I haven't been taught the basics. I have learned a lot from Mouth but there are a lot of things that will only come with time and practice.
I know that the only way to learn is by doing and I am trying my best. But, damn...these girls skate fast and hard and I am floundering along behind them like a gangly puppy trailing behind it's mother. It's very humbling.
I know I am faster than I was but I still have a long way to go...and when I get tired I get ugly sloppy. I can only imagine what the others must think of my skating then because I know I look like a total retard. I think I need even grippier wheels than what Mouth lent me...I still feel like my wheels are sliding out from beneath me when I push for speed. I know that a grippier wheel will slow me down even more but I think I need more control now so I can get better form and just have to work a little harder for the speed.
Did I mention that I am getting new gear for my birthday next month? CANNOT WAIT!
Anywho, we did some drilling to try and push an opponent out of bounds on the curve first. I sucked at that. I am still so afraid of totally wiping out that I am not allowing myself to skate close enough to the opposing player to take them out effectively. I have to get my head into the game of rough and tumble and find some killer instincts. We also did some blocking wall drills and I think I did okay on those. I did some blocking and hitting and I think I somewhat held my own. But when I got knocked down I had a hard time catching back up to the pack to get back into position. I also have to fix my form and keep better control of my arms...were it a bout I would have been in the penalty box A LOT for forearms and back blocking. Whoops.
We did some pace lines and line passing drills too. I sucked even harder on those. Wanna know what embarrassing is? It's being so damn slow and clunky that two of the best players on the team are pushing and pulling you along in order to keep you with them. While I appreciated that kindness I felt like a complete schmuck for needing it. Ahhh...to have an 'instant ability' button to push...
So, we did a drill where all the girls line up two by two and a bit staggered to form an aisle for a jammer to skate through. We all took turns jamming through the aisle while the girls on either side hip bumped us. Surprisingly enough I made it through the aisle unscathed and managed not to fall. It was when the drill was nearly over and one of the last girls was coming through that I got jacked up. Rather than me bumping her in passing she kinda came at me straight on and just knocked me flat on my ass. Hard. Welcome to derby, biotch.
My ass, by the way, still hurts like a champ. But since I can still walk and sit I am not too concerned about a tailbone injury. It hurt but I got back up and shrugged it off and went back to the business of practice. By the time we ended the practice with a modified version of the game Red Rover I had pretty much forgotten about my fall. But when we reconvened at the center of the track for our end of practice ab routine it was brought to my attention that I had also hurt my wrist when I fell after I took my wrist guards off. My left wrist definitely took a nice knock, guard or not, when I fell.
By the time I got home it was really tender to the touch, but I still had full mobility so I figured I would sleep on it and see how it felt in the morning. And by this morning it still hurt like a mother so off to the doctor I went.
It's tender on one side and mildly inflamed so we did x-rays. The doctor suspects that I probably have a very small hairline fracture but I'll have to wait on x-ray results...if it needs treatment he'll call me tomorrow, otherwise I am to rest it and stay off skates until the next practice on Tuesday. Unless it's a very visible fracture he's not going to wrap it or cast it since I can grasp and move it yet (although squeezing with that hand hurts like mad). I kind of figured the doctor would tell me derby was too rough and that I should find a new hobby but he actually thought it was really cool and told me to have fun and be more careful.
So I guess this long weekend I will lay low and work on plyometrics to strengthen my skate muscles and some core routines.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Working hard...
Last night we worked hard and I am hurting like Hell today. That could, of course, be partly due to my ugliest fall yet. Grace is not my middle name.
We did a lot of work doing crossovers around a small circle of cones (which I really need to work on) and my skates felt wonky, for lack of a better term. My right skate felt really shaky and loose. I should have known that it was my trucks...those things constantly vibrate themselves half off. Yet another example of cheap equipment biting me in the ass. So anyway, the trucks along with the fact that I think my cheap, non-adjustable toe stops being in the way were making it difficult to get a smooth crossover.
And finally the inevitable happened, I fell. I was trying to sprint back up to speed before the curve so I could do a faster crossover and I felt my toe stop snag the ground (still not sure how I managed that) and before I knew it I was hitting the ground. Forget falling small, I wiped out in a glorious and painful way...full on belly flop onto concrete while sprinting. Ouch.
I totally knocked the wind out of myself and...I admit...worked really hard to hold back tears. That sucked. I was very grateful that Mouth (most likely sensing my need for a moment) sent us off for a quick water break. He wouldn't let us dawdle though and came after us for taking too long. I even appreciated that as it's far too easy to want to throw in the towel for the day after a fall like that and I knew I needed to get back up on the proverbial horse.
I did finally show Mouth my trucks and he agreed they were way too loose so I took five to tighten them back up and after that it was a little easier to skate. My toe guards are still an issue. We don't really use them much (as freshies at least) so I may remove them before Thursday's practice. I want to see what my crossovers look like without them dragging the ground. Dear God...I cannot wait until next month when I can get some quality skates!!!
The rest of the practice we did more crossovers, some hard sprints, some endurance laps around the outside of the track, and some hitting drills. I have to better my endurance. If it weren't for the fact that I jacked my left quad up a bit again last night I would go do laps this afternoon, but I want to be my best Thursday so I will rest today rather than push it. I will do some lunges and squats though and possibly hit up the gym tonight for some full body strength training.
