okay

so since Kyle called in sick on Tuesday we moved Death Paces to Saturday AM.  Which kinda sucked, because after I was done I was so drained that I slept most of the afternoon.  Whoops.

He had me doing new stuff (step stuff and a different kind of leg press and bicycle crunches and arm stuff).  Whee.  So I got home and slept, like I said.

So I think I've said, or if I haven't, I have been off skates since around Thanksgiving, to give my hamstring a chance to calm itself down.  Anyway, I went to practice this morning and....

it didn't horrifically suck.

I wasn't doing anything big and all-out and whatever, and my left leg made its presence known, but I wasn't gasping and crying in pain or whatever.  We'll see what happens.  Our tryouts are the first week of February, so there's still a little time.  We'll see what happens.

okay

so last I left off, I was going to go in late on Tuesday, which I did.  Puttered through my routine, stopped doing leg curls when my calf (of all things) started making itself known, and stopped doing assisted pulls when my elbow started hurting. Stupid elbow.

Rode one of the bikes for my cardio because I wanted to watch TV.  Thought about American Idol but ended up going with Biggest Loser.  Good Lord I would punch Jillian in the mouth on a daily basis if I was there. (But that's probably the point - rage is a good motivator.)

whelp

Kyle left a message on the answering machine this morning - he had to call in sick so he won't be able to put me through Death Paces tonight.  He said to call the club and try and figure out a time to reschedule. We'll see what he's got.

This actually works out for me because I can go in later than usual tonight and see Maverick off to bed.

it's been a few days

So lemme think.  Friday was my usual routine.  I did leg curls and my hamstring DID NOT BOTHER ME AT ALL.  KNOCK ON WOOD.  So that was exciting.  Then, I did my cardio.

I'd just gotten the DVD of our last bout, and when I watched it I couldn't believe how fucking SLOW I skated. Good Lord, I was watching myself yelling (well, not really, but you know what I mean) "SKATE FASTER, SKATE FASTER!" but I know when I was in the moment I was going as fast as I could.

So, I went on what I think is called the gazelle machine?  It seemed to replicate skating motions.  Anyway, I set it for half an hour.  I'd do a minute going as fast as I could (stride rate over 180) and then two minutes with a stride rate of 130.  I kept uping the time I went fast until I could do a full two minutes with a stride rate over 180.  Since a jam is two minutes long at most, that's the fastest I would ever need to skate in one chunk of time.

Except then I remembered that part of the WFTDA (Women's Flat Track Derby Association) requirements is that you have to be able to skate 25 laps in five minutes.  Crap.

So that was Friday.  Saturday I ate too much.

Sunday I was all set to go to the gym, and then I got horrendously, horrendously, horrifically pissed over an e-mail exchange I was going through, and I got all consumed in my rage and pisseditude.  I started throwing together stuff to go to the gym - packing a change of clothes, since I figured I'd wear my gym stuff there.  Then I realized I probably shouldn't since I was gonna wear shorts and it was cold out, so I changed into civilian clothes.

See what I missed?

I get to the gym and realize I have packed a pair of jeans and I am wearing a pair of jeans.

I was so pissed that I just went home.  I did go sledding later, and trudging up the hill in full winter gear was cardio, right?  And I actually managed to pull my 65 pound kid up the hill on his sled for more than a fair amount of footage, so that's something, right?

RIGHT?

Friday

so tonight's my gym night. I'm actually looking forward to it.  Scary.  My sister commented yesterday how I like being busy, and going to the gym satisfies that need.  Could be. 

onward and upward

so this morning was another "maybe I'll get up early and go to the gym and elliptical" that just didn't pan out.

I am prefacing the following statement with the biggest KNOCK ON WOOD I can come up with.  So,

KNOCK ON WOOD

When I was working with Kyle on Tuesday, he had me do these hamstring stretches that involved bending from the waist, keeping my back as straight as possible, while holding a large (sized) barbell with a small (maybe 10 pounds?) weight on it.  He had me do this a few times.

Since then, my hamstring has hardly given me any trouble at all.

KNOCK ON WOOD

I miss skating.  I haven't skated since the night before Thanksgiving.  Partially because I want to give the hamstring a rest, partially because the only time I'd be able to skate now is Wednesday nights at the Adult Skate Night at the rink where we practice, and Sunday mornings.  I do like to spend some time with my family, so I stay home Wednesday nights, and Sunday mornings I go to the gym.  Maybe I will go to Adult Skate night next week.

indeed

so I met with Vinny (had his name spelled wrong) and was initially very discouraged.  A setup of Kyle and Vinny meant basically a deal of more scheduled trainer time (which, when you put roller derby practice back in, meant that I would be out 6 nights a week) and more money.  But then I talked to Kyle yesterday during my Death Paces and he said he wouldn't be offended if I stopped going to him, and I really do need to get this thing fucking taken care of, so once my 6 sessions with Kyle are up (I have two more), I will go to Vinny.  I can put my extra training later in the night, so I can be around when Maverick is awake and all that.

He's having me do a food diary, which I am officially starting today.  For the past two days, it's been something like this:

Breakfast: coffee and Greek yogurt
Lunch: Lean Cuisine entree
Afternoon Snack: anything in the house that is not nailed down
Dinner: Roy's chicken fettucine alfredo
Evening Snack: anything in the house that is not nailed down

I need to work on those snacks.

So yesterday was more Death Paces with Kyle.  He had me do a few different things, arm presses and bicep curls and bicycle crunches and other stuff that sort of became a blur.  Between exercises he will have me jump on an elliptical and go for X amount of time keeping my pace above Y number.  He told me my endurance was definitely improving, which suprised me.

(Here begins the long introspective part.)

I never would've thought that it had, unless he'd mentioned it.  I don't pick up on subtle change.  Sure, I can add more weight to a machine, but it doesn't occur to me that it means I am getting stronger.  I never would've realized my arms are getting stronger if I hadn't thought "Oh gee I should try doing a pushup" and then being able to do ten bent-knee ones where I couldn't even do one before.  I don't notice that my clothes are getting baggier until I'm able to pull my jeans down completely without unbuttoning and unzipping them.  I'm not sure what that means.

(And thus endeth the long instrospective part.  I guess it wasn't that long after all.)

Then it was cardio time.  Put me in front of network reality TV and I will elliptical until my feet fall off.  Seriously.  I was watching Biggest Loser (without sound; I didn't have an FM receive to get audio) and was *transfixed*.  It was like "gee, that trainer lady looks like she yells a lot" and the next thing I know 40 minutes have gone by.

Maverick is going to a friend's house after school, so that gives me a little time to run to the gym and do some more cardio.  Whee!