I’ve now owned my skates for almost 2 months. It’s unfortunate that Vancouver weather hasn’t been extremely cooperative but I’ve still managed to get in a good chunk of practice time.
Every Saturday I’ve been hitting Central City Arena for their public skate. It’s an awesome two hours on a beautiful Sport Court surface. Its also been getting very popular. This means I’m finding myself spending that two hours trying not to trip over falling children. But still, this is the most time I’m able to spend on such a great skating surface on a weekly cadence.
On nice evenings and Sundays I’ve tried to hit the seawall as often as possible. Starting at Science World, looping around Stanley Park and heading back nets me just over 21k. This gives me a nice 1.5hr workout on various surface conditions dodging tourists. I’m able to average 14-15km/hr which is pretty good considering the number of obstacles. [Example Garmin Data]
On mornings when I can pull myself out of bed a little earlier and when the weather is nice I skate on the outdoor court at work. It’s a nice surface to practice tight cross-over turns, skating backwards and falls. 30mins of practice puts me in an awesome mood for work.
A couple of weeks ago I booked a one-on-one session with a skating instructor to assess my basic skating skillset. I have a good foundation I can build on. There are still things I want to work on before Fresh-Meat try-outs this fall, but overall things are developing along nicely.
On a good week I’m spending over 5hrs on my skates. Once the weather becomes more consistent I hope to increase that a bit more.
Fresh Meat Wannabes Skate Night
One thing that was bothering me was the fact that I’d see some “derby-driven” folks at the public skate on Saturday nights but the busyness of the event made it difficult to strike up a conversation. I thought for-sure others would be looking for some extra practice time with a more focused crowd. So I put out some feelers to see if anyone would be interested in a Fresh-Meat Wannabes Skate Night. Within 72hrs I had over 20 skaters signed-up. I’ve booked our first session for next week. It’ll be SO awesome sharing private rink time with like-minded individuals. I totally can’t wait to meet everyone and I hope the night is successful so we can continue to have them. It would be so great to have a weekly event and practice along with other soon-to-be derby girls.
Telling my Family
I told my sister about my new derby obsession this week. She seemed a bit confused. My mom will be in town during the next TCRG bout and of course I’ll be taking her there. Hard to say what she’ll think when I tell her I’m trying out in the Fall. Should be entertaining at least!
My work peers have been pretty excited about the whole thing and they ask about how my practicing is coming all the time. I still get the occasional insults and my nickname is now “Whip-It-Softly” in some management meetings, but overall they are supportive in their own way.
Just over three months left to practice before try-outs. I can hardly wait!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Love the blue laces!
My mom won’t get it and my sis will think its cool but she will have no idea what I’m talking about. Ha! Paul, the boys and I are going to our first roller derby on June 19th! I’m so excited. The Tri -City Thunder girls are skating against the Roc City’s ROC Stars from Rochester NY!
I can’t imagine what my family will say when I tell them what I am doing! I’ll probably get a lot of eye rolles from the MIL.
Sounds like your training is coming along great! I love the idea of you putting together the wannabe skate time!
Woo! Have fun at the bout!