One pleasant side note is that after swapping out my bearings I feel a big difference. I didn't once have a moment while lapping that I felt like my skates were slowing down on me. Quite the opposite actually, my skates have so much more roll now that when I am standing still they roll out on me. Looks like I have to relearn how to stand still, oh my. (;
Oh...and I don't believe Karen will be back.
We did a lot of work doing crossovers around a small circle of cones (which I really need to work on) and my skates felt wonky, for lack of a better term. My right skate felt really shaky and loose. I should have known that it was my trucks...those things constantly vibrate themselves half off. Yet another example of cheap equipment biting me in the ass. So anyway, the trucks along with the fact that I think my cheap, non-adjustable toe stops being in the way were making it difficult to get a smooth crossover.
And finally the inevitable happened, I fell. I was trying to sprint back up to speed before the curve so I could do a faster crossover and I felt my toe stop snag the ground (still not sure how I managed that) and before I knew it I was hitting the ground. Forget falling small, I wiped out in a glorious and painful way...full on belly flop onto concrete while sprinting. Ouch.
I totally knocked the wind out of myself and...I admit...worked really hard to hold back tears. That sucked. I was very grateful that Mouth (most likely sensing my need for a moment) sent us off for a quick water break. He wouldn't let us dawdle though and came after us for taking too long. I even appreciated that as it's far too easy to want to throw in the towel for the day after a fall like that and I knew I needed to get back up on the proverbial horse.
I did finally show Mouth my trucks and he agreed they were way too loose so I took five to tighten them back up and after that it was a little easier to skate. My toe guards are still an issue. We don't really use them much (as freshies at least) so I may remove them before Thursday's practice. I want to see what my crossovers look like without them dragging the ground. Dear God...I cannot wait until next month when I can get some quality skates!!!
The rest of the practice we did more crossovers, some hard sprints, some endurance laps around the outside of the track, and some hitting drills. I have to better my endurance. If it weren't for the fact that I jacked my left quad up a bit again last night I would go do laps this afternoon, but I want to be my best Thursday so I will rest today rather than push it. I will do some lunges and squats though and possibly hit up the gym tonight for some full body strength training.
One pleasant side note is that after swapping out my bearings I feel a big difference. I didn't once have a moment while lapping that I felt like my skates were slowing down on me. Quite the opposite actually, my skates have so much more roll now that when I am standing still they roll out on me. Looks like I have to relearn how to stand still, oh my. (;
Oh...and I don't believe Karen will be back.
Friday, May 13, 2011
End of week three...
Heh...I managed to give myself my 1st "derby" injury last night. I was sprinting across the rink and doing turning knee slides and somehow managed to bash the wheels of my right skate heel into my left shin while swinging around. Did I mention that I am in no way graceful? But, the side note to that drill is that my quads both feel great! I went down on both (even though my instinct was to avoid using the left one I tweaked the day before) and even managed to get back up hands free from both...woo hoo! I think that is one hurdle that is, for the most part, behind me on my quest to derby.
Now to jump back to the start of practice last night. Mouth wanted me to do laps in the pack to warm up...I totally get his reasoning and hope that by end of next week I will be able to do so without feeling like I am going to be run over or trip one of the other girls. But last night was ugly. To date I can't just pop onto the oval and get cranking...it takes a few laps of ugly skating to get the groove of my wheels. Like I said in my last post, part of it has to do with my wheels having no grip. I did a couple nasty laps and I am quite certain the other girls just wanted me the hell out of their way (I know I would) so I got out of the way and told Mouth that I was having problems because I needed better wheels. (I have been saving up for them...good wheels cost more than my cheap skates!) So Mouth pulled me to the side and has so kindly lent me out a set of Radar Flat Outs until I can get my own...he also showed me how to change out the wheels and bearings so I got busy doing that while the other girls finished their laps.
With the new (to me) wheels on and my trucks tightened (I swear the damn things vibrate themselves loose every time I skate) I did some laps outside of the oval. *insert sound of choir of angels singing here* After the initial 'whoa, these feel weird' lap there was a remarkable difference in how well my wheels rolled and how they felt on the turns. Now the only issue I have to overcome when doing my laps, besides overall endurance of course, is the fact that there comes a certain point where I feel like my body has a ton of inertia behind it but my wheels can't keep up and kinda catch. After doing some research about the ABEC rating and seeing what my bearings looked like (crud covered) my next step is to upgrade my bearings. You see, my cheap ass skates came with cheap ass bearings. Bearings are rated 1 (crap) to 9 (awesome) on the ABEC scale and my skates have ABED 1 rated bearings. The bearings affect how well, fast, and smoothly the wheels roll...changing my bearings out may very well be just what I need to loose that little catch in my glide.
So, since Mouth was awesome enough to lend me some better wheels I used part of what I was saving up towards wheels on a set of Bones Reds bearings. If what I see online is true (and these have very high ratings from other derby girls) these should be top notch bearings. As a matter of fact the company lists them as 'skate rated' over using the ABEC scale because, according to the manufacturer, they are specifically designed for skating use and are superior to ABEC 9 rating. We shall see...hopefully they get here before Tuesday.
