Helen 1, Pace Line 0

Ok... so I have to give the pace line credit for previously kicking my ass, and things certainly weren't perfect this time but I'm going to take it for the personal victory that it is. Tonight I stuck with a pace line for the entire drill.

Those who have been following this journey for a while know that pace lines are (one of) my nemesis. Between back pain from bad form and a weak core to the agonizing arch pain I used to get with my old skates, pace lines did me in completely.

1) I was slow. I didn't really have sticky skating DOWN yet and too-tight trucks made things more difficult than they should have been. While I wasn't exactly Zippy McSpeederson tonight I feel like I had the technique down. With looser trucks I was able to get at lot more of the "slalom" action that Irate always describes. It also makes pushing around corners easier.

2) I was too bent over. I still struggle with this and experienced a bit of back pain tonight but Slam's reminder of "if your back hurts you're doing it wrong" helped me remember to sit into it more. Sitting into it fatigues those same hip-area muscles that give me trouble on crossovers but hey, if they're getting fatigued then I am using them and they are getting stronger!

The drill in question was the "endless jammer" drill which is where the league splits in half and one half packs up and the other half forms a paceline. The first person in the pace line skates ahead and pushes through the pack like a jammer would then ends up at the back of the pace line. Rinse. Repeat. I nearly hung the whole time in the pack but had to drop out at the end for water (I've got this nasty cough thing going on).

The only drill I had trouble with tonight was the transitions drill - on the whistle, transition. This was a challenge because I can't do transitions to save my life. Hollywood offered to work with me on them if we can find some time outside of our work schedules which is cool.

We did a lot of work tonight on form for speed - between Trixie's hints and what I have gleaned so far from my national-champion speed skating uncle I at least mentally grasped what was going on. Fix the fatigue, fix a lot of things. We did the cross-over component drill (push with one leg only, then the other).

We also did a non-contact version of Lion and Gazelle which was PFA - Pretty Freaking Awesome. I thought I was going to get eaten immediately and I didn't! The first time I went I was a gazelle. The whistle blew and I just took off. I tried to get speed-skater low on the straightaways and build up as much speed as I could and squeak around the turns. No one caught me and I think I surprised some people (including myself) which was cool. The next time I went out I was a lion and was able to catch the gazelles fine (they were instructed to stack packed up).

I got my first taste of positional blocking and I want more. I need to get those crossovers nailed so I can play with the big girls! I had loosened my trucks another half turn at open skate which was great for agility moves but I decided that I felt way too unstable during crossovers and balancing so I dialed them back a quarter turn and they felt much better. Maybe I'll do them back a quarter again in a couple of weeks.

Soooo... all in all an awesome, but tiring practice tonight. A little less coughing and a little more breathing would be good for Thursday! Thursday's goal - skate on the track. No skating on the outside for me. If anyone sees me skating on the outside, please yell at me unless it looks like I am under great duress. Thank you to Slam I Am for an awesome practice while SFOD was away playing with the Nuts.

A bit of progress...

Today started the fourth week of derby practices. That means we've cycled back around to endurance training. On endurance weeks we spend the first 30 minutes or so of practice doing plyometrics - squats, lunges, mountain climbers, iron mikes, and all sorts of other hellish things that one day won't be quite so hellish.

We did a loooooong drill called "The Black Widow". If it sounds ominous, that's because it is. 30 minutes (apparently it's *supposed* to be 45) of non-stop skating. Things get mixed up - sprints, figure eights, sticky skates, squats,knee-touches - but you're going for 30 minutes. Correction: you *try* to go for 30 minutes.

I made the mistake of putting my Dr. Scholls arch support doohickeys back in my skates thinking they'd help my feet. They didn't. In fact, they made them cramp up faster than ever before. After only a few minutes of skating I had to stop, pull them out, and flex my feet until the cramps went away. The damage had been don't though as my feet were mostly cramped all night. I'm sitting here sipping chocolate milk and writing this and they're still somewhat cramped!

