Less Tired Now

Let's see if I can manage to recount last night's practice now.

So I hadn't been to practice in a while, like a week and a half, so I knew last night was gonna be tough. Also the group of newbies we've got has advanced some, so our practices are getting harder.

The first thing Foxy does is count us off. 1s and 2s. I knew this would be bad. Sho nuff, Foxy tells the 2s to get up and we're doing the 25 in 5. I counted for Hellin. Then the 1s got up. Foxy told us she'd rather we crossover the whole way and get over 5 minutes than come in under 5 and not have the form. I have trouble on the straightaways, skating the optimum path, coming back in for the turn. I start striding there rather than crossing over. I worked really hard to crossover the whole time. I thought I was doing well.

My time was 5:01. I'm not ashamed, it's fine with me. That is the product of not having skated in a week and a half. Foxy said that for those of us planning to assess next go-round, this was a good benchmark. I've already come in under 5 minutes, so I know I can again.

We did a stamina and endurance drill, and it was long and grueling and not that interesting. It was beneficial to build up the fundamentals. Yay.

We worked on arm whips with partners. Foxy somehow paired me with Caitlin. I swear, I'm gonna ask to be called by my last name if this doesn't stop. Caitlin's derby name is Cal-Q-H8r, which does not roll off the tongue. Sometimes they call her Cal-Q, but overwhelmingly no. Anyway, I worked on whips. My inside arm whips still need some improvement, but they're gettin there.

Then we did pushes and whips. And I'm pretty good pushes, so this was not a problem.

So then Foxy went offskates and grabbed the blocking dummy and we did some hitting. Foxy said that during assessments, she noticed that a lot of people were not comfortable with hitting. So she set up this obstacle course. We lined up, hit the dummy, cut to the inside of the track, did some lateral movement, and then toe-stop walked. HOWEVER I had a lot of trouble with the lateral movement, I think the cones were just too close together. My lateral movement is improving. I need to work on making my feet move in the proper manner.

So the hitting. We were doing hip checks. I managed to keep my elbow out of the hit, which is good! However I went down a bunch. But I got right back up. Foxy started out on the outside of the track, then switched to the inside. The inside screwed me up. The second (I think?) time through, I went down on my general hip/butt/thigh area and it was one of those that resonated in my back. I took a second to stretch out my butt, and it still hurt, but I got back in line and went through again. And I fell down again.

Luckily, it was stretching/cool down time after that. I came home and iced my butt. Still hurts, but it's better. Might have to take an ice pack with me to work, just in case.

I hurt like a moose this morning. But I got through the blog.

Also, I'm likely to be inactive for this month, so I'll try to continue to post, but I don't know how often it'll happen. I think I found a pair of roller skates that might fit Josh, so maybe he'll consent to going skating with me. He's already said he'd go to a rink with me, but maybe he'd skate outdoors with me too. (Hmmm....)

Didja Miss Me?

Ok, it's only been since Sunday. But I keep doing these posts in between practices about like goals and stuff...but then I get distracted and wind up discussing skates or something.

Anyway, I had practice tonight. I went. And today was the longest day of my life. I left my house at 11 am this morning, not planning to return until 10 pm or later...I walked about 2 miles throughout the day carrying my bookbag. Purse. And derby bag. One day (not this evening), I will weigh all of these things. Just to know how much I was carrying. My skate wheels beat a tattoo against my knee. My bad knee.

Anyway, I'm super exhausted. School, work, then derby. I had to turn down a stagehand gig because I was simply unable to. If I'd been able to get back to my house, to get proper clothing and my c-wrench...I might've. But I declined. So Josh is working. It's the Trans-Siberian Orchestra load-out. I get his show shirt, if there is one.

I've been trying to get back to my point here. I'm just so tired that distraction/digression comes easily. THE POINT IS, I am supremely tired and not ready to blog about practice tonight. I'll be back, in full blogging-fashion tomorrow. I'll try to blog before work tomorrow.

So to my readers (all 3 of you), sorry, but I will tell you ALL about this evening's (well, now yesterday evening's) practice. Nap time before my boy gets home to tell me all about his day!

This Morning...

I should've gone to practice. But I couldn't. I was not in a place emotionally to do so. And I had a lot of trouble convincing myself to take off my warm jammies and get into tights. I couldn't face the warehouse at 30 degrees. I missed the point where I had to leave to be able to take the bus on time...

Anyway, I feel crappy about it. I need to go skating soon to make up for my lameness this morning.

I know this isn't a strictly derby-update, but it's related...

Parade

Twas the parade today. Oh yeah. Waking up early to go walk in the rain. Those roller girls, man, they really make it worthwhile.

It was raining. And cold. And everybody was freezing. I was glad I had not passed assessments and was walking, because I wore jeans!

The roller girls had a LOT of fun. It was fun to be around them. They were skatin' around, actin' a fool. We had some guests from out of town and one of them was jumping over girls.

We were in front of the Charlotte Royals, our favorite rugby boys. They were in good spirits despite everything.

A fun time was had by all.

I went home and watched the parade and though football wrap-up delayed the broadcast, it did come on eventually and there I was, RIGHT in front of the camera. Teehee. They missed the jump that Jess did in the area. (They also cut the Royals, which I was sad about...)

Then I went to Golden Corral and pigged out.

(I know, this was not the most eloquent post I've ever written, but I'm tired and full. Forgive me.)

Assessments, Day 2, Take 2

I would love to say I passed. I would. But I cannot. I had to quit assessing due to injury.