I also ordered some gel insoles that are supposedly specifically designed for hockey skates (should work for quads too then, right?) because FUCK do my feet hurt like Hell when I skate! Another issue of cheap ass skates? No padding to speak of between your feet and the trucks.
Beyond that practice pretty much was just me off to the side working on weaving cones (no Karen again and Mel popped back and forth between me and the pack), working on stops, and skating a small oval to work on my crossovers. Aside from skinning my calf on my skate wheel I also had one ugly fall when I nipped a cone while weaving. I landed really awkwardly with my shoulder twisted and my right arm kinda pulled weird...it's a little off this morning but hasn't affected my mobility so I'm sure it will be 100% tomorrow.
PS...Mouth had me sprint at the end and said my speed has tripled since I started! =-)
This weekend I think I will just lay low and maybe hit the gym once for some strength training and then hit the rink again Monday.
Now to jump back to the start of practice last night. Mouth wanted me to do laps in the pack to warm up...I totally get his reasoning and hope that by end of next week I will be able to do so without feeling like I am going to be run over or trip one of the other girls. But last night was ugly. To date I can't just pop onto the oval and get cranking...it takes a few laps of ugly skating to get the groove of my wheels. Like I said in my last post, part of it has to do with my wheels having no grip. I did a couple nasty laps and I am quite certain the other girls just wanted me the hell out of their way (I know I would) so I got out of the way and told Mouth that I was having problems because I needed better wheels. (I have been saving up for them...good wheels cost more than my cheap skates!) So Mouth pulled me to the side and has so kindly lent me out a set of Radar Flat Outs until I can get my own...he also showed me how to change out the wheels and bearings so I got busy doing that while the other girls finished their laps.
With the new (to me) wheels on and my trucks tightened (I swear the damn things vibrate themselves loose every time I skate) I did some laps outside of the oval. *insert sound of choir of angels singing here* After the initial 'whoa, these feel weird' lap there was a remarkable difference in how well my wheels rolled and how they felt on the turns. Now the only issue I have to overcome when doing my laps, besides overall endurance of course, is the fact that there comes a certain point where I feel like my body has a ton of inertia behind it but my wheels can't keep up and kinda catch. After doing some research about the ABEC rating and seeing what my bearings looked like (crud covered) my next step is to upgrade my bearings. You see, my cheap ass skates came with cheap ass bearings. Bearings are rated 1 (crap) to 9 (awesome) on the ABEC scale and my skates have ABED 1 rated bearings. The bearings affect how well, fast, and smoothly the wheels roll...changing my bearings out may very well be just what I need to loose that little catch in my glide.
So, since Mouth was awesome enough to lend me some better wheels I used part of what I was saving up towards wheels on a set of Bones Reds bearings. If what I see online is true (and these have very high ratings from other derby girls) these should be top notch bearings. As a matter of fact the company lists them as 'skate rated' over using the ABEC scale because, according to the manufacturer, they are specifically designed for skating use and are superior to ABEC 9 rating. We shall see...hopefully they get here before Tuesday.
I also ordered some gel insoles that are supposedly specifically designed for hockey skates (should work for quads too then, right?) because FUCK do my feet hurt like Hell when I skate! Another issue of cheap ass skates? No padding to speak of between your feet and the trucks.
Beyond that practice pretty much was just me off to the side working on weaving cones (no Karen again and Mel popped back and forth between me and the pack), working on stops, and skating a small oval to work on my crossovers. Aside from skinning my calf on my skate wheel I also had one ugly fall when I nipped a cone while weaving. I landed really awkwardly with my shoulder twisted and my right arm kinda pulled weird...it's a little off this morning but hasn't affected my mobility so I'm sure it will be 100% tomorrow.
PS...Mouth had me sprint at the end and said my speed has tripled since I started! =-)
This weekend I think I will just lay low and maybe hit the gym once for some strength training and then hit the rink again Monday.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Plugging away...
So, Tuesday's practice was a pretty mellow one as Mouth wasn't there and Mel and I (Karen was a no show) were pretty much left to our own devices.
We did get some good technical advice on a few things from both Split and Frank...and hopefully Split will be lending me out some grippy wheels until I can save up enough to purchase some of my own (I have been skating on very hard indoor wheels when I need a much grippier outdoor wheel for our polished concrete outdoor track). And Cruise, who is skating with the pack but not yet bouting, came over to skate with us some and we got some ideas of what the minimum skills we should be working on are.
Mostly Mel and I did some weaving, scooter pushes, lateral movement, and crossover work. We definitely didn't bust our asses without Mouth, but I know that I for one needed a more mellow practice that night as one of my ass muscles was a little tweaked. (Really? My ASS muscle? Only me, seriously.)
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The next day I went out to the track with my daughter in tow to work on my endurance some. I started out by doing 25 laps and trying to improve my crossovers some. I think once I get a grippier wheel I will improve on those, as it stands now my wheels slide too much on the motion for me to comfortably extend my legs enough to really propel myself. And let me just say, I consider it an overall improvement to my skating that I can tell it's my wheels slipping and not just my suckiness that is holding me back!
