Skating N00B to Rollergirl

First night back

2009-10-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was my first night back at practice, and it went pretty much how i expected. We were about 30 min late because it was Julia's first time, and we had to make sure she was dressed right, and had her gear, etc. when we got there, core work was going on in the center of the rink, and we were unable to take part because we had to gear up. by the time we were all done with that, practice was starting for real and Fresh Meat were called to the end of the rink. there were a ton of us- about 10-15 I'd estimate. the end of the rink we use is a pretty tight fit, so Kevin (the FM coach) told us to just work on skating in circles at first, eventually we practiced the toe stop, and i of course had a hard time, what with the brand new skates and all, but I'll get it. we also switched directions (which is good to work the other leg on turns, so we don't get all buff on one side. lol!) of the 40 min or so of practice time that we had before going to watch the other girls scrimmage, i probably skated about 15. i knew my feet and ankles would hurt, so i didn't wanna push too hard, but at the same time it was really frustrating. I'm much more sure on my feet than i was the last time starting FM, but that;s really not saying much. i still can't seem to stand still on skates. FM training is much more structured now than it was 2 years ago, and i'm nervous about that. the actual syllabus training starts on Tuesday, and just reading it is a bit overwhelming for me. we are supposed to learn and master more in the first week of this syllabus than i did in my 2 months of RCR 2 years ago. now, it;s true that i could barely skate at all that first time, and I've got my feet under me a little better now, but... i think i'll talk to Raven about it some tonight, and see what she says. right now I'm really overwhelmed, and my fear is fighting my desire and motivation to do this. right no i wanna chicken out and go to bed and hide. (also i am really sleeeepy.)
Enough Whining! here are this week's pics:
Julz and i all geared up at the end of practice:
Bonebreaker Barbie rockin the 7th Son tshirt and shorts (and a matching bandanna) in honour of the book release that day.

Julz at the end of her first RCR practice evar! she did sooo great!
Last, but not least, here is Bonebreaker Barbie ungeared, makeup mussed, and looking pretty dang worn out at BK after practice. (none for me- getting Julz dinner)

Despite my insecurity and worries, I'll be going to practice tonight and taking lots of pics, and will be blogging and posting pics tomorrow.

encouragement from the left coast

2009-10-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

i asked a derby acquaintance on Twitter, Hannah Grenade for some advice and and encouragement yesterday. Here's what she said:

" sheesh baby you'll be fine! Focus on your own goals each practice. The inner struggle makes you a stronger person. Do YOUR best"

That really helps. this is MY journey, and i have to go at my own pace and grow with the challenges. Wewt!

all geared up

2009-10-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting to get a pic of myself in my gear on here. here is the best one i have, tho it is sans helmet. it's from Dragon*Con 2008 and i am wearing the #6 Krakens jersey of my dear friend and former boss Scott Sigler. i look so tough! :-D

skates, ankles, arches.. oh my!

2009-10-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

So tonight will be my first time wearing my skates on a rink. i've worn them around the house, and a hotel, but never skated in them. they fit great, which is good. i'm nervous about my ankles, and how they are gonna hold up though. i've not done any strengthening work in ages. i tried the skaes on with the ankle braces yestreday and the result was excrutiating without even skating. the ankle brace stabilizes the ankle by wrapping around the foot and then up the ankle. thos would be fantastic and helpful except for one thing- i have high arches. this means that the ankle brace, in its effort to stabilize my ankle, compounds the high arch problem by compressing the foot and bringing the arch higher. sigh. so, i am gonna look into some thin arch inserts for my skates and sneakers, and in the meantime start doin those ankle strengthening exercises...

I'm Back and ready to crack some bones!

2009-10-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Uhhh...err.. that sounded way more confident than i am. Truth is, i'm scared right now. Roller Derby is something i want to do badly- something i am willing to put in the time and energy to get good at, but i'm scared to fail. i keep telling myself i can only fail by giving up- there is no set timeline for success- i can take as long as i need. I'm definitely ready for the challenge and the social interaction- i think these things will be good for me. Oh, right, i forgot to say- i'm going back to practice tonight! it;s gotta stick this time. we aren't moving, have no majot book releases i need to prep for, and don't plan on any injuries. no more excuses. this is happening. NOW!

Derby Name Registered!

