Week 17 - 'Twas The Week Before Sign Offs

So this week it was review week. This was when we have a run through of all the skills we've learnt over the last six weeks and where our coach could have a quick scan to see if she could give us any last minute advice.

First was skating stride, derby stance, track movement and sticky feet. This went relatively well, I'd like to think my skating stride is good, track movement was a little harder with such a crowded track but it went fine, sticky feet went well, but I started having issues during derby stance. I tend to skate in a constant squat position now, not necessarily as low as derby stance, but it means that I find it hard stretching out my legs when they start to ache as I'm not particularly confident in skating with straight legs. So, after warm ups, sticky feet and a few laps of derby stance, I was getting the usual burn mixed with a horrible pain in my right thigh. I tried to skate through it but my thigh just felt stiff and I knew I had to come off. I got off the track, went to stop with my right knee and my toe stop came right off! Gah! My coach retrieved my washer from the track and I skated off to get a spanner, which is actually really weird with just one toe stop!

After attaching my toe-stop and double checking the other one, we set out to do knee taps and falls, which I'm pretty confident with, even though I was getting paranoid about my toe stop. Next was crossovers and following the jammer line. I gave crossovers a good go and am kind of comfortable with them, even though I'm sure I'm not getting my foot all the way across. Then we did stops and here was where I started failing miserably. I kept wimping out of t-stops and I don't know why I even  bothered with plough stops. I swear, everyone managed to stop or at least roll to a stop. I just kept going! "Oops. Don't mind me. Coming through."

One foot glides were just as bad! One foot up, wobble, straight back down. Next was stepping. Sideways wasn't too bad, forwards wasn't too bad, backwards....well. I ended up moon walking on skates i.e. going nowhere! Just skating on the spot. Wahhh! Why is everything so hard?! (We were taught a good trick though. If you pretend your a dinosaur when going forwards or backwards, it actually really helps!)

Weaving was next and I managed to make it through the cones, nudged one of them but was told I was going just a little too slow for them. I really dislike weaving. It's one of those ones that you don't hear a lot of people complain about, but if I turn too sharply I fall backwards. I think it's because I try to lean the way I'm going but lean more to the back than to the side and my skate just escapes from under me.

The last skills were new to me as I'd missed the last week: lateral hops, focus, pace line and pack work. Lateral hops were terrifying. I'd been a little scared of jumping but this was hopping from one foot to the other while skating! I can understand why it's not the same as jumping and why people don't find it as scary. But I still found it terrifying and just did the tiniest baby steps from one foot to the other.
Focus was good although looking backwards is a big old stretch for the neck and trying to keep the same skating stride is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach!  Pace Line was also good although it was a bit of a struggle to try and keep at the same speed as the others. Pack Work was great fun! I've never done it before but soon picked up how to inform the others where you wanted to go and how to recycle.

The evening was a bit of a roller coaster really. What started a little annoying, with a lost toe-stop, turned into getting pretty sad about the skills I couldn't do and then finished back up on a high with enjoying the skills I hadn't even learnt before! I know I'm not going to get signed off next week, but I am intrigued on what skills I'll pass!

Week 16: Off-Skates Training

So this week I was unable to make derby practice as I was in hospital (not from derby, may I just add! I was having an allergy screening.) But I had recently bought a workout DVD so I thought I'd give that a go instead.

I was looking in to off-skates workouts as I knew I needed to improve my core muscles (to help with balance) and to generally tone up my legs and get fitter. A lot of people recommended videos on the internet to use and there were a few websites that suggested workout routines. This all sounded good and, obviously, the videos were free! However, with shoddy internet I'd probably have to wait ages for the video to buffer or it would keep stopping plus I'd have to spend time, in between, clicking through videos, etc. I know, I know, that sounds like an absolutely ridiculous thing to to whine about but I just wanted a one video workout that I could put on and do without any faffing around! After Googling "roller derby workout" I found a DVD called, funnily enough, Roller Derby Workout!

It's a 50 minute long workout that has warm-up stretches, a core section, a leg section, a booty section, and an off-skates section. Skates are totally optional and you can wear them for all of the sections, except the last one. I have opted for no skates as I have a laminated floor and I can see myself breaking my neck! I might get some ankle weights though to make-up for the skates.