I didn't time myself, but I was very pleased with the fact that I got all 25 in without needing to stop. Now, I was beat by the end and my feet, as usual, were killing me after that. But I did them!
I worked a little on one foot glides and weaves...I can go around half the track on my right alone (yay) but I still need to build up my balance and strength on my left leg as I can go straight but I lose it when I try to turn and weave on it.
I also worked on improving my T and plow stops and my baseball slides. I am still working on popping back up onto my skates without placing my hands on the ground. I can do it when using my right leg, but again it's my left leg that seems weaker so I can't do it on lefty just yet. I need to get faster for sure but at least I look less like a retard now that I can at least do it.
And I made sure to end my 40 minute practice (about all my 2 year old's attention span can take before she turns into a raging lunatic begging to go to the playground, lol) by doing another 25 laps as fast as I could. Now, by the last 10 laps it was pretty ugly and sloppy...but I did them without stopping. Slowly but surely improving. =-)
Of course, don't you know that once my right quad finally feels like a million bucks...even after sliding all over the place on that knee...I moved funny and pulled my left one. *sigh* At least I know that it will get better soon enough and until then I can skate through it.
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Looking forward to tonight's practice. I hope it's warm enough to don my new booty shorts, lol!
We did get some good technical advice on a few things from both Split and Frank...and hopefully Split will be lending me out some grippy wheels until I can save up enough to purchase some of my own (I have been skating on very hard indoor wheels when I need a much grippier outdoor wheel for our polished concrete outdoor track). And Cruise, who is skating with the pack but not yet bouting, came over to skate with us some and we got some ideas of what the minimum skills we should be working on are.
Mostly Mel and I did some weaving, scooter pushes, lateral movement, and crossover work. We definitely didn't bust our asses without Mouth, but I know that I for one needed a more mellow practice that night as one of my ass muscles was a little tweaked. (Really? My ASS muscle? Only me, seriously.)
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The next day I went out to the track with my daughter in tow to work on my endurance some. I started out by doing 25 laps and trying to improve my crossovers some. I think once I get a grippier wheel I will improve on those, as it stands now my wheels slide too much on the motion for me to comfortably extend my legs enough to really propel myself. And let me just say, I consider it an overall improvement to my skating that I can tell it's my wheels slipping and not just my suckiness that is holding me back!
I didn't time myself, but I was very pleased with the fact that I got all 25 in without needing to stop. Now, I was beat by the end and my feet, as usual, were killing me after that. But I did them!
I worked a little on one foot glides and weaves...I can go around half the track on my right alone (yay) but I still need to build up my balance and strength on my left leg as I can go straight but I lose it when I try to turn and weave on it.
I also worked on improving my T and plow stops and my baseball slides. I am still working on popping back up onto my skates without placing my hands on the ground. I can do it when using my right leg, but again it's my left leg that seems weaker so I can't do it on lefty just yet. I need to get faster for sure but at least I look less like a retard now that I can at least do it.
And I made sure to end my 40 minute practice (about all my 2 year old's attention span can take before she turns into a raging lunatic begging to go to the playground, lol) by doing another 25 laps as fast as I could. Now, by the last 10 laps it was pretty ugly and sloppy...but I did them without stopping. Slowly but surely improving. =-)
Of course, don't you know that once my right quad finally feels like a million bucks...even after sliding all over the place on that knee...I moved funny and pulled my left one. *sigh* At least I know that it will get better soon enough and until then I can skate through it.
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Looking forward to tonight's practice. I hope it's warm enough to don my new booty shorts, lol!
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Holy wind, Batman!
So I tried to be a good girl and went out to the outdoor rink today with the intent of getting at least an hour of practice in. I took my little girl with me and put her on her trike on the far side where she was content to pedal around in circles while I did my thing.
The first thing I had to do was chase off some obnoxious kids. The rink was blissfully empty when I got there but by the time I finished lacing up a gaggle of kids that were about 8-12 ran up with a variety of toys ranging from razor scooters to pogo sticks.
*sigh*
I called out to them that I planned on doing laps on the oval and asked that they please stick to the surrounding areas so I would not risk ramming into any of them (none of which were wearing helmets, bad parents!). Oh...that lasted about 25 seconds before the first kid cut in front of me on a diagonal. Okay...I gotta learn to skate with a pack and all but generally speaking I am pretty sure in derby you go the same direction and stick to the track rather than cut in, out, and across it. Totally not going to work.
So now I jumped into Mommy mode and politely explained to the kids that they simply could not be on the track with me if they were going to behave so dangerously. I also ixnayed the pogo sticks completely. The last thing I need is a kid bouncing at me out of nowhere!
It took a few tries but I finally got through to the oldest one there that if they were going to share the rink with me they needed to be respectful of my safety and theirs and either go to the far end of the rink where my 2 year old was smart enough to stay, stick to the outside of the oval, or leave altogether. And off they went for the barren basketball court to play. Finally!
I got 25 warm up laps in (which I did not time) and even got a little more comfortable with the motion of crossovers. Then I worked on one leg glides. During so I managed to consistently cross the half-court on one leg on a straight path. I also laid out some of the general Mommy crap my purse manages to consume no matter how often I clean it out so I could work on weaving. That proved difficult simply because my daughter kept trying to help me by cleaning up said mommy crap and redepositing it into my purse. What a good little helper...too bad I can't get her to clean at home! However, the few times I did succeed in keeping my course on the ground I did good.
