Ankle Whoas

Yesterday I attempted dry land all on my own. I had to skip the tuck jumps and the left lunges and the burpees. All great stuff for my legs. My ankle is still...not functioning. I can feel the arm workout today though, so it was worth it if even just for that. I also recently tried skating outside on the driveway and quickly felt so much pain I had to stop after two trips down and back. This is just...defeating. There is only a month or so left of DT's and I have this lingering injury. Sunday will be 5 weeks. 5 weeks of longingly looking at my skates. Everyone told me that ankle sprains/strains (I'm not really SURE what I did since I didn't go to the doctor) are along rehab. Right now I ask myself if I should try skating at practice Sunday...we will be back with Tiki (I assume) and it could be...HARD. Since she missed the last one we had and then we had Easter off. *shrug*

I skipped a week...but I'm baaaaack.

Total time off skates during ankle injury= 3 weeks. Not bad right? I absolutely babied my ankle and every day it got a bit better. I had to attend one skating practice in my tennis shoes and it nearly tore me part. We did tons of hitting and jumping and I really feel I am set behind because I missed it. One thing that I learned just from listening is a hing for timing hits. I need to remember or piciture myself taking her place. Not just hitting the front of her or whatever....if I picture myself taking her place, then I'm not going to miss. I hope this helps once I get back into the swing of hitting. The upside is that WS and Betty were absolutely encouraging (not a surprise, seriously) in my decisions to not skate until I felt my ankle was 100% better. At that point I couldn't even walk pain free..although I wasn't limping. This week, although I'm still experiencing pain, I strapped my skates on and started with some light skating. My girls were all so encouraging and happy to see me back on skates. More than one teammate is dealing with overcoming an ankle injury as well, so it's nice(?) to have people who relate to what I'm going through. We were in the Xcel concourse this week so we did the usual station work. This was nice, because it was lower impact than a normal Tiki practice. It was a really good first practice for me (post injury). We started with 10 laps around the concourse. Ideally WS wanted alternating 100% with 80%. I started slow- turtle slow, and kept increasing my speed on each lap. The happy shouts I got from my teammates were great. To my surprise my ankle started feeling better as I skated and picked up speed, and not worse. My teammate Bus suggested that my ankle is probably at the "heat" stage of healing...meaning warming it up really helps. I made it to 5 laps when all were done with 10. Not bad since I had started out so slow. I caught the end of stretching before we were told to line up in from most comfortable to least comfortable. This was interesting. I'm one of about 20 scrimmage ready girls (there are about 80 debs total) and I wandered over to the "least comfortable" end of the line. I knew I needed to start slow and build up my ankle strength again and I figured working on basics with the new girls was where I belonged. Low and behold there were two of my fellow ankle rehab girls down there. It was quite funny. We started with fast feet stuff. I did most of it modified and VERY controlled lest I tweak my ankle again. We then moved on to stopping. I was able to do most of this and actually did a lot more than I thought I'd be able to do at this point in my healing. I even did some turn around toe stop stops....very carefully at first. I did some snow plows...which i am thankful for. I was doing a fast hard snow plow when I hurt myself, so it was good to get "back on the horse" as they say. After that was sticky skating and a lot of pace line work. All good basic stuff all around. I iced my ankle good and took some Ibuprofen after. During the drive home I was constantly wondering if I pushed it too far and if I'd be in pain the next day. I'm here to say as of 10:34pm Monday night my ankle is no worse for the the wear. If anything the skating helped it. Bus gave me some more stretches to do over the next week or two (we have no practice Easter Sunday) and boy, I can't wait until I'm totally pain free. Practice was a win. Practice is always a win. Life is good.

