Tuesday - 4 miles
Saturday - 6 miles
Sunday - hours of lifting chairs!
Last week was a horrible week for me on pretty much every front. Obviously, I struggled with working out. But that was mostly because I had a horrible week at work and on the personal front. I'll keep the details to myself but, suffice to say, I've had my confidence swept out from under me and I'm now filled with all kinds of negative, self-doubting emotions. It was the kind of week where you just want to say 'fuck it all', climb into bed and never come back out from under the covers. Since that's not an option, I'm hoping for better training this week... hopefully at least THAT will go well even if nothing else does!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Monday, February 13, 2012
Week 6 Shamrock
Monday - REST
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 2.5 miles, 1 hour skating
Thursday - 40 minute bike
Friday - 1 hour skate
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - 40 minute bike
I hadn't intended to rest on Monday. I had a craptastic day at work and then I got home to a puppy who had pottied her crate. She was covered in urine and so, so, so ashamed. She'd just finished up a round of antibiotics for a UTI and it appeared to have come back. She's on a 21 day round of very expensive antibiotics now so hopefully she'll feel better soon.
On Wednesday, I got back to running with the ladies running group at the DePaul Treatment Centers.
Tuesday - 4 miles
Wednesday - 2.5 miles, 1 hour skating
Thursday - 40 minute bike
Friday - 1 hour skate
Saturday - 5 miles
Sunday - 40 minute bike
I hadn't intended to rest on Monday. I had a craptastic day at work and then I got home to a puppy who had pottied her crate. She was covered in urine and so, so, so ashamed. She'd just finished up a round of antibiotics for a UTI and it appeared to have come back. She's on a 21 day round of very expensive antibiotics now so hopefully she'll feel better soon.
On Wednesday, I got back to running with the ladies running group at the DePaul Treatment Centers.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Skate Gear
The picture on the left is off my very own kneepads and my first potential piece of boutfittery, yellow snake skin patterned tights! The picture on the right is my very own wristguards!! I now have everything I need to safely skate recreationally. If I did decide to, say, join the Wreckers, I'd also have to get a helmet, elbow pads and a mouth guard. But, for now, I'm set;).
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Jess Skates - One Week Later
Remember last week when I went on my first skate?? Maybe you noted on my weekly update that I skated Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Maybe you wondered what was up with that... but probably you didn't:). Anyway, even after that first bambi legged skating trip where I couldn't hide the look of sheer terror in my eyes, I kinda wanted to skate more and I kinda wanted my own skates. But that would obviously be ridiculous, I know.
On Friday, Ty went skating with us and it kinda came out that I wanted my own skates. And derby gear. So we struck a deal that I could buy those things if I still wanted them after 12 total skates. Reasonable, right? Then I skated again on Sunday and the skates felt totally different... all wobbly and weird. I complained to J'Alissa and she explained to me that each pair of skates is different - the trucks can be tighter or looser, the wheels can be tighter or looser, the bearings can be more or less worn. She tightened up my trucks and it was worlds better but it really got me thinking more about getting my own skates. Learning how to skate is hard enough without having to adjust to drastically different skates each time!
Enter craigslist, which I have been checking hourly since my first skate trip, and a $75 pair of Reidel skates! I met the seller on Tuesday and talked her down to $60... and now I own my very own pair of skates!!! WOOHOO! I skated on them for the first time last night. I wish I could say that it was heavenly but, of course, it felt all... weird. My trusty derby girlfriend had me take a break from my 50 laps to have them checked out. The guy at the counter asked if I was free-wheeling... which sounded a little too much like free-balling and gave me a private little giggle. Anywhoo, I plopped myself up on the counter and he checked my wheels to discover that they were spinning just fine. He asked if they were new wheels and I shared with him that I'd just bought the skates and the seller said that they'd only been used four times before. He replied, 'yep, you just need to break them in'.
I continued on with my 50 laps. I didn't get to start them until 7:30 because J'Alissa got caught in traffic (I'm not brave enough yet to skate without her!) and I got to buy kneepads as my reward for completing 50 straight laps on Sunday. Anywhoo, I just finished lap 46 when they cleared the floor for pace laps... GRRR!!! I was even on pace to finish my 50 in under 45 minutes which would get me rewarded with my own wristguards.
BUT, the most exciting part of the night was talking to my first real, live derby girl who wasn't J'Alissa!!! OMG - it was so, so great. There were a bunch of people still in the retard lane after the pace skate and a girl asked me about my running tights. We chatted a bit about them and then parted. I started practicing my T stops when she came back up to me and asked if I wanted to do derby!!!! I explained that this was just my fourth time skating so I'm probably not up to it yet but that I was thinking about it. She started tell me about their orientation sessions and derby lessons. It was so exciting because she was kind of encouraging me... and it felt like I was sort of being recruited for derby. OMG. Did I mention, SO EXCITING!!! I remained cool... until she skated away and then I skated over to J'Alissa and panko'd her with all the details super duper excitedly and then she fell down laughing and it was the best thing ever! The End.
