What do you mean, training?

Asked my back and decided to spasm out. I have now serious trouble sitting, standing, walking, laying down, etc. So, at least for the next week or so, no training that is of a more serious nature than walks :(.

On a positiv note I can say that we started sticking needles into actual humans now in the acupuncture course and I immediately learnt a acu-point that is supposed to help with lower back pain. So I will be sticking myself every evening while watching some TV and who knows.. it might actually help! :)

Slaughters Daughters make up for it.

Sometimes I get SO frustrated... Most of the inter-league derby stuff is happening more than 1500 km from where I live: South of Sweden, Holland, Germany, UK. All those places are cheap to get from if you're traveling from Stockholm, but from where I live it would be way too expensive to travel up and down the map all the time. At least it is for me, a student with a family. The derby community is very active online, so at least I get to read about all the scrimmage weekends and the bootcamps, but it would be so much nicer to be able to attend them all as well.

What would be even nicer than attending them all, would be to attend them all with my girls in Slaughters Daughters. I know everybody says this about their team, but these girls really are amazing individuals. I love you all and let's kick some real ass and make the world notice us! RAWR!

Lateral jumping (Thanks Kamikaze Kitten!)

Today was a fun training!

It felt like we needed a fun break from all the bitch building and widowing we've been doing lately. We started with a short off skates warming up to music in which I took the piss out of how I learned to lead an aerobics class, then MADicken took us through half an hour of bodypump. Pretty sure I'm gonna feel that tomorrow, well done MADicken! You chose the right level and motivated at the right level as well. Not easily done for our very mixed bunch of girls. After that we went through the basic moves of the lateral leap which Kamikaze Kitten writes about here. We did this off skates at first as well to get a hang of the basic principle in the movement without the added difficulty of being on wheels, to teach our muscle memory how to do the jump, which muscle groups to activate in which order and with which speed. After that we tried it on skates with various degrees of success. Badass Babuska was really good at it! :) I wasn't, I always feel like a cow when trying new jumps or agility things.

The last part was the most interesting part of the training, I think. Due to level differences we split up in several groups where the advanced got to train a bit more on communication and team work in a three-wall and others were being helped one-on-one by skaters with colds or rehabilitating ankle sprains with practicing on specific skills they needed to improve on. I think this split up made it a very valuable moment.

I really wish we will soon become big enough to split up and have dedicated fresh meat and advanced training sessions. We need it, but as it is we are just too small. Sometimes I try to imagine why women wouldn't want to play this sport. The work outs are fun (even for people that "don't like sports"), it's tough, you get a great bunch of friends, a support network and really, it might look dangerous, but it really isn't more dangerous than any other team sport. So where are all these women in Luleå? Why do they stay away? Come on! We want you!

Blisters!

<insert swear words here>

See, when I got blisters from my running shoes last time I thought it was because they were new... After a while the blisters stayed away and all was well. Now after not having run in those shoes for about a year, the blister galore is back. I really don't want to buy other shoes. I might try out some insoles if it doesn't get better. But it f*cking hurts!!

Anyways... the result from today:

10x7, 8x(2x10, 1x6), 10x6 (170 - 155)

So my heart rate had gone down a bit while doing the same thing. I do not have the delusion that that is an indication of my fitness level going up though. It's more an indication of my body remembering how to do this running intervals thing and using the inhaled oxygen a bit more efficiently.

I don't feel good BTW... I think it's worth mentioning that running does indeed use different muscles than skating so in stead of feeling slightly tight in just my adductors and glutes I am now also feeling tight in the hamstrings and tensor. I can expect a nice muscle ache in my quads to be added to that tomorrow after doing one legged squats on a balancing board today (preventing ankle sprains). The strength training was nice.. I haven't lost as much strength compared to last time as I expected. And PA-LEASE can we do something about bulky, suntanned gym douche bags!? Usch.

