Posts tagged Roller Derby

Reboot

May 27, 2012 · Filed under Just... Life, Navel Gazing · Tagged ,

So as I was running on Saturday, I worked out this whole awesome blog post where I compared my life to a series of evolving software releases.  The post was super awesome and I had some great metaphors.

But… then trying to go back and recreate all the stuff I had “written” in my head as I was running through the woods… well…  I just got kinda bored.

So you are just going to have to take my word for it how I did such a good job comparing my life evolving to a software project going through upgrades, revisions, hardware platforms, plug ins, etc.  It was also pretty funny.

Anyway, though, the POINT of the post that, sadly, no one but me will ever know, was that it’s time for ANOTHER reboot…

Basically, if you look at my life as a series of revisions… I have…

Release 1.0 – I turn 18 and am a “finished adult product”

Release 1.5 – Marriage was a major revision, but didn’t really make a significant change to the underlying “me”… I was the same person, but now with the SB along with me.

Release 2.0 was me after my “lifestyle change”… Yes – I was thin, and I was sort of fit (not like I am now)… but a lot of my underlying issues with lack of confidence, low self esteem, etc were still there.  I was really that same fat girl – I just looked different.

Version 3.0 came with Derby… and it didn’t all happen at once… but of the course of years of participating in that awesome sport, I gained self confidence, a belief in my own abilities, a lessening of my willingness to take crap, and a general all around feeling (most of the time) that I am pretty darn awesome.

So – anyway… now I am officially retired from derby, and I am fully aware that it’s the correct thing for me to do for a whole host of reasons…

But it does leave something of a gap.

Who am I going to be without the Derby?

What are my interests going to be?  What are my hobbies going to be?

Because as much as I loved Derby – it does eat your whole life..  and now suddenly I find myself (well, once this latest work craziness eases up) with time to do other things, explore other avenues…  do… stuff.

So it’s time for Rachelle version 4.0 and I’m not really sure what that’s going to look like.

I know I want to still stay fit.  I love the feeling that I can do things with my body just because I want to.

But… what does that mean?  I love trail running…  I am toying with the idea of training for a half marathon trail run.

But fitness can’t be all I do.

So.. what do I want to explore?  Art? Music? Travel? What?

I am not sure where to go.

So I am searching, I guess… for what?  Myself?  I mean – I feel like I know “who I am” – but my self image also had a lot to do with Derby, so there’s a gap in that image now… what do I put in that gap?

I dunno.

I guess I’ll find out…

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We Won!!!

February 28, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged ,

So Saturday was awesome.  Just….  Yeah… AWESOME!

We won handily, although it felt like a really hard fought game because those girls hit SO HARD!

Final was 215 to 128…. so that totally rocked.

I was very please with a lot of the work I did.  I went after those girls and laid some good hits.  I held my inside line (mostly).  I did quite a bit of blocking the jammer.  We made some awesome walls.

What really amazed me is just how much all the cross training and strength work has helped me.  After out bout in December, I was in pain for weeks from the hits I had taken.  My back was so sore.  It was terrible.  But since I have been doing SO MUCH work on my back and core, I woke up on Sunday feeling great.  No pain at all.  So.. that’s something to be said for all those crunches, supermans, deadlifts, etc.  It’s not all for nothing!

The only sad part of the weekend was an appalling lack of pre-sliced cake at the Harris Teeter after the bout.

Derby day burns roughly 2700 calories all told.

I had saved up about 1200 of those for a BIG HONKIN PIECE OF CARROT CAKE WITH ICE CREAM at the end of the day.

Then…  there was no cake.

NO CAKE!

I mean, OK, I went home and grabbed one of the frozen carrot cake muffins I keep on hand and had that with ice cream and some strawberries.  But it wasn’t the same.  It also wasn’t anywhere close to the number of calories I had planned for the real cake, so I ended the day with a big old calorie deficit.  Boo.

Then Sunday, I have no idea why, but I just wasn’t hungry.  I kind made myself eat enough calories for the day, but this morning I weighed in lower than I have ever seen, which is bad.

Today I will be very good and eat all the way up to my 2300 (actually, I have planned it out, and I’ll be at 2323.  I don’t mind where I am weight-wise, but losses are unacceptable.  Maybe it was just water fluctuations or something, though.  We’ll see where tomorrow lies – I’ll drink enough water today.

BUT!

Other than the cake sadness…  YAY WEEKEND!!!

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Derby Weekend

February 25, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged

YES!

We’re playing a better team than last time, so I’m a little nervous about whether we’re going to be able to win this one.