So I put the DVD in and got ready for an intense workout. Boy, was it intense! About 30 minutes in I was sweating like a good 'un! I did end up having to wear my knee pads and elbow pads as a lot of the stuff was on the floor and I needed some sort of cushioning, so that didn't help the sweating! The warm up was very similar to the stretches we do at derby training and then we moved on to core. Here I discovered my extreme lack of core muscles! "Now for a plank, we're going to hold this for 30 second" How about 10!? I collapsed to the floor! My stomach soon hated me after that section. The leg section wasn't too bad as they've been strengthened thanks to skating and the booty section wasn't too bad either! I'd done it and I felt awesome! Perfectly toned body, here we come!

The next day wasn't so much fun. My stomach ached, my legs ached, and it only got worse as the day went on. It was one thing I'd forgotten about skating. I used to feel like this every week after practice but I rarely get it now. I'd like to say it's cause I'm use to it, it's more likely that I'm not pushing myself enough. After a very long day at work (I work in a basement, which didn't help my legs!) I was set to go skating at the adult roller disco. I also thought a little gentle skating might help flush my muscles - there was certainly no chance of practising anything like crossovers or stops or even glides!

Skates on, pads on, ready to go. The first few laps weren't bad until my wheel skidded on something and I had to cling on to the rail to stop myself falling over (someone's inline skate had exploded and I'd actually skidded on a bit of wheel!) After recovering from that surprise, I went back on to try again. About 4 laps later my legs were killing me and I was having real trouble trying to actually skate. Whenever I came up to people who were skating slower than me, rather than trying to go round them or to try and slow down, I felt like I would rather just fall over, so I came off the track and rested for a bit. The rest of the evening continued like this and, when I got home, I literally had to fall in to bed as my legs wouldn't allow me to bend to get in. The next morning wasn't any easier. I was late for work because I couldn't walk at my normal pace! Thankfully, though, my legs started to ease up as the day went on.

As much pain as it caused me, I knew my muscles would eventually get used to it, so I did the workout again this morning. As my muscles are still a little sore, I didn't push myself. Rather than 20 of each exercise, I chose to do 10 or 15. If my muscles started to hurt rather than ache, then I stopped. I wasn't going to injure myself! I'm not sure how I'm going to feel tomorrow. I'm hopinh not as bad as last time!

I have a good feeling about this workout and I'm hoping it will help improve my skating ability too. I'll keep you guys updated!

Week 15: Carnage

"Carnage" was the word most people used to describe practice this week and if I told you we were taught 20 in 5, running starts, stepping, balancing on one foot, and jumps, then you may already guess why...

Last week, I was getting down on myself about crossovers. Fortunately, I went to our local roller rink later on in the week and practised crossovers so much until there was only me and one person left on the track and by the time I'd finished I had a headache and my legs were shaking. BUT I did actually do some crossovers! It felt awesome!
All this awesomeness went out the window at derby practice. We have a lot of newbies on the track now, so it is rather crowded which still makes me uncomfortable (I know, I will need to get used to this!) I guess I'd say I was at a middle speed; I could over take some of the less confident skaters but most people overtook me, and super speedy skaters who cut it close makes me wobble, so I really didn't want to try crossovers in that condition.

We started with 20 in 5, which means 20 laps in 5 minutes. Crossovers are perfect for this as you can just do crossovers the whole time and go speedy with less effort. There was 6 on the track at a time which was fine but I knew I'd slow down to try crossovers so I just tried to skate as fast as I could without going so fast that I'd lose my confidence in it and fall over! (There's a point when I gather speed and then suddenly think "Oh dear, this is rather fast!" and then I feel like I'm going to lose control) So I skated as quick as I could and managed 15 laps. I was rather pleased with this! That's a lap every 20 seconds, which I think is great considering I didn't even attempt a crossover.

