Hiit Hiit Hooray

I am in love with HIIT.
Why? Because it’s quick, it’s flexible (in regards to where you can do it and what kind of equipment is required) and it’s effective.

If you think about our sport, we play in intervals of 2 minutes, full throttle, and generally have a few minutes to recover.  Therefore, it makes sense to prep your mind and body for this type of exertion and recovery.

I am so passionate about this type of workout, and so please feel free to message me or come and talk to me if you see me at a practice or tournament, because I could go on for HOURS about different workout ideas and routines.

Anyways, yesterday the gym was closed at my work, so I came up with this workout to do in the hallway outside the change rooms.  I used a set of 8lb weights and a 6lb medicine ball I found outside the gym doors.  You don’t always need to lift heavy, as long as you are breaking a sweat, keeping your heart rate up and completing enough reps to feel the burn (try completing the exercise in a slower and controlled movement to really push yourself).  Honestly, I prefer lighter weight when I’m using free weights.

February 24, 2015
Warm-up:
5 rounds of 30 reps – Scissor Jumps/Air Squats/Push-ups

21/15/12/10 reps –
Front raises (8lbs each hand)/Mountain Climbers on Bosu/Side Skaters

3 rounds of 20 reps –
V-Ups (w/8lb weight)/Ab toe touches (6lb med ball)Russian Twists (6lbs w/med ball)

My core was burning.

February 25, 2015

Today the weight room was open! I felt like I needed to kick my own butt after a week of eating all kinds of bad food and consuming all kinds of bad drinks and falling off the wagon of my usual routine (birthday week!).  I felt like I needed to remind my body what it’s supposed to be preparing for every day (high intensity interval training, not marathon couch potato-ing) and also really wanted to sweat out all dem celebratory toxins! SO much Sangria and Fries and Cider.

So here was today’s workout at the gym!

Warm-up:
5 rounds of 20 reps:
Kettlebell Swings – 30lbs
Squats – 30lbs
Deadlifts – 65lbs

21/18/15/12/9/6/3 reps of:
Power cleans – 65lbs
Sit ups

21/15/10 reps of:
Back Squats – 65lbs
Bent over flys – 10lbs each hand

Cable Machine:
3 sets of 15 reps: Woodchoppers/one arm lateral raise (30 lbs)
3 sets of 5 reps: Chin ups

Full body killer workout complete.  No treadmill or Elpitical required.

If you google any of these exercises and click images, there should be an explanation of how they look! Have fun ;) ENDORPHINS are the BEST DRUG.

Feelin’ Fresh ;)

I haven’t written in awhile and have to admit that a lot has happened since my last entry. I would say however, that the biggest change over the course of the past few months has been my perspective of Roller Derby. Just as the game is ‘ever evolving’ so is my relationship with it. In previous entries (if you go back a year or two) there was definitely a sense of excitement and infatuation for an ‘alternative’ game and sub-culture that I feel has shifted greatly as the sport has continued to progress.

At first I wanted to completely immerse myself in this newfound community. Why? Because I, like many others (but not all of you) who have discovered and joined this “rebellious” and still seemingly “underground” athletic movement, was running away from something.

As the years have passed I have had the opportunity to hide behind a persona, re-create myself and my story. How many people have that chance to do that?

At the time I felt like this was something that I needed to do. However, after being a member of this community for almost four years, I have actually felt like the real me has kind of bubbled up to the surface and I’m learning to be “okay” with that.

Truth is, I am ridiculously shy. Very very shy. I don’t even like talking on the phone or ordering food in a restaurant (this may be borderline something else, but I’ll stick with “shy”). Previous to derby, this trait tended to get me classified as rude or standoffish or worse, and I hated feeling judged in that way. And so, when I joined up with a bunch of strangers to start a league, this was one of the first “defects” about myself that I felt I could finally disguise. I decided I would transform from lame introvert to some sort of ‘mysterious’, restrained character with a hardened glare. It worked okay for awhile, but honestly, I started to realize that I do really like people…and hugs…and laughing…and being a goof…and so it seems now that the self-possessed mask of mystery is wearing thin.

Also, around the time I started skating, I decided to come out to family and friends. It wasn’t the most favorite time in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I am so glad I did it and I am also so blessed with amazing people who love me unconditionally, so that was great….however, the hardest part was actually accepting myself and how I fit in to the life I had created.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that my love for Roller Derby has shifted to a passion and respect for a competitive sport, whereas before I feel as though I looked at it as a hiding place.
I have been able to reconnect with a part of myself that I had buried away and realized that it’s okay if I’m not some kind of superhero. I don’t need a mask anymore to find my strength.

