Last night I was lucky enough to be able to co-train with one of my teammates. She is a vet who has been with the league since the beginning and captained my home team 4 out of the 6 years it has existed. Basically, she knows her shit and her practices are typically my favorites because I get a lot out of them. Last night, even though I was co-training, was no exception.
Our focus at practice was man-on-man aka offense. For some reason our league is all about the big D so we've been working to change that. We started off with a semi-tough warm-up, followed by 3 drills that focused on different parts of offensive pack movement: moving from the in or out of an opposing player and hitting them in the direction you just came from, movement within the pack to hit an opposing player anywhere in the pack, and distracting an opposing blocker to help your jammer. Then, we moved on to offensive pack scenarios, calisthenics, and stretching.
These were all drills we had done a million times in practice and so the goal was to not just go through the motions, but to think of each drill as if you are in a jam playing offense and not doing a drill. This is a mentality I have been trying really hard to sustain all the time and I wholeheartedly think it has made me a better skater. I don't just mean at practice, but at the gym too. When I'm slogging it out on the treadmill, I'm thinking, 'this is my speed lap'. When I am doing 3 minutes of death squats, I'm thinking about how I'm going to be immovable on the track.
Honestly, I see a lot of people calling it in at practice and that's fine I guess, but if you're there to get better and you aspire to have a pinky toes worth of Bonnie Thunders' skill, go to every practice like its the difference between being rostered in your next bout and warming the bench.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
To weigh or not to weigh every day
I've been known to have a scale obsession or two. There was a time when someone put my scale in the trunk of their car so I couldn't weigh myself every day. It was really unhealthy, obviously. The scale and I did not have a good relationship and I would basically let that number determine how my day was going to go. If I was going to be happy that day, it was going to be because that number had gone down. If I was going to be a self loathing bitch face, it was because I gained.
Fast forward to the last 6-8 weeks and I don't know whats changed, but my scale and I are pals again despite the fact that I weigh myself every day. This time I feel like it is crucial to my success and has even helped me be more accountable. First, who doesn't want to get up every morning and see that they are actively losing weight? It's instant feedback, and for an impatient control freak like me, it works.
Before anyone jumps on my case with a thousand reasons why you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, let me say that I am not telling everyone they should do it. We all know our personalities and can make this choice for ourselves. However, if you are planning to track this way, let me suggest some guidelines:
Fast forward to the last 6-8 weeks and I don't know whats changed, but my scale and I are pals again despite the fact that I weigh myself every day. This time I feel like it is crucial to my success and has even helped me be more accountable. First, who doesn't want to get up every morning and see that they are actively losing weight? It's instant feedback, and for an impatient control freak like me, it works.
Before anyone jumps on my case with a thousand reasons why you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, let me say that I am not telling everyone they should do it. We all know our personalities and can make this choice for ourselves. However, if you are planning to track this way, let me suggest some guidelines:
- Stop eating before the same time every night. I know there is a lot of controversy in the diet world about whether it makes a bit of difference and I say it doesn't, but for my purposes it makes sense. My logic is that if you don't eat after a certain point every night, by morning your body has had a chance to "reset". For me, I don't eat after practice and try not to eat after 9 on normal nights. Sometimes I don't always get all of my calories in before practice and HAVE to eat afterwards, but ideally I don't.
- Weigh yourself upon waking, after you use the bathroom. Ok, you've been sleeping for 8 (hopefully) hours and chances are your body has digested all the food you ate yesterday. Get up, do your morning business, and hop on the scale. Do not eat. Do not drink. Do not pass GO... Sorry, anyway this part is super important. Ever heard the saying "a pints a pound the world around"? It basically means that 16oz is a pound (duh, right?), but think of that in terms of food. If you get up and have a large coffee, you know weigh 1 pound more than when you woke up this morning.
- Never ever weigh yourself more than once a day. Some would say that weighing yourself every day is obsessive and I disagree, but weighing yourself multiple times a day is just crazy. Besides, chances are that you are going to eat or drink during the day and if you read number 2, that's not a great thing for weigh-ins.
Obviously not every weigh in can be a loss, but I know that I have had many more days in the losing column than that gaining column because I know I am going to face the scale in the morning. Weighing myself every day helped me catch my last plateau and fix it quickly. Also, I typically know in advance if I can expect to see a gain, especially if I ate things high in sodium the day before. I think this is an advantage over weekly weighing because I could have a great week nutrition and exercise wise, eat a bunch of sushi the night before and then be up on the scale the next day and then I feel like I didn't make any progress that whole week. To me, that is much more discouraging.
P.S. Down another .8lbs this morning, 3.2 for the week :) I love eating more!
