Week 11 & 12 review

I've been busy enjoying the upcoming spring and Easter holidays and I'm planning to continue it till tomorrow! Here's a quick view what I've done the last two weeks with my training.

Week 11:

Monday
Yoga 60

Tuesday
X-fit 50
PRD practice 60 (I was a jammer ref trainee)

Wednesday
RVP 30
Yoga 30
Stretching 30
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
day off

Friday
Scrimmage / practice in Kotka 3 2 hours

Saturday
Yoga 30
Stretching 30

Sunday
Run 35 (5,4 km)
PRD OPEN SKATE!!!
Scrimmage 1 hour

Week 12:
Monday
Hurt my lower back on Sunday so I had a day off

Tuesday
A day off due to my ill lower back
Motivation discussion 60
NSO 60

Wednesday
Back to practice: PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Bodypump exp 30

Friday
Day off

Saturday
Practice and scrimmage with KRR in Pasila 4 hours

Sunday
Run 40

Bodypump 60

Someone should maybe do an inventory for sportswear

IT'S BEEN A YEAR!

"Damn it if I'm not a dangerous player in a year from starting!" - me 13th September 2012.


Shorty H was born a year ago when I attended PRDs practice only to try out what couple of my really close and dear friends were doing in the evenings. I remember how hard it was to try not to fall with the skates and my skating really sucked. I could do some ½ hour and my feet were killing me. I thought it to be a mission impossible to become even somewhat airy skater and sometimes I still feel it. After the first practice I loaned my friends skates during her long walk in Spain for a month and then decided to become one of those awesome girls attending the practice week after week with such enthusiasm that made me feel there was something about those people. It's only now I realize what that was: a team, my team. The best freaking girls Porvoo has to offer! Not only the skaters becoming players but our coaches and refs too.

Here's the first derby related picture of me in our Open Skate in April 2012.



Everything started rolling and we did some serious groundwork with basic skills. I had never skated in any way, I had no balance and all in all no idea how those quad skates worked or how my body was to work on them. At times I felt I wasn't going anywhere but I kept on showing up to the practices even if I sometimes felt I was left behind. I wasn't a fast learner - actually it took me a good while to learn even crossovers and you know why? Because of FEAR. Fear of falling, fear of failing, fear of anything I could think of. I got a little something attending an international boot camp in Helsinki after only 9 times on skates. The international coaches pushed me to cross those lines and it stuck with me. Of course it wasn't like an immediate turn to a a brave person givin' it all but it was a push towards it. The next big push came in September at the USA boot camp when I started this blog. I'm not that afraid to try new styles and tricks as I used to be.

Here's an example. Outdoor skating in May 2012 even if I didn't even know how to stop. That didn't stop us! :D



So as I said I should be a dangerous player after a year. I've got some serious work to do still but the results after one year of practicing are showing something. I've got balance. I can skate. I can learn more.
I CAN PLAY!

Loads of love to all of you who made me start this!

Week 11 workouts n' stuff

I feel like exercising my brain out! And at the same time I have a nasty flu. Great going?

PRD went to X-fit class on Tuesday and it was surely 50 minutes well spent. It was not full on exercise for the whole 50 minutes as we went the basis through well enough to get our performance right. But when the workout was on it was full on monkey business! It was competing against your own muscles and endurance, time and weights and the most powerful enemy: your will. It hurt in muscles I haven't been using in a long time or maybe never. Somehow I still felt quite powerful and the idea of making it to the goal kept me going. It was a full body workout in a small and active package! I definitely want to go again - and will go right next week.

The same night I forgot my mouthguard at home so there was no scrimmaging for me at the practice. Instead I got to be a jammer ref trainee with light tasks such as calling the lead, calling of the jam if the jammer called it of, only trying to look for penalties which was not at all that easy!.Actually already the whistle was a thing to learn. I tried to watch for penalties but many times the situation passed because I was uncertain of the call, really recognizing penalties is not easy. It was an eye opening chance for me as a jammer too: forearms, backblock, cutting: all that became clearer from the inner track point of view. Also I wasn't that serious ref, I smiled and enjoyed running along with my jammer, it was actually real fun to try it out! Thanks for the support, whistle and tips, Sid :).