True emancipation began by slowly accepting who I am, by admitting all of my flaws and quirks, and being bad ass enough to be willing to work on them.

I want to share this chapter now.

Many of you may just be starting your own journey, or maybe you are at the end of it, or perhaps you wrote a completely different book. I just wanted to share how I have begun to find my own sense of purpose and belonging. A couple of really close friends of mine once said “you do a lot of work on your outside, but you also have to do a lot of work on your inside”. As cheesy as it sounds, it’s true.

Having goals and creating ways to get there has become my new existence. It is about connecting the mind and body. No matter what your goals are (emotional, physical or mental growth), we all should have something to strive for, and then take ownership of how we plan to make it happen.

So here, in this blog, you will find entries about what keeps me ticking in regards to being a Roller Derby Athlete. Cross-Training Workouts, recipes and other tips and tricks I have learned along the way.

If you have questions feel free to leave a comment and I will try my best to answer, or you can message me on Facebook.

Today’s Workout

WARM UP:

Olympic Bar – 45lbs

5 rounds of 20 reps: Thrusters, Deadlifts, Front Squats

WOD:
21/18/15/12/10 – Deadlifts (95lbs), Box Jumps, Sit-ups

3 rounds – 5 reps Chin-ups, 10 reps External Rotation with Cable Machine (both arms)

3 rounds – 15 reps each: Seated Row, Wood Choppers (both sides)

Total Time: 45min

Overwhelmed.

A Day in the Life…

I make a ton of commitments.
Stress about not being able to complete them all.
Lock myself out of my house.
Realize I lost my house keys.
Definitely do not complete any of my desired tasks.
Somehow smash the top of my head with the hatchback of my car while attempting to slam it in a quiet rage because I have lost my house keys.
Curse quietly about my self-inflicted mildly concussed brain injury.
Realize all my issues aren’t really ‘issues’, but opportunities.
Feel so ridiculous that I even feel sorry for myself for even a tenth of a second.
Realize that we are our own biggest critic.
Understand that I need to cut myself some slack.
Find my housekeys right where they are supposed to be.  In a place I checked probably ten times already.
Vow to believe that nobody gives a shit about how imperfect I am.
Remember that those that count know my heart and love me and all my faults.
Treat myself to a healthy meal and some chocolate.
Cherish the love in my life.
Thank the universe for each day I am given.
Try and get a good night’s sleep.

Cheers

Enjoying the view from up here.  Riding a wave that will surely at some point have to reach the shore and toss me tumbling into the sands of reality.  But for now I am breathing deeply and sucking in the refreshing sea breeze, letting my lungs fill with the taste of change and possibility.
This is paradise. 
As the year comes to an end I am thankful for so many things.  For a (somewhat) healthy body which allows me to go where I want to go and the opportunity to physically push myself to new limits.
Having the chance to participate in Team Canada try-outs this month was a dream come true and a very specific goal that I had worked towards for more than two years.  Skating amongst my heroes and my friends in the town where I first put on a pair of roller-skates was a surreal and an unforgettable moment.
Waiting to hear back on the results, I am totally at peace.  I left it all on the track and accept this path I’m on.
It is no longer up to me.
Though the past year has presented some incredibly difficult tests and tough lessons I am able to say that I have no regrets and am grateful for every experience that has shaped my heart and soul and placed me where I am right now.
I have fallen in love again with skating.  With competing.
I am ready to make new goals.  Ready to work.

I have also fallen in love with life again.  With the pain and sorrows and the wild tornadoes that spin you around and drop you in the most unexpected and unexplored places.

It all happens for a reason and here I am, feeling so incredibly lucky and excited about my future.
The fact that I get to spend the holidays with my family and friends and share this part of my life with a very special someone…the fact that I will end this year with nothing but hope in my heart and new experiences to look forward to…

Honestly, anything else that might happen…well that’ll just be gravy.

Patience Grasshopper

Just give it time.
Things will get better in time.
In good time.
You just need some time.

Whether you are physically or emotionally ‘broken’, this tends to be the type of advice handed down to you by the currently healthy and happy people in your life.
It’s hard to hear.  It’s hard to believe.
It’s easy to retort with thoughts like, “But you’re not broken.  You cannot understand how this pain feels.  You do not know if it will get better.  How can you tell me that?”