So this morning, we had quite a mixed bag. Grannies, newbies, brand newbies, assessing newbies, and a ref. (Yay Scuzzy!)

We all warmed up and the trainers asked us to do 25 laps non-derby direction. Seemed daunting. Not in a pack. It wasn't timed. So we start. I'm not bad at non-derby direction, though I'm used to doing it outside the track, so I turn a little wide. Anyway, I'm proud to say that I kept up with Jack the Maniac, one of our fastest skaters, until she lapped me somewhere in the 20s.

I felt kind of off. My skates felt weird. I didn't think it would be a good day...

We then began with Day 2 stuff. We didn't quite realize it though. We did a paceline with weaving. I thought I did well, but I have no idea. Except for the second time when I fell. But I got right back up and continued.

We did whips and such next. I think I might've passed arm whips. I did well. Next was hip whips. First we took them and I did well with that. Then we gave them. This is where it happened. Someone came up and took a hip whip from me. I went down. I twisted and flailed and went down right on my knee. No slide. Straight down. I got up and kept skating and another granny took a hip whip from me. Down again, same knee. I went to the center and sat down, tried stretching the knee. I got up, gingerly, and tried to continue. We moved on to pushes after that, but I had to sit out.

They asked me if I thought I could continue or if I'd have to quit. Weighing my options, I elected to stop. They asked if I'd be able to continue with the other newbies or not. I said I'd like to ice my knee for a bit first. I managed to get up again, but squatting hurt, so I just very tenderly skated.

So I quit, but for my own good. It did not hurt my pride (much), I knew I was doing it for the benefit of my body. If I'd passed and injured my knee further, I'd have to sit out practice/scrimmage. If I'd failed and injured my knee further, I wouldn't be able to schedule any redos to be able to pass. So January assessments, here I come.

Yes, I Can!

You know, the other day, I experienced a lapse in faith. I started thinking that I wasn't ready to pass assessments, I wasn't ready to become a granny. I doubted my abilities. I doubted everything.

And it totally screwed me.

Gone was the, "I am GOING to pass assessments" mentality. In its place was, "I don't think I can."

It was not a good thing. I screwed up some stuff on Sunday that I really should not have. And then Monday night was just a marathon of suck. I was frightened of what mysterious things a granny practice would reveal.

(Ok, I had a brief hiatus because my cat decided I could not blog, I had to love her.)

Anyway, it was all bullshit. Doubting myself caused me to screw up. I went into last night, still nervous, but more positive about my chances, and it made a huge difference. I was able to execute several successful plow stops, my derby stance was better, it was just generally a better mindset.

It's ok to be scared, but it's not ok to let that prevent me from trying my absolute best. Yeah, I'm not as practiced with some of these skills, but that doesn't mean I can't try.

Also, I went down the list of skills and instead of agonizing over what I didn't pass, I congratulated myself on what I did pass. I got my 25 in 5. I didn't know if I'd be able to do that. That was a big deal. I passed every single fall. And I didn't put my hands on the floor during a single one. Single-knee left and right; single-knee, 180 degree; baseball slide; "6-point"...I did all of those. I'm proud of that. I passed stepping and hopping. I passed focusing. I passed my rules test. Every single one of these things is an accomplishment.

So I'm glad the lights went out last night. Gave me time to reflect before I go hit some bitches!

Assessments, Day 2

So this evening, we were to get there at the same time as normal practice (7:30 pm) and warm up with everyone and then we'd squeeze in our redos, and start doing our Day 2 skills. Foxy was hatin on my tutu. I was super psyched and more than a little nervous.

They had us skate around and practice things while they did the 25 in 5. One of us had to redo that skill. So I worked on getting used to the colder floor.

Aside: Our floor is a concrete floor, I hear it's a little faster than what we bout on, but having never used it...anyway, it's gotten chilly in our warehouse as it gets cold down here in the South. So the molecules and stuff in the concrete don't warm up as much. Thusly the floor is faster, less grippy. We've been noticing this at least since last Monday's scrimmage.

So I failed t-stops and plows on Day 1 (Sunday). I fell on 2 of my plow stops. I spent some time working on those today. I refined my technique to work with the floor. I worked on my stickyskating also.

So they get done with the 25 in 5 and the grannies start a non-derby direction pack drill. I head to grab my water and join the other assessers when SUDDENLY the lights go out. We've had the lights not come on, but no one seems to have encountered them going out like that.

So the offskates folks start trying to trip the brakers, flip lights, reset...whatever. Meanwhile Foxy gathers all of us for her Fab Ab Workout. (Seriously, this woman should have a series of workout videos.) There were crunches, leg lifts, partner work...all kinds of fun fare. We squatted and stepped in a circle. And I know I'll hurt tomorrow.

Anyway, the lights never came back on, they dismissed us a few minutes after 9. We commence Day 2 of assessments Sunday morning.

I have more time to gain confidence. I will pass my assessments. I WILL!

Granny Practice

Just remember that I forgot to blog about Monday's Granny Practice. Well, to sum it up, it KICKED my ass. It was super intense.

The first drill was something that should be simple, weaving through a paceline. We had 2 parallel pacelines and you had to stay with your partner around the track. The partners at the back weaved up and when they got to the front, they raced the 2 people at the front of the line around the back. Then the people who were just at the front weaved through. Except for the the first partners, everybody raced, weaved, then raced again. This was the fastest paceline I've ever been a part of. After I raced, I tried like hell to maintain my place, but I couldn't. I was struggling and falling back. Rox kept giving me little pushes to help me, but I was panting. I went to the middle when I just felt like I wasn't getting enough oxygen to my brain. I grabbed some water and took a few deep breaths and right when I thought about going back to the paceline, I felt dizzy and lightheaded. No bueno. I sat out the rest of the drill.

