Things That Are Awesome

I was not in the mood for training tonight. Due to casts, cancellations and other failings it had been a couple of weeks since I'd completed a training, especially a scrimmage training. A wonderful friend baking me a cake for my birthday (thanks Tai!) and an apparent inability to get my arse out of bed and to the gym in the last week meant that I was feeling, shall we say, gross and lazy, and I was not in the mood to work out AT ALL. The weather was mince, and due to a failure to finish off the repairs to my car earlier (you need BOTH wipers going, right?) I was a bit late actually getting to practice.

However, then it all came right.

We started off with some straight-up, no messing, all-out endurance training. 5 minutes clockwise as hard as you can. 2 minutes recovery. 5 minutes hard out counter-clockwise, 2 minutes recovery. Repeat the entire thing. I confess to feeling a bit nervous. If I'm honest, I have not been keeping up with my fitness as much as I should have the last few weeks or so, I feel like I've lost momentum for various reasons (some legitimate, some total bullsh*t) and I was wondering just how I'd be doing in that last 5 minutes. So, I decided that today was a day for all-out knackering myself and tha tI'd count the number of laps of the track I did in the FINAL five minutes, just as a guide. I figured that if I got more than 20 I'd be acceptable.

I got 28. WOOOOOOO!!!!

This is great news. It's been a LONG time since I did a lap/time check (if you recall, I was obsessed at the start of the year before skills test, if only because I had a lot of rink time to myself and it was an excellent yardstick for fitness and form) and it was really good to know that I've still got it, especially when I was sharing the rink with the rest of the league AND had done three sets of them already. I feel like I've been given an incentive to get my ass to the gym tomorrow, very gratifying.

Scrimmage itself was outstanding tonight. It was REALLY hard, the other teams were not messing around tonight (not that they ever do, but we took a pounding), but it was so good, so intense, that I'm sitting at home wanting to do it all over again. I played blocker 3 and played jam after jam and was useful out on the track I think. Some nice positional blocking, and even tried some hits that actually achieved something (and lots that didn't). As a team we are gelling nicely, finding our roles and learning how to operate as a unit. Just under four weeks to go until our first bout as a team (and my first bout full stop) and I think we're going to do pretty well if we keep at it.

I have finally taken some April update pictures, but they're post-scrimmage, the light wasn't good and it crapped out on batteries so they are NOT GOOD. No matter though.

I'm not seeing much of a change from March, though the weight is holding steady at 79kg (weighing myself every payday, so that if it goes up at least I'm not skint and suffering). Going to get to the gym every day this week, and every day BEFORE work after next weekend when the hell of an 11-week term begins. Derby preserve us!

Faceplants and pre-bout panic

It's been a little while since I updated on what's new with me (you lucky people) so here's a wee rundown.

Still going to the gym, though knacked my wrist a bit at kickboxing yesterday morning. Loving it though, it gives me a real workout that complements derby pretty well (lots of core, and the abs take a bit of a beating). MY lovely mum sent me the Jillian Michaels: 30 Day Shred DVD, which a few of my mates in the UK have been raving about (each workout takes only 20 minutes) so I might get cracking on that over the Easter holidays. Not sure how it fits in with the gym and derby training (could it be a bit much) but at least I'll have some leisure time to get cracking into it! I shall review if I do.


I reached a bit of a weight loss milestone this week, dipping under 80kg for the first time since my teens. I know that still sounds heavy, but a lot of it is muscle and I'm looking pretty good I think! Despite earlier thoughts on it, it would be good to get down into the healthy BMI range, when I was last there I had just turned 18 and it seems somehow fitting to return there 10 years on. Pictures to come next weekend.

Why next weekend? BECAUSE IT'S BOUT DAY! Yup, the Pirate City Rollers Grad Bout for Chch is on the 16th April and yours truly will be rolling for the Red Team (OK, so we need a better team name). It's a nice wee curtain opener before the season starts proper in May, word has it Mascara will be playing so here's hoping! I bought a cheeky wee pair of denim hotpants and red tights for my boutfit, but all I could get shirt-wise was a $12 v-neck from the Warehouse, which I intend customise the bejaysus out of before Saturday. The Socks of Bad Ass will also be worn, and I am a little excited. I also got my very own set of Heartless wheels (seen here being investigated by one of my rats), and have some Gumball Toe Stops on order from One Woman 8 Wheels, after they made their debut at the NZ trials last weekend. Reviews and such on the way, once I've had a chance to give them a going over. They look the business though, and should hopefully help with turnaround toe stops and running starts.

Training for this bout hasn't been too intense, which is giving me a couple of concerns about my skills to play in front of several hundred people on a Saturday night. However, Mascara Massacre have gelled really well in scrimmage trainings, and I've been trying out in the blocker 1 (Pivot) position and blocker 3, which have been great. I've only jammed on a few occasions the last few weeks, with mixed results. I really, really need to work on my juking and dodging skills as a jammer, and on my hitting skills in the blocker position. Yesterday, Pieces of Hate took us for a fantastic blocking training (which left me with a lot of bruises) and gave me a lot more confidence to actually hit someone. Unfortunately, I clocked my training partner and derby sister Peku Lemu a couple of times in the jaw as I came up too high, but she hit me back so I feel we're about even.

Peku and I started derby about the same time and trained together a lot last year. We're not derby "wives" but we're sisters on the track and I love her to pieces. She's made me some beautiful jewellery (in team colours!) and even though we're on different teams this year, we're still close. Even when we're smacking each other in the face, like last night.

I narrowly missed a nasty hit yesterday when Lime-Y-Nigma did an awesome block on me on the outside of a corner during a drill. The walls of our rink are very close to the track, and with the speed and forces involved, the physics was set up for me to slam straight into the wall. Luckily, the only injuries sustained are a few glorious bruises, on my left hip and right ass-cheek. I consider myself to have got away pretty lightly....

Today I embark on a much-needed time out from the last few months. I'm travelling to the Coromandel peninsula, on a yoga weekend with the Ashram Yoga Studio.  I figured a bit of time out from the city, work, derby and everything else would do me the power of good. Now it's happened I'm having a bit of an "I've got too much to do to go anywhere!" feeling, but it'll be awesome once I'm there. I shall, of course, write it all up when I get back. Will I return calm and relaxed, in touch with my inner skate yogini? Or will I come back with a burning hatred of all things Om? I am entering an arena outside my comfort zone.