2008-02-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

No practice this week, but i do have some news! I have registered my Derby Name officially! Bonebreaker Barbie #NCC-1701. WEWT! it feels more real now that i have a real name registered and i am soooo excited! it also motivates me to get my butt in better shape and get on skates as often as i can. it;s almsot 3:30 in the afternoon, andi have yet to work out,and that is juut not acceptable anymore. i needto become more disciplined and start kicking my own butt before i am ready to kick anyone else's. this afternoon i am going to push my body really hard, and i know i'll be sore tomorrow, but i am gonna get up and do it again and again until my day off on sunday. no more time to play games. also, i am going to try to go skating tomorrow(wed) sat afternoon, and Sunday night.i am excited to try out my new ankle braces! hopefully they will be a huge help! ok. time to get my HRM on and get goin!

Pre-Bout practice.

2008-02-14T04:42:00.000-08:00

I didn't feel good. Part of me did not want to go to practice, but all of me knew i needed to. i needed the workout. i needed to see the girls. i needed to- well- PRACTICE! i think the part that wanted to stay home was the part controlled by my pride. i am progressing slowly- much more slowly than i'd like. this is mostly due to my weak ankles and the fact that they make me feel less sure on my feet. i know i need to be patient with myself and just practice and exercise and do my strengthening ankle therapy, but i've never liked having to be patient and wait for results. Anyway, i went. when i got to the rink, i immediately dug into the gear bag to get pads that at least matched somewhat and a helmet that fit. Jessica joined me and right as we were set to begin putting the gear on, Adam called all the Fresh Meat out onto the track. We were going to be laying down rope over the painted track and taping it down with duct tape in order to more clearly define it for the scrimage/practice bout. That;s right. Our Travel team has it's first bout of the year this sunday in Fayetteville, NC! The taping took us about 45 minutes while the other girls warmed up and did some drills. Afte the taping was done, we geared up and practiced for just a little bit. Adam worked with me one on one a bit, skating close to me so i could start to feel how it was to be in the pack while the other 3 freshies practiced stuff i am not quite ready for. (i think they were skating really close and slowing and speeding as a little pack.) i was getting really frustrated by my ankles, but Adam said "all in due time" about 20 times. HeeHee. i love the patience and low pressure atmosphere they have towward us in Fresh Meat, and also the way the same leaders can be so tough on the girls who are already on the team. After some balance work (we walked one foot in front of the other down a line) we un-geared and became officials in the practice bout. My job, along with Jessie (not Jessica) was to listen for and keep track of fouls by the girls playing. it was a great way to learn more about the sport, since we will apparently be performing these roles and others at our first home bout of hte year on march 9th!
It was a different kind of practice, but exactly whati needed, and i am sooooo very glad i went! Now to figure out the logistics of going to the league potluck tomorrow night...

Wednesday afternoon thoughts...

2008-02-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

Did not got to practice last night. had a migraine and was just on the verge of tears. Going tonight though! I chose a Derby name today. Bonebreaker Barbie. hoping it goes through smoothly! also have decided to skate at least 3-4 days a week. There are open skates all over the city and i am just gonna hit as many as i can! Scott is being super awesome about it all and really supporting me! i appreciate it so very much!

Saturday Open Skate...

2008-02-09T13:02:00.001-08:00

We jsut got home from 2 hours at an open skate at a nearby rink. i knew as soon as i saw the epoxy floor i wasn't going to like this rink as much as the others. It is a lot smaller and the epoxy has a lot of nicks and grooves. my ankles took a lil bit to warm up as usual, and that was okay. once they did, i really felt good skating. EXCEPT---there were too many people!!! With the size of the rink, for me to get any real speed without getting bumped or bumping someone was next to impossible. i skated about half the songs, but i was getting pretty frustrated. there was a awesome girls fast skate where the rink was totally uncrowded and i got to really stretch my legs. W00T! i did have a good time and hopefully i can get out to skate a lot more and find rinks and times that are not so crowded. :-)

