Thursday, August 26, 2010

Ouch! and Double Ouch!

No practice Monday, so instead some of us met up at McNellie's pub & grill for Pint Night. Rosie, Josey, Meanie, TechNik, Mauler, and applicable meat were there. Good times and sweet potato fries.

Tuesday was an Open Practice. After Killa lead some jogging and warm-up stretches, we had an option of trying our lap time or going down stairs. I was still a little congested, but honestly was scared my lap time would have gone down. :( SO... V took us downstairs to do plyometrics and tae bo moves in the parking lot. It was GORGEOUS outside, with a breeze, so it would have been a shame to waste it. Back inside for floor exercises (legs, butt & abs).

Then a short stint of scrimmaging, which was great because we only had 7-8 people on each team. First jam (as inside blocker) I fall FLAT on my ass. OUCHIE. Luckily I have a lot of padding and didn't break anything. Few more unremarkable rounds, and Brian puts me in as jammer. Again with Cacky persistently bumping me out. She doesn't hit real hard, but she's effective. I go out of bounds, to my knees, try to take out a new girl on the sidelines and Eva jumps over me and catches my thigh with her skate. EFFIN OW! Get back up, never make it through the pack, slide to the sidelines and whimper. The shitty part, it hurts like hell, I feel it every time I take a step, and it's not even an impressive bruise! Hmph.

Today I'm scheduled to meet some girls at Hefner to try my hand (or feet, I guess) at outdoor. Wish me luck!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Workout Plan!

I sat out of Monday's practice. I was dizzy and felt like my ears and eyes may pop out at any moment, and didn't want to take the chance. (Okay, maybe I'm a LITTLE overdramatic. I still didn't feel well enough for drills.) But I went and sweated at the Market anyway, just to be supportive. :)

Tuesday was actually a lot of fun. Off-skates workout first including jogging, lunges, stretching and abs. Then skating around the rink practicing basics (falls, knees, stops & starts) and not-so-basics (tomahawk turns, squat jumps, backwards skating, 180 jumps). I am actually pretty good with backwards skating and tomahawk turns, chalk that up to rink skating in my twenties. Then... scrimmage! Total blast. I jammed against Rae and got lead jammer and a grand slam - YAY! But I called it off after that second pass because I was very winded. Which leads me to my next point.

Okay, so we all know my 25-in-5 is more a 24-in-5 consisting of shakey legs and haggard breathing. THIS must change. So Meanie (in her effort to become a jammer) and I decided to start running. Couch to 5k program seemed appropriate. I started on Wednesday, and let me tell you, this body is NOT made for speed (it's made for comfort). B joined me and we both followed the instructions. Soon after the exercise "ended," we realized that we were only halfway around the track and had to keep going back to our vehicle. Total walked - about 3 miles (I got snappy at about mile 2 1/2.) A little twinge of shin splints today, nothing major. My butt and legs are going to look FANTASTIC! (Note: Still waiting for Meanie to start her program - Week 1 Day 2 for me is tomorrow!)

Monday, August 16, 2010

Expo game, Tryouts and a Fear of Failure



Thursday was my first almost-real game. It was an expo at a local skating rink, where our league was divided into two teams of equal skill. We also switched coaches halfway through (first half our team had Daniel Boom, a newer ref, and second half was Brian Bounds). We did manage to eek out a win, though the entire game was close!



Toward the end of the game, Brian hands me the jammer panty, and I tell him I hate him. Surprisingly enough, I manage to stay neck and neck with NiTrick Acid (newer skinny girl who's going to be the next Anomellie), breaking through the pack at almost the exact same time. Unfortunately she gets lead jammer and things debilitate from there as Kitty catches up and clobbers me. I fall, and fall, and fall again, jamming my finger in the last one. I wanted to give up, but I thought "I don't need my fingers to skate" so I get back up and the jam soon ends.



Saturday, Meanie, Taryn and crew went to Choctaw skating rink. (Wicked showed up but left soon because of hip pain.) Had a BLAST with those girls. Left knee drop was lame (due to right knee and left ankle pain), and Meanie spotted one of my faults... plow stopping just before or just after a corner!

Sunday at 9am brought tryouts. I only managed 24-in-5 (DAMMIT), and during our minimum skills drill (starts, stops and falls while skating around the track) my back was screaming for mercy. Scrimmaging was typical (except when I jammed and Goldie Knox kept knocking me to the outside!), and WFTDA written test wasn't bad at all. But I didn't make the team. It's not unexpected, but it's still a disappointment. I was THIS_CLOSE to not going to tryouts at all for fear of not making the team, but I'm glad I went, even if it does mean facing the fact that I'm not ready yet - not only in my eyes, but the eyes of our coaches and team-mates.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Killa tried to kill-a me. Wow, that's lame.

Let's set the scene:
4th time I've ever scrimmaged.
9 Killameter is one of our team superstars.
We're on opposite teams.
And... GO.

It was hot, very hot. We had a news crew coming to film (Oklahoma City SportsCenter - we should be next week's feature!). Luckily we didn't do many laps, and lots of stretching (and, unfortunately after Monday's ab-slaying, MORE ABS) then set up to scrimmage. We are associated with the team we'll be scrimmaging with on Thursday's expo bout - plus a few that won't be there Thursday. Things are going along okay, though it's obvious that blue (my) team was at a bit of a disadvantage due to a couple extra players on the orange team - and our better girls are starting to get frustrated with the lack of teamwork. I'm vowing to "do better, be more aware" when BAM I get hit with a Killa Cut and to the floor I go. Up, and back with the pack, then BAM a Killa Can-Opener. Slower, but up I go. Next time I see Killa coming, but she still gets me with a shoulder to my clavical and once again down I go. Mercifully they call off the jam at that point.

Am I really cut out for this?!

My goals are to work on awareness and sprinting. Unfortunately I don't see either one getting better by tomorrow. :)

And for your comic amusement, here is a video taken at last week's practice (where Rose decided it would be fun to go in the clockwise direction - great). I'm in a black tank with short black shortss and a black helmet standing very center screen at the beginning. (I just realized I'm the fattest chick on the track - GEEZUS.) Check out the hit one of the newbies wallops me with at 0:53.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Heat Index of 135 degrees F

RollerCon was AWESOME! More details later, that's going to be a long post.

Oklahoma did a wonderful weather welcome home, temperatures matching those in Vegas (103 / 104) but adding in that humidity factor to drive up the heat index to about 135 (so maybe that's just what it feels like). Our practice space charges $300 per day for us to turn on the air conditioner. So, considering it's full of girls that spend their last dollar on wheels, we don't pay and instead suffer through dehydration headaches, heat-induced vomiting, and the possibility of fainting. Fun.

Considering my sweat contained more alcohol than Oklahoma beer on Monday, I only made it through half the practice. And we didn't even do laps! Lame, I know.

Yesterday we had maybe 20 girls start practice, with only 13 finish. I admit I had to take a couple breaks when I got cold chills, I can't imagine how bad it would have been without the 100 oz of water during the day. And my boyfriend came to video the scrimmage at the end of practice. I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure it's B-E-A-utiful. <--sarcasm

I am pretty proud of myself for being one of only two people to make practice after rollercon, those other three didn't strap on skates this week! And Rose is a badass, I want to be her when I grow up and become a real derby girl. :)