Training is hard

While this may not be a revelation, it's something I never fully appreciated until I was living it. It's not just the constant sore muscles, or the physical fatigue, it's mental. All your focus is on this one thing, and this thing is something that takes time to see results with. I think this is the hardest part for me. As hard as I try to not expect instant gratification, there is a part of me that is really impatient. To put this much work into something, I want to see it pay off! I do see the progress over the last several months. That helps me to retain focus, but I have days where I get grumpy, and feel like I’m not getting the kind of return on my time that I'd like. These are the days I sometimes have to give myself permission to be lazy. It doesn't happen often, so I really appreciate those days when I have them. I had one Saturday, and I felt rested and ready to get back out there Sunday.


I had a much better practice Sunday than I did Thursday. My muscles were much more responsive, even considering the 15 minutes I spent doing lunges with weights, and the extra strength yoga. I'm really seeing results from my strength training class. My core is stronger, and up downs are SO much easier because of that and increased upper body strength. I can do pushups, my planks are much more solid, and I can skate much lower with much less back pain. I'm seeing stronger crossovers, and stronger one leg skating. That being said, I still have so far to go. At least it seems much more attainable now. It's so wonderful to have those "Aha!" moments where everything comes clear, I have to keep in mind that those moments will continue to happen with things that are a struggle now.

It's also been helping me to not think of all the things I have yet to master as individual tasks. If I instead break those things down into the basic skills they require, it seems so much easier. Such as the step from one foot to the other before blocking, crossovers, and mohawks are all about skating on one leg. Really, most skills in derby are about skating on one leg. So instead of thinking of all the separate parts, I can focus on becoming a stronger one leg skater. It's so much less stressful to think about that way, and cuts down on my mental noise during practice. I only have to concentrate on one thing at a time