ouch, my booty

we had a handful of visiting skaters at our practice tuesday! some girls from binghamton, a former team mate jackie kennedie, and diva (now team usa famous). for warm ups we did 30 sec sprints and skills, and those just keep getting easier for me. well 30 sec sprints were never that hard i guess.
after warm ups, there was sort of a derby version of speed dating. diva gave a mini bootcamp with different drills, just bam bam bam, one after the other. one of them, half the girls on the track were jammers and half were blockers and we were just supposed to practice weaving around everyone and juking around blockers, then the next time even faster. i’ve gotten better at that, i was surprised all the hopping didnt take more out of me.
i have also noticed muscles forming in my legs that i never saw before! RDWC is the way to go. i need to just do it all year round, and never fall into bad habits, so i can just get buffer and buffer and stay that way! this is week 8, last week. the only thing i’m really dissapointed in myself about is giving into the temptation of work peanut butter. its sysco brand, so its got preservatives and of course sugar in it. that damn sugar is what makes it to tasty! if i have to cup up pb with celery sticks, i cant NOT keep having tastes here and there. i love my all natural nut butters, but damn does sugar get a hold of you!
anyway, i’ve lost between 20 and 25 lbs since i started the herbalife challenge december 1st. i’m still amazed at how my pants keep getting looser and looser. my ass is still wide and jiggly, but it has less padding because damn does it hurt when i fall on my butt or hips at practice now! after tuesday, i asked mal to see if she still had her padded shorts for me to try. i fell so hard on my left butt cheek during a diva drill, pain shot down my leg and i limp-skated for a minute or two. now when i come home from practice, i ice my knees AND my booty in bed. it really sucks when it hurts to sit down or lay on my side cuz i’m all bruised i figured the lighter i was, the faster i could skate, but maybe i need that extra padding to protect muh bones? my boobs have shrank so much, i had to buy new bras and underwear actually, mine were all sagging. i guess i’m still in the process of finding my “feel great weight.”
it was cool scrimmaging with skaters who werent team mates for once though, tues. at first i felt really out of it, my head was somewhere else, but i got into the hang of it eventually. i jammed against jackie, and she went to the box, and i kept racking up points. how cool would that be if it were in a real game? i’d feel so proud that i got a bunch of points for my team, and grand slams! hopefully someday… the second time i jammed against mal and she got lead, and i kept getting knocked around and down and got tired. but having burger as my helper was awesome. she basically plowed through the pack taking out whoever was in my way lol. it was kind of like a cartoon.
so, non-derby, i randomly got a thing in the mail about a charity walk/5k run coming up. that and reading on http://www.carrotsncake.com how tina does half marathons have really put it in my head that i want to make this summer the year i run a 5k race. i was telling mum about it, and how i want to do it but it costs money to register, and maybe i should just stick to the treadmill, but i think she wants to pay for me to do it. she thinks it’ll be good for my competitive side. i would in no way be competing, i just want the knowledge that i CAN do it. i guess there are cash prizes for winners of races though, aren’t there? maybe i could work at it and get real good and get some extra cash that way, haha…
but yeah, theres a training plan online called couch to 5k that i’m going to start i think. its a 3 day a week plan for 6 or 8 weeks, and ali brought her treadmill over so i am now the proud owner of one, finally! right now its facing a wall, which makes using it not so fun, but hopefully we will rearrange the apartment so i can watch tv while running.
i’m just wondering if it is possible for me to train for this while doing derby. i mean i know it is, but taht’d be 3 days a week running, 2 days derby practice, that only leaves one day a week to strength train. i certainly don’t want to lose any of what i’ve gained in the past 3 months! i can already run 5k, i just want to follow this training program to learn how to do it right, and increase my speed. i’ll think on it some more i guess.