I have an injury. :(

This week was skate practice. YIPEE! I live for these and always have fun. Warm ups always suck. Always. But I always tell myself that if I get through those then the fun starts. Today was a hit heavy practice. We played queen of the rink with Vue (VueDoo Prodigy of MNRG) and Tiki. Lydia (Lydia Punch of MNRG) and a few other vets soon joined in. I'm quite sure the vets aren't hitting us as hard as they can YET, but it was fun to see some fellow Debs (Amelie and Lush) lay down some hits that took out a vet or two! Debu-Taunts were invited to do Queen of the Rink for the preshow on MNRG's April 2nd bout. WHAT an honor! I guess it's linked up to some kind of meat raffle and it should prove to be entertaining! Only those who were scrimmage ready were allowed to sign up. Yeah for hard work paying off! I signed up for an extra practice- i.e. clinic- after our 2 hour hard practice. I knew that skills would be broke down and I knew that I had a few that I was hoping to get some good feedback on. One is snow plows and the other was left knee taps. We spend time initially (after warm ups on and off skates) on cross overs and stride. Kimbers (Shiver Me Kimbers of MNRG) worked with my group of 3-4 and I think I finally realized that I "get" cross overs, and need to stop being so wussy about them. She said my from is good, I'm digging in with both legs. Now I just need to make myself DO THEM. We did cross overs skating the wrong direction. I can do them but, man, are they U.G.L.Y. Next station my group went to was Wet Spot and we worked on stopping. I.E. Snow plows! Something he said clicked with me. And I think it's because Tiki kinda yelled at us today saying we all need to work on them cuz it shouldn't take us 5 feet to stop. She's right. But it's just so darn hard!. Anyway..I finally got the where to push from (wheelwise) so I was really pushing myself...sprinting and then cranking out a stop. BAM..I roll an ankle. It was like pain I've not felt in my adult life. I had to get all first respondered up and everything. Ump was on duty and fixed me up good. I AM SO DISAPPOINTED THAT I WILL PROBABLY NOT BE ABLE TO DO THE PRESHOW!!!! Stupid Ankle. Stupid me for pushing it. As of now I'm laying low. Trying not to walk on it and trying to baby it. I don't want to miss practice on Sunday too. :(

03/20/11- Sunday- Never stop moving your feet.

One more dryland under my belt. This week, again, we had Ump as a guest speaker to try and finish the rule talk. The rules are over 40 pages long and we all have questions so it's a slow go. Top that with girls who don't read the rules (as requested) before practice asking questions. Or top that with girls who weren't at the last practice asking questions that were covered in the last practice. Frustrating for Flik. We met in the meeting rooms again for dryland. I think we do this when the Roy is booked with other stuff...as in the roller girls get the boot and we make it work. Actually, dry land is REALLY good for us. If we don't work on core strength and ankle strength (gathered from lots of jumping) we are going to get hurt, and aren't going to be able to improve as a skater. I am amazed at how many girls skip the dry lands. (I know some have occasional conflicts but there are defiantly girls who frequently miss drylands...and they, coincidentally? are the same girls who complain that they "just aren't getting any better") Our warm up this week was killer! Tiki took us out and down the stairs to the main concourse at the River Center, she then took us across to another (double) flight of stairs and told us to SPRINT up the stairs, jog to the the flight we had just come down, WALK down that flight and jog again to the bottom of the this flight...SPRINT up, jog over, walk down, jog over, SPRINT up and repeat...until we hear the beloved four short whistle tweets indicating the end of action (or the end of a jam during a bout). I did better than some, and worse than others...but you know what? I didn't quit. I never stopped. By the third sprint up the stairs my sprint was more of a moving-my-feet-as-fast-as-i-can-while-feeling-the-burn-and-wanting-to-quit kind of pace. But I did it. I saw many girls start walking, especially on the lower floor where no one was watching (Tiki was at the top of the steps loudly reminding us to move our feet...faster) but I didn't let myself do it. I received encouragement a few practices ago about how to work on my endurance. (One of my major downfalls). I was told that when I get that feeling that I need to quit, or when I get that thought that I can't do it I HAVE TO PUSH THROUGH IT. Each time I do this I'm going further, faster, etc. Then...some day I'm gonna look and me like...wow...I did and I didn't die. The point is...if I make myself go that extra 30 seconds, or that extra two minutes even though I'm exhausted, eventually my body will find that as a normal pace/distance. And..of course there will always be a little faster or a little further that I can push myself for. It's a never ending cycle, which is why I just need to get over it.
We were then allowed to recoup while listening to the rest of Ump's rules talk. After that we did a few sprinting relays and also side shuffle relays. These were done in pairs to help us really concentrate on form and pace, and also to have someone there critiquing us as needed. Thank you Rolly for being a great partner! After that was wall squats. UGH! I am seriously getting stronger at these though and I'm happy for that. Kind of fun to feel how defined my thighs are getting. Now to work on those dreaded inner thighs! Ha. Then was sprawl jumps (or burpees). These are my nemesis. I can't keep up with the pace of the group...we were to do 20 and I maybe got in 15. But, again, I didn't stop and they seem to be getting easier (please let that be!). Then was line jumping. These are definitely getting easier, although one foot jumps still burn way before they should. We then cooled down with some core. We all sat in a circle and did circle core. Each girl, one at a time, chooses a core exercise and then we all do 15 reps. I like it, it's kind of bonding like. So..it wasn't even 2 hours of working out, but it sure felt like it.
In other news- tryouts are right around the corner and, man, is there ever a lot of talk about it. I won't be trying out this year. Due to circumstances in my own life, I just do not have the time to commit to practices multi times a week, or time to commit to committees and volunteering. I sure wish I did. Although, I'm pretty sure my skills aren't quite ready for MNRG...yet. I'm not really sure for NSRG, but I guess it doesn't really matter. I love the Debu-Taunts and am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO thankful for it.

