I've been researching, and recruiting the husband to research, this weird pain I've had on the inside of my legs since the first time I did off-skates practice a couple of weeks ago. I was banking on it being a muscle issue, something that I could easily fix with better stretching and/or better lacing and support in my shoes and skates.
It's something like that, after a manner of speaking. However, it's also more annoying than I could have imagined, and the description of my symptoms fits it to a T - posterior shin splints.
Collective groan, please.
I've had shin splints before. The reason I didn't suspect them again was because the first time I had them, I had the version that runs down the front of your legs, or anterior shin splints. They were pretty easy to recognize, because they were actually on the part of the leg that we normally think of as the shin... with the ones I have now, I was taken by surprise.
I was hoping that this couldn't possibly be what was going on, but reading the causes, I don't have a whole lot of room for doubt. One of the first was increasing your workout load suddenly rather than gradually. I first started feeling this pain after I went to my first off-skates practice. We did a lot of running, plyo and aerobics, all things that my body wasn't used to at the time, and now, as it turns out, changing your workout program too quickly can cause shin splints. Also included in the causes, low arches (which I have), too little stretching (which is almost always the case for me), and running on concrete or another unforgiving surface (the floor of the Coliseum is very definitely bare concrete).
Included in the symptoms? Pain on the inside of the lower leg- check. Pain that seems bad at the beginning of a workout, but relents after a warmup period- check. Pain that makes it difficult for you to straighten your muscles out and walk normally a few days after working out- check. What I was mistaking for delayed onset muscle soreness was most definitely shin splints.
The number one recommendation for fixing the problem is to stop physical activity and rest the injury. Thinking that what I had was DOMS, which you're supposed to work through, I've continued to do my typical workouts, and, of course, the symptoms haven't gone away. Continuing to exercise on shin splints can apparently produce stress fractures in the tibia, which scares me- not because it likely hurts, but because it will weaken some of the most important structures I have for skating.
What I'm basically going to have to do is change the way I train for a little while, until the injury can heal and I can work on strengthening the muscles and correcting the overpronation in my feet. I suppose, since it's Thanksgiving week coming up, that it's a good time to do so.
Sunday, I plan to attend our last skating practice until after the Thanksgiving break. Yesterday's off-skates was canceled due to a robotics competition up at the Coliseum that is supposedly going on all weekend. I presume that it will be canceled this evening as well.
Tonight, I'd planned to do some more aggressive plyometrics to work on agility, but until my shins are healed, I don't think high impact jumps are a good idea. This afternoon, I'm going to research core exercises and concentrate on low-impact, core strengthening exercises like crunches, leg lifts, lunges, and squats. For the next few days, I plan to work mostly on strength rather than endurance training, as well as taking the time to work on rehabilitation exercises for shin splints that focus on properly stretching out the muscles around the area, and correcting problems like overpronation of the foot by strengthening the muscles involved.
Not good news, especially not since I'd gotten so excited about training hard over the off season. But I suppose it was going to be hard to continue to do things like running and high-impact plyometrics over Thanksgiving week anyway. Better that I use this week for something.
In case you can't tell from the tone, I'm a little bit depressed over this setback. But I'm hoping that with research and planning, I'll be able to turn that around and do something useful while I'm not running and jumping and pounding the pavement.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Skate Your Booty (Off)
I crapped out last night on off-skates practice. Admittedly, it was partially laziness; I got home from a late day at work and was frankly exhausted. I know that I would have felt better if I'd suited up and gone to exercise, but I let my laziness speak for me.
However, it was partially also the muscle pain from Monday. I usually get REALLY bad DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), which I know that you're just supposed to work through as normal. My fear, though, was that if I went and brutalized my leg muscles again like I did on Monday, I'd be too sore to skate at practice tonight. It seems, so far, to be a fairly justified decision, since my legs feel a LOT better today.
It's a difficult balance for me, though - I've never been one of those people who just work out to work out. In the past, it's been an accomplishment for me to skate twice a week. It's a bit difficult to go from that into an aggressive, seven days a week training plan for the off-season, and I don't quite know how to motivate myself to keep it up. I have a feeling, though, that practice tonight (which I'm already hemming and hawing about) will be motivation enough to remember why I'm doing this.
****
I knew tonight was going to be brutal... I just had a feeling. Cho certainly didn't disappoint. Endurance and body work for two straight hours.
