Vacation

Gorgeous weather this week! Yay vacation! And yay, ankle almost healed. Went for a 5 mile walk along the river with my husband and dogs. Came home and just couldn't resist going outside for a bit of hooping. I've been working hard on twins. And put together a little bit of choreo with the single hoop. Yay hooping! (Yes, I've had a couple beers. Yay!)

This might look familiar. It's all moves and sequences I've been practicing.

Sprain

Merry Christmas! What did Santa bring me? A sprained ankle. On Saturday, I went with friends to a river trail, and I must've been talking, not paying attention, got too close to the edge of the paved trail, which is quite a step down into a steep hill of bush. I rolled my ankle out and fell on my bum. Online self-diagnosis, it's just a grade 1 sprain. It was goose-egg swollen for about a day, now it's just generally puffy in my ankle area. But tight, which makes walking difficult without a limp. I've been icing and taking ibuprofen and wrapping it and trying to elevate as much as I can. And staying off it. I'm pretty miserable. No skating, no hooping (the weather was gorgeous yesterday, and it went to waste), and not even my incline walks on the treadmill to burn some calories. Until it heals. I guess this week, I'll need to watch what I eat a bit closer than planned. Boo.

Active Hobbies

No new hooping videos to share. But I have been hooping. I've been out there, dancing, not worrying about, am I any good, is this video worthy. It's been gorgeous weather this week, couldn't let it go to waste. Twins are coming along. Flow is coming along. Most importantly, my dance is coming along. It's not just about the tricks. It's about the movement. Just checking in here today to say how grateful I am to have found hooping. And derby. They couldn't be more different, training for one doesn't help the other at all. But it's fun, hella fun for me. Finally. Active hobbies I enjoy doing.

If you've ever been tempted to try hooping, do it. Get yourself a hoop. Check out Deanne Love's online tutorials. And go for it!

Twas the Fight Before Christmas

Well, I finally got to skate this. I went as a spectator four years ago. And have wanted to do it since. This was my chance. It was fun. I was nervous. I played well the first half, maybe not so well the second half. I'm hoping the photographer there will post some nice photos. Meantime, husband got these shots and video. It was his first time ever seeing me skate.

My first jam. I got goated. Guess I'll be practicing as jammer more often, to get better at getting through. But one of them got a multi player block while goating me. I legit said, BYE, as she skated off. Trash talk much?

One of the jams, I was pivot. And I got sent to the penalty box. I've never experienced this. Our practice scrimmages, we don't have a full bout production with refs and NSOs, so our penalty box is a carpet lap. And at my first bout, I didn't get sent to the box.

And to continue, the jam started with me in the box. I got some good hits to the jammer without going out of bounds. Even when the other team did a panty switch. That #69 is some amazing jammer. Is she B team material? HAHA not even close. But my guess is we didn't have a full roster of true B team skaters. Also, I get low blocked in this. The refs don't see it. And that voice you can hear hollering, "LOW BLOCK" from the fans? That's my lovely teammate. She skated on A team.

And then there was this little gem against us. Impressive. Definitely some A level badasses showing off. Hell, I would too.

Action shots! I'm the one wearing the gold helmet.

Rookie of the Year

Last night was our Team Christmas Party. Awards were given out. As they were being read, I began to lose hope I would get one. I tried to console myself. It's OK. I'm new. Most people don't know me well. Sure, I never miss practice (side-eyeing husband's birthday as the only missed practice). But it's OK. Breathe.

Then I heard Rookie of the Year. Ramblin' Roxy. Wait, that's my name! I was floored. Overwhelmed. I went from one extreme to another, disappointment to elation. And my emotions couldn't handle it. I kept it together until the end but then had to go find a back room full of coats to have a good cry in. I was verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves.