beat up

thursday we had 2 visiting skaters practice with us. hellody from dutchland, and rabbit from shore points. it was also recruit night, and we gained two new fresh meat! since they were trying out at the end of the rink with liberty, we did our warm ups on the little track. we did sprints both ways, and although i wiped out on opposite direction, i felt really good about it. i was only mildly winded at the end!
we were late getting on the track, so we were allowed to stay at the rink til 11:30. we did chompy blockers, basically the same as bouncy blockers. i lost my balance at the end of one and fell on my left ass bone real hard. wifey said i bounced haha. it was sore sitting in the car on the ride home from plymouth meeting w my parents yesterday, thats for sure. i feel pretty beat up actually, my right hip is sore as well, i fell on it hard while trying to jam. also, we were practicing hitting and big city somehow pinched the skin above my elbow pad and it really hurt! it was really tender yesterday, kind of a brush burn. whine whine….
when we scrimmaged, i wasn’t sure i’d try jamming. on one hand, i want to challenge myself. but on the other hand, i want to get away from jamming because it gets me stuck in my head and that’s no good. after half of us left at 11 there wasnt many girls so i did end up jamming. against rabbit, who is amazing. i didnt get lead, but i did get through! and got points, so thats something! i was coming up on my second scoring pass and rabbit called it off. i was proud of myself for getting points.
then we took it back and just did 4 on 1s, where i jammed again and could not make it through. i was out of breath, and kept getting knocked down, but i was sooo close to getting through if it werent for kittys big blocks. i think i was just about to make it when the whistle blew. man, 2 minutes of straight jamming sure is rough. being the target sucks. i dont know if i’ll ever be good enough to jam in a bout, this season at least. but burger said good job jamming to me thursday so that felt nice. just gotta keep on truckin i guess!

akron derby trip

bout weekend was pretty cool! i was really excited for it. friday night i was getting all my foods together, packing my bags and writing lists of what not to forget in the morning. we were to meet up at skateaway at 8am. i started to freak out friday night and get anxious about forgetting something. it was hard to calm down and actually go to sleep!
rennee picked me up saturday morning and i loaded all my bag lady bags into her car and we were on our way. we had one big white van rental that burger was driving, and one fancy mom van rental that melissa drove. i didnt want to chance inhaling smoke so i went in the mom van. we left the wb sheetz at 8:30 and arrived at the venue about 4pm.
we stopped once at jen’s inlaws to pee (one bathroom for 18 derby girls!?), and then at denny’s to eat lunch. i was super psyched that they had an amys organic veg burger on wheat bun with mushrooms and veggies as a side 🙂 we were all hungry, and our food took forever, but boy did it taste great when it came!
we got a little lost when we got into akron but eventually found the hotel. we had about 20 minutes to drop our stuff off in rooms and change for the bout. the venue was in walking distance from the hotel! there was a digital sign that had our logo on it, that was cool to see. it wasn’t an actual rink, i don’t really know how to describe the building. a conference hall? it had multiple floors, and our locker room was actually on a dif floor than the track! we had to take a creepy freight elevator in our skates. so once we were geared up and ready, we went to watch the first bout (it was a double header), and were basically stuck there. of course i wanted to stay hydrated, but the venue didnt allow us to bring our drinks in

my friend kelly from ohio who skates with burning river roller girls was going to come, but didnt make it. i was bummed cuz i havent met her IRL yet, and she said she made a sign for me! there were a lot of people there though. a number of the girls who we were to be skating against were also skating in the first bout, which was billed as the B team. that’s right, we were in an A team game! i was a little worried about that part, but hoped they’d be tired out from playing one bout already and that’d even it off.

i would say we were prettymuch matched up against the team we played. we seemed to have more of an understanding of strategies though. it was a close game at times, and i didnt get put in for more than one jam in a row as much as i thought we would, for us skating with just 10 girls, but we won 130-108 in the end. burgers power jams really put us in the lead towards the end.

let me tell you about thier floor. it was a polished concrete floor, and wow was it slippery! hate polished concrete. i could tell all our jammers were having a hard time not slipping out around turn 4 especially. this is why i hate away games – the floor variable! luckily my back wasnt sore after sitting all day in the car though, so that was good. at points it seemed like we were skating on ice, the way girls were falling. and by girls i mean myself. i just was not having a good day!