Then we did something where we paired up and knocked our partners out of bounds, then cut across the track to maximize the inconvenience for the out of bounds skater. It wound up in a lot of backwards skating, which just confused me.

We did a relay where we skated to the first cone, did a single knee, 180 degree turn, skated back, turned around, skated to the next cone, did a plow stop, skated back, skated to the far cone, did a tomahawk stop (or a double knee fall) and skated all the way back. Meanwhile, the rest of our team was squatting. I can do a power stop, I have done them, but I was unable to. I think I fell or otherwise screwed up both times. I need to work on my transitions to backwards skating at speed. Usually, I just fall.

Anyway, my skating was totally off after Sunday's suckage. I think I've lost all confidence in my skating ability. This does not bode well for my chances of passing my assessments this go-round. But I guess I need to work the nerves out. So, if I do manage to pass, congrats to me. But if I don't, that too is fine. I'll be all that much more prepared next time.

Also, my left ear is waterlogged and I've lost most of my hearing in it which, if it doesn't clear up by tomorrow, is SERIOUSLY going to complicate things.

I'm shaken, but I still know why I want to do this, so I consider that a success.

Assessments, Day 1

I did all that psyching myself out yesterday and today and let me just say, it screwed me. Our assessing training folks were Rosie, Fister, and Foxy.

Started out with the rules test, which I ALSO psyched myself out about. I just sat there thinking, "I don't know any of this. Shit. I'm gonna fail. Ack." I was unfamiliar with ALL of the bonus ref hand signals. But Fister graded the tests and I passed. I missed 5, but got ALL 4 bonus signals correct, meaning I passed.

From there, we busted into the 25 in 5. I counted for Hope, and poor Hope was hurting. She had food poisoning and was not skating at her best. I'm hoping she feels better by now and I'm certain she'll do better Thursday. I finished with a time of 4:46 (again). I didn't actually know that until much later. But, hey, I passed!

I was so nervous I was shaking when we started doing skills. My legs were shaking AND numb. And my feet quickly went to sleep and occasionally felt like cement blocks.

I did well with the focus, except for apparently standing up. I came up with a clever way to properly determine the number of fingers up. Sometimes the granny cocks her hand funny and it becomes hard to see what fingers are up. BUT if you look at her hand, you can see how many fingers are in. I failed pacing, but I think we all did.

I failed some really silly little things. I failed t-stops, for instance. And plow stops. And a bunch of stuff because my form was off. BUT I did not fail out, so I'm optimistic. I've got a few skills to re-do, I already re-did t-stops.

Fister invited all of us to come to Granny Practice tomorrow night, so I look forward to getting the snot beat out of me. And then, re-doing all my skills I failed, and passing all of Thursday's skills.

I need to get low, wide, and confident!

Tomorrow

I am nearing the end of the most hectic time of my life. You see I volunteered with this charity event, Gay Bingo and last night and tonight were our big nights. The show is done. This was the final one. And this morning, CLTRG had a little invited scrimmage with the ladies of Appalachian Roller Girls. It was pretty awesome. We won despite a severe difference in roster numbers, but App didn't make it easy. I did outside whiteboard again. A super easy job, allowing me beaucoup time to watch. And our own Jack the Maniac and Pamela Ander-slam reffed.

Anyway, assessments start tomorrow morning and I am nervous like a moose. Seriously, I'm terrified. I keep trying to tell myself, "Day 1 is easy stuff. You can TOTALLY do knee drops and 6-point falls," but it isn't working. I feel like I'm gonna fail the written test hardcore. And I feel like crying. How am I gonna get any sleep tonight? Damn.

I'm even more terrified for what's coming Thursday night, because I am WAY less familiar with pack stuff. I've done Johnny Crashes...um once. The practice where I learned them. And I was very uncomfortable with getting my skate in front of the girl. I'm just imagining scenarios where I forget my mouth guard or something dumb. I'd rather take a math test everyday this week.

I need to focus on the positive. And sleep. And stop being sick. But really, sleeping is the most likely. So I'm getting off here and going to bed.

Scriiiiiiiimmmmmmmmage

So there was scrimmage last night (bringing me up to 17 practices).

Initially I was supposed to be action tracking, but then my job got jacked. So instead, I wrangled. Except that there were no outside refs and no outside whiteboard, so it was just making sure the penalty trackers heard the inside refs. And also chilling with Laura, Shelley, Caitlin, and Rene.

We had the league meeting before warm-ups. (I know I'm going backwards here.) The theme seemed to be (and Kathy said it), we heard from the President, VP, Skater Liasion, Treasurer, Head of Bout Production...all of whom are newly elected. Largely it was about communication. And clearing up what the Skater Liasion's role is. It was good. I'm glad I was able to attend.

Then I warmed up with the grannies. I was noticing that I had some problems stopping. I JUST cleaned my wheels yesterday, so I figured I must be losing grip on my wheels. Later, I heard some of the grannies having the same problems. They said, all through scrimmage, they were slipping and sliding and having a lot of trouble staying in bounds. So I feel better. I emailed the Warehouse Maven and expressed my concern, she said she'd be in there tonight to check it out.

Anyway, scrimmage was great. Hellin racked up some penalties, haha. Went to Solstice afterward. Ate some delicious foods. Went home.

16 Practices, Guys!

Once again, creating this post to remind myself to blog. I will later. My boyfriend's asking the computer of me.

Ok, now for some posting.