On Friday, Ty went skating with us and it kinda came out that I wanted my own skates. And derby gear. So we struck a deal that I could buy those things if I still wanted them after 12 total skates. Reasonable, right? Then I skated again on Sunday and the skates felt totally different... all wobbly and weird. I complained to J'Alissa and she explained to me that each pair of skates is different - the trucks can be tighter or looser, the wheels can be tighter or looser, the bearings can be more or less worn. She tightened up my trucks and it was worlds better but it really got me thinking more about getting my own skates. Learning how to skate is hard enough without having to adjust to drastically different skates each time!
Enter craigslist, which I have been checking hourly since my first skate trip, and a $75 pair of Reidel skates! I met the seller on Tuesday and talked her down to $60... and now I own my very own pair of skates!!! WOOHOO! I skated on them for the first time last night. I wish I could say that it was heavenly but, of course, it felt all... weird. My trusty derby girlfriend had me take a break from my 50 laps to have them checked out. The guy at the counter asked if I was free-wheeling... which sounded a little too much like free-balling and gave me a private little giggle. Anywhoo, I plopped myself up on the counter and he checked my wheels to discover that they were spinning just fine. He asked if they were new wheels and I shared with him that I'd just bought the skates and the seller said that they'd only been used four times before. He replied, 'yep, you just need to break them in'.
I continued on with my 50 laps. I didn't get to start them until 7:30 because J'Alissa got caught in traffic (I'm not brave enough yet to skate without her!) and I got to buy kneepads as my reward for completing 50 straight laps on Sunday. Anywhoo, I just finished lap 46 when they cleared the floor for pace laps... GRRR!!! I was even on pace to finish my 50 in under 45 minutes which would get me rewarded with my own wristguards.
BUT, the most exciting part of the night was talking to my first real, live derby girl who wasn't J'Alissa!!! OMG - it was so, so great. There were a bunch of people still in the retard lane after the pace skate and a girl asked me about my running tights. We chatted a bit about them and then parted. I started practicing my T stops when she came back up to me and asked if I wanted to do derby!!!! I explained that this was just my fourth time skating so I'm probably not up to it yet but that I was thinking about it. She started tell me about their orientation sessions and derby lessons. It was so exciting because she was kind of encouraging me... and it felt like I was sort of being recruited for derby. OMG. Did I mention, SO EXCITING!!! I remained cool... until she skated away and then I skated over to J'Alissa and panko'd her with all the details super duper excitedly and then she fell down laughing and it was the best thing ever! The End.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Week 5 Shamrock
Monday - bootcamp
Tuesday - bootcamp, 2 miles
Wednesday - 40 minute bike, 1 hour skating
Thursday - REST
Friday - 2 miles, 1 hour skating
Saturday - 2 miles, 1 hour yoga
Sunday - 30 minute bike, 1 1/2 hour skating
What's up with all the skating? I don't really know. I just thought it might be fun. So I asked my derby friend to take me. And I really, really sucked at it. So I naturally asked her to take me again. And, again, I really, really sucked at it... but not quite as badly. Then, I asked her to take me AGAIN. And I warmed up with 50 laps. I still really, really suck so it took me about an hour. But I did it. Then we worked on T stops and something kind of clicked.
We're going again on Wednesday. I'll warm up with 50 laps again. Then I'm buying my own kneepads (reward for Sunday's 50 laps) and we are going to work on single and double knee stops as well as T stops. Once I can do 50 laps in 45 minutes, I'm going to buy my own wrist guards. Skating is a good, hard workout and it's fun. Where this will go, I'm not sure yet. But getting in good non-running workouts can only help my running, right?
Tuesday - bootcamp, 2 miles
Wednesday - 40 minute bike, 1 hour skating
Thursday - REST
Friday - 2 miles, 1 hour skating
Saturday - 2 miles, 1 hour yoga
Sunday - 30 minute bike, 1 1/2 hour skating
What's up with all the skating? I don't really know. I just thought it might be fun. So I asked my derby friend to take me. And I really, really sucked at it. So I naturally asked her to take me again. And, again, I really, really sucked at it... but not quite as badly. Then, I asked her to take me AGAIN. And I warmed up with 50 laps. I still really, really suck so it took me about an hour. But I did it. Then we worked on T stops and something kind of clicked.