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
The real work has begun
When you first get the roller derby bug and strap on skates for the first time in a decade or more, I think you assume that the toughest part is going to be learning to skate again and all of those nifty skills there seem to be an infinite number of. If, like me, you made this assumption, you would be wrong.
When I first started skating, I couldn't do a crossover without methodically planning it out and working up courage for 5 minutes first, but in no time it wasn't even something I had to think about. Most of my skills progressed like this. Some things are still harder on one side than the other and some skills definitely need some work, but I can at least do them.
Next, you have to figure out how to put it all together. After all, it doesn't matter if you can hockey swerve all across the track and stop on a dime, but if you don't know how to use that swerve to your advantage in a jam, what good is it? All of those lateral movement drills weren't just to teach you to move from side to side, they were so that you could be an effective derby player, even at a standstill - which let me tell you if you don't know, is damn hard.
Not only do you have to know when to use all of these skills, but you need to execute at pack speed. This is where I am. This is where I think the hard part sets in. Not that I ever did, but even if I wanted to I couldn't blame my newness on letting the opposing jammer up the inside line or not getting with my partner to keep a goat or not being able to make a timely, fluid switch from defense to offense.
Once upon a time ago I used to go into practice just hoping that I could keep up, that I could do the drills. Now every drill, every practice is about getting the most out of it. Getting better, faster, hitting harder, being more precise. I want to be a player that my teammates are glad they are lining up against and not a liability. I want people to look at me as an asset on the track.
Dare I say it... I want to be feared on the track. Maybe that's a little vain, but from vanity comes confidence and almost nothing good happens without that.
Laissez les bon temps roulez!
When I first started skating, I couldn't do a crossover without methodically planning it out and working up courage for 5 minutes first, but in no time it wasn't even something I had to think about. Most of my skills progressed like this. Some things are still harder on one side than the other and some skills definitely need some work, but I can at least do them.
Next, you have to figure out how to put it all together. After all, it doesn't matter if you can hockey swerve all across the track and stop on a dime, but if you don't know how to use that swerve to your advantage in a jam, what good is it? All of those lateral movement drills weren't just to teach you to move from side to side, they were so that you could be an effective derby player, even at a standstill - which let me tell you if you don't know, is damn hard.
Not only do you have to know when to use all of these skills, but you need to execute at pack speed. This is where I am. This is where I think the hard part sets in. Not that I ever did, but even if I wanted to I couldn't blame my newness on letting the opposing jammer up the inside line or not getting with my partner to keep a goat or not being able to make a timely, fluid switch from defense to offense.
Once upon a time ago I used to go into practice just hoping that I could keep up, that I could do the drills. Now every drill, every practice is about getting the most out of it. Getting better, faster, hitting harder, being more precise. I want to be a player that my teammates are glad they are lining up against and not a liability. I want people to look at me as an asset on the track.
Dare I say it... I want to be feared on the track. Maybe that's a little vain, but from vanity comes confidence and almost nothing good happens without that.
Laissez les bon temps roulez!
Little Victories
Yesterday was a non-practice day which meant it was a "heavy" gym day for me (running and upper or lower body). I've tried running on practice days in the past and it usually meant a not so great practice. Of course, since I recently realized my nutrition was all out of whack, I could have easily been trying to practice on 500 calories or something.
Eating was great in the morning, though maybe a little carb heavy and I felt good pre-workout. Today I wanted to switch up my run in case my body was starting to get used to what I had been doing (Personal Running Trainer on iPhone), so I winged a little HIIT.
I started with a 3 minute warm-up walk, then bumped up to a 2 minute jog (5.5-6mph), followed by a 20-30 second sprint (about 8.5), then drop down to 3.0 to lower my heart rate a bit before I repeated the jog/sprint again for a total of 25 minutes. My goal was to keep my body guessing and vary my heart rate as much as possible. Much to my disbelief, I actually enjoyed this workout and felt damn good afterward.
After cardio came lower body: walking lunges, 3 minutes of squat and holds (20 seconds squatting/10 second hold while squatting), and hip thrusts. My legs are tight today, but I probably could have done a little more.
Like I said, my workout was good, but what I was really happy about were my little victories:
#1) My heart is getting healthier, ya'll! It used to be nothing for me to get my heart rate up. A very short jog could get my heart rate up to 199 with no problem, but I realized yesterday that the highest my HR got up to after sprinting was 176.
#2) Yesterday I finished a mile right at 10 minutes! As I mentioned a few posts ago, I hate the shit out of running, but it is undeniably good for me. Yesterday after incorporating sprints, I made that mile my bitch.