So, I set an alarm for 5 til 8 for this morning. I woke up and shut off the alarm and continue to lay in bed awhile, then I decided to look at the clock and it said 8:43. I was all, "Hell, wtf? No coffee for me, gotta. Go. Now." But then I looked at my phone, which said it was 7:43. I thought my boyfriend had sabotaged me. I later realized it was Daylight Saving Time. I apologized to Josh later for accusing him.

DERBY this morning. Well first of all, it was freeeeeeezing in the warehouse. For once, I was cold. But only the parts of me that touched the floor.

Lucy Kwipment led practice. She's...well, she's been offskates for about 3 months, due a knee injury (torn ACL, ack!) and will be offskates probably for another 2 months. She doesn't plan to full-contact derby (children and all that), but will return to skates to help with training. I told her she ought to start helping with assessments, so she can hit newbies. She's also one of the founding members of the league. Which is super cool.

We did some stuff involving drops and hops. My reverse-derby direction crossovers are getting better. We did some other non-memorable drills. We did SO MUCH WORK with whips. Lucy was explaining hip whips. She said, "Grab her like you're going to ass-fuck her." So that made Sunday morning more interesting. There seems to be a lot of standing up. I'm still kind of sore from Thursday, so I was doing some of that.

And then Lucy said those infamous words. Well, not immediately. She said, "Ok, let's split up and do 5 laps in a minute. Then let's do 5 in 25. Wait...whoa. I mean 25 in 5." Still, 25 in 5. Those are the words.

I haven't done 25 in 5 as an individual in a few weeks. The last 2 times we've done it as a pack. And the last time I did 25 in 5, I was still using my sneaker skates. I don't know if I've discussed my previous skates. But they have rubber wheels. There is no coasting to happen. I stop pushing, I stop moving. Anyway, so, this was my first individual 25 in 5 in my Sure Grips, and my time came in 4:46 (I think). I lay down in the middle and almost cried. Seriously. That was such a big relief. Now if I can do it again, next Sunday, AND manage to do stuff afterward.

At the end of practice, we had introduction circle/cool down. Some of the grannies did not know us all. I gave my name and intended derby name and it was well-received. I've been to 16 practices as of today (and I'll be going to scrimmage tomorrow night!), and will soon get to submit my name.

Tonight's Practice...

...was extra exhausting.

So I got on the internets, did some stuff, iced my back, and took a shower, COMPLETELY forgetting to update my blog. I'm fixing that now.

So tonight was a semi-last minute extended prep practice. There was a call for grannies who could stay to help assist with the training. But that's afterward. Here's regular practice.

Did some offskates warm-ups, then we did this drill called Montreal. It involves a sort of paceline where you all jog in place and someone weaves through the line, juking and faking right and left up to the front. We did it til we ran out of warehouse. No good for me. My body is not meant to run or jog. Not even in place. So my ankles was not loving it. My mentor says her calves hurt everytime she does it, so I feel better.

Anyway, right before Montreal, I was talking to a newbie and said something about 25 in 5. "What's that?" she said. I was taken aback for a fraction of a second and calmly explained it was the 25 laps in 5 minutes drill. She said she'd never done that. I told her not to tell anyone that. SHO NUFF, as soon as the grannies started doing their drills and we newbies head to the center, P. Hole says, "25 in 5." I locked eyes with the aforementioned newbie.

P. Hole said she knew we'd done 25 in 5 as a pack last week and whether we'd prefer to do it as a pack or as individuals. There was much talk of how we needed to work on the pack bit. I mentioned that we'd only done 25 in 5 as a pack once, so we quickly decided to do that. Our last time was 7:23. We did it in 2 packs of 5. My pack was first. We did extremely well. We kept it packed up pretty well the whole time. Our time came in at 5:36. Not bad.

I would like to say right now that I love P. Hole as a trainer. She says "bitch" and "shit" so often. She calls gear "bullshit." She told us we'd be rejoining "those bitchfaces over there." I smiled internally.

The rest of our drills involved non-derby direction pyramid laps and squats and stickyskating and fun stuff like that. We rejoined the "bitchfaces" and did wall-sits, which involved much ass-busting. I fell twice. I don't even remember what the rest of practice was like.

Cut to: cooldown for lame-os who was leaving at regular time, and a brief break for those of us staying. I took a pee break, and braved the treacherous path to the bathroom in my skates. I get back and Foxy starts talking about what we'll be doing which is largely pack work.

We start out locking wheels in a pack. My mentor was targeting me. And apparently there's an unspoken rule that you can pull on or lean on your mentee at any time. I accidentally tripped Psy, sorry!

So we progressed to bumps and hits in a pack. The grannies hit us gently and we absorbed and tried to stay in the pack.

Then they got to go "balls out" or "no mercy." Oh my ow. Hellin once again targeted me. I think I won for most time on the floor. Psy hit me good, then IMMEDIATELY after, Foxy slammed me and I went down. It wasn't enough to make me forget what day it was, but I definitely had to think about what direction to get up in. I was whacked so many times. And so many shoulder hits. I fell either small or outside the track as much as possible. I got slammed good and hard several times. Enough to damn near clear my sinuses.

I think we did unexpected obstacles next, which I was surprisingly good at. It reminded me of being at Northwest again with unpredictable middle schoolers. They're just all over the place. And until I tripped over Fister and absolutely did not fall small.

This is when I started hurting bad. My back stopped wanting to arch, my feet were in intense pain and cramping and asleep.