We're going again on Wednesday. I'll warm up with 50 laps again. Then I'm buying my own kneepads (reward for Sunday's 50 laps) and we are going to work on single and double knee stops as well as T stops. Once I can do 50 laps in 45 minutes, I'm going to buy my own wrist guards. Skating is a good, hard workout and it's fun. Where this will go, I'm not sure yet. But getting in good non-running workouts can only help my running, right?
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
The Other Side of the Rink
And for the other side of last night's skaing adventure, I direct you to J'Alissa's blog:
Pain in the J'Alissa
Enjoy!
Pain in the J'Alissa
Enjoy!
Jess... Skates?
Honestly, not really and certainly not well! I went with my derby girlfriend (read more about her HERE) roller skaing last night. I actually ASKED her to take me. What? I knew it was going to be really, really hard. So I'm not going to say that it was harder than I expected, necessarily, but I will say that, yes, it was really, really hard.
J'Alissa picked me up and we headed to the Oaks Park Skating Rink. We were early so there weren't too many people there yet. I gave the man my five dollar bill and got an original pair of roller skates. As we walked to the benches, J'Alissa was absolutely giddy with anticipation of the hilarity that knew was to ensue. I laced up my skates and she helped me get her knee pads and wrist guards on. Believe it or not, I wasn't the only person there who was padded up... but most of the skaters didn't bother. Then she grabbed up her stuff and told me to grab mine and SPEED RACED to a locker. This is when I knew I was in for it.
I Bambi legged it to the locker, put my stuff in and then approached the rink. Nervous doesn't begin to describe it. I kept one hand on the wall and jerked my way down the first straight away. Constantly having to find your center of gravity takes a lot of concentration. Like, total concentration. After my first stilted lap, I asked J'Alissa how to break and she told me to use the toe brake thing... so I tried and promptly fell flat on my ass. It hurt, don't get me wrong, but now the worst case scenario was over and behind me!!
I got up and headed for the retard lane in the back. After I'd gone up and down that at least a dozen times, I wasn't even using the wall anymore! J'Alissa showed me how to do a real derby stop and I practiced the foot work for that - but it'll be a while before I'm brave enough to try to execute that at any speed! Then, she suggested that we try a lap on the rink. I tried to argue but she generally doesn't take no for an answer. We actually did several laps and I was well away from the wall. I even thought I was hauling ass at times until I realized that I was being passed constantly and had yet to pass a single skater.
We ended up being there for about an hour and that was plenty for my first time. I knew that I would be pretty sore today and in some new places so I didn't want to overdo it. Plus, anything that takes that much concentration is exhausting in other ways too. As we were leaving, I did promise that I'd skate for an hour and a half next time... so I guess we'll be going back on Wednesday. And I'll be wearing hot pants and knee highs. You have been warned.
J'Alissa picked me up and we headed to the Oaks Park Skating Rink. We were early so there weren't too many people there yet. I gave the man my five dollar bill and got an original pair of roller skates. As we walked to the benches, J'Alissa was absolutely giddy with anticipation of the hilarity that knew was to ensue. I laced up my skates and she helped me get her knee pads and wrist guards on. Believe it or not, I wasn't the only person there who was padded up... but most of the skaters didn't bother. Then she grabbed up her stuff and told me to grab mine and SPEED RACED to a locker. This is when I knew I was in for it.
I Bambi legged it to the locker, put my stuff in and then approached the rink. Nervous doesn't begin to describe it. I kept one hand on the wall and jerked my way down the first straight away. Constantly having to find your center of gravity takes a lot of concentration. Like, total concentration. After my first stilted lap, I asked J'Alissa how to break and she told me to use the toe brake thing... so I tried and promptly fell flat on my ass. It hurt, don't get me wrong, but now the worst case scenario was over and behind me!!
I got up and headed for the retard lane in the back. After I'd gone up and down that at least a dozen times, I wasn't even using the wall anymore! J'Alissa showed me how to do a real derby stop and I practiced the foot work for that - but it'll be a while before I'm brave enough to try to execute that at any speed! Then, she suggested that we try a lap on the rink. I tried to argue but she generally doesn't take no for an answer. We actually did several laps and I was well away from the wall. I even thought I was hauling ass at times until I realized that I was being passed constantly and had yet to pass a single skater.
We ended up being there for about an hour and that was plenty for my first time. I knew that I would be pretty sore today and in some new places so I didn't want to overdo it. Plus, anything that takes that much concentration is exhausting in other ways too. As we were leaving, I did promise that I'd skate for an hour and a half next time... so I guess we'll be going back on Wednesday. And I'll be wearing hot pants and knee highs. You have been warned.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)