But we’ve got a good team and we’ve been training hard, so we’ve done what we can do and we’ll see how it shakes out tomorrow!

One thing I know, win or lose, it’s going to be fun!

Oh, and one other thing I know….   Post Derby Cake!

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Something’s Gotta Give

February 10, 2011 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , ,

My Weekly Schedule:

Monday – Just work (whew – start off the week easy)

Tuesday – Work, then Yoga

Wednesday – Work, then Derby Practice

Thursday – Work, then Climbing

Friday – Work, Grocering at the WalMart, Derby Practice

Saturday – Gotta fit in a visit with the folks somewhere

Sunday – Derby practice in the AM, then Climbing and Yoga in the afternoon (THAT’S a full day).

—————————————-

I think I am over scheduled.

I think something has to go.

It’s not going to be the derby.

I love derby.

I like climbing.  I like yoga.

But I’m starting to think that it’s just too much time spent shuttling hither and yon.

It’s 30 minutes from my house to the gym…  That’s an hour total commute Tuesday, Thursday, Twice on Sunday (Derby practice is held there in the am).

If I come home from work, I can pop in a workout DVD and be done in an hour.  And I can easily do yoga in my home with a DVD.

I feel bad… because my friend and derby team-mate owns the climbing gym…  and I hate to cancel my membership.  But I am starting to feel more and more like that is going to have to happen.

Derby practice is getting more hard-core.

I am doing far harder and more strenuous workouts on my days when I don’t have anything scheduled (Bob Harper is a mean, mean man…  I highly recommend getting your ass kicked by him).

This is just the beginning of the “thinking about it” process, but I am pretty sure I know where it’s going.

If I don’t stop running flat out, I am going to burn out… and that’s no good to me or anyone.

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Tick, Tick, Tick goes the clock

December 29, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , ,

The week between Christmas and New Years is traditially a slow time.  Most people are off… nothing gets done.

And yet, here we are, still sitting in the office.

There’s a few things I like to do during this week.

Clean up the office… toss old papers, dust things the cleaners don’t dust, get rid of things I haven’t touched in a year.

Clean up the computer… archive old files, burn previously archived files to CD.

Alas, the reading of blogs is more difficult, with most folks taking time off blogging too.

I’ve been hanging out in the forums on my Calorie Count site… but the same old post about “Help me, I can’t stop eating cookies” kinda get boring after a while, because I want to say  “HEY!  IF YOU DON’T WANT TO EAT THE DAMN COOKIES, DON’T EAT THEM!  IF YOU DO WANT TO EAT THE COOKIES, THEN STOP COMPLAINING!!!!”

And, let’s face it… that’s unfair.  People have myriad physical, mental and emotional reasons that they eat the cookies and it’s not nice to yell at them about it.  I’m probably just jealous of them because I’m not snarfing on cookies.

“Christmas” at the in-laws was last night, so we can put an official end to the holiday season.  I managed to get out of dinner at only 1000 calories.  Usually that’s tough, because they ALWAYS start dinner with cheese, crackers, etc.

Handily, the etc. this time included raw veggies with light ranch dip, so even though I was hungry, I managed to avoid the cheese… which for me is quite the accomplishment, as cheese is like heroin to me.  Yes, I am a recovering cheese junkie.  I admit it.

I am very please to have made a New Year’s Resolution to start Yoga.  I’m going to go on Sunday’s to a “Yoga for Climbers” class, taught by my friend Page, and then Tuesday nights to “Deep Stretch”, which will be nice and relaxing.

So, Yoga, Indoor Climbing, Derby, (and once it warms up some) Road Biking, Hiking.

I am resisting the urge to pick up any other activities.

I really would like to start trail running.  I did it once, and I had a really good time.  It was soooooooo much better than running on the street, which is not something I enjoy AT ALL!

But I need to restrain myself… there’s only so much time in the day, you know?

I can’t see myself quitting Derby right now… but I know that one day, I will.  I’m going to re-evaluate in August when the home season is over.

Right now, I am feeling like I’m a pretty valuable part of the team.  I’ve got experience and game knowledge, which makes up somewhat for my lack of being a big hitter.

But this year they will start a skater training program, and I hope that by the end of the season, we’ll have lots of hard core new athletic girls who will far surpass my skills and really bring the team to a whole new level of ass kickery.

When that happens, I think I’ll be able to think more about the possibility of retiring.  Three years is about the average derby career.  Of course… I’ve tried to quit before ;)

So for now, I will stick with what I’ve got.

