Derbalife: My Success Story

I never thought I'd do a before & after picture thingy!

I know I will be accused of tricking this image. Myself I look at it and think it totally looks like I pushed my belly out on the left and sucked it in on the right. And I wouldn't blame anybody for thinking it.

But where would that take me? I pushed myself so much during this challenge... My goal was not weight loss. It was simply to increase my strength. I'm 45. Getting older by the second. I woke up one day a little over a month before my birthday and for the first time in my life: I felt old. I couldn't bare to look at myself in the mirror. I was in a transition from working 80 hours per week, living on the road, touring with a racecar team, signing autographs simply because I was the only female "wrench" at my level of competition to ... nothing. Unemployed, suddenly moved to San Diego, and living on a boat. The word transition does not do justice to all the changes I was going through so of course that evil old MIDLIFE crisis was bitch slapping me on a regular basis.

I needed to do something, and fast. So I did what any crazy 45 year old French Canadian would do and joined roller derby. Assuming 3 derby practices per week would be enough to whip me back into shape I quickly realized I needed more. I was no longer a 20-yr old bouncing back without effort.

Then Angela Bergman (cue angelic sounds and bright lights) asked all her Facebook friends to support her and vote for her. She had just completed the Derbalife Challenge. Her results were absolutely stunning! She inspired me to do more...

Like I said, weight loss was not my goal, as you can see from the pictures above... But what have I accomplished? I started this challenge on September 19 and it has just ended. Six consecutive weeks of:

• daily tracking my calories;
• reducing certain "toxins" like coffee - now down to 2 cups per week rather than one a day and an average of one or two cocktails per night max rather than... (the past is the past right?);
• daily routine of crunches, squats and lunges;
• with the help of a heart monitor I started tracking my calorie losses, and in doing so I turned everyday task into a work out from doing the laundry to taking the trash out - I strapped on the monitor and performed my chore with an increased speed and being aware of how I did everything trying to make every action count;
• I rode my bike 2 or 3 times a week, etc.

I look back and see 42 consecutive days at maintaining a healthy routine. They say all it takes to create a new habit is to perform it for 21 days... Well, I've doubled that time during this challenge so my Derbalife Routine is now MY routine.

I feel so much more confident and happy about myself. My track speed may have only increased a slight bit, but at least its better! The buddy system and the coaching support is a definite plus. And of course, I recommend the Derbalife Challenge to anybody who seeks any kind of self improvement.

I still have some of that "bag of jell-o" hanging out around my core area, actually 2 inches less than 6 weeks ago so just imagine where I'll be 6 weeks from now! 

Diary of a Derbalifer - Part 2

www.3dsbuzz.com

My first week in the Derbalife challenge went off with a BIG start! In terms of working out I did not cut corners:

1. Ran a 5K on day 1 with all those other things I mentioned in Part 1;
2. Went to Derby practice twice (or was it thrice, not sure);
3. 2 bike rides with a minimum of 5 miles each times and pushing it hard;
4. Worked all day at our home bout so that kept me on my toes and running from 2:30 to 10:30 pm (ok so it was followed by a couple of beers);
5. Participated in the 1-mile sprint on skates for the Girl Scouts;
6. Went sailing so we could try out the spinnaker sail and had my heart rate up in the gazillion beats per minute (yes, it was a killer!)
7. Did the week 1 workouts daily (the balancing thing, the one leg stand-ups, the ice skates...)

And what's going on THIS week?

I started a cold. I've been a sick puppy. I went to derby practice but once! OK, kudos for staying beyond bootcamp and hitting the track with the league girls, and I did go sailing twice and swam with the luminescent fishies one night - but still. I'm a bit disappointed in myself.

I know, I know - I'm under the weather and this cold is seriously kicking my ass! But, I have been without energy. Today is the first day that I started feeling less like a zombie and more like a real'ish person. Kinda.

I have 2 days left to honor my promise to myself for this week.

p.s. As I'm writing this post I have the oven toasting up my new snack - Pita Chips. I'm a big snacker. So may as well make it on the healthy side with some homemade pita chips. Yumalicious! 

A Separation? What?

www.tsto.org

After reading other derby blogs that talk about league separations, I felt secure and happy with my league. Never for a second have I doubted that maybe my new derby parents were talking about a looming divorce.

Recently I've answered 2 surveys from the league. One focused on league communication, and the other focused on the league's future and where we feel it should go. Among these directions, we answered questions about our preferences between banked or flat tracks.

The word "flat" in French translates to "plate" (pronounced just like flat, but with a p instead of a f). And, this word, "plate" is French-Canadian slang for boring.

Banked track derby is a thrill. It's faster. It's got angles and challenges a flat track just can't offer. BUT, am I too much of a rookie to express an opinion? What the hell do I know about derby? I mean really, up until February 18 when I joined the San Diego Derby Dolls what did I know about derby? Other than seeing parts of Whip It, and little segments inserted in movies from the 70s I knew jack-squat about the sport.

And now they've just announced two of our top notch athletes are starting a flat track league. *Sigh* Evidently when you want to go pro, as a league, you cannot do it with both professional associations, or something like that. Like I said, I'm a rookie. But, this also means that our "girls" who prefer flat tracks will follow.

Sigh.

And when they do that, we'll lose them to the new league... A new adventure begins with the San Diego roller derby community.

When my parents got divorced, I chose my dad and followed him. I'm choosing the excitement of the banked track, but beyond the track: I'm choosing the San Diego Derby Dolls. This is an organization I trust and know beyond words I would (blindly) follow anywhere...

Skills VS Endurance

www.tucsonrollerderby.com

The balance between working on skills and focusing on strength or endurance building is ... not easy to establish.

In the recent weeks, practices appeared to focus primarily on endurance building. I've been leaving the Dollhouse a tired, exhausted sweaty mess. But under this layer of icky salty smear was the glow of a satisfied skater. I felt energized from that mighty morphine of endorphin running through my blood. Nothing can replace a heavy workout!

I mean, really... who the hell needs drugs when you can skate your ass off until you drop. Or puke. Or whichever comes first... right? Am I right or am I right?

I'm right. But with this intensified focus on making us stronger skaters, we may have been neglecting our skill reviews.

skill
   [skil]
–noun

1. the ability, coming from one's knowledge, practice, aptitude,etc., to do something well: She could jump like a show horse and never stopped smiling 
2. competent excellence in performance; expertness; dexterity: The skaters performed with skill.
3. the review of skills requiring endless hours of standing in line waiting your turn to execute and determine your capacity to: stop, turn, jump, bump, balance on one foot, and other fun crafty stuff like that!

Can we do both? Endurance AND skills? Surely there is a way. Our coaches are focused on watching us work, and correcting us as we go. With new girls coming in every month, and constant drop-outs – remembering all our names is a skill (pun intended) not given to everybody.

Should there be a practice secretary on hand? Somebody shadowing the coaches each night to check off acquired skills? "Check her off on slamming!" to which the duty'ious little secretary quickly figures out the name and places a correct check mark as the practice focuses on improving our endurance and pack skating capabilities.

Food for thought.