We worked on Johnny Crashes next which is something I've never done. At least not with contact. I worked with Hellin. I wasn't bad at it for my first time. I need to work on keeping elbows out of the game, popping up into the hit and popping back down, and aiming it properly. We're aiming for the mid-boob (or sternum, but that's not what we call it in derby). Hellin told me to watch and aim at her chest for now, but to work on being able to do it without because, in a bout, if I aim, she'll know what I'm gonna do before I do it.

Then we did a paceline and crashed through it. I need to work on being comfortable with one skate in front of the girl I'm hitting. And widening my stance. I had tried widening earlier in the evening and it was a no go.

Anyway, I'm tired and need to switch ice packs, so that's all for now, I think I covered everything.

I got hit hard. Assessments are next week. I'm still pushing myself to pass them. Hugs and bruises!

This morning...was it THIS morning? Really? Wow!

O-K!

Practice was at 9 am, and it's now almost 1 am, and I took a nap and have done like 400 things today including take one of the weirdest bus rides of my life, so EXCUUUUSE me if I don't remember everything or my recollection of practice is hazy.

So, this morning, right. Well, firstly I stepped in dog poo and did not want to expose the warehouse to that, so I wore my flippie-floppies for stretching. And then we jogged 2 laps around the derby track, backwards. That may have been the worst part of practice today.

Anyway, we geared up and I am happy to say my new skates are certainly getting better. WAY less pain today. We did some things around the track, but it was like squats and I was tired, so I forget. Then the grannies took over the track with Sin Plicity and we n00bs went to elsewhere with Drew FearMeMore. Despite her gruff name, Drew is actually really sweet and very helpful. She's an approachable trainer.

Drew had us squat around the outside of the track, then there were some one-legged glides. Then there was some stickyskating in both directions.

Then we did some stops, drops, and hops. Frankly, I just liked the rhyming. We DID do all 3 things, but the stop

s and drops/falls were first. We did t-stops and plows back and forth between the track and the benches. Drew was impressed with our progress so she tried to teach us hockey stops. They aren't strictly required, but they're useful. Mostly we did poorly. I managed to bust my ass, but then the next one I tried, I DID!! I did a hockey stop. However in the ass-bust, I took a knee to the thigh resulting in my FIRST EVER DERBY BRUISE!!! FIRST, Y'ALL!!!!

From there we moved on to knee-touches, and double knee falls, and then we worked on to baseball slides. Then we did 6-point falls, moving back onto the track. I worked REALLY hard to not use arms to get up. None at all. And I succeeded. So that was big.

Next we did hops. The one-to-one and two-footed both. Then Drew invented this awesome obstacle course that led off with us skating the inside line, then sidestepping then swerving around cones, and finally lateral movement for 1/2-3/4 of the track. I really worked on lateral movement and felt successful with it.

My brain is struggling to remember what happened next. I can do it. Oh, booty blocking! We lined up jammers and blockers and blocked around the track. I put to use some of my knowledge/skills gained the other night. I wasn't super awesome, but I'm making progress. I'm trying to think if there was anything else we did...

I can't remember. Sorry Drew. Loved your plan, but I can't remember it.

We did some awesome core-work, everyone's favorite. V sit-ups and leg lifts and stuff. Then we de-geared and cooled down. It was, as Drew said, a chance for us to work on basics. So I seized the opportunity to do so and saw some real results. And I got my first bruise. Yay!

Last night...

...was hell.

It was extended prep practice. I knew breaking in my new skates last night was gonna be rough. And I was not disappointed. My feet alternated between being asleep/numb, tingling, and extreme pain. The callus on the ball of my right foot quickly developed into a sore spot, making every crossover a challenge.

The first part of practice wasn't too bad. It was just with continued pressure that my feet started living a nightmare.

K. Rye served as assistant trainer to us while Drew worked with the grannies and almost-grannies.

We did 25 in 5 as a pack, which I've never done before, but I've read about. Our time was 7:23, so there's something. We lost the pack on the last few laps, but by that time, there were only 5 of us still in the pack. I spent several laps up front until I fell. But I tucked and fell small and allowed the pack to pass around and over me, then got up and caught back with them before they'd even made the next turn. I think my recovery was complimented, which made me proud.

We did some stepping drills. Grapevine and step-together-step (what would be a side-shuffle, or chasse as I know them, sans skates), which I did ok with. I have a lot of trouble crossing my skate behind, but I noticed a lot of people did. However I did NOT focus on my feet the whole time.

We did a paired paceline where we weaved with a partner. My partner was my mentor, Hellin. We did really well. Our weaving was good, I could've probably been closer to her, but I was getting used to the skates, so I was wary. I took Stacey out because Hellin and I didn't warn her we were trading sides.

We stickyskated around the outside of the track both derby and non-derby directions. I can stickyskate now, so that's a plus.

Oh, we did these fun drills (actually toward the beginning, but I forgot) where we t-stopped on 1 whistle, and plowed on 2. Then Drew added in transitioning to backwards skating on 3 whistles. I am not bad at backwards skating so this was nice to work on. I tried stickyskating and sort of a backwards stride. However I did take a knee hard. Right after a plow stop, I went down. Hard. Slam. I may have twisted my knee a little, it was giving me some trouble and I took a second to come to the inside of the track and inspect it. Drew came over and asked what was up, I explained, she asked if the pad moved, I said no. She said, "Well be sure to ice it tonight." (I did, jsyk.)

Then we started talking about who was staying, initially it was just gonna be 3 of us, but 3 more newbies volunteered to stay. So we had a total of 6. Fister, K. Rye, Rosie, and Drew worked with us. We did weaving in a paceline. A fast paceline. I was terrified that I was going to run out of water. (I didn't, thank god.)