Frustration Embodied

2008-02-08T04:19:00.000-08:00

That was me last night. First, I got to the rink just late enough that all the matching gear was gone. This was partly a good thing, I suppose, because it showed that there was plenty of Fresh Meat- 12 girls to be exact!, But for me it kinda sucked. I ended up with too small elbow pads and only one wrist guard. this was unnacceptable. I started skating to warm up anyway, and did so for about 20 minutes. Ii was slightly less sure on my feet than I had been a week before- owing I suppose to the fact that I'd not skated since then. My left ankle was also significantly weaker than my right. After that 20 minutes or so of skating, we had a meeting about voting on bylaw changes, which I sat in on even though I am technically not a member yet, because it is going to be my league and I wanted to see how the process works- good or bad. When it came time to vote, I excused myself to skate some more. I wonder how the rest of the evening would have gone differently if I'd just sat there... When I got up to skate, I made it around the rink a couple times very smoothly, and I felt like I was starting to warm up really well. Then, on the second curve of my third lap, I guess I placed my foot wrong, because that weaker left ankle just decided to twist. UGH! More than pain or discomfort, I felt frustration, because I knew I was done skating, if only for the evening. I skated the rest of the lap slowly, but knew I had to get off the skates. I really wanted to cry. I had been waiting all week to skate, having missed Sunday and Tuesday's practices due to being sick and visiting family. I watched the Fresh Meat train, and while it was fun to see how some of the other girls are progressing, I really wanted to be out there with them! I do have to note here that Jessica and Joanna are doing AWESOME! My ankle feels better this morning, and I have a printed illustrated ankle strengthening program that I found online (thanks to my wonderful husband for printing it out and bring it home!) to hopefully help strengthen these ankles. Also, I plan on picking up a couple braces for them too. Scott and I are going skating on Saturday for a few hours, Which I am really looking forward to, and then a 2 hour practice on Sunday. Hopefully that gets me back into the swing!

...BUT I WANNA SKATE!!!!

2008-02-03T06:40:00.000-08:00

not going to practice this morning. want to, but just can't. i am still sick and cannot breathe thru my nose at all now, and my chest is still pretty congested. also, we got home at 4 am from a friend's house. DRAT. i really wanted to skate today. oh well... Super Bowl Sunday and all...

It was the BEST of practices, It was the WORST of practices...

2008-02-01T03:40:00.000-08:00

Last night was my second practice with RCR, and it was awesome! I did not perform the way I wanted to, but there was SO much improvement over Sunday, I really amazed myself! My ankles were a little sore from Wednesday night's skating, but after I skated a bit they warmed up just fine. The real problem was that I am sick. I have a pretty tough chest cold. The constant congestion makes breathing tough, and since my body is fightin it hard, I am coughing up a good amount of mucous. YUM. So, keeping that (and the general cloud that can come over one when one has a fever) in mind, the following was a fun and great practice for me. We did about 45 minutes of just plain conditioning at the start. Lunges from one end of the rink to the other, push ups on the wall, dips off the bench, squat jumps (starting at a set of 10, then holding for 10 seconds, then working down to 1 and holding for one second. WHEW!), a few great stretches, some pilates leg exercises, tons of ab work. I wasn't sucessful with all of it, but had a great time anyway. I partnered up with another new gal, Jessica, who is sweet and funny- we laughed our way through it all. Then came time to gear up. took a little longer to find gear this time because I was not the only Fresh Meat. finding gear for 5 girls is significantly tougher than finding it for only one! Then, Genius that I am, I put on my skates before my kneepads. The kneepads have a sleeve that goes around your leg and is then secured by tightly wrapping the elastic. So... I had to take off the skates that i had just meticulously tightened, (I cannot WAIT to buy my own skates- the rental ones suck.) put on the knee pads, then the skates all over again. Finally, after elbows and wrists were padded and guarded, I was ready to put on my helmet and go! Oh, but WAIT! Someone had totally messed up the straps on the helmet! GREAT! Warm-up laps are almsot over by this point, and I am not even geared up. I got the helmet fixed, and skated down to the opposite end of the rink to join Fresh Meat Training already in progress, carefully avoiding speed drills going on. This I could do, I thought, as I joined the other girls in small laps in skater position (crouched down low to protect the back). Unfortunately, my ankles did not want me to do it for long... I had to take way more breaks than I wanted to because of the ankles and the congestion, but Adam (A-DAMN REF) was patient and just encouraged me to do what i could. Then we moved on to T-stops, something I was just not getting (I plan to practice it a bunch on Sunday). Then Orangyna came over and took over for Adam, and we got into knee drops. This was the same fall I learned on Sunday, but it finally clicked for me. It took a little while before I'd just let that knee drop, and even longer before I was doing it smoothly and without trying to catch myself on the floor with my hands, but I got it. Some of the other girls who were not quite as new moved on to double knee drops and touch and go's. Hmm.. maybe in ano0ther week or two. We then attempted crossovers, which really unnerved me. I am finally comfortable with skating with both feet, and you want me to lift one up and cross it in front of me?I did try the required once, and almost fell. then Alisha (Demalisha Durga) came over, held my hand and helped me practice lifting my foot for a second at a time as I skated the lap. that was good, and she said a great first step in learning to cross over. Once I get it, she said, I'll be able to speed up much more comfortably. By this point, I really could not breathe, so I sat out while they practiced skating close in a pack. Then I got up and practiced my skater position a little more, and we all went to watch the girls scrimage. I tell you, some of those gals are just great! Raven Darkhold, my closest friend thus far is just the best Jammer of all Ive seen. I got my new skater package- with rules and forms and stuff- which I have yet to look at, and then we came home. My bed was so comfy and inviting!!! OH- almost forgot! For all you blood and guts enthusiasts, I did sustain my first (VERY minor) injury. During one of my knee dorps, I caught myself with my hand at the wrong angle and hurt my hand a little. Hurt pretty bad last night, but much better this morning- only a slight ache. :-)