Hey there was a pick-up scrimmage last Sunday in Helsinki! There was 50 or so players participating and it was an awful lot of fun. That though was the day when I caught the flu and became quite tired in the end of the game. There was some diamond moments in that scrimmage, to mention my favorites:
- Lining up as a jammer with Tsubutex and she hit me down right after the jam starting whistle! Somehow I saw it coming and it was so cool!
- A handshake between me and an opposing male jammer, initiated by him. That really got me confused.
- A booty sticking out from a wall when I was approaching the wall, I slowed down for it and hit the booty and made a hole for myself.
Thanks to everyone who participated, cheered and gave support for a jammer trying to figure how to do it!


Week 11 planned:

Monday
Yoga 60

Tuesday
X-fit 50
PRD practice 60 (I was a jammer ref trainee)

Wednesday
RVP 30
Yoga 30
Stretching 30
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
day off

Friday
Scrimmage / practice in Kotka 3 hours

Saturday
Yoga 30
Stretching 30

Sunday
PRD OPEN SKATE!!! DON'T MISS!

Scrimmage 1 hour

Week 10 review - too cold to get me out running

I haven't had a decent jog for a while and those degrees of -10- -25 really don't encourage me to get out for a run. I know people do run in frost but not me, not this winter. I want to have a smile on my face the next time I go out running. Well I haven't been jogging on the treadmill either due to lack of time before workout classes. But there's good news too! I've again gotten on track with bodypump. Many weeks I've just skipped the class because my timetables have been a mismatch. Now I had the chance to go TWICE and I feel stronger already! After Sundays class I felt like a winner, it was after the pick-up scrimmage in Helsinki. The next day I had gotten a sore throat, I don't know if it's from Saturday when we went to see Cirque du Soleil and I felt a bit cold. The show Alegria was beautiful and the music was fantastic! Definitely worth seeing.

Here's my week 10:


Monday
walk 20
yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours
(1 hour skating, 1 hour muscle workout / stretching / blabbering)

Thursday
Bodybalance 60

Friday
run 30
bodypump exp 30
walk 20

Saturday
run 30
walk 20

Sunday
HRD pick-up scrimmage @ Pasila
Bodypump 60

My new training shoes!

Excitement and happiness in one awesome derby packet

                                              

Last Saturday we headed to Tampere for PRDs second scrimmage. That picture is taken in autumn 2011, now there was snow and we drove around the city nervous and excited. The nearer we got the more excited we felt. It always seems like an awful lot of time before the game gets going but the moment you're warming up on the track with your 10 teammate hits you in a moment. We had screaming moments in our locker room and last minute preps. Suddenly we were on the track and line-ups ready to get started. This time I was going to mainly jam and I did too. I went out blocking twice and it felt good too - somehow after adjusting your mind to jamming also helps when e.g. bridging: you're more ready to get through and in the front. Tampere Ho-Bits were awesome! They seemed to have a great time, good spirit, loads of beautiful smiles! A huge high-five for that!

All in all knowing your player position was a comfort and made playing easier. I tried to keep my eyes and ears to our bench and it worked out really well. There was a couple of times when I did not hear it all, being in the opposite side of the track from our bench. It was a game that showed I've got some serious work load to do but also I felt I can do it. I was doubting to play as a jammer after Turku. Maybe it was good because now I've tried to improve those skills and worked on my weak points. There's a long road ahead of me but at least I know what road I'm on. You feel me? Starting roller derby from point zero with no experience in any skating is an effort itself. To become good is a huge step and you never know how long it's going to take.




Run and push, off you go! I got two penalties for cutting but otherwise I felt it was the first time I actually could keep my eye on cutting. If someone hit me out of bounds I finally made the effort to check who it was and more importantly is she standing or did she fall. I think it was a brain click: I finally got it into my head to check it. Also recovering from a hit isn't that slow for me anymore and instead of dropping into a full fall I might just drop to one knee and be able to see the game and the initiator. Simple newbie improvements like that, it's not easy! Another thing I've tried to brainwash into the game is bluffing. Somehow I haven't brought it to game before, maybe it's the new situation or the excitement. This time I actually bluffed a couple of times and really felt how it helped my game. If I'm not the most agile and fast I need to use that to my advantage. The third moment of awesomeness I had was when I played time and sat on the other jammers lap. It was wonderful moment of relax in an awesome lap. I enjoyed it so much!

Compared to our first game our pack work from jammers point of view was put to a new level! They made holes for me and just let me push my way out. Amazing. Can't wait to play with them again!

