Week 16 review & planning for week 17

Shortly my workouts last week:

Monday
Yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD off skate workout 45
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Jog 45
Gym 25
Core exercise 30

Friday
Stretching 30
day off

Saturday
Something I feel like doing (I should have more of these)
Run 50
Stretching 30

Sunday
PRD Open Skate
Scrimmage 45

And this week (17) I'll:

Monday
Run 30
Roller skating 1 hour 10
Yoga 60

Tuesday
Day off

Wednesday
Day off

Thursday
PRD practice 2 hours

Friday
Yoga 30
Stretching 30

Saturday
Saturday Fight Fever - Porvoo Roller Derby P-town Brawlers (!!!!!!!!)

Sunday
Don't really know!

This week is such an exciting week! More about that after the First of May!

Week 16 - Open skate on Sunday!

Where are you skaters of Porvoo??? Come join our team! I'd love to see you skate! We all would!

I'm bringing my twin brother (who used to play hockey) and my sister (who is really interested - buy her a pair of skates size 5!). Last but not least also her husband and son! I want to hear all that little guy has to say about roller derby, he has such a great imagination. If derby gets them hooked I only need my mom to NSO, my dad to control the audio for us and then it's pretty much the whole family.

Monday
Yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD off skate workout 45
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Jog 45
Gym 25
Core exercise 30

Friday
Stretching 30

Saturday
Something I feel like doing (I should have more of these)

Sunday
PRD Open Skate
Scrimmage 45

New hoodie!

Week 15 review

So I deleted the last post where I went deeper into Camp Niksi-Pirkkala. Typical. Thought it was a draft. Yeah. All in all, one hell of a boot camp, some sore muscles, hours of skating, awesome off skate, best people, eating, sleeping on school floor, scrimmaging, being tired and happy. Not annoyed at all about deleting the post... not at all... Not my week!

But I did pass the theory test part of driving test yesterday, yes!

And once again my week 15:


Monday
Yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD off skate 45
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
Jog 45

Thursday
Gym 45
Gym 20
RVP 30
Stretching 30

Friday
Massage 60

Saturday
Camp Niksi-Pirkkala
12-20

Sunday
Camp Niksi-Pirkkala
10-18

Scrimmage teams! Photo by Tampere Rollin' Hos

Week 15 - need to show off

You know people who post their 10 kilometer jog or their visit at the gym on facebook every time? Or people like me who run a blog concentrating mainly on their workouts and practices to achieve something? It might be half a show off as well as an actual tool for you to keep track. I could have chosen to keep a diary just for myself but why didn't I? It's because of  PRESSURE.

By making it somewhat public you create pressure for yourself and that way are more likely to keep your promises. It works for me. I plan or try to plan my workout for every week and I've noticed I keep to my plans better when I've published them and kind of promised it to myself and others. This spring has been a hassle and I'm still just hanging on to what's felt a good plan earlier but as we come closer to summer I will have more relaxed time of year again. I'll make adjustments and explore what could be new and improving for me.

Week 15 planned:

Monday
Yoga 60

Tuesday
PRD off skate 45
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
Jog 45

Thursday
Gym 45
Stretching 30

Friday
Massage 60

Saturday
Camp Niksi-Pirkkala
12-20

Sunday
Camp Niksi-Pirkkala
10-18

© Marko Niemelä

Week 14 review - achieving a goal: a motivation rush!

I have now experienced one of my long term goals to come true! It's been proved that you can achieve the title of Best Jammer after practicing roller derby really hard for a year. It's even more meaningful because it was after 8 scrimmages (of which 2 was played as a PRD team) and this 9th game was an actual BOUT! I was so happy I couldn't even realize it was true! Now I want to cry again!

If you're just starting up, you've never skated in you're life and know nothing of roller derby: you are yet to know what all you can suddenly achieve if you work hard, participate, concentrate, try harder, fall and get up, get lost and get found in the arms of your teammates. Don't be afraid to dream and aim real high!

I got some huge amount of self confidence from it and from all the words said to me after the bout. So much strength, thankfulness and it felt like a reward. Well it was a reward :D! I've worked my ass off and gone through pain in my buttocks, feet, right big toe, backache. The mental struggle was the hardest part which I couldn't have gone through without all the cheering I got from our coaches, my teammates, my loved ones and the book I read. I've worked out so that my feet have grown 0,5 size bigger and all my shoes from last summer are now too small for my feet. My underwear does not cover my buttocks anymore and finally there's no empty room in the back of my trousers. Yeah go fill those pair of jeans! I've also gotten a pair of nicely curved legs compared to my old overall round legs. Found out I have upper abs. I have balance which I've never had, I've been the type to fall from high, can't stand with one foot, no chance getting on a skateboard and stay up. Well I haven't fallen ONCE the whole winter. I can go longboarding (I WANT TO). Also I've never been this flexible. I can yoga. I can stretch my head to my knees. Things I have not been able to do before.