We paired up and did hitting, which was really my first time doing any hitting. Jill was my partner and we both got some good hits in. I got a good one on her that knocked me down. We did some lateral movement, then some booty blocking. Then we got the pro-tips on how to booty block. About sticking your butt out side-to-side. And it clicked. We were much better after that. My giant fuzzy butt was all Jill could think about. I need to get my stance wider, but that will come with more trust in my skates. My lateral movement was not strong because my feet were causing me so much pain, but I did a lot with my butt.

We also did a paceline where the grannies came through and hit us. I am fairly decent at absorbing impact it would seem. And mostly I didn't go out of bounds. I was really scared for Fister's hits, but they were not as bad as I'd expected. Drew knocked herself down hitting me.

There were times during practice (especially the extended part) where I thought I was gonna cry, but I just fought through it. I did not cry. I also thought about giving up, sitting out...but I also did not. I kept going. And I pushed myself.

Our final drill was hip whips through a paceline. I had to use the restroom and Fister first asked me, "You're not gonna bust your ass on the stairs." I assured her I wouldn't and I kept my promise. And I came back and whipped through the line. I pulled somebody down (Stacey). But hip whips are a strength for me. I've got to remember to not do one to the inside of turns because then I wind up skipping the next person because I am flung. But I really pull with hip whips. And though I was stumbly last night, I tried not to hold on to anyone too long. I did catch myself bent over, but I tried to let go, regain composure and posture and then take the whip.

Anyway, my feet were killing me by the end. But miraculously, no blisters. Which, is cray-cray because I remember skating rinks, getting hella blisters with rentals. I'm sure there's more pain to come, but I got my skates good and hot and am hopefully on my way to breaking them in.

Reflections

I know I'm starting to invade people's Facebook feeds with my derby fanaticism, but frankly suck it. It's a great sport and if you don't support me or are annoyed by the frequency of my posts, there is something called "See less from this person."

That being said, I've continued to scour the internet for derby-related shit. I mean from hunting for apparel to looking at wheel reviews to blogs of other girls to the roller girl yahoo group...

Anyway, I've really been inspired by this woman's journey as documented in www.derbyat40.blogspot.com. She skates in Oregon, with Sick Town. A lot of other blogs I've come across are from established skaters and they may have to re-pass assessments, but it's no big. Or they transfer leagues. In this blog, the woman talks a lot about the struggles she has. She sets goals, she works out, and she remains positive.

So I'm inspired to set goals. 1. Pass assessments (duh!), passing assessments is important for like 400 reasons. Firstly, it makes me eligible to scrimmage. Secondly, it's a big fricking deal. And thirdly, it means I can go to practice on Monday and that's great because sometimes I have to work on Thursday.

Having participated in granny warm-ups, I have an idea of what I'm in for once I pass. And it's intense. I fully expect to be sore as shit at that time. Like starting again.

Back to my goals (I digress, it's one of those days), to pass assessments, I need my 25 in 5. I'm determined to pass November assessments. And they're in like 2 and a half weeks. But I can do it. I need to.

Once more, I need to work on 25 in 5. I haven't done it with the new skates yet (something I'm certain will be rectified this evening) and I'm hoping that will help me to shave off those seconds. Also, being able to do other drills afterward. Since I think 25 in 5 is first on Day 1. Because doing drops and falls after that is SOOO hard. I'll need to work on my core strength to do so.

I need to work on my falls in general. Baseball slides could certainly be stronger. Getting up needs work. Might need some derby crunches to prepare.

Jumping. Last time we did jumping, I was lazy. Lazy is bad. I was not low. I was just jumping. Rosie noticed.

My sticky skating needs some work now that I can sticky skate.

Man, I was all ambitious when I started this, but I think I'm giving up to focus on getting ready for practice tonight. But I'm sure I'll blog again soon.

Scriiiiiiiimmage

I busted my butt again. I am too tired to continue writing words. But I created this post to remind me that I DO want to blog about scrimmage. I just can't right now. So I update tomorrow. Now, I bed.

Ed: OK, you guys. I'm still tired, but I feel like updating. Or rather I feel I should. I've now been to 13 practices, I'm pretty sure.

Ok, geez, I've been stalling like a madwoman.

Scrimmage!

Firstly I warmed up with the grannies to try out my new skates. I didn't have all the time in the world to adjust them properly BUT they rocked. I might have to tweak some things, and I'll be putting on toe guards. Like I said, busted my butt. There was a drill where on one whistle, we all squatted, on two whistles, we stood up and jumped. Got too far forward and BAM! Feelin it today.

The scrimmage was pretty rough. Had some first and second-time bouting grannies. There were no outside refs. I was doing action stats with Dottie and even doing that, we caught some penalties. But the teams did manage to work together really well. I was happy to see that my mentor, Hellin Felon #13, aided her jammer a bunch.

I guess that's really all I had to say, damn. Doing action stats was cool. I could've done better, but next time I do it, I'll hopefully be better. With my new skates, aka real skates, I hope those few seconds will come off my 25 in 5 time. I'm certain I'll find out Thursday. What's really nice about these skates is when I stop actively pushing, I keep going. Not so with the Cruisers. Seriously, shit sucks. You are always worked to propel yourself. I can coast through turns, but the rest...not so much.

So yeah, Thursday's extended practice. 3 hours. Breaking in my new skates. Oh boy. I'm predicting ass-busting.

Anyway, sorry my post is short and choppy and non-sequitur-licious, I'm tired. I need bed. Good night everyone! Hugs and bruises!

SKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATES!

I shrieked a little when I heard and saw the UPS truck. It was really exciting. Then I creeped by my door, I didn't have to sign for the package and the delivery guy was trying to find a place to put it. They are pretty and shiny and black and nice. I tried them on, but I've encountered another problem. They might be too big. I'm gonna try 'em out tonight and hope I don't mess them up terribly. I'm also asking fellow skaters with the same boot how much they stretch. It doesn't seem like they can stretch much, due to boot design. But after tonight, we shall see.

This Morning

Firstly, I'd like to say, MY NEW SKATES COME TOMORROW!!!!

That being said, I had practice this morning. Wasn't too bad. Did 5 in 1, and I know I didn't push as hard as I could. Somebody went down right in front of me and I slowed down and didn't push all the way back up to top speed.

Bout busted my ass on the way back down the stairs from the bathroom. Haha. I am special.

We did some partner work with whips and pushes, which was good. I need to work on whips. Giving them. I think I did a lot better today than I did last time (which was a WHILE ago). I need to work on transferring the energy and strength from my core through my arm.

We also did hip-whips, which I definitely improved at. A fellow newbie noticed, but I could feel it. May've knocked someone down, but what can ya do?

We were doing counter-derby direction laps, which are hard, but I can totally do. Like even crossovers. I magically got better at it, made my life rock. I'm at the top of the track, skating along, when SUDDENLY I'm on my ass. And then just as suddenly, I rolled over. It happened so fast, but I'm pretty sure I just was centered too far back and then ASS. It was spectacular. And EVERYONE saw it. Luckily I landed on the cheek, on the side of my butt, so my ginormous butt absorbed a lot of impact and it didn't hurt so much. I was so winded, I had to sit down for a minute and get some water, make sure I didn't suddenly develop any pain. And I got back to skating before practice was over (in non-derby direction too!). So busted my butt, but I'm good.

So...

I've been reading a lot of derby stuff lately and it just seems that a lot of other leagues are unwelcoming. All these girls talk about feeling so shut out as newbies and scared. I haven't experienced much of that with CLTRG.

There are members who aren't as warm as others, it's part of their charm. But everybody's been really nice and genuine. They all seem like they want to help us. And it's so easy to feel like a part of the group.

And it's really easy to help others. There's a constant influx of newbies and sometimes there's a practice where the skaters overwhelm the TC members. It's super easy to look at someone and say, "Hey, when I was working on my T-stop, it helped me a lot to pick my foot up and set it down gently." Just friendly newbie-to-newbie advice.

Anyway, I'm super glad to be part of the CLTRG and can't wait for tomorrow morning's practice.

Updates

So I ordered my skates. Did I mention that? Well, I did. Sure-Grip Rebels. $136, free shipping. Thank you, skates.com.

Now I just have to wait for them. And wait, I am doing. I am obsessively hounding the tracker. My shipment is on schedule to arrive on the 25th. Ack! I can't wait til then. I have another practice before then. Ugh.

Alas...

Anyway, practice happened last night. Rosie and P.Hole led, but neither were on skates. There were 4 grannies and a bunch of us newbies. We did 25 in 5. I did not do so well. 5:20, which is worse than my last time. I don't think I was pushing as hard. Last time, it was Sunday morning, and I'd just woken up. However, for the rest of practice, I struggled. So I gotta get back down. Hopefully real wheels will help. Like, a lot. We didn't do any pack drills, but we did do some fun relays. A shopping cart-suicide and this weird drill involving single-knee 180 degree drops and baseball slides and getting from the ground on pads.

Last night was supposed to be Extended Prep for assessments with an extra hour of practice! But there wasn't enough interest, so it's next Thursday instead. Luckily, I can also attend that one. I'm excited, especially since I'll have my new skates, and this will be a crash course in breaking them in. I think there's scrimmage Monday, so maybe I'll warm up with the grannies to try out my new skates. Maybe.

Learned about the other Caitlin. She knows my old drama teacher, they were coworkers til he moved schools. This isn't pertaining to derby, but it's amusing.

I think that's all I got to say for now. Later, folks!

Ow...

Yesterday morning's practice was intense. Thanks Fister. The drills just kept going. I know, I know, it'll make me stronger in the long run, but right now I'm sore.

So then I managed to arrange a ride real fast and got to my committee meeting. That was cool. I'm on the Marketing & Sales committee. We discussed a lot of important things. Like how we hate the website, but aren't sure what to do about it yet. Anyway, it was cool.

Then the bout. Which rocked. Kathy (.357 Maggie) made me dj. Which I thought would be dangerous, but everyone there appreciated my odd music taste. Seriously, I played "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Rock Me Amadeus." And they loved it. It was...awesome!

More to come later. I'm sleepy. Just wanted to update you all about this lovely development on my road to derby awesomeness.

Oh wait, also I ordered my skates today, so I'll have real skates real soon. Hell yes!

P.S. I have decided I am GOING to pass my assessments in November. I will think it into happening.

O Hai

I TOTALLY do have other news.

After practice this morning, myself and a couple other ladies went to Solstice for some breakfast (burgers, reubens, and nachos) and ice water. One of the girls is a super new newbie, so we overloaded her with information. Everything from where to get good pads to why a jammer might call off a jam. Seriously, I think we might have 'sploded her brain. If she's at scrimmage tomorrow night, I will feel better about not exploding someone's brain.

Anyway, it was awesome to be helpful.