I don't feel like updating about every minute thing- there's still a shower to take, and a bit of a snack to be had before bed, before I have to drag my sore ass out of bed in the morning.
Improvements I noticed: Last week, we did something called "the gauntlet." It was as follows: 40 laps in 10 minutes; 25 in 5; 10 in 3 with a rockstar at the end of each lap; 5 in 1. The first time through, last week, I made all the times save the 25. During the 25, I sat out. My back had cramped up so bad from pushing the 40 that I couldn't handle 25 more. I made my times on the other two, presumably because I'd had the time to rest out.
This week, I decided I wasn't going to sit out no matter what, so I didn't. My times obviously weren't as good. Cho cut our goal down for the 40 laps to 8:00. I made 38 in that time. I was able to do 21 of the 25 in 5 minutes. I just barely made my 10 with 2:48, and barely skirted my 5 at :58. However, I consider it a huge improvement, since I actually made it through all of them without giving up on my body.
Things I'd like to be better: we did a drill called thighmaster intended to work up quad and core strength. It involves squats, which have always been pretty painful for me. I'd love to say I didn't cheat on them and not go as low as I could have, but I did. I've got to learn to go ahead and go through the pain because without the pain I can't do better. I'm particularly disappointed in how I skated during that drill. I'm also disappointed with how I behaved during our hitting drill. I still have a HUGE problem with lacking the aggression and initiative to just hit people. Again, it's a holdover from Belles 'n' Bombshells, where we were taught it was better to save your hits instead of use them, which, as I believe I've noted before, resulted mostly in passive skating, and worrying too much about whether it was the right time to hit someone and missing the opportunity entirely. I'm still letting this mindset rule the day. I know I'm a hard hitter, but I don't take the initiative to show that. And I hate that.
Things I'm puzzled about: the inside the leg pain I've been talking about lately. I think I'm beginning to narrow it down to either the way my shoes/skate boots fit when I'm exercising, or the pressure of my ankle brace. It tends to be worse on the right leg, which is where I wear my brace, but I do have the pain in both legs, which leads me to think I might need different foot support in my shoes. I'm going to also try lacing the shoes a little less tightly tomorrow to see if that makes a difference, as I was getting some pretty gnarly nerve pinches along the top of my foot tonight as well that eased up a bit when I unlaced the bottom set of laces in my boot.
Still some things to improve on, but this is a long off-season. Next week, we don't have any practice starting Sunday because of Thanksgiving, so I know it will be a test of willpower. But with my husband there to remind me why I'm training so hard, I don't think that'll be much of a problem.
However, it was partially also the muscle pain from Monday. I usually get REALLY bad DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), which I know that you're just supposed to work through as normal. My fear, though, was that if I went and brutalized my leg muscles again like I did on Monday, I'd be too sore to skate at practice tonight. It seems, so far, to be a fairly justified decision, since my legs feel a LOT better today.
It's a difficult balance for me, though - I've never been one of those people who just work out to work out. In the past, it's been an accomplishment for me to skate twice a week. It's a bit difficult to go from that into an aggressive, seven days a week training plan for the off-season, and I don't quite know how to motivate myself to keep it up. I have a feeling, though, that practice tonight (which I'm already hemming and hawing about) will be motivation enough to remember why I'm doing this.
****
I knew tonight was going to be brutal... I just had a feeling. Cho certainly didn't disappoint. Endurance and body work for two straight hours.
I don't feel like updating about every minute thing- there's still a shower to take, and a bit of a snack to be had before bed, before I have to drag my sore ass out of bed in the morning.
Improvements I noticed: Last week, we did something called "the gauntlet." It was as follows: 40 laps in 10 minutes; 25 in 5; 10 in 3 with a rockstar at the end of each lap; 5 in 1. The first time through, last week, I made all the times save the 25. During the 25, I sat out. My back had cramped up so bad from pushing the 40 that I couldn't handle 25 more. I made my times on the other two, presumably because I'd had the time to rest out.
This week, I decided I wasn't going to sit out no matter what, so I didn't. My times obviously weren't as good. Cho cut our goal down for the 40 laps to 8:00. I made 38 in that time. I was able to do 21 of the 25 in 5 minutes. I just barely made my 10 with 2:48, and barely skirted my 5 at :58. However, I consider it a huge improvement, since I actually made it through all of them without giving up on my body.