I tried a few touch and go lunges but my legs just aren't strong enough to do that just yet. We'll keep at them though until they are.
By this time my daughter was done on her trike and begging me to take her to the slides. As much as I wanted to go longer she is 2, after all, and had been really good for me so it was time to let her have some fun too. I wanted to end my time by trying my hand at 25 laps in 5 minutes but that ended up being a no-go. The stinking wind was blowing so hard that half the time it felt like I was skating through a muddy bog...it is so hard to skate against a huge wind like that! It was even making me stutter some on my skates o I gave up on that. If I can get in 45 minutes at least every other day outside of regular practices I think I'll be doing really good.
The first thing I had to do was chase off some obnoxious kids. The rink was blissfully empty when I got there but by the time I finished lacing up a gaggle of kids that were about 8-12 ran up with a variety of toys ranging from razor scooters to pogo sticks.
*sigh*
I called out to them that I planned on doing laps on the oval and asked that they please stick to the surrounding areas so I would not risk ramming into any of them (none of which were wearing helmets, bad parents!). Oh...that lasted about 25 seconds before the first kid cut in front of me on a diagonal. Okay...I gotta learn to skate with a pack and all but generally speaking I am pretty sure in derby you go the same direction and stick to the track rather than cut in, out, and across it. Totally not going to work.
So now I jumped into Mommy mode and politely explained to the kids that they simply could not be on the track with me if they were going to behave so dangerously. I also ixnayed the pogo sticks completely. The last thing I need is a kid bouncing at me out of nowhere!
It took a few tries but I finally got through to the oldest one there that if they were going to share the rink with me they needed to be respectful of my safety and theirs and either go to the far end of the rink where my 2 year old was smart enough to stay, stick to the outside of the oval, or leave altogether. And off they went for the barren basketball court to play. Finally!
I got 25 warm up laps in (which I did not time) and even got a little more comfortable with the motion of crossovers. Then I worked on one leg glides. During so I managed to consistently cross the half-court on one leg on a straight path. I also laid out some of the general Mommy crap my purse manages to consume no matter how often I clean it out so I could work on weaving. That proved difficult simply because my daughter kept trying to help me by cleaning up said mommy crap and redepositing it into my purse. What a good little helper...too bad I can't get her to clean at home! However, the few times I did succeed in keeping my course on the ground I did good.
I tried a few touch and go lunges but my legs just aren't strong enough to do that just yet. We'll keep at them though until they are.
By this time my daughter was done on her trike and begging me to take her to the slides. As much as I wanted to go longer she is 2, after all, and had been really good for me so it was time to let her have some fun too. I wanted to end my time by trying my hand at 25 laps in 5 minutes but that ended up being a no-go. The stinking wind was blowing so hard that half the time it felt like I was skating through a muddy bog...it is so hard to skate against a huge wind like that! It was even making me stutter some on my skates o I gave up on that. If I can get in 45 minutes at least every other day outside of regular practices I think I'll be doing really good.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Goal Set for May:
- Get off the ground quicker and more fluidly after taking a knee
- Perfect my T-Stop
- Be able to balance and weave on both my right and my left legs
- Continue to improve my stride (point the toes!)
- Learn proper cross overs
Chuggin' along...
Tonight was another fun practice. For starters, Karen was there (yay!) so that was a pleasant surprise. And the most splendid surprise of all..? My quads, for the first time, were not shrieking at me!! Now, they still ache because I am beating the shit out of them, but it's just your normal run of the mill muscle pain rather than the level of Hell it has been. Nicey nice.
We did scooter pushes again...my goal is to be able to do them without having to pause to ease up on the leg I am bearing down on. I think my form is getting better at those, I just need more strength and endurance.
We tried weaving a short course on one leg. I was pleased to see that I could go straight across the short part of the rink on one foot, so my balance is coming a long some. But once it came to weaving the course I saw where my biggest downfall is where that is concerned...I really have to do some work on my left leg strength. There was a definite discrepancy between my legs in the level of difficulty at squatting down and staying on one leg while also shifting my weight to weave. I see some one leg squats and presses in my near future along with the normal two leg variety.
We did quite a bit of lateral work tonight. I actually really love that. I rock at it...if I do say so myself. I had another little boost to my ego then because I was able to go up and down the line at a pace much quicker than the other girls...and with very little forward roll. By the end of that set of drills I even managed a couple short sets of lateral skips, go me!
We worked on knee lunges too. I hate that but only because I simply can't get back up off the ground without using my hands yet. I feel like a slow lumbering beast when I have to get back up off the ground. Thankfully that is a skill I can work on at home so I hope to make some big improvements on that by the end of the month.
The best part of the night by far was working on 'falling small'. In derby you fall a lot and get knocked down on your ass even more often. And since you're generally skating in a group of a dozen women (give or take) you need to train yourself to instinctively fall in such a manner that you do not pose a hazard to yourself or those around you...if you splay your arms and legs you could get rolled over and get hurt, trip another girl and hurt her, or both. So when you fall you want to pretty much tuck into yourself as much as you can (and keep those fingers in a fist so they don't get broken) and be less of a danger on the track.