Plans for week 10:

Monday
walk 20
yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Bodybalance

Friday
run 30
bodypump exp 30

Saturday
run 30

Sunday
HRD pick-up scrimmage @ Pasila


Jani Haikonen, thanks for the photos of me jamming :)

Week 9 review

PRD played its second scrimmage ever and won! I thought winning would feel different and maybe it slightly does but mainly I feel happy to have played again. I've written my feelings down and will get more deeper into those - maybe tomorrow ;)

Here's week 9!

Monday
day off

Tuesday
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Bodybalance 60

Friday
run 15
Bodypump exp 30
RVP 30
yoga 30
stretching 30

Saturday
scrimmage @ Tampere

Sunday
PRD practice 2 hours
walking 30
(~1 hour discussion of the game)

Look at the happy brawlers! I love them!

Thank you Jani Haikonen for taking the picture!

Week 9, here we go!

Time to reflect what I learned from the more experienced players in Pasila over a week ago. It was a mixed scrimmage with nice big rosters so we had time to suck in the info in between the game too. Me and our lovely coach Killmore were in the team white, she doing the line-ups and me jamming. Other PRD girls were playing in the black team. I also got to be a captain for the first time ever! As a newbie the captains meet was really interesting as well as seeing it in action, well I called for a timeout only once, but it was good to get some perspective from that too. It's not easy: rather often you have to be able to explain what happened on the track even if you weren't on the track when it happened and more importantly with a language that will be easy for the referees to understand.

Cars: Mater plaster on my knee

This was the first time I was lined-up just mainly as a jammer. In the second period I did go to the track as a blocker once but otherwise I jammed. I had goals that I set to myself so that I wouldn't be disappointed:

• to learn from the more experienced skaters
• to communicate
• to succeed even once

Already from Turku I had learned to take care of the after math:

• drink loads (water too)
• eat magnesium
• stretch properly

But these are the things I marked to be important to keep in mind after this mixed scrimmage:

• learn how to take hard checks and hits --> lean towards the incoming hit
• improve your stance further, be aware of your body positions
• communication: track players vs. bench
• player position: learning and improving during the game
• position on the track: prefer inner and middle
• slow down when approaching the pack from behind
• working with the bench, timing when to look at the bench
• easy points before calling the jam off

And how did I succeed? Well I told you already I got hurt a little. It was in the second period when I hit my right knee, left shoulder, left fingers and my head. I fell by stumbling to another skaters legs when she fell. After that I didn't go on the track anymore, I was just shaky and white, probably from the hit my head took. There was also a star moment in the first period when communication failed and I got some cool hits from black blockers, hits like I've never experienced. That was a precious moment in learning. So I started the jam and somehow miraculously got the lead. When I returned again to the pack I got hit over and over again until couldn't handle the situation anymore. I was watching our bench but saw no sign of calling it off and at the same time our players on the track yelled the right thing: to call it off. So this raised a question in my mind that's worth pondering: who is it you need to listen? As a jammer I've learned to watch the bench and do as the bench tells me. This new situation led me to understand that yes, in some rare occasions (like in this one, when our bench didn't realize I had the lead) you should use your own brain.

Anyhow, I did have my moments and a couple of OK jams. Worth mentioning that I had ZERO penalty!

This week sketched, I'm not sure of Friday yet, I've had some dizzy and weak feelings yesterday and today.

Monday
day off

Tuesday
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Bodybalance 60

Friday
run 15
Bodypump exp 30

Saturday
Scrimmage @ Tampere

Sunday
PRD practice 2 hours

Week 8 review - hours slipping by

I didn't post my plans for last week because I simply didn't have time. I'm starting to get tired of saying it damn it, but hey being busy must mean I'm about to accomplish something? Not only something but loads of things! Like I've only less than half an year of my Leo Club presidency, I'm almost done with PRDs accounting for last year, I've only got four theory lessons for driving school and some 12 driving lessons. And we have our first bout coming up!

Last week:

Monday
yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
day off

Friday
running 20
bodypump exp 30

Saturday
running 25
RVP 30
stretching 30

Sunday
day off

pair of blues (hohoho)

Porvoo Roller Derby 1 year!

PRD turns 1 which means I've been enjoying this sport and it's lovely members for 11 months now. I remember going to my first practice just to try out, only out of curiosity. I had no intention starting and ditching my runners career but instead I found myself skating more and more and running less. Oh I don't regret that! I've come quite far - not to talk about our league! After a year we've started scrimmaging and have our first bout ahead of us. I'm crazy about our team members and just can't wait to start the party tonight with them!

Everyone enjoy your derby people!