Things I'd like to be better: we did a drill called thighmaster intended to work up quad and core strength. It involves squats, which have always been pretty painful for me. I'd love to say I didn't cheat on them and not go as low as I could have, but I did. I've got to learn to go ahead and go through the pain because without the pain I can't do better. I'm particularly disappointed in how I skated during that drill. I'm also disappointed with how I behaved during our hitting drill. I still have a HUGE problem with lacking the aggression and initiative to just hit people. Again, it's a holdover from Belles 'n' Bombshells, where we were taught it was better to save your hits instead of use them, which, as I believe I've noted before, resulted mostly in passive skating, and worrying too much about whether it was the right time to hit someone and missing the opportunity entirely. I'm still letting this mindset rule the day. I know I'm a hard hitter, but I don't take the initiative to show that. And I hate that.
Things I'm puzzled about: the inside the leg pain I've been talking about lately. I think I'm beginning to narrow it down to either the way my shoes/skate boots fit when I'm exercising, or the pressure of my ankle brace. It tends to be worse on the right leg, which is where I wear my brace, but I do have the pain in both legs, which leads me to think I might need different foot support in my shoes. I'm going to also try lacing the shoes a little less tightly tomorrow to see if that makes a difference, as I was getting some pretty gnarly nerve pinches along the top of my foot tonight as well that eased up a bit when I unlaced the bottom set of laces in my boot.
Still some things to improve on, but this is a long off-season. Next week, we don't have any practice starting Sunday because of Thanksgiving, so I know it will be a test of willpower. But with my husband there to remind me why I'm training so hard, I don't think that'll be much of a problem.
Monday, November 15, 2010
American Jumping Bean
Today's butt-kicking is all about plyometrics. I'd never even heard this word until I started skating seriously, but in the opinion of many skaters (speed skaters especially), plyometrics is what can make the difference between a good skater and a great skater - a good skater practices only on skates, and a great skater trains off-skates with plyometrics to improve muscle strength, explosiveness, and agility.
Given that those are three things that I really feel I need as a skater, I can't ignore plyometrics. Besides, if speed skaters do it, there's no reason it wouldn't be good for roller derby skaters; in spite of the different natures of our sports, there's a good deal of crossover, at least as far as what we want out of our bodies. Both sports call for good cardio and muscle endurance and strength, good explosive power for sprinting past other skaters, good agility for slipping through the holes other skaters leave as they move around the track, and a strong stride that uses as few strokes as possible to go as far as possible.
That having been said, my plan for this week, as it has evolved, involves me working on some cardio endurance, muscle strength, and explosiveness training today.
Here's today's regimen:
WARMUP: 1 lap walk, 2 laps jog, 1 run, 1 cooldown.
Stretch.
Run Coliseum stairs - goal time, 20 minutes or less for a whole lap.
PLYOMETRICS:
-tuck jumps, 3x 10
-lunge jumps, 3x 16 (8 per leg)
-box jumps, 3x 12
-forward lunges, 3x 10
-backward lunges, 3x 10
-squats, 3x10
-wall sit, 2 min.
COOLDOWN: brisk walk, 2 laps.
Stretch.
In practice, it didn't go badly at all. I was decidedly not in an exercising mood today; it was gray, rainy, and on those types of days, I really prefer to just hang out around the house and relax. Oh, and it was also chilly outside. One of those typical Alabama November days that had me much more likely to enjoy curling up under a blanket and reading a book than working my butt off at the Coliseum.
To the Coliseum we went, a little bit later than originally planned. We started off with a three-lap warmup instead of five. It had been a few days since I'd exercised and, I admit, I crapped out because my shins and ankles were feeling grumpy pounding on that concrete floor. We stretched, then got ready for the real kicker- running all 40 sections of the Coliseum seating, up and down the stairs until we'd completed a whole lap.
We tried this for the first time about a week ago, and I was not impressed with my own results. I was easily winded, my legs felt like jello, and I had to stop a few times because I didn't feel like my legs could maintain the strength to go safely down the stairs. Tonight, I set the two of us a goal: Make the whole lap with no stops, in under 20:00.
That was a resounding success. Our ending time was 11:42. This kind of blew my mind, to be honest. Like I said, the first time I'd done it, my legs had felt positively awful. This time, I even paced myself carefully, starting out more moderately than I could have so I could have a burst of speed to finish at the end. I was out of breath at points, but that was the point, of course. I was frankly shocked that our time could be that much different (it took at least 20 minutes the first time we tried it). I guess I'd chalk it up to a bad day, or maybe just knowing that I had the pressure of a time limit; that tends to make a big difference for me when I'm trying to beat a clock.
