Over the proverbial hump.
I haven't had a chance to write this down yet because I was exhausted Sunday night and yesterday was craaaaazy.
After a couple months with my new league (I guess I shouldn't call them "new" anymore, plus I'm a full member...), Sunday night was mostly a really good night. I've been learning so much in such a short time, and I still have trouble with my back, but it is improving....although slower than I'd like. If I do too many 2-knee falls, it seems to jar my back too much and I have to slow down. That's one issue I want to see go away soon. Baseball slides are still a little difficult for me, as that also seems to jar my back in a bad way.
The other big problem I'm having is that my toes are going numb, usually in the last 1/2 hr of practice. It could be that my skates are a little tight, so I've been loosening the laces at the bottom, but still no relief. It's bad enough that I can't do a 180 turn stop when they get like that. I've been trying to stretch my skates myself, but it looks like I REALLY need to take them to the shoe repair for some major stretching, and see if that does the job.
But on to the good news. I'm not the fastest skater, as I'm supposed to work on form before speed. The trick with derby skating is endurance and being able to pick up speed out of the turns, which is where you use your crossover: it lets you power out of the corner. Before joining this group, my crossovers sucked. There's been a huge improvement, and I'm much more comfortable with at least my left one (right one still sucks, but we go counter clockwise, so that's lower priority).
So Sunday I kind of had a breakthrough. There was a smaller group of us there, and the other newer girls weren't there, so I was the slowest one at practice (no big deal, but important to this story). One of our drills is a speed drill for 10 minutes: go at 80% of your max, then up to 100% at the whistle, then slow to 80% at the next whistle, etc. After a couple turns, I just suddenly got a switch in my crossover glide. It's hard to describe, but instead of clomping my foot, it started to glide, and just felt different. I kind of figured I should just try to throw as much power as I had, and the worst that would happen is my legs would slip and I'd wipe out: big deal, that's what the pads & helmet are for. :) So I did, and actually went faster than I have so far. It's like something in my feet & legs just clicked and said "Oh, I get it," and that was it. Then I actually passed people...without even trying. I couldn't hold up the speed for long and had to slow down a bit, but I got up there a few times. Now it's just a matter of getting my endurance up to be able to maintain it.
The other good thing Sunday is that my jumping is getting better. I'm feeling a lot more stable, and I think I can work on my height next. We're supposed to be able to jump over a person (or part of one) without losing speed so you can avoid falls. One foot jumps are definately a little harder, but I'm getting there. Not only can I do a two footed jump, but my jump turn is WAY better then the last time we did them a couple weeks ago. If someone had told me 2 months ago I'd be able to jump on my skates and not fall on my ass, I'd have laughed.
After a couple months with my new league (I guess I shouldn't call them "new" anymore, plus I'm a full member...), Sunday night was mostly a really good night. I've been learning so much in such a short time, and I still have trouble with my back, but it is improving....although slower than I'd like. If I do too many 2-knee falls, it seems to jar my back too much and I have to slow down. That's one issue I want to see go away soon. Baseball slides are still a little difficult for me, as that also seems to jar my back in a bad way.
The other big problem I'm having is that my toes are going numb, usually in the last 1/2 hr of practice. It could be that my skates are a little tight, so I've been loosening the laces at the bottom, but still no relief. It's bad enough that I can't do a 180 turn stop when they get like that. I've been trying to stretch my skates myself, but it looks like I REALLY need to take them to the shoe repair for some major stretching, and see if that does the job.
But on to the good news. I'm not the fastest skater, as I'm supposed to work on form before speed. The trick with derby skating is endurance and being able to pick up speed out of the turns, which is where you use your crossover: it lets you power out of the corner. Before joining this group, my crossovers sucked. There's been a huge improvement, and I'm much more comfortable with at least my left one (right one still sucks, but we go counter clockwise, so that's lower priority).
So Sunday I kind of had a breakthrough. There was a smaller group of us there, and the other newer girls weren't there, so I was the slowest one at practice (no big deal, but important to this story). One of our drills is a speed drill for 10 minutes: go at 80% of your max, then up to 100% at the whistle, then slow to 80% at the next whistle, etc. After a couple turns, I just suddenly got a switch in my crossover glide. It's hard to describe, but instead of clomping my foot, it started to glide, and just felt different. I kind of figured I should just try to throw as much power as I had, and the worst that would happen is my legs would slip and I'd wipe out: big deal, that's what the pads & helmet are for. :) So I did, and actually went faster than I have so far. It's like something in my feet & legs just clicked and said "Oh, I get it," and that was it. Then I actually passed people...without even trying. I couldn't hold up the speed for long and had to slow down a bit, but I got up there a few times. Now it's just a matter of getting my endurance up to be able to maintain it.
The other good thing Sunday is that my jumping is getting better. I'm feeling a lot more stable, and I think I can work on my height next. We're supposed to be able to jump over a person (or part of one) without losing speed so you can avoid falls. One foot jumps are definately a little harder, but I'm getting there. Not only can I do a two footed jump, but my jump turn is WAY better then the last time we did them a couple weeks ago. If someone had told me 2 months ago I'd be able to jump on my skates and not fall on my ass, I'd have laughed.