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.

Things That Go BUMP!

I may not be filled with air, but I kinda look like this dude when I'm skating!

Holy Toledo! As usual, last night we divided our group into 2. Level ones were to go to the banked track, whereas level 2s and 3s stayed on the flat track. As I picked up my water bottle and started heading towards the banked track Kiki (the coach) asked me where I was going. "Uh, banked with the other level one girls" ??? Duh, right?

"No MarrBulls, you're a level 2 now!" ??? "No I'm not, I'm still a one!" ??? "No! You're a 2" ??? "Since when?" ??? "Just stay here on the flat track, you're a level 2."

And that's how I found out I was once again to be thrown outside my comfort zone. But you know what they say: "To be a top skater, you need to skate among top skaters." that and "Pass the butter" but the second saying is irrelevant. Here that is. It's so relevant when you're eating BBQ corn on the cob.

Mmmmm... barbecue... corn... on... the... cob...

WHAT A NIGHT! We skated in a pace line, pretty close to the inside line and each had to make our way up the pace line as the other skaters tried to bump us outta zone. It was SO hard! We each got to do it twice. My second time around, thanks to my nano speed and cat-like reflexes I managed to avoid some of the hard hitters, and I even slammed before getting slammed so I could avert the hits.

This is where I take a little pause to apologize to those I may have hit with illegal body parts (i.e. elbows and possibly hands or even fists - oopsssie!). Yeah. I'm a flailer. My arms are still acting on their own will and I may or may not look like Phoebe from Friends when she went for a run in Grand Central Park with Rachel.

Oh yeah, and on my 2nd time around I pushed myself so hard I actually thought I was going to throw up. Honest to god I did. That was a first for me. And at the end of the night I was thrilled by my results. OK, so I'm not about to be seen in an actual bout but I totally dabbled with that comfort zone and moved beyond its limits.

Stoked is the key word here.

See you at the track!

It's All In Your Head!

Last night we focused on a specific skill: turn around toe stops. This video demonstrates exactly what I'm talking about, minus the mach 5 speed caused by cliff diving off the banked track.

Sounds easy?

We started at the upper point of the banked track, rolled straight down, dropped off the 2.5" ledge then had 10' to stop. On my first attempt I tried my most successful stop: T-stop. I was thrilled I didn't slam down on my butt with the cliff dive when I dropped off the track, but my stop only got me a little past the 10' line.

Not good enough. As I stoically skate back up the track at the end of the line I can't stop from shaking. I was frightened! And I had to do it again. And again. And again. Etc.

Noticing only 2-3 girls mastered the toe stop within the 10' limit, the coaches lowered their expectations. We skated to the other end of the track, lined up at the top, but this time we rolled down to the side of the track rather than directly down the steepest line. With this new approach our success rate now hit over 10 girls.

I cheated. Before dropping off the ledge I'd slow myself with a mild T-stop. And I got yelled at... Why am I so scared? These coaches see everything. Everything... Do you think they made it there by letting sly details slip by? No way!

Why did I cheat? I've got some un-rational fear of pain. Totally not rational. I'm not afraid of dying, I'm afraid of NOT dying after going through extreme pain. True story, word yo. So, now I need to work on my head to rid it of stupid fears so I can do a quick turn around then apply pressure on my toes.

p.s. Ever since I started stuffing my shorts with homemade butt pads, I haven't slammed down on my butt once, coincidence? I'm ready to make it a science project and see how long I go with the pads as some kind of placebo effect... Worth a try.