Goals for tomorrow

1) Stretch properly

I know that I have not been stretching properly the last couple of weeks. I got some great advice this evening on some potential reasons for the foot pain I have been dealing with. It's been so bad that I haven't been stretching properly which is causing all sorts of other problems when I skate.

Thursday I will show up extra early to stretch a bit off skates. I will concentrate on skating with my knees out/straight and not push off with my toes. Hopefully this will keep my feet from cramping so I can focus on stretching properly on skates.

2) Good form

I will sit into derby stance and not lean forward, putting undue stress on my back. I will skate low on straightaways and extra low doing crossovers on corners. I will concentrate on not letting my knees bend into the middle.

These things may seem simple or basic to an experienced skater but to a newbie like me, focusing on all of this at once will be a challenge. I hope that eventually I won't even need to think about this and I can focus on other things.

Hazel posted some cool stuff on her blog about "flow" - that happy place where you are pushing yourself to the edge of your limits but not beyond. Despite the pain on Monday I feel like I might have made it close to flow.

I was really nervous about trying the one-foot cone weave. I made myself try it and although I wasn't 100% successful, I feel like I did better than I thought I would. Next time we do that drill I need to push myself to make it around two consecutive cones and not just one.

Irate posted to me yesterday that she sees potential in me. That little five-word sentence meant a lot to me. It made me feel like there's a chance that one day I WILL be able to take part is something like SFOD's 79-72 win over GMDD. I have loved every minute of my derby experience but I don't always feel like I have the chops to make it all the way. Thanks, Irate, for making my morning when I got your post! :-D

My feet betray me...

Foot cramps are a pain in the ass, or more literally, a pain in the foot. Any time between the finishing of this post and the beginning of Lost will be spent googling foot exercises and foot stretches.

Something has changed in the last couple of weeks causing really bad pain in the underside arches of my feet. It was so bad on Monday after only warm-ups that I didn't properly stretch because I was desperately trying to uncramp my feet. The result of me not stretching properly was that most of my muscles from the waist down felt like they were made out of wood last night. Not cool.

Last night marked the start of an agility week. I really enjoy agility weeks, even though I still can't do a lot of the drills properly. Small victories last night: weaving around at least one or two cones on one foot, mostly avoiding back pain by skating with better form, doing a successful transition from backward to forward (forward to backward, not so much), mini clockwise crossovers, and not looking down when I skate.

I get frustrated with myself when I have physical issues and I KNOW that I can technically do the drill. I know I am making progress and I know that I am stronger and faster than I was just seven weeks ago. Similar to what DKB has recently written about, I need to remember that I have been doing this for ONLY seven weeks and I shouldn't be so hard on myself.

Tank had great words of wisdom at open skate the other night (and her secret to skating the way she does). Fall more. Fall until you don't care about falling. If I'm worried about falling, I'm NOT concentrating on the skill or drill I'm doing. I definitely need to fall more.

As mentioned in my previous post, I got my very first bout recap published on DNN (Derby News Network) so that's cool. You can read the short version HERE. The full recap will eventually be up somewhere. If you want to read it, just let me know and I can send it. I've never done any sports writing before so that was a challenge for me. Lucky for me that challenges make me happy - it's the competitiveness in me.

Goals for the next month or so: Go through one whole practice without dropping out of a drill. I can slow down or take it easy if I need to but I will not stop. Skate on the "real" track during warm up laps. I skate around the outside because I'm slow but it makes me feel EXTRA slow since I have to skate faster that everyone else to even feel like I'm going the same speed.

Thursday is a normal practice with scrimmage. I signed up to do stats again; I really enjoy it. Thank you to EVERYONE in NHRD for their encouragement these last seven weeks. Hopefully I can look back seven weeks from now and be pleased at how far I've come!

My fingers are burning!

Well that was a wild and crazy five hours! I offered/was asked to write the recap of NHRD's 79-72 win over GMDD and I wasn't actually at the event. I feel like I've been typing for the last several days (can fingers get muscle fatigue?) but I also have a feeling of accomplishment. I've never written something like that before!

Thanks very much to Slam I Am (NHRD's resident stats queen) and Pelvis Costello (our fantastic shared announcer with BDD) for their valuable feedback in writing my first recap. I've certainly got a lot to learn and I hope to make some improvements next time!

I promise that I haven't forsaken you, O Blogosphere! Unfortunately this past week was an ugly one where my non-derby life took everything over. The stress/spazziness even cause me to be off skates for most of Thursday's practice. While this week is shaping up to be pretty busy as well, I have my evenings available to refresh and relax.

A more thorough article will be forthcoming after Monday's practice. Cross my heart and hope to die. In the meantime, I go to the sleeping place, to dream derby dreams.

Positive Thinking

There is hope for me yet! Today I made a smidge of progress on a couple of different fronts.