What is it about throwing yourself to the ground that is so much fun??!
Seriously had a blast with that drill! We skated as hard as we could then just went down, trying to stay small. God bless knee and elbow pads! Worth every penny I spent. We also worked on our baseball style slides...nailed it! I love falling drills. Again...amazing how much difference being pain free makes.
Mouth ended our practice by wearing us the fuck out! We skated a small oval (BTW...just about finally getting the hang of cross overs! YAY!) and he would stop us randomly to do 25 of one of the following: crunches, mountain climbers, fast feet (where you stamp you r feet as fast as you can until he says stop), or barrel rolls. Great cardio! After that we joined the pack for another 150 crunches. I. Am. Beat!
Overall, awesome night.
Oh, nearly forgot to mention this...I totally shredded my laces tonight. That really cracked me up. So Rob is going to take the kids shopping this weekend to have them pick me out a couple pairs of skate laces for Mother's Day, lol.
We did scooter pushes again...my goal is to be able to do them without having to pause to ease up on the leg I am bearing down on. I think my form is getting better at those, I just need more strength and endurance.
We tried weaving a short course on one leg. I was pleased to see that I could go straight across the short part of the rink on one foot, so my balance is coming a long some. But once it came to weaving the course I saw where my biggest downfall is where that is concerned...I really have to do some work on my left leg strength. There was a definite discrepancy between my legs in the level of difficulty at squatting down and staying on one leg while also shifting my weight to weave. I see some one leg squats and presses in my near future along with the normal two leg variety.
We did quite a bit of lateral work tonight. I actually really love that. I rock at it...if I do say so myself. I had another little boost to my ego then because I was able to go up and down the line at a pace much quicker than the other girls...and with very little forward roll. By the end of that set of drills I even managed a couple short sets of lateral skips, go me!
We worked on knee lunges too. I hate that but only because I simply can't get back up off the ground without using my hands yet. I feel like a slow lumbering beast when I have to get back up off the ground. Thankfully that is a skill I can work on at home so I hope to make some big improvements on that by the end of the month.
The best part of the night by far was working on 'falling small'. In derby you fall a lot and get knocked down on your ass even more often. And since you're generally skating in a group of a dozen women (give or take) you need to train yourself to instinctively fall in such a manner that you do not pose a hazard to yourself or those around you...if you splay your arms and legs you could get rolled over and get hurt, trip another girl and hurt her, or both. So when you fall you want to pretty much tuck into yourself as much as you can (and keep those fingers in a fist so they don't get broken) and be less of a danger on the track.
What is it about throwing yourself to the ground that is so much fun??!
Seriously had a blast with that drill! We skated as hard as we could then just went down, trying to stay small. God bless knee and elbow pads! Worth every penny I spent. We also worked on our baseball style slides...nailed it! I love falling drills. Again...amazing how much difference being pain free makes.
Mouth ended our practice by wearing us the fuck out! We skated a small oval (BTW...just about finally getting the hang of cross overs! YAY!) and he would stop us randomly to do 25 of one of the following: crunches, mountain climbers, fast feet (where you stamp you r feet as fast as you can until he says stop), or barrel rolls. Great cardio! After that we joined the pack for another 150 crunches. I. Am. Beat!
Overall, awesome night.
Oh, nearly forgot to mention this...I totally shredded my laces tonight. That really cracked me up. So Rob is going to take the kids shopping this weekend to have them pick me out a couple pairs of skate laces for Mother's Day, lol.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Feeling good...
Tonight I headed out to derby practice not really feeling up to it. I was tired from getting up too darn early (for me anyway), I had the shakes a bit from having way too much coffee because I got up way too darn early, and in general I was dreading the impending quad pain. Well, the first lesson of the day is this: coffee dehydrates you, especially in such deliciously large quantities (I <3 Dutch Bros!), and dehydration leads to things such as charlie horses. Awesome. No more large and delicious quantities of double white chocolate mocha soy iced lattes on practice days (sad face).
Second lesson of the day: Powerade is actually quite good at helping said charlie horses caused by dehydration. I am still a little tight in the calf but was able to power through that little hitch in my giddy up.
And now that we've cleared those little lessons in hydration up lets get onto why I am feeling good tonight...
I started the practice tonight feeling way off on my skates and thought "crap...what's wrong with me?". It was going to be a very long and ardous practice indeed if I didn't figure out my problem. I felt like I was really wobbling on my skates and I did not care for the way they were gliding beneath me at all. After about 3 laps around the track I realized what my problem was: my trucks were too loose.
Now, the truck are the hickey-ma-doos that your wheels are attached to...and they need to have a little give to the left and the right so you can turn. After my little outdoor session this weekend I came home and realized that the front truck on my left skate had worked itself way loose. I tightened it back up some with my handy-dandy skate wrench but then thought that I would go ahead and loosen all the trucks on my skates a turn or two because I have heard tell that most derby girls keep theirs a little loose in order to cut a little sharper on turns. Well...it turns out I was completely not ready for that much give yet. Maybe one day, but not today.