I ended up having to stop a few times during the drill. The good news is that it wasn't because of my back *small victory*. The bad news is that I had to stop. My goal for the next endurance week (three weeks from now) that I won't have to stop during the drill. I tried to concentrate on skating low but keeping my torso more upright to ease the back cramps I've been having. It seemed to work, although the three advil I took an hour before practice may have contributed as well.

The back thing I know will be ongoing until I get into better shape. My immediate stumbling block appears to be transitions. I can skate forward and I can sort of skate backward, but moving between the two is eluding me. I seem to be able to do them while standing still but as soon as I try them while rolling I just end up stopping myself. I guess I have my work in open skates cut out for me for a while!

Six practices in...

After three weeks I am pleased to say that I am still in one piece, although not progressing as fast as I would like to be. We (the January class of freshies) have started to learn some "derby skills" like swoops, Johnny Rockets (the non-contact variety for us), hip whips, and pushes.

Tuesday evening was a great small-group practice as it was made optional due to snow. Me, FM Kiersten, and FM Jesenik represented the freshmeat and there was a nice selection of old stinky meat on hand to help out. We did our first pack skating and I finally think I'm getting the mechanics of "eight on the floor" - where you propel yourself without lifting your skates off the ground. We did a really fun drill where we lined up and hip whipped ourselves from the back of the pack to the front of the pack. I was a little timid at first and not really pulling on the person in front of me but I caught on after about three or four people.

My back continues to be my achilles heel (if that makes any sense). I feel like I have the mechanics of what we've learned so far down, or close to down but I can only sustain things like low pack skating for five minutes or so and then my lower back completely cramps up. Betty has said that is about lack of core strength (and the extra belly weight probably doesn't help) so after I finish writing this I'm off to clear a spot in the living room to do some crunches - there may be a big exercise ball purchase in my future.

If I understood correctly, after twelve practices the freshies are eligible to choose a derby name. I'm halfway there and to be honest, it feels like twelve practices (six weeks) would be early. I don't feel like I've done enough to earn one yet. I'm completely serious about derby - it's fantastic - and I plan to do it until I can't (and then ref or volunteer once I can't) but I don't fully *feel* like a derby girl yet. Maybe it will be better after I pass my level one assessment. Maybe it won't be until I don't have to drop out of a drill because it feels like my back is seizing up. I know that eventually I will feel like I'm getting there, I just don't quite yet.

I have been known to obsess over things I'm excited about. I have to remind myself that I'm new and people might not always want to hear my ideas for things. I feel like I should spend a bit more time with my ears open and my mouth closed but sometimes ideas leak out anyway. I work on little things on my own and file them away for a time when I feel comfortable asking the league or committee if they would find xxxxxx project or idea helpful. The last thing I want to be is the annoying new person who won't shut up. I just get really excited, that's all!

I will talk about roller derby to anyone who expresses the slightest interest. I've told at least five  people (three of them complete strangers) about our next recruitment night. I get warm fuzzies when I'm able to put to rest some people's miconceptions or outdated ideas of what modern WFTDA derby is. "Do you skate around punching people in the face?" Nope. "You must have to really big and rough to do that!" Nope. Small and rough works too! I went to hang a Ball flyer in a salon in Milford and ended up writing the website and recruitment night information on a card for one of the stylists. It's infectious in a completely awesome way. We need a derby pandemic!

I find these days that even though practices are mentally tough for me (I'm very hard on myself when I don't perform where I *think* I should be) I have a great time and look forward to them every week with a mix of giddiness and a pinch of worry. I can't get on skates enough. I get frustrated when I try to go to a Saturday morning open skate and the parking lot is so full I can't get a space and can't skate. It sounds like I'm going to miss the Sunday open skate since I'm helping out with the photoshoot tomorrow and we're going out for beverages after.

Six practices in and I'm still loving derby and the lovely ladies of NHRD that make it so awesome! <3