We then discussed 1 in 15 (one lap in 15 seconds) but we didn't have time to get through everyone so we moved onto starting techniques: toe stop runs, duck runs, Rocky Mountain runs, which would help us when we did do 1 in 15.
Toe Stop Runs: I tried this to begin with and hated it. I'd decided that my toe stops were too high and, after talking to my coach, she said I could lower them but I shouldn't go any higher, so I decided to go off and lower them then. During the lowering process (I was having issues with my toe guards getting in the way), the rest of the group were slowly walking round on toe stops and then practiced running starts on them. The lady who was helping me and a Merby guy with our toe stops was suddenly called over to the group "Get over here NOW, please!" A poor lady was lying on the floor, sobbing so hard. From what we could figure out from the other side of the track, she had tried toe stop walks, fallen over backwards and winded herself in the process. It was heartbreaking to watch as she had really injured herself, but after a while of crying, she skated (kudos for that!) off the rink, took an icepack and then was back on after about 10 minutes! As much as I admire her for carrying on skating (I would've called it a day if I had been in that much pain), it was terrifying to witness, so I took little longer to tighten my toe stops and headed back to the track for duck runs.

Duck runs: I actually liked these! I don't think I did them properly, but you put your feet at an angle so your heels are closer than your toes, and then run like this with more weight on your inside edges. It was more like duck steps for me, but it was my preferred method of running starts.
Rocky Mountain Runs: This are named after the ladies from Rocky Mountain Rollergirls. You start on your heel, then roll onto 4 wheels and then roll onto your toe stops. It is, essentially, like running on skates. Me and a few ladies practised this by holding on to the rail and walking round. We then had to do these free-standing as an actual running start. I attempted one foot, thought "Sod this!" and skated on. On the way back, I put too much weight on my heel and fell over backwards. Thankfully, it wasn't painful, and I did get up straight away and skate back. Needless to say, I hated Rocky Mountain runs too.
I was unaware (how, I have no idea, he must've stayed so super quiet) but one of the Merby guys dislocated his shoulder during the runs! I didn't witness it, but I heard that he may have fallen backwards, put his hand down and just....popped his arm out. Just thinking about it makes me squirm! He was rushed off to A&E and I'm guessing he won't be back for a while, but I really hope it hasn't put him off!

We managed to get through one-foot balances and stepping, without any casualties, and moved on to jumping. I was actually terrified at the idea of jumping and had planned to own crash pants/padded shorts before I attempted them. But I didn't have any crash pants this week, so I just had to try. They weren't actually as scary as I thought. I probably only got about 1 inch off the ground, if that, but it was baby steps. You really really have to get low and lean forward though, otherwise I could see it going terribly wrong and there were a few bum landings from several skaters.

We ended the session by skating clockwise, which I thoroughly dislike and then as I was slowing and turning so I could stop for stretches, I did the most spectacular fall where I landed on my shoulder, tried to move onto my knees but ended up doing a side rolly-polly and landed on my back. I got a round of applause though and, apart from a crick in my neck (which was soon sorted by a loving neck massage from the mister and a hot bath) I didn't really hurt myself.

I don't think I'm going to risk it though and am going to buy crash pants and a mouth guard as soon as I can this week!

Week 14: Wheels Aren't Everything

So I went to this practice, maybe a little over confident. I had guessed that we were going to be taught stops and, with my new wheels, I was planning on cracking them. I now have super duper wheels. so stopping is going to be a doddle!

I was wrong. Our first task was one foot glides. I hated these. I'm gonna defend myself a little bit - I can stand on one leg fine without skates on. Put skates on my feet and all that balance just disappears. Right foot glides initially seemed easier. But I kept just wanting to put my foot down. I lift it up, wobble slightly and a split second later it goes back down. Left ones were even worse! This gave me no hope for t-stops. I was told I needed to speed up as, for sign offs, you need to be able to glide around half the track on one foot! So my last attempt I sped up (even though speed still scares me) and it did help a little bit but it wasn't anything impressive. We were told one-foot glides were the corner stones for the rest of the skills we were going to learn this session. I knew this session wasn't going to go too well.

Next was stops. T-stops went well-ish, but not as awesome as I was expecting. We were given a few minutes to practice in our own time and I was able to put my foot behind me, put my two front wheels down, get a satisfying noise from my wheels and then slow down or stop. They were wobbly and I did lose my balance occasionally, but I was pretty happy. We were then told to do them on the whistle. This failed. Whatever I did earlier was completely forgotten when I was put on the spot. Not once did I stop. Ah well, at least plough stops were next.