So the first order of business was to have Mouth give them a once over for me and he tightened them up some all around and after that my glide felt much more normal. Whew...that made for a much easier night!
Tonight there was another slab of fresh meat out there with me tonight, well actually there were two. That was great in several ways which I will delve further into as my blog continues.
Fresh meat #1, Mel, was very nice. I didn't skate too much with her though as she is an avid in-line skater so she was brought into the pack for most of the practice.
Fresh meat #2, Karen, was also very nice. I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed having her with me tonight because she was so wobbly on her skates it helped to point out to me just how much I have improved in such a short time. It's hard to see and feel like I am improving when I am only able to really compare myself to the team at large because I still suck big ones in comparison. But having Karen out there was a nice mirror on my own improvements.
For instance, I realized I am much more confidant in my stopping since day one. I still can't do the t-stop to save my life (but I can plow stop pretty well!) but I am not relying on crashing into the walls to stop myself anymore. I am also much more confidant picking up speed as well. And while I still need to improve a lot, my stride is a lot closer to what it should be as well as is my leg extension. That felt really nice to be able to see that I am getting better already...a much needed boost to my skater self esteem!
The first half of practice Mouth had us doing endurance stuff. Holy shnikeys did I ever have to grit my teeth and just push through some of that! Scooter pushes are the devil...and I did a ton of those tonight...but man am I ever going to have rock hard thighs from those bad boys! (Side note: scooter pushes are when you basically squat down on one leg and use the other, pushing off and out to your side, to propel yourself in a looping circle. It burns the shit out of your thighs and your ankles!)
Me doing scooter pushes:
Then we worked on our derby squat (to steal Bunny's description: imagine doing the "hover" over a filthy toilet to pee). Wide legs, bent deep at the knee, butt tucked down, back straight, eyes forward, pressing outward and down at the heel so you don't roll...also a real thigh burner. Luckily I am very good at including lower back extentions (thanks Sarah!) into my workouts so they really don't make my back ache like it does some of the other girls.
We also did some lateral work...like walking squats from right to left and back. I also did it while crossing my feet over one another...harder than it sounds while on 8 wheels, I assure you. That is something that I feel good at and enjoy doing.
Now, the part of the night that really left me feeling accomplished was when doing the scooter pushes Mouth explained to me how to get on edge when turning. Up until tonight, when I have done drills that involved me turning in a circle such as scooter pushes and even while doing my laps I have felt as if I had to kind of drag the toe of my inner foot around. Like it just wasn't fluid. It felt awkward and it slowed me way down. Finally I spoke up about it. I wasn't sure if it was me or my skates causing this...turns out it was me. He explained to me how I had to really lean and sort of (for lack of a better way to describe it) hang my foot over and to the side of my wheels in the direction in which I wanted to turn. Finally...the light clicked on and I got it! It really wears my ankles out, as they still need to strengthen up a lot, but I felt like I could now keep my speed on a turn and not feel like I was going to careen out of control. Yipee!
Then we really put that new skill to the test by weaving around some cones. I certainly didn't nail that drill but I did alright. I gotta say...that one left me feeling really good. Knowing that just a few short practices ago I could barely go straight without falling down to being able to effectively weave around those cones tonight kicked huge ass! (still smiling here!) The only downer during that drill was that poor Karen fell onto her ass hard. She's kind of skinny so the poor dear doesn't have nearly the natural built-in cushion I am blessed (eh?) with to help pad her landing. She went to the bathroom to 'blow her nose' right after and I honestly think she went to have a little cry. I feel awful for her...she really knocked her booty a good one. When she came back I did my best to encourage her that she was doing well (and she was!) and we stopped weaving and went back to some more derby stance work and lateral drills but she had had enough and ended up leaving shortly thereafter. I hope to see her again on Thursday but I won't be holding my breath...she looked really discouraged.
After that I went back to weaving and Mel rejoined me. Then Mouth spread the cones out into a zig zag pattern to weave around. That really worked my ankles! It's funny, my right leg seems dominant and stronger than my left in 99% of the drills but during the weaving I was definatly more comfortable utilizing my left as the leader. Odd.
I ended tonight with the rest of the girls doing core drills (crunches legs flat/legs bent/legs straight up in the air, planks, side crunches, and supermans...where you're flat on your tummy and lifting your legs and arms out) before calling it a night.
I feel good tonight. Now, don't get me wrong, my muscles are giving me what-for over the beating I gave them, but I feel really good. Tonight was the boost I so deperately needed to keep my ass at it. I am looking forward to Thursday!
And ya know what? Mouth was kind enough to go easy on my quads so no broccoli tonight! Woot woot!
Second lesson of the day: Powerade is actually quite good at helping said charlie horses caused by dehydration. I am still a little tight in the calf but was able to power through that little hitch in my giddy up.
And now that we've cleared those little lessons in hydration up lets get onto why I am feeling good tonight...
I started the practice tonight feeling way off on my skates and thought "crap...what's wrong with me?". It was going to be a very long and ardous practice indeed if I didn't figure out my problem. I felt like I was really wobbling on my skates and I did not care for the way they were gliding beneath me at all. After about 3 laps around the track I realized what my problem was: my trucks were too loose.