BONUS #3) This morning I was down another .4lbs. I don't know why, but at first I was kind of discouraged by this, but then I remembered that I have lost 2.4 lbs in 2 days and my goal is only to lose 2lbs per week. I'm losing weight and I'm not starving myself!!!
Every day I feel a little change and a little better. It's working!
Keep on keeping on, people :)
Eating was great in the morning, though maybe a little carb heavy and I felt good pre-workout. Today I wanted to switch up my run in case my body was starting to get used to what I had been doing (Personal Running Trainer on iPhone), so I winged a little HIIT.
I started with a 3 minute warm-up walk, then bumped up to a 2 minute jog (5.5-6mph), followed by a 20-30 second sprint (about 8.5), then drop down to 3.0 to lower my heart rate a bit before I repeated the jog/sprint again for a total of 25 minutes. My goal was to keep my body guessing and vary my heart rate as much as possible. Much to my disbelief, I actually enjoyed this workout and felt damn good afterward.
After cardio came lower body: walking lunges, 3 minutes of squat and holds (20 seconds squatting/10 second hold while squatting), and hip thrusts. My legs are tight today, but I probably could have done a little more.
Like I said, my workout was good, but what I was really happy about were my little victories:
#1) My heart is getting healthier, ya'll! It used to be nothing for me to get my heart rate up. A very short jog could get my heart rate up to 199 with no problem, but I realized yesterday that the highest my HR got up to after sprinting was 176.
#2) Yesterday I finished a mile right at 10 minutes! As I mentioned a few posts ago, I hate the shit out of running, but it is undeniably good for me. Yesterday after incorporating sprints, I made that mile my bitch.
BONUS #3) This morning I was down another .4lbs. I don't know why, but at first I was kind of discouraged by this, but then I remembered that I have lost 2.4 lbs in 2 days and my goal is only to lose 2lbs per week. I'm losing weight and I'm not starving myself!!!
Every day I feel a little change and a little better. It's working!
Keep on keeping on, people :)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Great practice, great weigh-in
The initial verdict: IT WORKS!
It has only been 24 hours since I devised my new eating plan, but I already feel really good about it. Yesterday I added my practice/exercise calories into MFP in the afternoon so I would know what my food goal was. It felt like I ate A LOT - and most would not fall into the "healthy" category, but a calorie is a calorie in my book - and I stayed within my range and ate all of my calories before I left for practice at 6pm.
Sometimes I get worried that if I eat too much before practice, I will feel bogged down or get queasy. Unfortunately I think that this has led me to eat way too little before practice and get sick from not enough food energy way too often. Yesterday I was careful to stretch out what I ate and didn't eat a lot of anything at any one time. I also left about an hour between the last thing I ate, and practice.
So how did I feel? Great! I didn't feel laggy or worn down. I had energy the whole practice and didn't even flinch when I got sent in as a jammer on the last jam of the night after an hour of practice beforehand. I was the first out of the pack, scored 10+ points, and didn't even collapse when I came off the track. I call that success.
The icing on the cake was when I got up this morning I weighed 2 pounds less than yesterday morning! And ok, it's important to note that I had "gained" 2 pounds during this whole plateau situation, but the fact that it's gone, overnight, from eating more is A-OK as far as I am concerned.
For those of you who want the breakdown calorie-wise:
My regular food goal with no exercise is 1450 calories.
My estimated exercise expenditure was 538 calories.
The actual number of calories consumed was 1902 calories.
My net calories (food - exercise) aka the only calories that count was 1364.
And I got to eat ALL THAT FOOD!
Thus far, I am sold. More updates to come!
It has only been 24 hours since I devised my new eating plan, but I already feel really good about it. Yesterday I added my practice/exercise calories into MFP in the afternoon so I would know what my food goal was. It felt like I ate A LOT - and most would not fall into the "healthy" category, but a calorie is a calorie in my book - and I stayed within my range and ate all of my calories before I left for practice at 6pm.
Sometimes I get worried that if I eat too much before practice, I will feel bogged down or get queasy. Unfortunately I think that this has led me to eat way too little before practice and get sick from not enough food energy way too often. Yesterday I was careful to stretch out what I ate and didn't eat a lot of anything at any one time. I also left about an hour between the last thing I ate, and practice.
So how did I feel? Great! I didn't feel laggy or worn down. I had energy the whole practice and didn't even flinch when I got sent in as a jammer on the last jam of the night after an hour of practice beforehand. I was the first out of the pack, scored 10+ points, and didn't even collapse when I came off the track. I call that success.