Some Thoughts For The Day

Tomorrow is scrimmage. It's gonna be awesomes. I can't wait. Vampires vs. Werewolves, a week from today, Sunday the 17th. Doors at 6 pm, bout at 6:30. This all goes down at the Kate's in Gastonia. Tickets are $8 in advance, and $10 day of. Talk to your favorite roller girl to get advance tickets or visit the Common Market.

In other news, since I'm still a newbie, quad skates! I am having like the toughest time with them. Sirrously, guys. I was gonna order some, but then a girl in the league offered up a pair and I was like, "Hells yeah!" But then the skate isn't attached to the boot. Like at all. And there is no tightening I can do to make it better. All the duct tape in the world wouldn't help. I mean I could superglue it, BUT...eventually they're gonna have to get retired anyway, and if not now, then soon. And what if it's RIGHT before I assess? That could seriously put a damper on my chances at passing assessments.

Anyway, so point is, I am once again back to my crappy-ass sneaker skates. I might have a lead on a pair, if not, Sure-Grip Fugitives it is. They'll run me $136.00.

In other news, 5:03, you guys, that rocks!

Recent Stuff

Haven't updated in a while. I skipped practice for about a week and a half. No strictly my fault. Work came up so I missed Thursday. Friday I could've gone to Open Skate, but napping took priority. And then Saturday I went to a wedding, so Sunday was spent recuperating and catching up on lost sleep.

So I went Thursday night and was greeted by a brand new crop of newbies! It was encouraging. They were all so spirited after their Sunday workshop, which is cray-cray. But I thought Thursday would be brutal, and the day-after sore even worse, but it wasn't bad. I was sorer from dance practice!

This morning was a little different. Practice was led by the bodacious Foxy Pound, notorious for breaking newbies. (Not really, least that I know of.) We were out of the gate with 25 in 5. I have shaved some seconds off my last time of somewhere 'round 5 and a half minutes down to 5:03!!! Sitting pretty at just over. And those seconds WILL be off before November 14th.

After that, we did drills involving stops and falls. Some of the newbies learned 6-point and baseball slides. After that endurance test, I struggled many a time to get back up. Something to work on.

We did pull-carts and ab work. Walking on toe stops and assorted things of that nature.

So I'm hurting a little, but I'm hopping off here to pack up my traveling circus and go deal with the herd of angry cats at the house.

Skate Maintenance

Today I cleaned my wheels, unlaced the skates, took the duct tape off the toes, clean up the residue with alcohol, and put the toe guards on. I don't have one of those fancy toe stop wrenches, so I was using my c-wrench for it. Heh. Needed some assistance from the boy.

I attempted to take a look at my pivot cups, but I couldn't very well see them. One of these days, I'll get a proper tool and take my skate apart and put it back together. Just for fun.

Anyway, that's today's update on my journey to becoming a roller girl.

Intra-league Bout

The lovely ladies had a bout today, (it was my first-ever bout, so whooo!) the age-old Kitten vs. Cougar match-up. There was a previous Battle of the Ages in December of 2009, where the Cougars bested the Kittens 100-81.

For extra flavor, the ladies changed the names of the teams to the Vintage Vixens and Baby Bombshells.

Today was the birthday of both Hellin Felon and K-Rye, both Baby Bombshells.

There were only 10 or so skaters per team, meaning a lot of skating for every lady. The ladies skated hard with the Baby Bombshells taking an early lead. It was mostly a clean game, since these ladies normally skate together.

The Baby Bombshells were up at the half, and they remained ahead the whole bout. The Vixens fought hard, but the Bombshells blocked their Jammers time and time again. (It didn't hurt that one of the Jammers for the Bombshells got 3 grand slams in one jam.)

There were a few injuries. Foxy Pound took her time getting up during one jam, but she got up to jam again. And Speak'n Spanglish twerked her right shoulder something awful. The medical staff could not determine what exactly she did, she'll need x-rays for that, but she was in good spirits the rest of the bout and afterward.

The final score was 96-79 Bombshells. Good job all around ladies, and Happy Birthday to K-Rye and Hellin!

I'm Excited...

I'm excited to attend practice. Like yeah, this morning, it was kind of rough to roll out of bed at 8 am after 2 consecutive nights of working until...late. (Not to mention, having to work at 9 am the previous morning.)

But really, even when I am super sore the next day, it thrills me to go to practice.

I've actually gotten to where I'm not so sore I can't move the next day every practice. Progress, you guys, progress!

And I'm the youngest girl in the league. For once, I am excited to be the youngest.

Yaaaaaay!

Firstly...

So I've recently joined the Charlotte Roller Girls. I guess I should give a little background.

For years now, I've been seeing the roller girls out and about and they have tried to recruit me. Well this year I'm finally eligible (since I'm 19). At one time, CLTRG had the age requirement at 18, and I was getting close, but then it was upped.

So I signed up as wanting to join/volunteer shortly after turning 19, and was invited to a meet-and-greet, which I missed due to my going to Alabama for work. So I get back in town, only to find out that the roller girls have moved their practice space from a rink in Gastonia to a warehouse in NoDa. It was fate. I work in NoDa. My boyfriend lives there. It's ridonc close to my house (which is good, since I bus it everywhere).

So I go to the Auguest meet-and-greet. And attended the subsequent 4-hour (Was it only 4? Felt like a year...) skating clinic. It was grueling, it was hellish, it was intense...and I loved every minute of it.

Since then, I've attended every practice I could. I got my mentor, #13 Hellin Felon.

As of this morning, I've attended 6 practices and get to join the Yahoo Group. It's not a milestone with a lot to show for it, BUT it will get me in the loop. So yaaaay!