roller derby and endurance


Once upon a time, I played my last game of the season and decided, “meh, I need a break.” Originally it was just a break from roller derby [yay! off season!] because I was tired of being busy. “I’ll be okay! I’m still doing crossfit!” The problem with my logic was that I actually had a couple games left with my secondary [travel] team, the Knockouts. The first off-season game was only a couple weeks after the last bout, so that was actually great! We won and it was fun and hooray! Enter the second bout…a month later. By then I was deep into work, I had been sick, stress took over my life, I skipped a bunch of my workouts, and I just wanted to curl up into a ball.

Photos by Bill Smotrilla
Photos by Bill Smotrilla
Photos by Bill Smotrilla

A few days before our game I attended a scrimmage. It was rough and took a lot of warming up. And then came the bout  – double ouch! Unless you have a magic power in which you can stop working out for weeks and maintain your endurance, you can come over here so I can slap you shut it. I did it to myself, and paid the price!

Photos by Bill Smotrilla

After a lot of warm-ups before the game, and within the game itself, I finally started getting my groove back. My ankles were throbbing by the end of the first half, and I was being knocked out a bit too easily for my liking [in my tiniest defense, concrete floors are slick]. I was pulled from jamming and blocked a bit before being allowed to jam again in the second half. You gotta earn your keep!

Photos by Bill Smotrilla
Photos by Bill Smotrilla
Photos by Bill Smotrilla

It has taken me years to build up my endurance. I don’t lose it all right away, but it’s severely reduced with just a week or two of “inactivity.” During the off-season I try to run and attend crossfit on a semi-regular basis. By the time we return in January [first game in Feb] I don’t want to be starting from scratch.

Photos by Bill Smotrilla

We beat the Cen-Tex All Stars 183 to 141. It was a really fun game and it definitely taught me a few lessons. Resting is okay…but I need to stay relatively active. For myself, and for my team[s]!

xoxo

p.s. here’s my post from when we played the Cen-Tex Sirens last year. 🙂

roxy

2 Comments

  1. I cannot empathise more! I have a forced 7 month break (injury) from roller derby and getting your endurance back is hard! I guess the positive of the whole experience was that I recognised I need to rest my body too, with off seasons being as equally important.
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