After the out and out cardio, we switched to out and out plyometrics. It's a bit of a meaningless distinction to make, however, considering how out of breath I got doing the jumps. The lunge jumps I found easy, and could probably increase the reps to 20 or more. I didn't start feeling any tiredness until the third set. The other two, I could definitely sense some muscle jello going on- the farther up I tried to tuck my legs after more reps, the harder it was for me to do that. Sometimes I felt like I was barely getting off the ground. The only thing that I had an issue with was the landing; again, doing these tuck jumps on concrete was hurting the hell out of my ankles, and I think at points I was landing way too hard. That's something for me to work on, and perhaps research a bit. There were points where I was definitely getting more than muscle pain out of those exercises. Another alteration I want to make for our next set of plyo is the rest period in between exercises. We took brief rests in between each set (maybe about 30 seconds or so), but the rests between the different jumps were three minutes, and I think that was too much; for the next plyo set we do, I'm bumping the time down to two minutes.
We moved on to the lunges next, and I set the time between those down to one minute, because they were much less high impact. I also bumped up the reps - for the forward and backward lunges and squats, we did three sets of 20 rather than three sets of 10. The lunges were a bit challenging by the end, but I think, again, it's a case where we may want to increase the reps; maybe 30 per leg instead of 20. The squats I definitely felt, especially the lower I got. By the end of the sets of squats, my knees were shaking badly, but my quads were burning in that good kind of way. From there, we moved on to a 2 minute wall sit, which, by this point, was VERY challenging. I had to readjust my position a number of times and couldn't keep holding a 90 degree angle with my legs. My legs felt outright weak and wobbly after I finished it.
That, of course, was a perfect time to run a one-lap time trial around the top of the coliseum. We don't know exactly what the distance is, but we think each lap is about 1/4 of a mile. Both of us took off at a dead sprint. We both got about the same time, with a three second difference between. I actually finished the faster of the two of us at 1:14, which pleased me since my husband is usually the faster of the two when it comes to running.
One thing that was very strange about running that lap: I controlled my breathing pretty well for most of the lap, because I had noticed that I have a bad tendency to hold my breath when I'm doing cardio. For about halfway around the lap, I wasn't particularly winded. When I was on my third leg of four, I started to lose my breath a little bit, but that felt normal. Oddly enough, the last five sections of seats, my body started giving. It was like a switch snapped off- all of a sudden, my legs were rubbery, and I could hardly push without feeling like all my muscles were going to snap somehow. I finished slower than I wanted to (perhaps a pacing error on my part, after maintaining a relatively consistent pace for most of the lap). It was a very strange physical experience; mentally, I was still pushing myself, but my body gave up on me before I was ready for it to. I'm not sure what I could have done to push through those feelings at the end of that lap, and I was also dizzy when I sat down afterward.
Overall, though there were negatives and positives, it was an overall positive experience. I can tell that, despite what you might call rather low reps for the plyo, the exercises are working. Sitting down to get in the car, my legs almost buckled- the sign of a good workout, no doubt.
I followed up some advice about doing cardio and loaded up on antioxidants for dinner: spinach, garlic, beans, potatoes. Since then, I've taken a nice long shower, and I believe I'm going to put some heat on my ankle before I go to sleep tonight, just to see if I can relieve some of the soreness.
I've been taking melatonin to sleep most nights lately- don't think I'll need it tonight. I'm exhausted before 11:00, and I'm totally okay with that.
Tomorrow night, team off-skates practice back at the Coliseum. Expect a report from that no-doubt surprising ass-busting, with the bonus entertainment that I have no idea what I'm getting into!
Given that those are three things that I really feel I need as a skater, I can't ignore plyometrics. Besides, if speed skaters do it, there's no reason it wouldn't be good for roller derby skaters; in spite of the different natures of our sports, there's a good deal of crossover, at least as far as what we want out of our bodies. Both sports call for good cardio and muscle endurance and strength, good explosive power for sprinting past other skaters, good agility for slipping through the holes other skaters leave as they move around the track, and a strong stride that uses as few strokes as possible to go as far as possible.
That having been said, my plan for this week, as it has evolved, involves me working on some cardio endurance, muscle strength, and explosiveness training today.
Here's today's regimen:
WARMUP: 1 lap walk, 2 laps jog, 1 run, 1 cooldown.
Stretch.
