Hooray!

Payne D. Spencer kindly let me know that the skate move I was trying to pull out in the entry below is called ‘Shoot the Duck’…and is demonstrated wonderfully in the following video by two girls called Krystal and Heather…



I’ve got a list of new stretches to add to my regime (that I’m going to start doing more to see better results…and hurt less after running!) that are supposed to help you do this trick better, so maybe it’ll be doing to my skill instead of my skates soon? we shall see…

and I wish with all my heart that I could do this…



…that girl is SO cool…

What a difference the Heel makes...

I’ve been skating for well over 18 months now (end of Jan ’07 to now, Sept ’08…so…erm…20 months) but I’ve only owned a few pairs of skates and although I’ve read lots of stuff about various skate packages, I can only vouch for the ones I’ve tried.

When I upgraded from Riedell R3s to Wickeds I put outdoor wheels on my old skates and then they’ve pretty much been left to gather dust since. I’m not a great fan of outdoor skating (I love the skating, but I hate the fear it gives me…and the fact that the public are out there…and that they like to take the piss) so since last September I’ve only worn them a few times, and most of those have been on a completely different surface to the one I use my Wickeds on.

Tuesday just gone I decided to take them to the after-school club with me, because all the kids use outdoor wheels, as does the teacher who I’m helping, and considering my R3s were in the car I thought ‘What they hey…it’s one less pair of skates to carry to the car!’ and left my Wickeds at home. So I strapped on my old, taped up skates (to the sound of many small voices saying ‘Miss! Those are different to the ones you had last week Miss!’) and found that on a smooth floor they feel a hell of a lot flatter than my Wickeds do.

A few of the kids are keen on pulling off new tricks on their wheels, so I tried to show them the only trick I can do (skating ultra-low then extending a leg out straight in front of me so I’m on one foot), but it turns out that myt ability to do said ‘trick’ is based on the somewhat higher heel of my Wickeds. Wearing my flatter R3s I crouched down, realised my feet were at all the wrong angle and promptly fell on my ass. Hard. And to the tune of ‘SHE FELL OVER’…thanks kids. You’re so forgiving…Anyway, despite my terrible attempt at coolness (and my fast failure) it didn’t put any of the kids off and by the end of the period loads of them were really keen to show off their skills. They were spinning, skating in really low crouches (scooting themselves along with their hands), jumping with no fear...I was impressed!

I’ll wear my Wickeds this Tuesday and hopefully my skills will return to me…maybe.

I’ve missed all our practice sessions this week…boo at me! I started the week off feeling really run down and it’s slowly turned into a horrible head cold. I look like Rudolf the red nosed Rollergirl…perhaps I should tog myself up in a pair of fuzzy antlers and get my picture taken for Christmas cards? It’d certainly bring cheer to people!

I’m going to spend the rest of today and tomorrow eating and sleeping loads so I can be back at practice on Monday…kleenex in hand (and pocket, and stuffed up my sleeve…I predict I’ll need an awful lot of it)

Decisions decisions...

I’m terrible at getting things done (blogging for one)…but my biggest problem is that I hate making decisions. It means that I miss out on so much…

Right now I’m struggling with my concience when it comes to the things I really want to do, like get tattoos and dye my hair ridiculous colours. I guess it’s a fear of the unknown, and instead of being the girl I used to be (who dyed her hair vibrant shades of red from the age of 11 and imagined a rebellious adulthood) I’ve grown into a woman who cares far too much what others think, and who doesn’t trust that her choices will lead to an outcome she can deal with.

Roller Derby has been a huge changing force in my life, and I feel much more confident with what my body can do. It’s definitely stronger and more capable than it’s ever been, and I feel at my best when I’m in practice. I feel safe with my league mates (who are all my friends) and I can really be myself around them, but although I’ll happily strut around in micro-shorts and fishnets at practice (and the pub…lol) I still feel uncomfortable and like I’m being stared at if I dress up when I go out. It’s a completely ridiculous state of affairs.

