Still on the short bus

And that's freakin just fine! The important part being that I'm on it.

Had practice. Did the whole thing, except for 20 minutes to chat with a league mate.
Which is still really good!

Did all the drills, not well!

Am super freakin sore!

Feeling crazy f-ing faster!

Month 7 don't worry about the time off

Wow I am always so blown away at how much the time away doesn't slow me down.

Yes it does effect my endurance, but that is so fleeting. Last Saturday my lungs felt like they would bleed after 10 minutes. My salivary glands were working on over time. It felt awful. But today, I felt great!

We have this really good coach, like shockingly good. Her name is Eva, or at least that's her derby name. She's one of those coaches that watches you and really focuses on what you need.

Honestly she probably knows more about what is going on with me and what is going n with me in derby than anyone else. Not because she's a friend, but because she is a coach who takes the time.

It doesn't take much, but the five minutes she spends let's me tell her and tell myself what I need. We have great coaches, but she is by far the most effective and the most impressive coach for me.

When you have this many ladies who join a sport, a non-professional sport, you need someone who is watching and calling you on it. And she supports you in the plain and simple way you need it.

My goal from last week was to do the warm up worm by end of October. I knew I wouldn't need that long. Just some carbs and a couple of times skating. And it was true. I skated the worm great, did hip and arm whips, which I have never really done before, totally easy by the way. I did half of an endurance drill, which I stopped due to an injured skater. I'm on sports med so I work with the injured skaters.

Basically skating was great. I got a good workout and could have done about ten times more. It really doesn't take much to get back on track.

Month 7 Back in the saddle

I started this journey with tennis courts, hallways and all ages open skates.

Well it's rainy fall so the tennis court is out of the question. And the hallway is a little too small these days. But there is always room for the open skate!

Took the kids and hubby to open skate today. We each took a turn with the kids. They made it one lap and were over it. And then David and I took turns skating while the other watched the kids.

I use the time skating with so many children as time to work on speeding and slowing, dodging and skating low and slow. It really is a good workout.

I lasted much longer than I did at last nights practice. I love how each day is a significant improvement at this stage.

If you ever have to take time off from derby due to injury or just life, don't worry. When you come back the catch up time is quick and honestly you may find you are a lot better than when you stopped.

Month 7 Starting over, again.

So it's official. I have been skating for 6 full months and am now starting my 7th.

Things I have learned are; how to skate, somewhat fast (for me), ok crossovers and semi ok reffing skills.

The past two months have been crap for me doing consistent skating and my endurance has tanked. Also I've been crazy diet person and lost a bunch of weight (yeah!) but have lost strength because of it. Losing weight is hard work!

Anyways so today is my first real day back on skates. I've been to a few practices here and there, but my heart ache and frustrations have really taken their toll.

I felt like I did back when I would start working out. My lungs would hurt and my glands would salivate. My muscles felt weak but not tired. I would do a few pretty fast laps and be totally winded. My body is relearning how to use that oxygen and carbs.

But from here it really only takes a few short weeks of pushing to get back to where I was. And I still have the advantage of being a better skater, so it's really not back where I was.

So the plan, with the blessings of my family, is to spend the next few weeks hitting a lot of practices and open skates. I just need hours on wheels. Some people start out in good shape and get better. I haven't been in good shape in years so it slips away very quickly.

Anyways. Back on track. Again.

Week 29 We lost one.

Today Harry Situation died.

It was an end to nearly a month of worry and sadness.

Rest peacefully Nicole we all miss you terribly.

Week 28 On the bright side

So draw backs to life interfering is that skating just sometimes doesn't happen.

I've dabbled on and off since the bout but haven't really got back into the gun hoe mode.

I'm starting to get back on track and I'm feeling the progress after the second skate practice in a row.

But on the bright side, getting back into shape isn't so bad when you're don't have to learn how to skate too.

Week 27 Starting Over

So this has been a crazy month. With the vacation, the bout, Harry, and general restructuring of our group, there has not been much skating. Actually there has not been much of anything.

This has kind of been a hiatus month for us. We took a week off and then only had a few practices anyways.

Our ref group is pretty big for a new league and we are looking to get organized. We're trying to figure out the best strategy, ie the flat track method of a Head Ref in charge of everything, or by breaking it up in multiple people taking charge of different aspects running the organization.

I'd like to think I know what is the best way to run the ref group. But I don't and we won't know what works until we try it.

So that has been draining, frustrating, exciting and generally taking up a lot of time.

Then there is the switch to banked track. We don't have the track yet, but that won't stop us! We are learning the positions for banked reffing. Everyone was a bit freaked out, but once we got into, it really was easy.

We took about 45 minutes talking through the flow of information and everyone had at least a cursory knowledge of how banked runs. It was great!

We'll have another practice on Monday, that hopefully will key in the new information even stronger.

Now I just have to get back on skates.