Roller Derby Update

Or - time flies when you are having the most fun ever! I've been part of the Fresh Meat 12 week programme for 10 weeks now and we've gone through:

- falls
- stops
- pack work
- core
- endurance
- speed
- whips

And yesterday we finally did hits! We all took our skates off, lined up and went down the line bashing each other. It was great! BUT I felt like I was holding back a little bit. It was the similar feeling that I used to get with kickboxing. Maybe I'm unsure, or just not competitive but I find it hard to give it 100%. Also, I'm probably the biggest lass there and I didn't want to hurt anyone. This is not the attitude needed for roller derby!

Kickboxing did fully prepare me for hits though. Being shoulder barged (in shoes at least) is nothing compared to holding a pad for a side kick from a man with something to prove. When we did that you'd have to plant your feet wide, brace yourself and try not to show fear. Oh and one or two people would also stand behind you to catch you. In derby there are no people to catch you, and you have wheels strapped to your feet. So actually, maybe it is harder but it is also 10,000,000 times more fun.

SO the Fresh Meat is going well but in other news I am not feeling good. I have allergies to food and/or pollen for the first time. I am feeling a little out of control around food and sugar is becoming an issue. I am sure I will drone about this many more times but basically I have become less and less able to use willpower to go low carb. I have been low, ill and down. I remembered about 3 years ago I read The Diet Cure by Juila Ross, which uses supplementation to deal with food addiction and low mood. I am eagerly awaiting my copy and hoping I can finally deal with my food demons once and for all.

Primal Ninja Becomes Primal ROLLA!

Harley Davidson, American speed roller skater, 1912 / unknown photographer
Originally uploaded by State Library of New South Wales collection

Well that was an epic pause. I've had a HELL of a year, with the emphasis on the hell. But I am feeling myself again (not in the public nuisance meaning of the term) and want to get back to blogging.

Part of my getting back to being sane is my new found all encompassing obsession with the entirely fine and totally amazing sport of roller derby. If you are in the US you might know what this is. If you are in the UK and you are friends with me, the chances are roller derby is a total mystery. I'm not going to explain it all here except to say it is an awesome contact sport on skates that lets you dress like a crazy woman (or man - male derby is called, rather brilliantly, Merby) and adopt an agressive alter ego. What could be better? Like, really, name one thing.

See, you can't!

Some great introductions to this fine sport from the The London Rollergirls and The Hammer City Roller Girls

A bit of background: I moved house away from my beloved kickboxing as I covered here previously - so sad. Then I had a horrible year with job angst, family and generally went a bit cray cray as they say. With me crazy always leads to eating. Eat those feelings! Then one evening I insisted we watched Whip It, directed by Drew Barrymore. My hub loves Drew nearly as much as he loves me - or maybe more, but he is ever so slightly afraid of me so hasn't said so - and I liked the vibe from a trailer I'd seen. As an intro to the sport it is not 100% accurate, but then what sports movie is? It is a tale of young misfitty type finding her thing which turns out to be skating fast and knocking people over, as opposed to beauty pageants. There is also a love story bit which I was not as sold on, but is kinda sweet. At the end I said 'I have to do this'. So being me I got completely obsessed, threw money at the problem (in the form of skates, pads and non-essential coloured shoelaces) and asked to join the intake of a local league.

Fast forward six months and they finally had a new intake and I'm in! I had my first Fresh Meat intake on Saturday and learnt loads of great new moves and am super super super keen. In the run up to joining I met up with some other noobs and have had a great time finding my skating legs and getting to know them. They seem a group of really lovely peeps. I was surprised to see I am actually not too bad at basic skating. I have good balance and I have only fallen once at this point (and have a thigh/butt bruise to prove it - one side look slike the dark side of the moon). I can do crossovers, which I could never do as a kid, so cool beans. The actual derby skills are a different story...Sticky skating - where you keep all eight wheels on the ground, yet mysteriously move is hard! And we haven't touched on hits yet...

After the first practice I had weird asymmetrical aches - left thigh, right calf. My biceps hurt a little. My hamstrings feel like they my snap and slap someone standing behind me in the face. This is probably an illegal move in the sport itself.

I won't go into it all now, but suffice to say, I am considering getting back into primal living with a vengance. It is exactly what I need to whip me (haha!) into top shape to make the best of the 12 week course and to try out for a team!