So there you go. A not-so-good day. Those are important too. If it was easy, everybody would be super fit all the time. ;)

First weeks plans

Now that I know where I stand, I can slowly start devising a plan. I'll start with a one week program and see how I feel at the end of that. We usually have derby mondays, thursdays and sundays, but just this week the thursday moved to friday.

Intervals: 10x7, 8x(2x10, 1x6), 10x6 (here you can read on what this means)

Friday - 2 hours of derby training
Saturday - intervals + strength training
Sunday - 2 hours of derby training (including some dedicated strength with MADicken)
Monday - 1 hour of derby training (probably)
Tuesday - intervals + strength training
Wednesday - no time. (child from 6.30 to 8.00, school from 8.15 to 16.00, stables from 16.30 to 18.30, then dinner and then there's death on the sofa)
Thursday - 2 hours of derby training

I'm keeping the next two times of running on starter level because of two reasons: 1. to ease my body into more training than it has done the last couple of months, and 2. to ease my mind into it as well. I'm not Sporty Spice. It's hard for me to stay motivated and then it is important that you don't forget what is important: It is better to move a little at a time than to not move at all. So keep it easy and enjoyable. It will get harder soon enough. And I say "easy" but it's not like I didn't break a sweat ;).

So what strength training to do? 

Well obviously the whole body is needed. But I just don't have the time between my studies, family and derby to put in such thorough training. So choices have to be made.

I will leave the legs for now... They get trained while training derby and while running. They will need explosiveness, but that will come later in the program once my general fitness is at a higher level.

The part of utmost importance is, as always, your core. Every movement you make originates in your core. That goes for everyday life as well as for derby. What's your core? Imagine wearing a corset that reaches from just underneath your breasts down to your pelvis... That IS your core. Your core is exactly like that but sits just underneath your skin (and possibly some fat). It is several groups of muscles that work together to make sure you can stand up straight without collapsing at the waist. It is the groups of muscles that can keep you in derby stance.

So... back lifts, side lifts, sit-ups, diagonal sit-ups, plank, sideways plank, etc. Take your pick and make sure you get all sides.

I really think a strong upper back and shoulders is important too. Derby people never seem to think of this and hardly ever agree with me on this, but I'm a stubborn almost-physiotherapist, so i'm going for it anyways: whenever you fall on more than just your knees or get a really hard hit, your shoulders and neck always have to absorb a lot of energy. Your shoulders are the most unstable joint in your body and are not built to take that kind of force. The only stabilizing factors there are some ligaments (untrainable) and muscles (very trainable!). So let's strengthen that area up and prevent injuries! (plus a trained upper back and shoulders are just god damn sexy!)

A trained woman's back... so beautifull.

I don't really want to write a strength training program here, It's not the main focus of my goal and what works well really depends on the individual so if you need inspiration on which exercises to do, look around online. If you have specific questions I can surely try to answer them. I like answering questions, so go ahead! :)

Keeping track

So, today I went to the gym to see where i'm at and to be honest, I am very positively surprised on how much capacity lingered around from when I stopped running last year. Of course I have been skating at least twice a week, but I had still expected a much worse result than what I got today.

To be able to keep track and to compare later results with earlier ones you need a way of record keeping and a way of testing that is easily repeatable (for example always the same part of a trail or just on a treadmill or something like that). Since there is still lots of snow here (and more to come) I have decided to make my "test environment" the treadmill. There I can easily keep track of time, speed and heart rate. Those three parameters are linked together like your skin is linked to you. So if you want to asses how fit you are you need to be able to have some sort of measure of all three of those.

