Ass!

The last two weeks or maybe even longer I have been unwantingly scared shitless of being waltzed of the track or even waltzing others for that matter. Medium contact is fine, but I have this stupid unconcious block in my head that keeps me from trying anything more than medium. It's frustrating as hell!

Last night as an illustration I was jamming in a pack training against Badass Babuska and I just knew (or did I just assume?) she had it in for me, so instead of racing her to the first corner I decided to safely hang out behind her (great ass btw). WTF!? Why!? I'm bigger than her and I'm as fast as her, yeah fine, she has better technique, but will I ever learn if I just keep pacing behind her and never try? NO!

Disappointed Dutches.

Unfitness

With my knowledge of what fitness is, how to train it up, how not to train it and how to maintain it, I really have no excuse to be as unfit as I am. At the start of winter I was pretty fit. Not over doing it or anything but I was able to run about 7k straight while weighing about a 100 kg (yes weight matters, if you weigh 70 kg, try and run with a 30 kg backpack). Last summer I could barely run for one minute so I was pretty happy with those results. Then the snow came and I moved indoors, which went fine for a while but right around christmas (strange how that holiday always tends to effect fitness *grin*) I gave up. I hate running at a gym! I hate the feeling of people watching me in there. All those super fit people.

So, now the snow is melting and soon the ashfalts will lay bare, ready for me to run on them. I'm dreading the first week as I'm sure the results will be highly dissapointing. But I really have to. I want my skating to feel as effortless as it apearantly looks to some. In stead of it leaving me writhing on the ground hoping to die soon.

I should also order some outdoor wheels now, so I can alternate running with skating days (different pulse) once the city has cleaned up all the gravel after winter.

Do you have any spring work out plans?

Derby kisses,
Dutchess

Oldies

Yesterday's training was fantastic! I was the only newby within almost a full team of oldies and wow, did that put me back in my place! I felt so lost when acting as blocker in the pack training. They are fast,  agile and have of course a huge insight in the game compared to my next to not existing knowledge of how to turn theory into practice. I got to jam one jam as well, but I couldn't even finish it. I was exhausted half way through and had to call it. Jamming through a pack made up of 50% newbies like me feels smooth most of the time, but now I got stopped in my tracks over and over again. I wasn't counting, but it felt like I needed three laps to get through the pack the second time and then I only got through because Lady Lovely Blocks was so nice to let me get out of the pack at the front. Or was she supposed to, was she on my team?

Plusses? 

• I got to call a jam by putting my hands on my hips. Oh yeah! (hihi)
• Got my feet safely planted on the ground again, I am not as "pretty ok at this thing" as I thought I was.
• The list of stuff I need to learn grew once again.
• At least that list of stuff deals with game insight more than with technical things now.

I really wish all the newbies will get the chance to experience this so they realise how much we need to do to reach the goals of beating Stockholm and Malmö within the year and eventually reach the Slaughters Daughters goal of becoming the best in Sweden. Vi ken doo diis!!

Derby kisses,
Dutchess

Team ambitions

Last Thursday the training was cancelled in the last moment due to not enough sign-ups and I got so dissapointed. I had been looking forward to it asif it was christmas morning even though it's Thursdays that we train on the sticky floor. I love this sport so much!

The last time I remember being this enthousiastic about sports is when I was still trampolining. Oh yes. As a teenager I used to train quite a lot on those big white (blue edged) trampolines. I belonged to the junior top ten of Holland too and i LOVED doing it. Could imagine being on a trampoline several hours 5 days a week and I even got offered that chance, but my mother felt like that went too far and wanted me to stay young and unburdoned. Why trampolining you ask? I started out with gymnastics, but then had to get a big operation on my wrist at age 11. My left arm is now about 4 cm shorter than my right and that was the end of gymnastics. I figured I didn't have to cary my weight on my hands in trampolining and moved over to that in stead. So far trampolining has been the thing that I was my best at. You know, if you have to pick one thing in your life that were really good at, I would say trampolining without a doubt.

My enthusiasm for Roller Derby kinda feels the same as the joy I used to have with trampolining and I really hope that the ambitions that some of us in the team have will find enough back up with the entire team to get there. This is the first time I'm part of a team sport and now is the first time I'm starting to realise the effect of different ambitions. Everyone is different and has different goals and wishes in life as well as in Roller Derby and that is beatiful. I now have to learn to accept this even when these different goals and wishes have an effect on my own ambitions as well.

"There is no I in team."

Derby kisses,
Dutchess

Stockholm-Malmö

Lat weekend the teams from Stockholm and Malmö skated the first official bout in Sweden (congrats to Malmö). Or at least the first one with a full track officials- and ref team. Today I finally found the hole bout online and watched it. You know, when our Lady Lovelyblocks said that we can be beat either of them within the year, I thought she was just saying that to pep us up, but having seen the match and knowing how fast our team is progressing (50% of us have only been skating since two months) I think we actually can. The experienced part of our team is already at that level and we are working our asses of to catch up with them.

If we manage to get some bouts going, this will be a very very interesting year! Looking forward to it.

Derby kisses,
Dutchess

PS love our luleå team! No aspiring Italians! *hugs to all the Slaughters Daughters*

Jamming heaven

Man I love jamming! I'm not very good at it, because as I explained in a previous post, I need more agility in avoiding last minute booty blocks (breaking fast and hard and/or jumping to the sides) to avoid blocking them in the back, which is a foul. But gees I love it! I love seeing how more and more girls actually dare to throw themselves in my way. I recieved a serious tackle from MADicken today and Cherry Lawless doesn't move out of the way anymore.


My fitness isn't really good enough for being a jammer either since I need more than 2 mins to regain consiousness after a serious jam so it's time for the snow to finally disappear so I can start running again.

Derby kisses,
Dutchess

Blood!

Nah.. just a few drops that pressed themselves through my tights once I got home. I thought it was hurting a bit more than I expected. It's so funny with falls. I never really remember how I fall and then it's the marks that show up afterwards that sort of get to tell the story of how it happened.

Tonight I jammed two jams (not in a row, then I'd be dead right now) and close to the end of the second one I got tackled, lost my balance and slid on my side. Somehow I hurt myself by kicking the wheels of one foot into my shin on the other leg. But... I got up and finished the jam.

Den ska nog få fina färger tror jag

The picture isn't very good (and the injury itself isn't of the highest quality either), but I wanted to share/document it here anyways.

Derby Kisses,
Dutchess