the pain, when will it ever end
Life as a roller girl is full of reality checks and revelations. Those moments of clarity and sudden realizations can be summed up as follows: I’m not as strong as I think I am; I’m not as stupid as I think I am.
I have three, two hour practices scheduled every week. One is designated just for us new girls. Practices begin with a warm up and stretching. We move into a cardio circuit and after that we either run drills or scrimmage. Drills usually were focused on certain skills- skating skills or skills specific to the game. Now, after a visit from Coach Pauly two weeks ago, our drills are focused on strategy and what might as well be called “plays.”
Having Coach Pauly at our disposal for a week was an invaluable experience. And as expected I learned a lot about myself. Some of those things I didn’t quite want to find out. Like how all those years of on again/off again ballet lessons prove completely useless when I have my skates on. We did basic exercises without skates on that involve some balance and I was hardly the solid tree with firm roots. No worries, I told myself. Suck in my core, proper alignment and I’ll be fine. Yeah, wrong. I was a wobbly mess. Add skates to the equation? Hot mess.
Good to know I was back at square one with something I thought I had under control.
I also thought I was pretty darned good at picking up my feet during crossovers.
No. I’m not. At all.
And I thought that at this point in the game my thighs could handle lunges and low squats. You already know where I’m going with this.
What was surprising was all the strategy Coach Pauly was on about, I started to get. It was slow at first and I thought I was always going to struggle with this aspect of the game because lord knows I can’t even play chess without major heart palpitations, but I got it. I watch bouts online now and totally see and understand what the teams are trying to do. (Well I should be truthful and admit that I’m actually focusing on one team and dissecting what it is they’re up to. I’m still successful at it though, you here? It counts for something. And it’ll account for a lot when I can apply what I’ve learned and seen to a bout. The next step in all of this.)
Many girls train outside of practice and shore it up with additional exercise and time on their skates. I’ve decided I was going to return to good ol’ pilates to strengthen my core and add plyo to the mix. Plyo is good for lateral work, quick movement on your feet, and your jumping and leaping around on the track. Again, because I’ve been exercising regularly for the past four months I didn’t think much of plyo aside from knowing it’d be a very unique challenge since I’ve never much focused on finding my inner gazelle.
I haven’t found that majestic herbivore within. What I discovered is my beloved calves (I’ve always thought I had amazing, strong calves) are shite. Christ on a cracker they hurt so badly I’m skipping practice tonight because they can’t bear weight. Yeah, you should see me walking.
I ask, the pain, when will it ever end?
I have three, two hour practices scheduled every week. One is designated just for us new girls. Practices begin with a warm up and stretching. We move into a cardio circuit and after that we either run drills or scrimmage. Drills usually were focused on certain skills- skating skills or skills specific to the game. Now, after a visit from Coach Pauly two weeks ago, our drills are focused on strategy and what might as well be called “plays.”
Having Coach Pauly at our disposal for a week was an invaluable experience. And as expected I learned a lot about myself. Some of those things I didn’t quite want to find out. Like how all those years of on again/off again ballet lessons prove completely useless when I have my skates on. We did basic exercises without skates on that involve some balance and I was hardly the solid tree with firm roots. No worries, I told myself. Suck in my core, proper alignment and I’ll be fine. Yeah, wrong. I was a wobbly mess. Add skates to the equation? Hot mess.
Good to know I was back at square one with something I thought I had under control.
I also thought I was pretty darned good at picking up my feet during crossovers.
No. I’m not. At all.
And I thought that at this point in the game my thighs could handle lunges and low squats. You already know where I’m going with this.
What was surprising was all the strategy Coach Pauly was on about, I started to get. It was slow at first and I thought I was always going to struggle with this aspect of the game because lord knows I can’t even play chess without major heart palpitations, but I got it. I watch bouts online now and totally see and understand what the teams are trying to do. (Well I should be truthful and admit that I’m actually focusing on one team and dissecting what it is they’re up to. I’m still successful at it though, you here? It counts for something. And it’ll account for a lot when I can apply what I’ve learned and seen to a bout. The next step in all of this.)
Many girls train outside of practice and shore it up with additional exercise and time on their skates. I’ve decided I was going to return to good ol’ pilates to strengthen my core and add plyo to the mix. Plyo is good for lateral work, quick movement on your feet, and your jumping and leaping around on the track. Again, because I’ve been exercising regularly for the past four months I didn’t think much of plyo aside from knowing it’d be a very unique challenge since I’ve never much focused on finding my inner gazelle.
I haven’t found that majestic herbivore within. What I discovered is my beloved calves (I’ve always thought I had amazing, strong calves) are shite. Christ on a cracker they hurt so badly I’m skipping practice tonight because they can’t bear weight. Yeah, you should see me walking.
I ask, the pain, when will it ever end?