Time is of course no problem! Stopwatch, phone, watch, etc.
Speed is also easily come by. You either run on a treadmill which will tell you your speed (NOT comparable to outdoors), you know how long the trail you use is and calculate it with using the time measurement or you can even use the GPS in your phone. If you have an iPhone there are a ton of aps that can help you with that. When I ran outdoors I used to like "1, 2, 3, run!" or "Runkeeper."
Heartrate can be a bit trickier. If you are serious about your training it is well worth it to by a pulse watch. It exists of a band that you wear around your chest (just under the bottom band of your bra) that sends the signal to either a wristwatch or a gym machine. You could of course also use the metal handgrips of the treadmill/bike/crosstrainer so that your heart rate shows up on the display, but I don't recommend it since those are usually not placed in the most ideal positions. Another option is to use a self estimation scale. It's a scale invented by a dude called Borg and goes from 5 to 20. You estimate how exerting your current level of activity is where 5 means laying on the sofa and 20 means "water.... need... wa-..." Smart people have found out that a Borg estimation times 10 roughly equals current heart rate in the estimator: a Borg estimation of exertion of 17 roughly equals a heart rate of about 170. If you are about 20 to 25 years old, that is. The problem with this is that it is of course a lot less objective than a measurement of your actual heart rate: "*panting*... *coughing* I think I feel.. like.. *more panting and stumbling* .. mwoah.. 9?"

Ok, my way of record keeping for this first goal will be like this:

10x7, 8x(2x10, 1x6), 10x6 (heart rates: 175 - 165)

Wich means: a warm up of 10 mins of walking at 7 km/h then 8 sets of 2 mins of jogging at 10 km/h followed by 1 min of walking at 6 km/h, closed of by a cooling down of 10 mins of walking at 6 km/h. The two heart rates is the highest heart rate measured during the last run and the lowest heart rate measured during the minute that followed that run (of course it will go down more after that).

Why do I want the heart rates there? Because I probably could do the running parts at 12 km/h right now, but my heart rate would go up accordingly since it would be a much heavier thing to do. So only writing down what you can do is not a measure of your fitness. Also knowing how easy it was to do what you did tells you how fit you are.

Where do you stand? (or step 2.)

In the previous post I talked about there being two important things to start with. Here's the second one:

2. How close to your goal are you?

Your current training level has a huge impact on what the first weeks of your program will look like. It influences how you train: which activity, which intensity, which dose? If you are a beginner (NO other physical activity than needed for work and daily living) you will have to take into account that you have to start at a much lower intensity than you might think. This has at least two reasons: 1. it helps you wanting more and 2. it eases your body into the notion of training so you wont hurt yourself. 

I haven't done any running in a very long while. I basically stopped a few months after I started skating. The snow was disappearing so why spend time running if you can skate!? Well, this time I will do both! But since I have no clue on my level now, I will have to test that in the gym tomorrow. 

Important things to remember:

• To be out of breath and to be in some pain (burning sensation in your muscles) is not dangerous. 
• Listen to your body, your joints should not be in any pain. 
• If it's hard to stay motivated, the intensity of your training is too high! (to keep going is MUCH more important than anything else)
• Keep some sort of record where you can check your progress.
• You get good at what you train, but...
• Variation will let you book progress. 
• To gain health effect you need at least 3 times a week 30 minutes of heart rate heightening activity (for the kind of fitness we're going for you need more than that).

Next post will probably be on choosing intensity based on goal and current level and tools to find that level while training.

Designing a personal program, step 1.

My cold feels as if I might be ready to start my journey tomorrow, so let's get ready! :)

Where to start? Well, two things are important to know, we can start with the first one today:

1. What is your goal? 
Be specific! "I want to be a jammer." Is not a goal you can work with. You could put on a jammer panty and you've done it. What do you need to be a good jammer? LOADS.. yeah.. well.. let's break it down to something you can measure and let's make it something that is functional (running the 100m in under 11 secs is really only very functional when you compete in that line of sport or when you need to catch a bus). When I look at jammers that impress me, I notice a few things: speed, agility, fun, explosiveness, speed adjustments and the big one for me... being able to have all that during intervals of two minutes. That last one is what I will be calling fitness through out this series: the ability to keep control and speed during intervals for a longer period of time (or to have a lower pulse while performing the same thing).