I am writing this now because I have been through it.  I have experienced the pain and uncertainty of broken bones and a broken spirit.

And though, until recent time, I would have been the last person to have believed it, please know that time truly does heal all wounds.

In the past couple of years I have experienced what seemed to be an unsurmountable amount upheavel in my life.  Throughout this time friends, family and co-workers continually repeated those cliche words of wisdom, “it will get better”.  They would continue to promise me this whenever I expressed complete and utter hopelessness… and for awhile I have to admit I was convinced that everyone on this planet was a liar and had no idea the pain I was experiencing.

However, one important truth I have learned from all of this is that we have all, as human beings, suffered broken parts, whether they be broken bones or broken relationships.

And as human beings, we have the ability to recover.

The proof is in the pudding.

In terms of tangible physical injuries:
When I was 14 I broke both my Fibula and Tibia during a soccer game at the beginning of my season.
The E.R Doctor informed me I would most likely never play soccer again (jerk).
After months wrapped up in casts, hobbling around in crutches and being pushed around in a wheelchair, there was physio, the removal of the cast, then a pulled groin, and therefore even more physio…
At times when I was trapped in bed and just day dreaming about being able to walk up the stairs, I started to believe I would never be able to be the athlete I once was.  My dreams of playing for Team Canada someday were drifting further and further away.
That’s when doctors and friends and family would give me the whole, “in good time” speech.
How dare they.
However, just maintining even a speck of hope and belief that it would get better at some point in time, kept me going and with every day that passed, it was a tiny bit better than the day before.

I was able to return to the sport I loved by the following season and ended up playing for about five more years before having to give it up for school and work and other unexpected life events.
Never could I have imagined the path my life would take and the passion and fufilliment I would later find in a sport that some of you might have heard of…Roller Derby.  And another chance at that coveted Team Canada dream.

In terms of emotinal injury, loss and the broken heart, I have this experience to share…
Just a months ago my perspective on love was this:

“I have loved. And lost.  The results are that I am perpetually confused, sad and anxious.  I have allowed myself to love and lose and love again and lose again.  I am reaching the conclusion that I really don’t want to keep doing that.  I’d rather be alone for the remainder of my years than to torture myself with the ongoing of relationships which require feelings of absolute desperation, self-doubt and the questioning of who I truly am. 
So. Lost.
Currently I have delved in to my writing in hopes in hopes of gaining some understanding, forgiveness and self-reflection.  I am hoping I can pull myself out of this melancholy existence.
I know that life is a beautiful gift and that things could be worse, so much worse.  However, I just feel like life could be a lot less complicated without love.  Feelings just end up hurting.  Or even worse…turning into numbness.  I am numb.  
I want a simple existence. I want to have a good head on my shoulders.  I want to feel happiness and make other people in my life happy.  I feel like I just keep failing everyone.
Sure, heartache inspires art and is a universal experience, however it is also extremely fucking painful.
Why bother.”

FLASH FORWARD to RIGHT NOW and I can tell you this:
I am hopeful.  I am excited.  I am terrified, but I am ready and willing to keep trying.

Sure, life is potentially a bit simpler without the involvement of emotion or the consideration of other human beings, however it is also a lot less exciting.  I want to live my life to the fullest.  Part of that is learning from past mistakes, appreciating every lesson, and trying again.  It is about not ‘banking’ on something when it doesn’t turn out.  Because you never know where the path you are on is going to take you, and who might be waiting around the next corner.  The dreams you had that now seem no longer possible can change, will change,  into new dreams, different dreams, better dreams.

Scars are beautiful.  They tell a story.  They are proof that you are a survivor.  Scaped knees, stitches, dents and painful memories only provide proof that you, my friend, have lived, taken risks, and allowed yourself to be vulnerable.

So do it again.  Go ahead and jump! As high as you can! Trip, fall down, fall hard, and get back up.  Dust yourself off, take however long it takes to nurse your wounds, and then get out there and try again.

It just keeps getting better.  Just give it some time.

ox

Gone Mental

“Mental toughness is the psychological attribute that separates greatness from mediocrity.”
David Carnes

It is difficult to write about your life experiences when you are completely confounded by them.

When I have stopped to ponder why I haven’t written for so long I considered blaming it on a lack of inspiration.  So then I questioned myself, “What do you need to inspire you?”

