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.
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!
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!
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.
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. 🙂
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.
average adventures
Wow, such a different game than last year. Your pictures brought back memories…even if just a year old!