Front 1: Crossovers
So I'm not exactly Michelle Kwan yet but I feel like now that I seem to have gotten past the not wanting to do crossovers thing that they improve by leaps and bounds each practice. I was trying to do them on every lap around the track today and they felt even more comfortable than they did on Thursday last week.

That gives me hope that, provided I can get the balance thing down, that I'll be able to pass my ones the next time around.

Front 2: Transitions
Ok, I'm not really there yet on these either but I at least got over my hesitation of trying them while rolling. I did three or four rolling transitions without falling over. I certainly windmilled all over the place but I started rolling forward and ended rolling backward which is the objective.

I made myself dizzy practicing transitions standing in one place. They got easier by the end and felt less clunky, which is a good start. I have a long way to go with these but I was pretty proud of myself that I managed a few without falling.

This week is a blocking week. Not being cleared for contact I had to tweak some of the drills, lean instead of hit, etc... I was having some foot and shin/calf cramping pain (which I suspect is caused by me scrunching my toes subconsciously). Empress stopped by and helped me stretch it out. She also recommended that I crank down the strap on my skates a bit more (it's been pretty loose).

I don't know how much the stretching did but the change in the skates was amazing. It felt a lot more like I had wheels growing out of my feet than wearing some shoes with wheels on them. Everything felt so much more precise and that I had more control. My toes went numb pretty quicky so I'll have to play with my lacing but ya learn something new every day.

So while the steps I took today were only baby steps but the fact that I was able to take the steps at all gives me hope for future progress :-)

Superbowls and Rollerskates

So I didn't watch the Superbowl, or at least 95% of it. I wouldn't consider myself much of a sports fan unless a home team is involved. I guess I sort of resented professional athletes for the fact that they get paid millions of dollars a year to essentially workout.

They don't have to go work in a cube farm for a corporation that doesn't really give a rats ass how much you actually DO care about your job. Since I started learning derby (I don't think I've earned the right yet to say that I play derby) I think I've softened my stance oh-so-slightly.

I thought about all the time it takes someone to really become good at derby (unlike in "Whip It" it doesn't happen in a five minute montage). Then I though about how much more time and effort beyond that that it must take to become really good at a national level.

I watched the Superbowl for maybe the last five minutes. I saw all kinds of hits, pile-ups, etc... it reminded me of watching a scrimmage and seeing what those fabulous derby girls go through in those scrimmages: hits, falls, pile-ups, rink-rash, skates to the face, twisted joints. I see how that affects those women 30 minutes or three days later.

I can only imagine what those football players must feel like after running into each other for a couple of hours. I can only imagine what it would be like to spend most of my waking hours on skates training - a three hour practice can seem like eternity if I'm having a rough night.

So while I still resent them for being able to make a gajillion dollars a year doing something they love, I understand now that the price they pay for that luxury doesn't come in the form of a small paycheck but in the slow destruction of their bodies over their career.

Stitches, Needles, and Dirty Word Cupcakes

I may as well get the obvious out of the way before I start. I've spent the better part of this weekend trying to tweak the template of this blog. It's harder than it looks to someone with basic HTML and CSS knowledge; easier than it looks if you go in and actually try to rewrite the widgets themselves >.<

Note to self: You are not a programmer. Leave that crazy stuff to Mr. Carnate

So, after more hours than I care to admit playing around with this, it's finally finished. Now that I have a derby name that I am 99% sure will get approved since I have a letter from the next closest name on TwoEvils, I thought I'd spice things up a bit.

On Saturday, DKB and I made the trek down to Worcester to visit Central Mass Roller Derby who was sponsoring an alternative craft fair called "Stitches, Needles, and Guns". We made it to the fair by about 11ish and went in to help Pixie with her table for Jenaration Creations.

The fair was amazing. CMRD had 40 vendors in the venue and had to turn more away due to lack of space. There were both derby and non-derby artisans there selling everything from chocolate truffles, to metal spiders, to fight club soap.

And dirty word cupcakes. Yes, you heard me. Without going into too much detail take one delicious, moist cupcake. Add icing reading one of several vulgar words. Enjoy.

After a stroll around the whole venue and much deliberation I didn't end up buying anything. DKB, Pixie, and I took turns at the Jenaration Creations table where Pixie was selling ball bearing jewelry, skull barrettes, charm garters, hairbands, and custom painted clothing. We spent the afternoon schmoozing with customers and talking them into buying things. It was a great day.

On the way home DKB and I stopped and had dinner at Bugaboo Creek. BBQ Chicken Nachos have never tasted so good. I really enjoyed the opportunity to get to know two more NHRD skaters a bit better. I'm looking forward to Heartbreaker's this coming Friday! :-D

Had to do it

This font is going to look so freaking fabulous on a shirt... I had to post it.

Oh man am I going to be tired tomorrow... >.<