once those girls saw that they could trap me in the back and just knock me around, they kept doing it. it was awful! i swear i used to have a little more skill with breaking through walls. maybe since i weigh less now, thats why its easier for someone to hold me back and knock me down? i dunno, but it was just ridic. i’m sure i looked like a ragdoll. someone video taped the bout, so i’m sure i’m gonna be embarassed to see it. i def got beat up a lot! i felt so bad, i wish i could have gotten up there to help my team instead of being stuck in the back 😦

liberty says i’m too hard on myself. why do i always feel as if everything wrong that happened in a game falls on me? i feel like its so obvious when i mess up, but is everyone else so focused on them selves that they only see thier own mistakes too?

after the bout ended, an older woman came up to me and said good job, and asked about our jammer with the little butt lol. she told mj and i that her son is a ref and this was her first bout. thats nice, when people share with you like that. its cool to know you contributed to someones entertaining experience.

we went back to the hotel to shower and headed over to the after party. luckily it was not in a smoky dive bar, but it was in a bar with a bad cover band. as everyone around me partook in beers and fried food, i scarfed down my feta/tomatoes/olives and apple & peanut butter. as soon as my hunger was fed, i was ready to go home. my knees needed to be iced, and i wanted to get to sleep.

luckily ali and jen were going to nicole’s house, and they dropped me off at the hotel. nicole skated with us last year and then moved to ohio. at the hotel, i searched the floors for a working ice machine, but eventually just used my melting cooler ice pack on my knees and passed out. i dont know what time everyone came back to the room but they knocked loudly as i’d instructed, and i got up mostly still asleep and let them in.

i figured i’d be the first person up since i’m used to waking up early, and get to shower and make my baked instant oatmeal… but it was actually like 10:30 when i woke up! i cant believe i slept so long. and thus began another long day of driving. my body must have been in heal-me mode because i felt like the bottomless pit, eating almost all my snacks.

we stopped at cracker barrel for breakfast, and then a sheetz but those were our only stops on the way home. we flew home. melissa’s van lost burger a number of times, she drives soo fast! i was so bored in the car i fell asleep a few times. all in all i am really surprised at how well i did on the car ride 🙂 and if nothing else, this bout gave me something to strive for. i’ve got to work on breaking up walls!! it did feel pretty awesome to win our first bout of the season though, yes. here’s to many more wins this season!

last night i didn’t really feel like going to practice. it was just one of those nights, ya know? i knew as soon as i skated up a sweat i’d be into it, but i kinda just felt like staying home on the couch.

we started with a partner swedish while holding up numbers. not my fav. then we did 3-5 pyramids on the small track, half one way, half opposite direction. i was happy – it felt really easy! almost effortless. and i really pushed myself with my calisthenics in the middle on my off laps, too. so there’s a sign that my endurance is so much better than before.

we scrimmaged 2 years + versus under 2 years. i can’t believe in june i’ll be with derby for 2 years! i got to be on the vets team though. i like how lately we’ve been scrimmaging more for real, with penalties, 30 seconds between jams, and a half time. it makes us take it more serious i think, which is good  pre-bout.

i even jammed, and got lead jammer, and made it through to get points and call it off! man what a great feeling. it wasnt easy, sunday had me trapped in the back for a while. burger told me to remember my quadrants when that happens and fake them out. mj said my speed is my weapon, try not to slow down when i come up on the pack, fake them out and juke the other way, keeping my speed up. mark’s friend jackie who used to skate with providence also gave me that tip. she said to keep your speed up and you have less of a chance of getting hurt when you jam; she doesnt think jammers should slow or stop at the back of the pack.

so i tried to go with that the next time i jammed, and i ploughed right into like 3 people, fell and tripped them, and had to go to the box oh well! lol. aaron was practicing announcing, and he made commentary that i have the most unique skating style on the team. hmm, i hope thats a good thing! mallory always says i have crazy legs.

i’m getting really excited for the road trip this weekend. not even the bout so much, just the trip with my team mates. i think i may have done a 360 on road trips? all the food i want to bring will definitely not fit in my one lunch bag, so i went to target tonight to buy a bigger one 🙂 tomorrow i’m going to make a batch of hummus to have for the weekend. ohio, here i come!

