Dixie Smash!! (into walls...)

Thank goodness for helmets! I spun out crossing through a corner last night and bounced my head off a wall. Other than a mild headache I was fine and I doubt my helmet sustained enough damage to warrant replacing, but I'll check it out. Otherwise practice was good. Scrimmages(which I seem to have lost my focus at), slaloms, and the Wall of Pain were the standouts last night.

I rally think we need more people to be familiar with the rules of derby, as we have a LOT of penalties during scrimmages. Back blocking and track cutting are the two that I see most commonly and I know that my worst offense is definitely back blocking. Jenga and I were on opposing teams and she knows that I can be a problem for jammers so she would engage me and keep me busy with her rather than watching for the jammers. A good strategy that blasted me every time. Suck for me, good for her, and it made me glad that we play for the same team.

The single slalom line was a slalom drill and quite typical. Once again I pushed my way around the track and through the line with as much speed, maneuverability, and skills as I could muster and the improvement shows, albeit slowly.

Wall of Pain. I HATE this drill. Running pyramids in school was miserable and skating them in derby isn't any better. This would be the drill where I spun out of a corner and bashed myself into the wall. I saw it coming and flung myself to my knees and backwards so I didn't collide face first and merely took the hit then sat there giggling and flashing a thumbs up sign to let the girls know that I was actually OK. I have a feeling that the fall was more spectacular to watch than I think it was, but I'm not sure really. However, after this drill was over (and I did all but the laps where I fell) I was chatting with another teammate who had been skating in my group and she said that I was really getting faster. Apparently, her training method involves pushing herself to stick with someone who is faster than she is and every lap we skated she was right with me. I kept trying to pass her and was getting frustrated that I couldn't seem to do so, but when she told me how hard she had worked to keep up with me I felt a bit better. I think some of my inability to keep up with and pass other skaters is that I have a tendency to run wide and loose in the corners as opposed to tight and narrow. If anyone has good advice about tightening up crossovers I want to hear it!

And this was practice last night. Looking forward to the next one! DL<3!!