When it comes to tattoos, I have big plans for sleeves and a chest piece. They’re all planned out and I’ve known what I want for years now (one of the downfalls of having a tattooist boyfriend…I think about tatoos all the time but I’m not allowed any because he doesn’t want me to end up with a load of ink I’ll regret) but I can’t bring myself to get them done. My best friends recently had some unwanted attention because of their visible tattoos and it makes me wonder how I’ll handle people commenting on any visible ink I get done…I know a lady who’s really heavily covered and she’s even had a guy (a complete stranger) go to pull her top away from her chest to get a better look at her work! I’d want to club someone if they did that to me, and I’m pretty sure that’s not acceptable behaviour…even if someone is trying to undress you in a supermarket!

I can’t predict how having sleeves and a chest piece will make me feel, and no one can tell me what it’ll be like…there’s no way I could ever know what it’ll be like until it’s done, and once it’s done there’s going to be no going back (only covering up, and I’m the kind of person who’s thermostat runs on ‘tropical’ most of the time…long sleeves are the very bottom of my outfit choices).

I recently had to make a skate decision too…and although I really wanted a pair of Black Widows I don’t want to get a pricey set of skates that don’t fit like a glove. I’m hoping to go to RollerCon next year (or visit the States or Canada at least) so I’ll get them then when I can try them on…and this time round I’m going for another pair of Wickeds, but this time not a size too big!

I’m also getting them with Swiss bearings and pink Mojo wheels, which I’m assured are super-grippy and wonderful to skate on! I really can’t wait! I know I’ve not been happy with my current Wickeds, but they’re far too big for me, even with a really thick gel insole. I’m pretty sure that going down to a 7.5 will make the world of difference to my poor crampy feet. At the moment I have to shuffle my feet to the back of my boot after every drill or jam, and walking on my toe stops isn’t as easy as it should be because my foot moves around in the boot so much. Tightening my laces isn’t really an option either as that’s when the crampy foot-death occurs, which hinders my skating as much as a flappy boot does.

*fingers crossed* they’re going to fit me…I think I’ll cut my toes off if they don’t.

This afternoon is the second after-school skating session that I’m helping run. I forgot to take my camera last week so this week I must remember it. The kids are SO funny once they’ve got those skates on…and they’re absolutely fearless! If only adults could be persuaded to do squat-jumps on wheels, the whole country would be Roller Derby mad by now!

Last week I had to cart 25 pairs of skates with me (26 if you include mine), but now I’ve narrowed it down to the sizes I need I’ll only have to carry about 15 pairs…across a playground and up two flights of stairs…no wonder my biceps were screaming last Wednesday!

In other Roller Derby news, I’m REALLY looking forward to the upcoming visit of Payne D. Spencer who’s going to be joining us for lots of skating and drinking fun at the start of October! We’re going to have a blast, and I can’t wait for her to meet some of the other UK Roller Derby Leagues!…Roll on October!

Exercise is bad for my health...

It’s almost two months since I ran (jogged) the race for life with my friends and in that time they’ve been getting on with the running thing while I’ve found almost any excuse to avoid it. Outdoor skating was a great alternative for a couple of sessions, but doing crossovers round a massive circle is uber-easy compared to pushing yourself along at speed…without wheels.

This Tuesday I decided I was going to suck it up and get back into running, partly because the others were whining at me, but mostly because I’m turning into Jabba the Hutt. I’ve been neglecting exercise in favour of sitting on my rapidly growing ass and eating “healthy” things like carrot cake and biscuits dunked in tea (so all the calories have been washed away), and the consequence is a constricted feeling when dressed, and a disconcerting wobbly feeling when I’m un-dressed. Not good.

I resolved not to make with the excuses anymore (even though I almost cried off Tuesday because of the rain…) and I’m getting back into the whole exercise thing. I was shocked at myself when we started because I was expecting to be out of breath and ready to give up after a few hundred metres, but I felt surprisingly good! Ouija said she’s the same after a break from running, but that if we asked her to run again Thursday she’d probably not be able to move. I can’t believe how right she was! I felt fresh and capable on Tuesday, but for the past two days I’ve felt like a pinata AFTER the party.

Despite my feeling good, this only lasted for one lap and I got my usual neck pain. I have no idea why my neck gets tense while I’m running…I feel like Deirdre Barlow looks. As we reached our start point I was hoping the others would want to flake out too but they swept me along for another lap. I suddenly felt like I was made of lead and my legs just wouldn’t propell me any more and I slowed to a walk (bad!), but when I realised that my speedwalking (ha ha) wasn’t quite keeping up with the others I broke back into a jog. There’s nothing like missing out on gossip as an incentive to stay with the pack!