The icing on the cake was when I got up this morning I weighed 2 pounds less than yesterday morning! And ok, it's important to note that I had "gained" 2 pounds during this whole plateau situation, but the fact that it's gone, overnight, from eating more is A-OK as far as I am concerned.
For those of you who want the breakdown calorie-wise:
My regular food goal with no exercise is 1450 calories.
My estimated exercise expenditure was 538 calories.
The actual number of calories consumed was 1902 calories.
My net calories (food - exercise) aka the only calories that count was 1364.
And I got to eat ALL THAT FOOD!
Thus far, I am sold. More updates to come!
Monday, April 9, 2012
That dirty 'P' word
I think it's here and I'm not very happy about it. My first (and hopefully only?) plateau.
I have been hovering at the same weight for almost 2 weeks now and I'm doing a good job of not getting frustrated, but now it's time for some action. This morning I spent a good hour searching the MyFitnessPal community about plateaus and "eating back" my exercise calories. I also compared my net calories (the difference between what eat and what I expend exercising) to my weight loss progress and the results were telling (at least I hope so).
Here's what I found: when I eat the calories that MFP tells me to and I do not exercise, I lose weight. When I exercise a lot and do not "eat back" some of those calories, I stall. This sounds like great news, right? I get to eat more! And eating is my favorite! But, no. I'm scared shitless. Eating is how I got into this mess. I know I need to make a change though and after reading this post, eating more is making a lot more sense.
So here's the plan:
I have been hovering at the same weight for almost 2 weeks now and I'm doing a good job of not getting frustrated, but now it's time for some action. This morning I spent a good hour searching the MyFitnessPal community about plateaus and "eating back" my exercise calories. I also compared my net calories (the difference between what eat and what I expend exercising) to my weight loss progress and the results were telling (at least I hope so).
Here's what I found: when I eat the calories that MFP tells me to and I do not exercise, I lose weight. When I exercise a lot and do not "eat back" some of those calories, I stall. This sounds like great news, right? I get to eat more! And eating is my favorite! But, no. I'm scared shitless. Eating is how I got into this mess. I know I need to make a change though and after reading this post, eating more is making a lot more sense.
So here's the plan:
- Never let my net calories drop below 1200 and try to keep them near my daily calorie goal (which is higher)
- "Eat back" my exercise calories before practice and workouts (Note: I normally don't eat after practice and I think this works well for me, but I know a lot of times I am putting myself way under 1000 net cals after practice. Also, I only put in half of my practice time as exercise, so if practice is 2 hours, I am only putting in 45 mins of skating as exercise because I think MFP grossly overestimates exercise.)
- Replace more carbohydrate calories with protein calories
I think my plan sounds simple enough, but see myself having the most issues with number 3. I really just don't like meat that much anymore and haven't found a lot of good protein sources that I can eat on a regular basis. I have to work harder on that.
I'm going to give this one solid week and revisit and make adjustments if necessary. Wish me luck!
Friday, April 6, 2012
Body vs. Mind
The scale has confirmed, every day, that I have lost weight and that I continue to lose weight. My brain however, is in denial. My brain refuses to believe that my arms must be getting smaller even though my elbow pads are slipping off. Even though my legs don't have a muffin top above my knee pads anymore. Even though the skirt I bought 2 weeks ago was really snug and now fits comfortably.
My body has this "comfortable fat zone" that has been the low end of my weight for a long time. I've dipped below that number a few times, but typically only for a day or two before I bounce back up again. (Note: The one exception would be when I was 25 and looking to get away from my ex and basically starved myself about 20lbs below the "comfortable fat zone" only to gain it back 6 months later - and some.) I would say the number of times that I have hit that weight, bounced up, back down, up.. has to be somewhere in the 1000 range.
This time I have stayed below that mark for a full week - and I know this doesn't sound like much, but for me it's huge! It's huge because I am doing it the right way. I feel good about myself and motivated. I know that if I keep sticking to what I am doing, it will keep working. I'm proud of what I have achieved and that makes the long road ahead much less daunting.
My body has this "comfortable fat zone" that has been the low end of my weight for a long time. I've dipped below that number a few times, but typically only for a day or two before I bounce back up again. (Note: The one exception would be when I was 25 and looking to get away from my ex and basically starved myself about 20lbs below the "comfortable fat zone" only to gain it back 6 months later - and some.) I would say the number of times that I have hit that weight, bounced up, back down, up.. has to be somewhere in the 1000 range.
This time I have stayed below that mark for a full week - and I know this doesn't sound like much, but for me it's huge! It's huge because I am doing it the right way. I feel good about myself and motivated. I know that if I keep sticking to what I am doing, it will keep working. I'm proud of what I have achieved and that makes the long road ahead much less daunting.
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