negative nancy… there’s a good derby name?

i have put off blogging for a while now. thats partly because i’ve been feeling pretty down on myself at practice lately i can’t seem to get rid of the jamming bug, i just keep trying and failing. i had a mini outburst tuesday AND thursday trying to jam. i just can’t even get through the pack for my initial pass anymore! especially if burger is blocking me, or even worse, burger and liberty. so there’s this new thing we do, if the jammer cant get through she just becomes a fifth blocker. guess who’s calling out “five” a lot now?…

i feel like it’s a cop-out, yes, but if the other jammer is already making scoring passes, and if i were to get through, she’d just call it off… whats the point of keeping trying to get through? maybe it is better to just stop trying, and just work defense. keep that other jammer from getting more points. (did i get the offense/defense thing right? i just learned in the past year what they meant, and i always forget still)

so basically, here’s where i’m at. if we’re scrimmaging, and i see the jammer spot empty, i think okay i’m gonna try it. then as soon as i can’t get through, it kind of kills something inside of me. as soon as the other jammer comes around again, it basically crushes any motivation i had and i accept that i’m probably not going to be able to score any points.  i start beating myself up in my head, yelling at myself, thinking this is the last time, last time god damn you! never again.

i try to juke, but that just doesnt seem to work for me, it does nothing in the way of faking out my opponents. or maybe it does, but i hesitate for that split second where maybe i could get through, because i think that i won’t be able to. i don’t even know anymore. anyway the next step to this process is the jam is called off and i want to cry and tell myself to never jam again. this feeling lasts for a few more jams, at least one. but then i’ll see that star panty lying on the floor, and a glimmer of hope and determination sparkles in my eye… then the whole thing repeats.

yes, i’m still trying, but is it for any good? i’m not getting any better, in fact i’m getting worse because i’m at the frustration tipping point where it’s really fucking with my head. thursday i was so upset watching other jammers breeze through time after time, i started crying. i need to let this want go, just get rid of it. so thats what i’m gonna do. i’m going to put off the goal of becoming a jammer for a little bit, and just worry about being the best blocker i can be. lord knows that needs work anyway!

now for something positive. i’m just gonna copy and paste my ichange journal post from the other day. i was high off this for a while!

i’ve been dreading this weeks “hard workout” (my words) on the roller derby workout challenge… 100 burpees in 10 mins & 100 star jumps in 10 mins. thought about putting it off until the end of the week, but after i felt like i got some mojo back at practice last night, i wanted to keep the momentum going. i remember how hard it was for me to do during last year’s challenge, but i also kind of had a feeling i might surprise myself. either way, planning my post-workout snack helped get me motivated to get into it. i had to bake a sweet potato to use later in my sweet potato protein smoothie, so there was no backing out of this workout. well the burpees were not that hard really! my body is trained to just bust them out now i think i finished 100 in 9 minutes. earlier today i had questioned weather i should take it easy and just do one part of the workout, but i was so proud of myself i didn’t want to cheat myself. the star jumps were definitely harder, but i told myself this is a CHALLENGE, its not gonna be easy. i finished 5 minutes ahead of time and after taking a little break, was able to bust out 50 more! and let me just say, this post-workout sweet potato protein smoothie is the best tasting this to ever meet my lips

and for anyone who’d like the recipe, here it is. seriously, it was so fucking delicious.

puree the following in a blender. 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato, 1 banana, 1/4 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt, 1/4 almond milk (or your fav milk), 1 scoop french vanilla herbalife shake mix (or one tablespoon of your preferred protein powder), 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 4 ice cubes. the recipe called for 1 tablespoon agave nectar but i tasted it and it didn’t even need it so i left it out. i forgot to add a dash of nutmeg as well. 370 calories, protein 15g, carbs 68g, fat 6g.

oh, and ps- this smoothie is like a meal, it will fill u up! and the day after that hard workout, boy did i wake up sore. i was searching the apartment for marks calcium magnesium tablets before work that morning!