How does that make me feel? Like a winner! And how does winning myself make me feel? Like working harder! It pays off.

Week 14 went like this:

Monday
bodypump 60

Tuesday
PRD off skate 1 hour 30
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Stretching 30

Friday
It's a bout time! Lihamukiloijat vs. P-Town Brawlers

Saturday
Day off

Sunday
PRD practice 2 hours

Best Blocker, Most Valuable Player, Best Jammer, c Marko Niemelä 

Thanks Marko Niemelä for the awesome pictures you took! They will take me to the exciting moments over and over again...!

It's a bout time!

I am prepared! And it feels good.
PRD is prepared! That feels even better.

I've got a couple of things in mind for the bout today! Those are

- remembering my theme for peacefulness and breathing

- trying a bit harder than I feel I can

- smaller call offs for efficiency

- concentration

- communication

When I come to the pack of opposing blockers I can see a meadow with a couple of cats jumping around in front of the pack. I desperately want to join that meadow.

I'm prepared with this image in mind

Week 13 review - body & mind

Last week has been all about building confidence. I've only read the two first sections of the book Mind Gym but the preparation started before I even opened the book. I liked to hear from Tigre Force that helping your jammer as a blocker also builds the jammers confidence by making the pass easier. It helped me realize I feel disappointed in myself if I don't make points. Setting different goals will help with that, it's not always about getting the points but eg.
- getting the lead (don't mind if the other jammer is right behind you)
- if you don't get a lead, you'd be able to catch the other jammer as fast as possible
- Calling the jam off at the right time, communicating with your bench

Or even lower goals (on which I've been concentrating on the last 3 scrimmages)
- staying low = staying upright and on the track
- taking hits = leaning towards the hit, or absorbing momentum from the hit
- not turning your back for the opposite blockers for a back block

If you've got some killer jammer goals for a starting jammer, please comment! The more experience I get and the more I improve the higher goals I can set in the future. Of course there's always the dream goal to keep me going, but goals per jam or a bout (BOUT MENTIONED, more about that later).

The strategy off skate was also otherwise really good. Tigre is such a wonderful person! For the first 5 minutes it was really hard not to giggle all the time from excitement. I'm such a child sometimes! She was great and it was nice to ask questions and talk about strategies and hear her advice. I think we're starting to be at the point where we can actually create our own strategies and game plans. Which is so neat! We just need to take the step and do it as a team. Of course we have basic strategies, but soon for more advanced ones. Can't wait, I love the strategic part of the game too!

Here's what I did last week:

Monday
Run 35
Mixed workout:
squats, chest press, abs, back
yoga and stretching 30

Tuesday
A guest coach! Tigre Force from HRD:
PRD strategy off skate 1 hour 30
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Bodybalance 60
Run 35
Upper body gym 20
Core exercise 30

Friday
day off

Saturday
Scrimmage in Turku (YES! How lovely to go see those wonderful people again!)

Sunday
PRD practice 2 hours

AND here's the highlight of this week!!!!!!!!!

Week 13 - hello you!

I had a wonderful Easter holiday! Friends, chill out, sleeping, running, baking, cooking, workouts and... PLAYING! The whole four free days were exactly what I needed. We played together with Kotka Roller Derby (Eagle City Derby Roses) against Kallio Rolling Rainbow team C. They totally kicked our asses with some 100 points but it was educating and fun anyways! Time just flew by! We had a practice with KRR too before the game and it was just the perfect warm-up for the game.

I've noticed a little something in my own playing mood lately. The better our opponents are keeping me behind their wall while I'm jamming the worse I feel about myself. To be honest I feel like shit. Like a worthless jammer making no points at all. That's a dangerous feeling that can only bring you down more. Our coahing ref posted a blog post to our information group that helped me a lot and I printed it right away. Click here to read it too! I also ordered the book mentioned in the interview, Mind Gym. It only came in post this week and I haven't had time to start it but today I will.

The heading of the interview mentions mental toughness. Handling your feelings and mind might be familiar to people who have competed earlier, maybe played some sports with serious goals. As I've stated in here before I've got no experience in team sports and now I need to state I also lack experience in competing. Now that our team is actually able to play and compete it's a new aspect we need to handle. Suddenly I feel the pressure and don't know how to handle it. I like challenges, love to improve my skills and don't mind losing, but I wan't to have feeling of success. So I'll be digging into the book and will get some more tips how to manage my feelings.

Week 13 planned:

Monday
Run 35
Mixed workout:
squats, chest press, abs, back
yoga and stretching 30

Tuesday
PRD strategy off skate 1 hour 30
PRD practice 60

Wednesday
PRD practice 2 hours

Thursday
Bodybalance 60

Friday
day off

Saturday
Scrimmage in Turku (YES! How lovely to go see those wonderful people again!)

Sunday
PRD practice 2 hours


What have I been eating lately:

Favourite of them all!