Run Coliseum stairs - goal time, 20 minutes or less for a whole lap.
PLYOMETRICS:
-tuck jumps, 3x 10
-lunge jumps, 3x 16 (8 per leg)
-box jumps, 3x 12
-forward lunges, 3x 10
-backward lunges, 3x 10
-squats, 3x10
-wall sit, 2 min.
COOLDOWN: brisk walk, 2 laps.
Stretch.
In practice, it didn't go badly at all. I was decidedly not in an exercising mood today; it was gray, rainy, and on those types of days, I really prefer to just hang out around the house and relax. Oh, and it was also chilly outside. One of those typical Alabama November days that had me much more likely to enjoy curling up under a blanket and reading a book than working my butt off at the Coliseum.
To the Coliseum we went, a little bit later than originally planned. We started off with a three-lap warmup instead of five. It had been a few days since I'd exercised and, I admit, I crapped out because my shins and ankles were feeling grumpy pounding on that concrete floor. We stretched, then got ready for the real kicker- running all 40 sections of the Coliseum seating, up and down the stairs until we'd completed a whole lap.
We tried this for the first time about a week ago, and I was not impressed with my own results. I was easily winded, my legs felt like jello, and I had to stop a few times because I didn't feel like my legs could maintain the strength to go safely down the stairs. Tonight, I set the two of us a goal: Make the whole lap with no stops, in under 20:00.
That was a resounding success. Our ending time was 11:42. This kind of blew my mind, to be honest. Like I said, the first time I'd done it, my legs had felt positively awful. This time, I even paced myself carefully, starting out more moderately than I could have so I could have a burst of speed to finish at the end. I was out of breath at points, but that was the point, of course. I was frankly shocked that our time could be that much different (it took at least 20 minutes the first time we tried it). I guess I'd chalk it up to a bad day, or maybe just knowing that I had the pressure of a time limit; that tends to make a big difference for me when I'm trying to beat a clock.
After the out and out cardio, we switched to out and out plyometrics. It's a bit of a meaningless distinction to make, however, considering how out of breath I got doing the jumps. The lunge jumps I found easy, and could probably increase the reps to 20 or more. I didn't start feeling any tiredness until the third set. The other two, I could definitely sense some muscle jello going on- the farther up I tried to tuck my legs after more reps, the harder it was for me to do that. Sometimes I felt like I was barely getting off the ground. The only thing that I had an issue with was the landing; again, doing these tuck jumps on concrete was hurting the hell out of my ankles, and I think at points I was landing way too hard. That's something for me to work on, and perhaps research a bit. There were points where I was definitely getting more than muscle pain out of those exercises. Another alteration I want to make for our next set of plyo is the rest period in between exercises. We took brief rests in between each set (maybe about 30 seconds or so), but the rests between the different jumps were three minutes, and I think that was too much; for the next plyo set we do, I'm bumping the time down to two minutes.
We moved on to the lunges next, and I set the time between those down to one minute, because they were much less high impact. I also bumped up the reps - for the forward and backward lunges and squats, we did three sets of 20 rather than three sets of 10. The lunges were a bit challenging by the end, but I think, again, it's a case where we may want to increase the reps; maybe 30 per leg instead of 20. The squats I definitely felt, especially the lower I got. By the end of the sets of squats, my knees were shaking badly, but my quads were burning in that good kind of way. From there, we moved on to a 2 minute wall sit, which, by this point, was VERY challenging. I had to readjust my position a number of times and couldn't keep holding a 90 degree angle with my legs. My legs felt outright weak and wobbly after I finished it.
That, of course, was a perfect time to run a one-lap time trial around the top of the coliseum. We don't know exactly what the distance is, but we think each lap is about 1/4 of a mile. Both of us took off at a dead sprint. We both got about the same time, with a three second difference between. I actually finished the faster of the two of us at 1:14, which pleased me since my husband is usually the faster of the two when it comes to running.
One thing that was very strange about running that lap: I controlled my breathing pretty well for most of the lap, because I had noticed that I have a bad tendency to hold my breath when I'm doing cardio. For about halfway around the lap, I wasn't particularly winded. When I was on my third leg of four, I started to lose my breath a little bit, but that felt normal. Oddly enough, the last five sections of seats, my body started giving. It was like a switch snapped off- all of a sudden, my legs were rubbery, and I could hardly push without feeling like all my muscles were going to snap somehow. I finished slower than I wanted to (perhaps a pacing error on my part, after maintaining a relatively consistent pace for most of the lap). It was a very strange physical experience; mentally, I was still pushing myself, but my body gave up on me before I was ready for it to. I'm not sure what I could have done to push through those feelings at the end of that lap, and I was also dizzy when I sat down afterward.