I slowed down again when we got to the halfway point, but I felt terrible letting them run on without me so I caught up again and promised myself I’d stay with them to the end of the lap at least. They all carried on for another lap while I walked and stretched to cool down. I obviously didn’t cool down enough though! I’ve not hurt this much after a workout for ages – possibly because I’ve not really pushed myself in weeks – but it feels good to know that I’ve worked hard.

I think the most unfortunate aspect of my pain is that it’s mostly in my thighs…so skating is going to be fun later! Our Thursday night practices are for more advanced drills, so getting low is important and the drills can take their toll on your thighs at the best of times. I can forsee two hours of pain and whining like a bitch to whoever’s leading practice. I’m kind of hoping it’s me (even though I’ve lead the last two weekend practices and therefore not taken part in much) but I know that’s completely the wrong attitude to take because I’m just being lazy.

The week before last I concentrated on endurance drills and doing pacelines skating clockwise to get everyone used to lateral movement in that direction. When I started skating in January of 2006 I’d never really skated before and I found clockwise a lot easier than the normal skating direction…crossovers in particular. I could do them with no problem when I was turning right, but I didn’t trust my left leg enough to lift my right leg over when I was trying to do them for roller derby purposes. With 18 months of practice I’ve trained myself out of this habit and now I find skating clockwise weird and unnatural. I figure that no matter how good I am going left, I’ll never be a good skater until I can skate well in all directions, so it’s important to me to practice it until it comes to me as naturally as our normal skating direction.

We did an excellent drill where skaters line up according to their ability, slowest at the front, and each takes it in turn to sprint 5 (or however many you like) laps before falling out and letting the skater behind them take the lead. It’s great because everyone can join in and the more skaters there are, the harder the fitter skaters have to work! The first time I tried it a fortnight ago the first ten skaters did 4 laps and the advanced skaters were meant to do 8 laps each. There were so many people involved that I think Hustle’her must have done about 80 laps, and she was still raring to do more…that’s the kind of fitness I need to achieve! The week just gone a lot of newer skaters were off practicing basic skills with Ouija and Gun Beryl so the line was a lot shorter but Hustle’her still managed to get in 60 laps and I’m sure she could have carried on.

I also got everyone to spend a LOT of time doing crossovers, first in our normal skating direction, with people of all abilities trying to perfect their technique. The beginners were getting used to the weight exchange and the footwork involved, and those who could do crossovers were getting used to doing them the whole way round the track. With so many people skating it was quite problematic for the advanced girls to get the use of the whole track at times, but it was great dodging practice too and I learned to crossover left and right to step around ‘obstacles’ so to speak. It was great!

We spent even more time focusing on crossovers going clockwise, with everyone focusing on leaning to the right (difficult!…for me anyway) and getting their left leg to cross over their right. I know I’m going to need to keep practicing, but I can do it with little difficulty now, which is a big step for me. Everyone else did really well too, but I don’t think many people find it as much of a problem as I do. I feel really unbalanced because I find skating left so easy and skating right so difficult, and I really want to work on it to make myself feel more capable, and above all, symmetrical!

Hits have also been a big thing over the past few weeks too, and not just in my practices. A few weeks ago Ouija and Hustle’her had us working on timing drills, where skaters have to catch up to a moving opponant and knock her out. We spent ages on this, and by the time we moved onto a quick game of Queen of the Rink I felt much more confident in my hits, and I really wanted to do my best and knock people down. It’s not that I don’t usually want to do it, I just never really feel like I can, and I have little faith in my hits or my ability to stay up. At that week’s advanced practice we did another Queen of the Rink type game and I managed to knock down three of my opponants in a row, which came with it’s usual mixture of joy and guilt. I’m definitely getting better, but my booty checks need a lot of work. I’ve got no hips and a terrible sense of balance when attempting to throw my non-hips around, so I tend to rely on fierce shoulder and body blocks to take people out, but they’re not always effective.

I’m looking forward to tonight’s practice (well, not the thigh pain) and I’ll hopefully come back with some wonderful tales of how I sent even more girls flying, but it’s more likely I’ll be in so much pain I won’t be able to drive home and I’ll have to live at the leisure centre! I jest of course, I’d probably get a taxi home.