And yes, there's a misspelled word. I find it hilarious. There are all sorts of memories that'll be wrapped up in that one misspelled word. And each time I look at it, I'll be reminded of that night.

still got it

Fresh meat practice last night. Meant to work on assessments skills. I'm glad I went. I could always use a refresher, since I'll have to re-assess in January. And that holiday bout is on Saturday. I needed the confidence boost.

Last time I attempted 27 laps in 5mins was July. That was toward the beginning of practice, after the warmup. And there were three of us on the track. I didn't have to pass anybody really.

Last night, after two hours of practice, coach decides we're going to try 27 in 5. Oy. I feel a panic bubbling inside. I didn't want to do it. In fact, the only other veteran skater there that night decided she didn't want to. She timed my laps instead.

I got 4:54. Woot! At first, I was like, darn I'm slower even with my new skates. Then I looked at the clock and realized we'd already been practicing for two hours. Not too shabby! Still got it.

I'm going to need to tap into some confidence from the last scrimmage a few weeks ago and last night, for Saturday. I'm hella nervous.

p.s. According to my attendance tracker (yes, I keep track of these things), last night was my 40th official practice with the league. I'm not counting cancelled practices or bouts or events. Actual practices.

Parade

I finally got to skate in a parade! I have wanted to do this for years, back when I first started derby. But with that league, you had to have passed assessments in order to skate. The league I'm with now probably would have let me had I not officially passed. But I've passed, so...

It was tough. Well, the toughest bit was getting down the parking lot of the church onto the street, since it was so steep. Once on the street, I was fine. Except my wheels are super soft, like 62s. Each stroke was very sticky and really worked my glutes and thighs. A harder wheel probably would have been easier.

Twins are FUN

I love this twin hoop challenge I joined. Deanne Love is an amazing teacher. I've been working on learning her sequences and have got this so far. I feel compelled to preface the video with, it's clunky and needs work. Not sure why. But I do. And it was quickie practice, didn't bring any music outside with me. Also, it was friggin COLD outside. My hands got all red and chapped. Next time, gonna try moving the cars out of the garage and see if I can hoop in there. At least no tossing but perhaps could be a good hoop space for me. At home. Which is why I like hooping. It's a hobby I don't have to leave my house to train for.

Twins & Flow

Yes ma'am, I  did my hooping today. Over an hour. It was freezing, but I was sweating in no time.

Twin hoop challenge, day one sequence. This was the first run through where I didn't drop one of the hoops. It's so simple yet so hard. Bit like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. It needs more practice, but I was pleased.

Then I got a bit of flow on video. Flow is hard. I struggle to remember what I can do between moves. I guess just practice practice practice.

And a bit of mini flow

And some isolations

What the hell, here's one more

Feeling Positive

Two weeks! That's how long it's been since I skated. With Thanksgiving and our team "break," I have missed being on wheels. We finally had a practice last night, geared more toward our fresh meat, but the vets got some hitting time off to the side last night. I sort of had a breakthrough with a pretty big mental obstacle I've been having. And it all comes back to staying low. So cliché, I know. If there's a super strong skater, scaring me, about to hit me, if I can just stay low, she's almost not as effective. Sure, I might fall, but it's way less scary. It took a comment from a ref about my height to really get it to sink in. He can relate, he's tall too, a couple inches taller than I. He tends to just bend over when he's blocking people shorter. But that's still upright. And "blocker candy" as someone put it. I tried a few rounds as jammer, really concentrating on staying low as I got close to this blocker. She was really trying, but I wasn't falling. More importantly, I wasn't scared.

So, yay for mental breakthroughs!

After practice, some people wanted to get a bite to eat. I was feeling good, feeling happy about my derby potential, so I went along. It was a nice time. I got home far too late. Ate and drank totally off diet plan. But it was worth it.

This holiday scrimmage I signed up for is coming in a couple weeks. Then our team's invitational in January. Plus I signed up for a hooping challenge, a couple of them. I'm a bit behind on one, and another is just starting. I need to get my hoop on!