Looking Forward

AND, I’m still a Meatie. I have occasional feels about it, but for the most part, they’re good ones.

I had a rough time in August in all parts of life, and I wasn’t doing my best work on the track by a longshot. I still have on-track communication issues to work on–my feedback is shifting from a mess of random things to a unified message: “Talk more.” I knew these things going into Thursday.

I wound up having a great week last week, on all fronts--well, aside from the not being drafted part, of course. I had a case of the jitters when I got to practice, but somewhere in the middle of my umpteenth footwork drill, it all melted away. I ended up having a pretty great practice, and when that wrapped up, and I geared down feeling calm. I didn’t rush to check my phone, and when I got the Hang-In-There Hug reserved for people who are passed over at draft, I knew I didn’t need to.

After all of the buildup and emotional gymnastics of the month leading up to draft, I headed out of the Hangar feeling strangely free and upbeat, which was weird. Joe was waiting outside, and insisted on hugging me and being all consolatory, but I wasn’t sure how to express that I didn’t really need it. Not in a way that anyone would believed. And hey, hugs are nice.

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So, instead of being drafted, I got to scrimmage on Saturday against the Gorge Girls, a new expansion team in our league. They haven’t been skating for as long as I have, and haven’t had the chance to get familiar with strategy, but they did put up some solid defense for being so young in the sport. They were really happy to be scrimmaging against new people, after only playing against each other for months and months, and I could definitely relate to that feeling.

Overall, I have to say I was pretty effin' amazing. Jamming-wise, it was not my hottest day--I blame that on soreness from the Insanity program (more on that in a moment)--but I did decently well. I felt actually-good about the blocking piece of things, though, and that’s the part I’ve had to work harder for. The mental aspect of blocking was a much higher mountain for me to climb than that of jamming. I was in the right places at the right times, cycling up through the pack like a boss, and making solid offensive plays.

And, you know? It's been nice to have occasional bits of affirmation from other skaters, in the wake of draft--hearing that at least one team seriously wants to draft me, having girls from the Gorge team tell me that I did a great job, or that I was a constant thorn in her side when she was jamming.

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AND, speaking of Insanity, yeah, I’m doing that workout now. I have just over a week's worth under my belt, and my legs are feeling it. So far, I like it all right--I think it’s going to do good things for my leg muscle endurance, it’s bodyweight-only and doesn’t require any equipment, and I sweat buckets by the end of it.

I’m not exactly a super-fan of the long, static stretch just after the (intense) warmup, since I prefer dynamic stretching at the beginning, and to save the static stretches for the end. And, I do wish there was a bit more strength training involved, especially in terms of focused core/abdominal work–they do work the core muscles through other exercises, but I’m starting to long for crunches and V-ups. Still, I’m going to at least stick it out for Month 1, even if I have to make a couple of adjustments to the schedule to make sure I get enough rest days. This AND derby 4x/week is a pretty tall order.

Anyhoo, YES. Last week was great. I have some great weeks yet to come. I feel it in my bones.

So, my eyes are looking forward. Next up? Ten weeks of butt-kicking for goodness. OH YEAH.