These were worse. I could've sworn I'd managed to do plough stops in the newbie area! Well, apparently I'd forgotten what to do. I was told I had good stance but I just couldn't tell if I was rolling to a stop or actually stopping. We were also showed how our posture was meant to be when doing a plough stop, by holding on to someone else and leaning back. Further to this, we were also pushed in plough-stop stance so we could practice ploughing without having to propel ourselves as well. This too, failed. I just couldn't stop myself and my legs were aching and I fell over a couple of times, and I just couldn't do it!

My only ray of sunshine was crossovers. We practiced doing each foot individually and, although I found the right foot difficult to get over (although, I was told I was getting there) I found the left foot a lot easier to get behind and I feel that if we had more time to practice, I might have got it down a bit better.

On the drive home, I felt pretty fed up. What seemed quite obtainable at the beginning of the evening felt almost impossible at the end. The more I thought about it, though, I compared it to driving. When I first learnt to drive, I hated it! I daren't go past 2nd gear as I was terrified of speed, I was also scared of changing gear. I hated driving down narrow roads, I hated all the manoeuvers we had to learn, I hated driving through crowded streets, I hated roundabouts, I hated it all! Yet, I persevered, passed first time, and now I love driving!
The hardest thing for me to learn was to not be afraid of the car. You always assume it's the one in control as it's the big, heavy metal thing that goes fast. But you learn that you are the one that controls the car. You steer it, press the accelerator, press the brakes, etc. My car is now my bitch (in the nicest way of course!) and this is what I need to do with skating.
I am terrified of my skates. I love them, but once they're on my feet, they control me. They control my speed, they control where I go, they control whether I can stand up or not! But, soon, I will learn to control them. And I will embrace skating fast and I will master crossovers and stops and, ultimately, I will master my skates. I will learn their little quirks and the secrets of getting them to do what I want. You see all the team members just acting on skates like they would in normal shoes and that is because they aren't afraid anymore. They are in control.

It will take patience and it will take time. But I'll get there.

(New toe-guards!!)

Week 13: A Brave New World

Now, I said that I was going to wait until I got derby skates and that I was going to wait until the first week of the next rotation, before I properly started on the main track.
This week, those two things had come around so it was time to keep my promise to myself and get on that track!

It was quite scary. Mainly, because my new wheels had finally arrived (after the cock up with my other ones) but I hadn't tried them out. Well, I'd tried them on my kitchen floor but it's very slippy and slightly uneven, so it wasn't particularly successful. So I was expecting to land straight on my bum as it was something new. However, I didn't! I had a quick skate up and down the end of the rink and then made my way on to the track for warm ups. They were grippy but not too grippy, speedy but not too speedy, and sticky feet was easy! I was originally concerned about trucks being too tight as when I tried sticky feet on the Thursday, in the rubbish wheels, I found it quite hard. Now, it was obvious there wasn't anything with my trucks! (I think I mean trucks. I'm completely rubbish at that kind of technical stuff!)

A few remarks were made about my shiny new skates and wheels (and that my shiny white wheels were certainly not going to stay white for long!) and I heard from a few of the team members that they were pleased to see me on the track, which made me feel even better about my decision to move on to there.
I'm not entirely sure why I was scared, though. It was week one, so it was basics, which I had done time and time again; derby stance, skating stride, falls/taps, etc.
Our first task was skating stride and to think about what edges we use on our skates, and so on. We were then paired with a more experienced skater so we could watch how they skate and they could watch us and then tell us what we were doing right and what we could work on. I was paired up with a signed-off skater but then was called over "Honey, who are you with?.....Right, well can you guys split up and pair with one of the new people" Eeee! Did this mean I was actually doing something right?! I was asked to help someone with their skating stance when 13 weeks ago I couldn't even move on skates! I know it's not that impressive, but it was like someone had given me a big gold shiny star!

The rest of the evening I was super confident. I pushed myself with the taps, trying to get back up as quick as I could. I even got a comment of "It's amazing to see how quick you get back up now!". I got as low as I could with my derby stance. So low in fact, that after the 5 minutes or so of practising, I thought I was going to throw-up! At the end of the night, I was buzzing! I felt so good! I'd been on the big track, it was full of people - experienced and new, and it was amazing! Not scary! Go Fresh Meat!

Oooo, and may we take a moment to admire my shiny new skates:

(For those who are interested, they are Riedell R3s with 92a Rollerbones wheels and Gumball toe stops. Oh and a layer of Zebra Duct Tape to protect the toes from scuffing.)