03/13/11- Dryland

So this week's practice ended up being off skates or- Dryland as we call it. We did an hour of kick boxing lead by MNRG's own Gogo Galore. It rocked my socks off. I was dripping with sweat and had fun the whole time. It went fast too=BONUS. Second half was rule talk with head referee Umpire Strikes Back. Let me tell you it was full of laughs, mostly because of Tiki (one of my coaches- Tiki Torture also of MNRG) and Ump's interactions. So...I think next week is dry land too and THEN I get to make good on my goal that I posted last week.

03/05/11- Sunday Practice

I sort of think it's a good idea to post after each practice so I can log my achievements as well as my failures. I was moved to scrimmage ready after the first practice of session two. Since then we have only been able to scrimmage twice and let me tell you I feel SO LOST in the pack. I feel like when I look one way is when I'm hit from the other. Or I feel like when I look to help my jammer is when the other comes through. I'm assured by all of the coaches that this is NORMAL. In fact, they tell me that I will feel lost for a good year. Really? really? Skills worked on today: Sprinting- proper form, stepping, etc. Pushes- FUN!. Scrimmaging and Queen of the Rink. I actually feel semi in control of myself when it comes to Queen of the Rink. This is a game where we are all on the track (all the scrimmage ready people..not the entire Debu-Taunt roster..) and we partner up and then it's every team for it's self. If you fall, or get pushed out you are down and need to wait until your partner skates around and tags you to come back in. If she is down before she gets to you then your team is out. Last team standing wins. I love this! Today I really felt in control of my body and was timing hits and receiving hits well. Scrimmaging...well...scrimmaging is another story...I feel like a failure. I took out my own Jammer not once, but twice. There is just SO much to watch for! As soon as you open a window for your jammer is when the other jammer slides through. As soon as you get past one girl, another flies by you. My goal for next week: I will stop the white Jammer ONCE. Legally. :D

Flik

Who is Flik? The first thing any roller girl hopeful thinks about is a derby name. I'm here to tell you first hand that it was way more complicated than one would think. Not only is it a name that will follow one through her entire derby career, but also, needs to be completely unique from ANY OTHER registered name. There are way around it...such as writing for permission to use the same or similar name...but who wants to do that? I tried on a lot of names before settling. I even made a name official, before scrapping it and going with something entirely different. Much thanks to Ferret Wrench for putting up with the endless "what about this name" and "what do you think about that name?" conversations. Once a name is settled on, then that is who one becomes. I'm that girl who is going to say the wrong thing sometimes. I'm that girl who likes things how they are supposed to be. That girl with the short line of patience. Who am I? I am Aries A. Fliktion- a girl who is seriously afflicted with being an Aries. And- that's ok with me.