Well this has turned into quite the little ramble.

Happy New Year to you all!  I hope that 2011 is an excellent and awesome year for all my blogging buddies!

 

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Speed Demons for the Win!

December 7, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged

So we played our first bout on Saturday.

It was awesome as awesome can be!

That’s me in the picture above with the star on my helmet.  I was jamming because we had gotten pretty far ahead, so we were trying to play some of the people who weren’t as strong in their positions.  I got in to jam, got a major, and pretty much sat out the entire jam ;) Needless to say, I only jammed one time.  But my place is really on the inside line.  That’s where I do my best work, and that’s what I was playing pretty much the whole bout.

Our team was really strong, we played so tightly as a team, it was great.  Our opponents played really hard and never quit. they had some really good players, but we ended up beating them 185 to 67.

I am so proud of all the hard work we all put in getting ready for this bout and can’t wait until February when we start our first official season!

I know I won’t be on every roster – the pool of players we have is too good for that to happen, but I’m hoping I’ll get to play in a couple of games, at least.

Go Speed Demons!

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Let’s Get Ready to Derby!

November 9, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged

I’m very excited that my new derby team is playing our first game on December 4.  Not only did I make the roster – yay – I also have been made captain for this bout.

OK, captain is largely a ceremonial role since we have really great coaches telling us what to do… but still, it’s exciting.

Can’t wait to play!

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So Many Things…

October 13, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged ,

There’s some things I want… none of them are what you might call inexpensive.  So I am going to have to pick.

  • New Tattoo – been itching to get one of these, oh yes.  Only my indecision on what to get is stopping me.
  • New Skates – With the new team I am on, we skate under our own names… so I am no longer “Scarrot Cake” – the orange skates are nice, but they don’t match the blue and red color scheme of the new team, and now that I am no longer “carrot themed”, well, orange skates don’t make quite as much sense.  Plus, I really want to try out this new kind of truck that is becoming more popular – 45 degree angle instead of 90 degree angle – supposed to be more responsive.
  • New Hiking Boots – I have boots… but I have this REALLY comfortable pair of Keen sandals that I use for light hiking, and they are SOOOOOOO wonderful that I very much want to have a pair of sturdy boots from the same company.

I simply cannot do all of these things :(

What to pick, what to pick…

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Ow

June 18, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged , ,

Ow Ow

So without going into too much detail, I found that it was time to move on from the roller derby league that I had been affiliated with, and join a new one.

The reffing that I had been doing for the last two months, while better for my injured knee, appears to not have been doing all that effective a job for the rest of me.

I started back to practicing with the new league (I am going to be helping as a trainer, and hope to be able to get back to recreational play, but still have no plan to go back to full-participation in bouting, but I am still going to practice with them).

The pain of getting back into really serious workouts.  OW.

I thought that with the biking and climbing, workout tapes, etc. etc…  I thought I was doing pretty well in the “keeping in shape” department.

That thought was a lying lie.

Ah well, back at it, and at least I haven’t lost my ability to whinge about stuff.

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Now the Waiting

March 16, 2010 · Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged

So last night’s scrimmage was the “we’ll take a look at everyone and see how they are playing and decide who will be eligible for the list of people who could potentially make the All Stars roster in Q2.

Last quarter, I specifically asked to not be considered – because I wanted to focus more on the B team.

But I found over the course of the quarter, that practicing with people who are about the same level of skill as me is simply not getting me moving anywhere… skills-wise.  I’m playing at the same level – not improving.

I leave practice feeling like I did alright… but that’s only in relation to people who play like me.

So for this upcoming quarter, I specifically asked to be considered for the A-Team eligible list.  I know that IF I manage to get on this list, the most likely outcome for playing will be that I will not get on a bout roster at all in Q2.  I decided that I’m OK with that, though… because what I really need is to spend a quarter practicing with girls who can kick my ass.  Not girls who play the same as me.

It appears that even though I leave practices where everyone is better than me feeling like a complete jackass who should not be allowed to even lace up a pair of skates… that is exactly what I need to be feeling in order to improve my play.  This is what happened last summer when I was playing on our intraleague team.  I was playing with people better than me.  I left every practice feeling horrible… but over those couple of months, my play improved by huge leaps.  I guess it’s all about motivation.

Not that I’ll be upset if I stay on the B Team – I love playing with those girls, and will continue to try and do my best… and try to figure out some way to get more motivated in the improvement arena.

So – the A eligible list is announced on Thursday… until then I guess I’m just keeping my fingers crossed.

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