Well I started this blog when I discovered Roller Derby, and at the time the topic and experiences surrounding my involvement in the sport were so exciting that I felt compelled to share them or at least just get them down on paper (or amongst the interwebs).  The focus was clear….I loved skating and everything involved with skating and it was taking over my life in the most intense yet alluring way.  Once discovering my passion for the sport, suddenly I had new goals and plans and felt confident that I knew exactly what I wanted.

So the question becomes, “has derby become less exciting or alluring?”

… well no.

But things are definitely different.

When I first put on my skates and participated in my first bouts, I was enthralled with the duality, the concept of an ‘alter-ego’, and the ability to hide behind of mask of make-up and protective gear.  It started to affect my everyday life, as I begun to truly believe that my superhero persona was a separate person living a separate life that wasn’t really mine.

She did what she wanted, she took risks, she seemed extremely exciting, mysterious and interesting.  She made bold choices and made huge life declarations without worrying about judgement or consequence.  However, after a while, the super hero cape and phone booth fantasy began to fade and I realized all the dream chasing I had been doing was actually affecting my real existence, and happiness, on this earth.

The Clark Kent of my reality was freaking out.  The day job, the office clothes, the purpose of this other half, was becoming less and less recognizable.

The amount of commitment to play on such a competitive team is…well… a lot.  Not only was I skating a minimum of 3 times a week but cross-training practically 5 days a week and when I had an hour or two lying in bed before passing out at night, I was visualizing and strategizing and planning my next move.

The extreme amount of focus and energy being concentrated on Superman…was really starting to piss off poor ol’Clark.

I know I have been back and forth about this subject for a while now but with the season technically ‘over’ it has given me a chance to breathe and truly digest it all.  This is no longer some kind of fantasy.  This sport has no longer become my ‘outlet’ or my way to participate in a lifestyle I secretly wished was my own.

It has become my reality.

I no longer ‘wish I was an athlete in training’. Or daydream what it would have been like if I would  have had the coaching, the support, the training. Or wonder where my life would be if I moved to the city someday.

I am an athlete in training.  I’m not chasing some kind of crazy pipe dream or wild lifestyle, I am pursuing a serious career in full contact highly competitive sport.  I have changed jobs and homes and familiarity for it.

For me I guess the biggest lesson I’ve learned this season is that there is a lot to be said about a strong ‘mental game’.  Luckily I have so many experienced and wise team mates whom have not only bestowed relevant advice, but have also been impressive examples of how to keep it together when you are on the track and part of a team.

The opportunities I have had, the caliber of athletes I have been able to skate with and learn from, the new places I have gotten to see –  there is nothing I would trade in the world for these experiences.  But I feel like I am ready for a reality check.

Yes I could die tomorrow (as I have preached in previous posts) and yes I want to live my life to the fullest and chase my highest excitements and push myself as far as I can go, but I also want to love the shit out of people and laugh and ENJOY all the little parts of life as well.  Thankfully my team mates have become wonderful additions to my derby life as well as my personal life.  I have found some very special people and am so happy and thankful for that.

So in continuation of the ‘mental game’ lesson…going into next season (and starting right now) I am going to continue to focus on balance.  I have spent a lot of my life punching and kicking my way through closed doors and half-open windows, ready to take on anyone or anything….but really….a bit of meditation and a ‘warrior pose’ or two might be just as gratifying.   Learning to be a little (or a lot) more flexible as well as  learning who I am on and off the track could be the secret to becoming an even more fierce competitor as well as attaining healthier mind, body and soul.

Workin’ on it.

SATURDAY JUNE 1, 2013

Saturday.

So this post will be written from my phone and in point form because I am on my way to the venue.

Today started with sleeping in until 10am.
Followed by a big breakfast of bacon,eggs,peanut butter on rye toast and hash browns….and two cups of coffee.  Yes.

I was again happily distracted by housework since not only were my parents stopping by, but I also have the privilege of hosting some NWO derby girls after the after party.

Around 3:30pm we made smoothies. Soy milk, frozen fruit and Vega mix.

So far so good with the nerves. Playing with really cute bulldogs helps.

I have surges of adrenaline but I just embrace it. I’m ready.

At 4:15 we started getting dressed. Fresh laundered uniforms.

We split a Kind bar and now are hydrating with a sports drink enroute to the venue. Playlist on louuuuuuud

I am excited.

Time to skate.