Now, the truck are the hickey-ma-doos that your wheels are attached to...and they need to have a little give to the left and the right so you can turn. After my little outdoor session this weekend I came home and realized that the front truck on my left skate had worked itself way loose. I tightened it back up some with my handy-dandy skate wrench but then thought that I would go ahead and loosen all the trucks on my skates a turn or two because I have heard tell that most derby girls keep theirs a little loose in order to cut a little sharper on turns. Well...it turns out I was completely not ready for that much give yet. Maybe one day, but not today.
So the first order of business was to have Mouth give them a once over for me and he tightened them up some all around and after that my glide felt much more normal. Whew...that made for a much easier night!
Tonight there was another slab of fresh meat out there with me tonight, well actually there were two. That was great in several ways which I will delve further into as my blog continues.
Fresh meat #1, Mel, was very nice. I didn't skate too much with her though as she is an avid in-line skater so she was brought into the pack for most of the practice.
Fresh meat #2, Karen, was also very nice. I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed having her with me tonight because she was so wobbly on her skates it helped to point out to me just how much I have improved in such a short time. It's hard to see and feel like I am improving when I am only able to really compare myself to the team at large because I still suck big ones in comparison. But having Karen out there was a nice mirror on my own improvements.
For instance, I realized I am much more confidant in my stopping since day one. I still can't do the t-stop to save my life (but I can plow stop pretty well!) but I am not relying on crashing into the walls to stop myself anymore. I am also much more confidant picking up speed as well. And while I still need to improve a lot, my stride is a lot closer to what it should be as well as is my leg extension. That felt really nice to be able to see that I am getting better already...a much needed boost to my skater self esteem!
The first half of practice Mouth had us doing endurance stuff. Holy shnikeys did I ever have to grit my teeth and just push through some of that! Scooter pushes are the devil...and I did a ton of those tonight...but man am I ever going to have rock hard thighs from those bad boys! (Side note: scooter pushes are when you basically squat down on one leg and use the other, pushing off and out to your side, to propel yourself in a looping circle. It burns the shit out of your thighs and your ankles!)
Me doing scooter pushes:
Then we worked on our derby squat (to steal Bunny's description: imagine doing the "hover" over a filthy toilet to pee). Wide legs, bent deep at the knee, butt tucked down, back straight, eyes forward, pressing outward and down at the heel so you don't roll...also a real thigh burner. Luckily I am very good at including lower back extentions (thanks Sarah!) into my workouts so they really don't make my back ache like it does some of the other girls.
We also did some lateral work...like walking squats from right to left and back. I also did it while crossing my feet over one another...harder than it sounds while on 8 wheels, I assure you. That is something that I feel good at and enjoy doing.
Now, the part of the night that really left me feeling accomplished was when doing the scooter pushes Mouth explained to me how to get on edge when turning. Up until tonight, when I have done drills that involved me turning in a circle such as scooter pushes and even while doing my laps I have felt as if I had to kind of drag the toe of my inner foot around. Like it just wasn't fluid. It felt awkward and it slowed me way down. Finally I spoke up about it. I wasn't sure if it was me or my skates causing this...turns out it was me. He explained to me how I had to really lean and sort of (for lack of a better way to describe it) hang my foot over and to the side of my wheels in the direction in which I wanted to turn. Finally...the light clicked on and I got it! It really wears my ankles out, as they still need to strengthen up a lot, but I felt like I could now keep my speed on a turn and not feel like I was going to careen out of control. Yipee!
Then we really put that new skill to the test by weaving around some cones. I certainly didn't nail that drill but I did alright. I gotta say...that one left me feeling really good. Knowing that just a few short practices ago I could barely go straight without falling down to being able to effectively weave around those cones tonight kicked huge ass! (still smiling here!) The only downer during that drill was that poor Karen fell onto her ass hard. She's kind of skinny so the poor dear doesn't have nearly the natural built-in cushion I am blessed (eh?) with to help pad her landing. She went to the bathroom to 'blow her nose' right after and I honestly think she went to have a little cry. I feel awful for her...she really knocked her booty a good one. When she came back I did my best to encourage her that she was doing well (and she was!) and we stopped weaving and went back to some more derby stance work and lateral drills but she had had enough and ended up leaving shortly thereafter. I hope to see her again on Thursday but I won't be holding my breath...she looked really discouraged.
After that I went back to weaving and Mel rejoined me. Then Mouth spread the cones out into a zig zag pattern to weave around. That really worked my ankles! It's funny, my right leg seems dominant and stronger than my left in 99% of the drills but during the weaving I was definatly more comfortable utilizing my left as the leader. Odd.
I ended tonight with the rest of the girls doing core drills (crunches legs flat/legs bent/legs straight up in the air, planks, side crunches, and supermans...where you're flat on your tummy and lifting your legs and arms out) before calling it a night.
I feel good tonight. Now, don't get me wrong, my muscles are giving me what-for over the beating I gave them, but I feel really good. Tonight was the boost I so deperately needed to keep my ass at it. I am looking forward to Thursday!
And ya know what? Mouth was kind enough to go easy on my quads so no broccoli tonight! Woot woot!
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