Overall, though there were negatives and positives, it was an overall positive experience. I can tell that, despite what you might call rather low reps for the plyo, the exercises are working. Sitting down to get in the car, my legs almost buckled- the sign of a good workout, no doubt.
I followed up some advice about doing cardio and loaded up on antioxidants for dinner: spinach, garlic, beans, potatoes. Since then, I've taken a nice long shower, and I believe I'm going to put some heat on my ankle before I go to sleep tonight, just to see if I can relieve some of the soreness.
I've been taking melatonin to sleep most nights lately- don't think I'll need it tonight. I'm exhausted before 11:00, and I'm totally okay with that.
Tomorrow night, team off-skates practice back at the Coliseum. Expect a report from that no-doubt surprising ass-busting, with the bonus entertainment that I have no idea what I'm getting into!
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Building a Better Zombie
Now that the last bout of the season is over for BCR, it's time to move into the off season. We'll get our holiday break somewhere around mid-December, but to be perfectly honest, I'm not all that interested in it!
When I read descriptions of off-season training, I felt some consternation, if not outright dread. Long hours of painful plyometrics, workouts where muscles turned to jello, and lots and lots of endurance training, running, weight-lifting... Well, it's just not as fun as skating, that's for sure.
Without a strong foundation, though, you can't BE the skater you want to be. I realize that, now that I'm training with a more experienced team, or, frankly, a team that is simply smart about training.
Bar none, Belles 'n' Bombshells rushed us into bout season. No, we didn't have our first "real" bout until June, but we played in MRV's black vs. white bout in April. Even from November, when I started with the team, to April, I wasn't prepared. Nor was I starting from zero like a lot of derby skaters are- I already knew the rules, and I already had all my basic skate skills. It was an issue of muscle strength and pure endurance, and it continued to be those issues throughout the season.
If nothing else, BnB proved a point through example: poorly structured practice time during the off-season will result in poor play and the increased risk of injury during bouting season. We engaged in strenuous activity before stretching, once we had passed our 25 in 5 time, we never revisited the exercise, and we continued to do exercises that were useless to us well into bout season, such as basic stepping drills to teach beginners crossovers. Practices were inconsistent and lacked physical challenge. By the time our season was done, we were practicing once a week on skates, and everything else was left up to the individual skater, with poor monitoring practices, and no system of punishment for skaters who did not main activity, nor system of reward for skaters who worked hard on their own.
On the track, this had its natural results. We were unorganized and had a difficult time playing as a team because we only skated together once a week and, as I noted, we were often doing exercises that weren't useful to us during those practices. It showed in more than just strategy, though- we almost never scrimmaged, so our hits were poor and easily telegraphed. More importantly, our endurance was terrible. We would go out, hang tough for a few jams, and then get exhausted by the end of the first half. In the second half, we wouldn't even be able to make a pass at staying up with the other team- they'd run away with the game easily.
It's time for all that to change. I've spent a season chasing endurance like it's some kind of elusive phantom. Maybe it is, but it can't run forever- especially if I train to catch it. Today I've been doing my research, finding out what it is that skaters need to build up the agility, speed and strength that it takes to keep fighting every jam, no matter if you're playing a single jam at a time, or six in a row. And I'm coming up with a plan.
Aggressive interval training, plyo, and on-skates endurance drills until I can't stand it anymore. I'm tired of giving up on myself, and I'm tired of not having the wherewithal to push through line drills and sprints.
Much like with losing weight, I'm setting myself goals for endurance training:
-Cut 40 lap time down to 8 minutes or less.
-Cut 25 lap time down to 4:30 or less.
-Break through the pack as a jammer. I still haven't done this yet as a BCR practice because their packs are so tight and fast, and I don't currently have the speed or the agility to sprint through holes when they open up.
My plan for this week is as follows:
1) Monday - one hour cross-training at Coliseum.
2) Tuesday - one hour off-skates team practice at Coliseum
3) Wednesday - two hour team practice on skates
4) Thursday - open skate endurance training
5) Friday - one hour cross-training at Coliseum
6) Sunday - two hour team practice on skates
And I'd like for this to be applicable to every week, mostly because I need to get into a habit of a) skating as often as I can every week, and b) exercising regularly, so that when it comes time for a break, I'll be used to exercising often, and I won't be tempted to slack off.