Slowly De-N00bifying

2008-01-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

Last night was 80's night at one of the local rinks. Scott and I went out with our friends Tony, Alisha, Teddy, and Shannon, and it was a great time! At first Iwas pretty unsure of myself, and my ankles hurt terribly, but I pushed myself and i probably skated about 70% of the night, which really tested and built my stamina. By the end of the night, I was skating relatively smoothly and quickly with no ankle pain at all! It was really a great experience, Scott got to see a very brief demo of roller derby, and I cannot wait for practice tonight!!! :-D
To hook up with your own Derby league, or to find an upcoming bout in your area, just google roller derby and the name of your town, or maybe the closest city to you. I myself am looking forward to actually watching a Bout in person for the first time!

What do YOU want to hear?

2008-01-30T14:04:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys. Just a quick post to ask for some feedback-I wanna make this blog as complete and interesting as possible, so if there's a particular aspect of training or the sport you wanna hear more about when I blog, please feel free to ask for it! also, i welcome comments and feedback of any sort! THANKS for reading!

First Practice

2008-01-28T16:39:00.000-08:00

Went to my first practice from 5-7 pm yesterday, January 27, 2008. I was soooo incredibly nervous! when I got there, I was immediately greeted by Ram Jam Betty- who is a sweet gal and as it turns out, a pretty skilled Rollergirl. She made me feel much more at ease, and I was feeling pretty comfortable by the time Raven Darkhold got there. She was thrilled to see me, and was awesome about helping me find and put on gear. I felt really dumb, since I was making her miss warm ups and stretching, but she said not to worry about it. Then, once I was all geared up,I discovered my skates were too small. Don't it just figure? Well, took me another 15 minutes or so to get the gear off, get the new skates on and gear up again, but then my feet felt SO much better. A really nice gal named Christina took me under her wing and skated slowly with me at the opposite end of the rink from where most of the girls were doing speed drills. I know it shouldn't have, but it just amazed me how hard it was to get my legs back under me after not having skated on quads in 13 years! My ankles are still pretty weak, so I am gonna get acewraps to see if that will help- I think though, that they should get stronger with time. After about 20 minutes, Adam, one of our Refs, came over and taught me my first stunt fall. I did it really clumsily, but I guess okay for my first try. Then, almost immediately after I stood up from the stunt fall, I fell for real. Backwards, in slow motion right on my butt, in front of everyone! Only hurt for a second or two, and I did not hit my tailbone, fortunately. That was my only fall of the day, which I count as a good sign! :-) After skating with Christina a little more, I sat and watched the girls Jam for the rest of practice. This was when I fell in love with the sport. I'd read a little about it online, but watching it really made it click in my head. The teamwork required and the focus- that is right up my alley. During this time, a bunch of the girls came over and introduced themselves, which was super nice, and made me feel very welcome. After a few cool down laps, we sat around and stretched, and discussed upcoming plans for practices and the travel team for the next Bout was announced. All in all a very cool experience and I cannot wait to get on skates again!

You wanna do WHAT??

2008-01-28T15:48:00.000-08:00

My Husband did not say that, but i am fairly sure he thought it. I've never been super athletic, and I fall very far on the girly side of femininity, but i really wanted to do this! I've know a girl or two involved with Roller Derby for a while now, and it has always seemed interesting, but probably not for me. I had a stereotype in my head of all these punk rock angry women beatin each other down. Until this past Saturday night.We went to a housewarming party for some friends, and I met a few Rollergirls there. We talked, and I discovered some really cool chicks who were nothing like what i expected from this sport. Raven Darkhold (her Derby name) invited me to come to a practice and try it out for myself- assuring me it wasn't as hard as it seemed. Sunday morning i was chomping at the bit to find out when and where the next practice was!