Hi all, travel seems to knock the stuff out of me these days, but I’m getting my equilibrium back. Sorry Portland, I feel like you’ve been short changed and I should have blogged about you more, you were grand!

Portland

The Portland trip was a lot of fun. It made me want to make sure I visit more often. Alberto was a fabulous host, good shared food with friends, skating at Oaks Amusement Park.

Dear Ms Moon was the first play to be performed during the Pulp Sampler, the young actors hurried out the door after they’d performed their bit – they weren’t old enough to stay, because it was a drinking venue and some of the other content might have been a bit mature for them. An actual brother and sister played the roles of brother and sister and I think/hope they had a good time.

Roller Derby

I’m often awake at 4am if I’ve been exercising heavily the day before, and yesterday was PFM scrimmage day. I had new kneepads and wristguards I’d never skated in, so I was a bit nervous. I was also recovering from a cold. I’d dealt with all the nasty cold stuff, but still recovering from my immune system’s passion for battle long after the war is over, which limited my lung capacity. I felt pretty unsteady on the track and frustrated by how much power I was able to put into the game. I think I straddled the line between pushing hard enough, but not snapping myself… I do wish I’d pushed myself harder, but I was shaking afterwards, so maybe not.

I achieved my two goals, listen to the bench coaches more (though still room for improvement) and call off a jam. Hands on hips is not the best place to be when chaos is erupting (memory is foggy, but I think someone fell in front of me and someone crashed into the back of me… maybe). I got a bit more squished and winded than I would like to be and it took a while for my lungs to fill up again.

I think my team did well and we worked together, even though I wish I’d been a stronger element. I pushed myself at a level that was challenging but not suicidal, so I’m happy enough with that.

Goals for next scrimmage:

• Block and counter-block more effectively. Positional blocking is well and good, but I need to actually sit on people and hit them too.
• Speed control. I used to think my ploughstops were great, but that was at lower speeds.
• Moving my feet more and catching myself so I don’t fall

General goals

• I think my wheel loadout isn’t working for me right now. Maybe 93s with nice hard edges? My harder wheels have a more worn down edge and I really feel it. I need to play with some different configurations, possibly even try skating where all my wheels are equal hardness.
• Improve my stability and control, something’s not working correctly right now. Either that or I’m going faster and need to improve because of that.
• Get my endurance back. Deep breathing to get my lungs working at full capacity again (stupid cold)… maybe some cross training at the mini-gym in my building so I can run without worrying about getting home again.
• I’ve been lacking virtue and stamina when it comes to doing my Kinetic Sports Rehab homework. I can blame the cold a little, but the emotional energy feels just as hard right now. I need to get back on top of that and find that resilience/time/energy.