It just wasn't working...

I tried, I really did. I thought maybe we were just in a "chill cycle". But the less and less we did the farther it went and was going no where.

So I did what works, what always works and when I thought about it, I really missed.
I rejoined the Y.

The home gym just wasn't cutting it. It's nice. It really is. But it doesn't get me working out like the Y does. Or at least the Y's 90 minutes of free child care, does.

Yeah I called up this morning, paid the bill, and took me and the baby in. It didn't take much to kick my weak-haven't seriously lifted in 3 months- ass.

Pretty happy about my decision. Even if it does cost $100, I don't have, a month.

Fair weather runner

Yeah I totally wimp out when it comes to cold weather. So the runs have been sporadic and uneventful. Pretty much I've settled into knitting, drinking coffee, eating too much and staying warm.

I live in the Pacific Northwest. We are happy to have 50 degree weather most days, including summer. But dipping into the 30's is where we draw the line.

I've been doing some treadmill action and am just starting to get back into the swing of weight lifting. I'm lifting in my garage so it's a little harder to get motivated than when I was in the warm, clean gym.

It's winter. I'm fine with that.

Good run!

You know the whole run to school battle has a lot of pros and cons.

It's almost all downhill the first 2.5 miles. Definitely a pro.
But it's 1.5 miles almost all uphill the way back. Major con. I'm cool with a little uphill with the stroller, but 1.5 straight miles of it is not so cool.

Getting it together before 8:30 am is another definite con. And I don't mean get my shit together, I mean get myself and 2 small children fed, "hygiened up", dressed and out the door for a run by 8:30 am. Kids really do complicate things.

Today I tried another approach. Drive kid to school and run my favorite, mostly flat 4.8 mile run with only one kid. Worked like a champ. Think I'm gonna try doing that next week!

Off and on the bandwagon.

I seem to have about a 6 month cycle of being on the exercise bandwagon. When I fall off I tend to slack more, obviously, exercise less and with less intensity. These lulls seem to last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

I believe I am starting one now. The change of seasons to chilly and often rainy weather doesn't help. But I try to scale back the workouts while still keeping a base level of fitness. Then I just have to hold on until I get the hardcore feeling back again.

So for now it's a little less push. I'm ok with that.

Ran 4.86 miles on Monday- no kids!
Walked 3.25 miles on Tuesday
Ran 3.75 miles today.

I would really like to get back on the weights. That's the one thing I'm having a hard time getting back on. Mostly because I'm not going to a gym, and that seems to be the easiest way for me to do weights. hrrrm.

I needed that!

Photos by Danny Ngan! Love that man!


So bout day has come and gone. And my love for derby has been rekindled. You see we had been going strong for about 18 months. From February 2010 to August 2011 it was non-stop training to skate, to ref, to call penalties, form a group. All the work required to get a fairly functioning ref group was pretty vigorous and after a year and half most of us were pretty burnt.

So from August to October I've been on a break/leave/burnout phase. I hemmed and hawed about leaving the league. Tried to figure out how to scale back, and trying to decide if I wanted to do this at all.

Saturday night brought it all together and answered all those questions. There is nothing like a good bout to bring back the fire!

I've had to make changes to my derby routine. Now, along with my new work schedule, I only attend once a week. I get together with my lady refs for food and then go to practice. It makes the whole process of going to practice a lot more enticing.

The bout had some trying moments. One of the refs slotted to skate didn't show. We're pretty sure she didn't realize she was on the roster while she was on leave. So that put us down one skating ref. I stepped in for one game, and one of the newer refs stepped in for the other.

Yeah so I haven't been on skates since August. Not a step! And I hadn't called penalties since Rollercon, again in August. I was feeling nervous.

The problem was I went to Rollercon and ended up demoralized. I skate reffed twice while there and it was not a good thing. Rollercon is flat track. I ref banked track. The rules are not super different, but between the differences, the new environment and the entire flat track skater culture I was super off my game. It sucked.

So I came back feeling like I sucked as a ref.

Enter Saturday's game. Upon realizing I would be skating I geared up and went to do a little warmup. Could I still do this? Umm yeah, not a problem. Actually I couldn't tell I had missed a day of skating! Thankfully after skating for close to 2 years my legs had not forgotten a thing.

So now the issue was the penalty calling, oh yeah and pack definition. This was a major problem for me at Rollercon. I think in retrospect I was just spooked. Also flat track skaters skate backwards which really freaking screws me up.

During the game the penalties were sooo easy for me to see! And pack definition was so prominent! It was like taking that break allowed my brain to process all the stuff I'd learned over the past 2 years. I felt awesome!

And it was a freakin amazing game! The teams were really evenly matched. I saw so many incredible, and clean, hits. What an awesome game to start back up with!

Anyways. It went great and now I am so very for-sure, back in derby!

Bout day!

Well I'm finally back in the swing of roller derby things. Technically I'm on the accelerated path back to reffing. One practice in and there's a bout!

Not much running to speak of the past few days. I think I get worried that I'll either blow up like a balloon or irreversibly sink into sloth-dom if I don't run daily. But I think I'll be all right.

Ran Mon through Wed and decided to walk Thurs and just plain chill on Friday. So only 16 miles this week. Back to grind on Monday!

License to slack

I'm not sure why there is this constant urge to increase and improve on physical performance. I have been running about 4-5 days a week, usually around 5 miles a day. Some bits walking, some days a smidgen less. But all in all a respectable number of miles and at a respectable pace.

So why do I feel like a slacker? I haven't done any weights the past month and a half. Which is lame. The transition into school mom mode has been tough, but I'm hitting my stride.

I keep feeling like I should run or walk the second half of the day as well. And maybe do some biking or swimming. Cause I should be doing more.

The notion of getting pregnant actually feels like the only reasonable excuse to do less. Do I need a license to slack or something?