My goal would be to be able to jam every third jam during 3 x 20 mins (to begin with). That means I can skate my lungs out one jam, catch my breath during the second and prepare for the fourth during the third jam.

Unfortunately due to the mechanics of the game (lead jammers calling off jams, not getting lead jam and having to do a full jam of chasing the lead jammer) this goal can't really be standardized and is therefor not very suitable. In stead I want to be able to run (not jog, run) 8 x 2 mins with 1 min of walking in between. I am not a runner by any means. At the moment a very slow jog gets me up to at least 80% of my max pulse (more about those numbers in later posts).

Goals should be:
- specific (what, when, how)
- measurable
- reachable
- small (the big fat goal of being the MVP at the Olympics can only be reached in a safe way by taking small steps... and reaching a goal every so often is much more motivating than not reaching any goals until you hit the big one)

Good luck with defining your goal! :)

Who's with me?

I have finally collected enough courage to decide to do this...

 I want to be a jammer. 

There, I said it. Now I better make it happen. Yes I'm big, but both Mad Maloony, Gothenburg and my teammates have shown me that body checks not holding on me can be a real asset. The part that lacks most right now is fitness though. I've said it before... a jammer needs to be able to skate full speed during two minutes while constantly adjusting her direction and speed based on the other "traffic" and she can't die at the end because there are plenty more jams to be skated. Two minutes is a long time to be stop-start-sprinting.

So when I reach my goal I can do this without losing control based on exhaustion. It's all about control! 

But now, after a year of skating, I have decided to no longer wimp out. I am going to do it. I have the knowledge of training physiology to do it, so why not apply it to myself? Once this cold is gone, I'm back in the gym and getting my interval fitness up! I know Miss Maniac was talking about needing a higher level of fitness... who else is with me?

It's always more fun to have a goal together with others than to try and keep up the discipline by your self.

January girl

So.. I set out to write about our teams disco-themed calendar and to show off the january pic of me and Evil Fairy, but ended up writing about training in stead...

Here is the pic anyways. My mum didn't recognize me. She opened the calendar at january, exclaimed how gorgeous it was (me thinking she was talking about me) to then continue through the calendar saying that she wanted to find MY picture before we went on with any of the other christmas unwrapping... yeah...

The fine line...

We now have a ten week period in front of us in which we want to get ready for a bout that's important to us and having been to the bootcamp with Swede and Loony I have a much better view on which "old" things we can improve on without getting into some new stuff. Let's not run before we can crawl, sort of. Well.. we can crawl, quite well, but let's be the best at crawling efficiently, beautifully, powerfully and perfectly balanced before we start running.

So five days ago we had our first real training of the new year. Badass had booked the hall for two hours which I love. Two hours is just perfect! You can focus on individual physical training (fitness and strength) as well as have time to do some team or tactical training. But since we were going to focus on "crawling" first we didn't do much tactical training this time. I had set a challenge to myself: design a training that would make everybody feel like they wanted to either die or punch me in the face but still design and execute it in such a way that EVERYbody would participate from start to finish (and thus feel great about accomplishing that). Judging from this post by MADicken, a declaration of love from Badass and the posts on Facebook, I succeeded. Yay!

This first period within the 10 week period will be a tough one. We have to improve our derby stance. We have been lazy and assumed it was only the freshies that needed to get lower, but we all need to get lower (me most of all).

This on skates, with your arms close to your body comes close to derby stance.

To be able to hold this form, you need a super strong core, so the training was directed both at training the core sections individually and doing drills in this position (to train all the muscles involved at once and to train the movement memory). Of course you need the thighs and the ass as well, but those tend to get trained by regular non- specific skating training anyways without noticing ;).

I was so proud of all that were there. Everybody fought to the end. It's nice to succeed in creating a training that dances on that fine line of wanting to die an early death vs completing.

Tomorrow is another two hour training... I wonder what I will come up with now...