Giggity

Another fun practice yesterday. Anarchy was at the helm, aided by Faux Paul, and we had a new skater (with gear!) in addition to 6 skaters. Drills, water breaks, and more drills filled the practice. Also, there was some questionably large amounts of sweating going on, much of it by me...

Anarchy started practice out by laying out a goddamn minefield of cones about the track. Some areas were designated as 'sticky-skate weaving' areas, others for toe-stop walks/runs, and a couple other activities that wouldn't be out of place on one of those jacked-up Japanese game shows where the contestants inevitably get beat down by cosplay enthusiasts. We slowly got going on the track, some faster than others, and went through the obstacle course. Good times, and by good times I mean screw plow stops. Once we were warmed/loosened up we got to stretch and then setup shop for some endurance work which involved variations on sticky-skate, cross-overs and squats in regions of the track, and finally built up towards the good stuff...

Now when I say good stuff, I don't mean the drills/skills which are most useful to me, but rather the stuff that I draw pictures of and then stick on the fridge. I may not be good at all of 'the good stuff' but I really enjoy it, even if I feel like it may kill me. First up was some jammer-style toe-stop starts. Now when it comes to skating, I am far from the fastest guy on the team, but this I can get into. I'll never be a jammer, unless they change the rules and you score by having the pack lap the jammer, but being the first one off the line is something I can get on board with. Get low, lean forward and run as hard as you can to avoid face-planting, usually resulting in respectable forward acceleration. Granted, only about half of the team was present, but I was happy to see that I was in the top half of those present, being beaten by Captain Obvious (taller than me, but only 75% the weight) and Beeswhacks (card-carrying skate-ninja and 66% of my bodyweight). Fun stuff, and if I lose weight/get stronger I might be able to challenge them someday... but I'm still not gonna be a jammer.

Later we got to do some hit drills. Unlike our initial hit drills, which more or less relied on using sheer impact force to get results, we worked on specific portions of contact, specifically hip checks and then full body checks. Since I come fully equipped with a 'big-backyard', the hip checks weren't terribly difficult to initiate, but I still need practice to make them particularly useful. Most of my hits felt about a step off for the day, but not the end of the world. We later did some pack work which was helpful for moving around at speed, starting/stopping as a pack, and giving/receiving/observing hits in close quarters.

With only a few minutes to go, and sweat having long since turned my white t-shirt clear, Anarchy declared we were doing the 25-in-5, which I had figured we would have done at the start of practice if it was coming. I figured wrong, so very wrong... The last time I tried I managed 23 laps, which was after nearly 3 weeks off skates. I had spent the last week skating more than usual, and was looking to see some improvement, even if it only meant making 24 laps when I tried again, though trying at the end of a 2-hour practice made me question whether or not I would be able to hold my previous count. Turns out all that extra wheel-time, the new bearings, and the fact that I really didn't want to puke all that water I had just drank came together to push me through. All 25 laps came and went and I can cross that one off the list of required basic skills. Managed to stump out crossovers almost the entire time, even after the left leg turned into dead weight around lap 8. On top of that I didn't hurl all over the track like I thought I was going to. Yay me!


Goal for the week: Practice plow stops until they are actual stops. If necessary, careen towards groups of little kids for motivation to actually stop.