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.