Usually, my problem is that I can't figure out things to do. Right now, I'm full of ideas about what I could do to improve my endurance, as well as my general fitness level, which is something that I feel good about.
I also feel good about making this week's plan public. See folks - it's all out here, and now I'm accountable. I'll post details as the week goes on, perhaps report a bit on whether I feel I'm improving, and the overall body effects I'm experiencing.
Here's to building a better zombie, one step at a time. Next season, the huffing, puffing Mary Helley of the past will be a distant memory.
When I read descriptions of off-season training, I felt some consternation, if not outright dread. Long hours of painful plyometrics, workouts where muscles turned to jello, and lots and lots of endurance training, running, weight-lifting... Well, it's just not as fun as skating, that's for sure.
Without a strong foundation, though, you can't BE the skater you want to be. I realize that, now that I'm training with a more experienced team, or, frankly, a team that is simply smart about training.
Bar none, Belles 'n' Bombshells rushed us into bout season. No, we didn't have our first "real" bout until June, but we played in MRV's black vs. white bout in April. Even from November, when I started with the team, to April, I wasn't prepared. Nor was I starting from zero like a lot of derby skaters are- I already knew the rules, and I already had all my basic skate skills. It was an issue of muscle strength and pure endurance, and it continued to be those issues throughout the season.
If nothing else, BnB proved a point through example: poorly structured practice time during the off-season will result in poor play and the increased risk of injury during bouting season. We engaged in strenuous activity before stretching, once we had passed our 25 in 5 time, we never revisited the exercise, and we continued to do exercises that were useless to us well into bout season, such as basic stepping drills to teach beginners crossovers. Practices were inconsistent and lacked physical challenge. By the time our season was done, we were practicing once a week on skates, and everything else was left up to the individual skater, with poor monitoring practices, and no system of punishment for skaters who did not main activity, nor system of reward for skaters who worked hard on their own.
On the track, this had its natural results. We were unorganized and had a difficult time playing as a team because we only skated together once a week and, as I noted, we were often doing exercises that weren't useful to us during those practices. It showed in more than just strategy, though- we almost never scrimmaged, so our hits were poor and easily telegraphed. More importantly, our endurance was terrible. We would go out, hang tough for a few jams, and then get exhausted by the end of the first half. In the second half, we wouldn't even be able to make a pass at staying up with the other team- they'd run away with the game easily.
It's time for all that to change. I've spent a season chasing endurance like it's some kind of elusive phantom. Maybe it is, but it can't run forever- especially if I train to catch it. Today I've been doing my research, finding out what it is that skaters need to build up the agility, speed and strength that it takes to keep fighting every jam, no matter if you're playing a single jam at a time, or six in a row. And I'm coming up with a plan.
Aggressive interval training, plyo, and on-skates endurance drills until I can't stand it anymore. I'm tired of giving up on myself, and I'm tired of not having the wherewithal to push through line drills and sprints.
Much like with losing weight, I'm setting myself goals for endurance training:
-Cut 40 lap time down to 8 minutes or less.
-Cut 25 lap time down to 4:30 or less.
-Break through the pack as a jammer. I still haven't done this yet as a BCR practice because their packs are so tight and fast, and I don't currently have the speed or the agility to sprint through holes when they open up.
My plan for this week is as follows:
1) Monday - one hour cross-training at Coliseum.
2) Tuesday - one hour off-skates team practice at Coliseum
3) Wednesday - two hour team practice on skates
4) Thursday - open skate endurance training
5) Friday - one hour cross-training at Coliseum
6) Sunday - two hour team practice on skates
And I'd like for this to be applicable to every week, mostly because I need to get into a habit of a) skating as often as I can every week, and b) exercising regularly, so that when it comes time for a break, I'll be used to exercising often, and I won't be tempted to slack off.
Usually, my problem is that I can't figure out things to do. Right now, I'm full of ideas about what I could do to improve my endurance, as well as my general fitness level, which is something that I feel good about.
I also feel good about making this week's plan public. See folks - it's all out here, and now I'm accountable. I'll post details as the week goes on, perhaps report a bit on whether I feel I'm improving, and the overall body effects I'm experiencing.
Here's to building a better zombie, one step at a time. Next season, the huffing, puffing Mary Helley of the past will be a distant memory.
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