Strep + Me + HOT + Derby = Guh

I missed two practices last week due to feeling blarg. I came down with a ripping case of strep throat early last week, and didn’t get onto antibiotics until Wednesday. I started recovering quickly after that, but I haven’t felt 100% yet. The amoxicillin is kicking my ass. Very fatigued. Anyway, I could NOT miss one more practice, so on Sunday I laced up my skates and went to the rink.

Ooof. That was a tough one. I had a very difficult time keeping up, and at times I found myself so dizzy that I had to stop and collect myself for a moment. Later in the practice we did some scrimmaging against each other (no hits, just booty blocks) and got a tiny taste of what it’s like to really play derby. We had another practice last night. If you’re in Jersey or the surrounding area, you know that it is HOT AS BALLS outside.

I cannot even explain the amount of sweat I generated last night. So much that when I put my helmet back on after a very short water break, a river of sweat squeezed out of the foam inside the helmet and down the front of my face. I know that’s gross, but I am completely past gross at this point. Anyway, last night we did more pace lines, dreaded pace lines, the part I struggle with the most — endurance. I get a little better every week, a very little, but this week I had to drop out of the pace line yet again. I never stopped skating (we were skating under the threat of having to do planks anytime anyone stopped skating), but I couldn’t keep up with the majority of the pack and ended up in an alternate line skating next to the fast girls. Ah well.

I am in a very odd place in my training at this point. Skills/endurance-wise, I am ahead of a few girls who are newer than me, or recovering from an injury, or whatever. However, I am still quite behind the more experienced girls (the majority). So I’m straddling this line between faster and slower and I’m not going to lie — sometimes I get very frustrated. I feel like there isn’t anyone at my skill level, so I’m either skating above or below it. I guess I just need to keep working and pull myself ahead.

Last night after pace lines, we did some wall/blocking work. We spent the last 40 minutes or so doing scrimmages against each other. WHAT A RUSH. We’re still not hitting when we scrimmage — booty blocks only — and it’s all kind of a clusterfuck at times. But we take turns playing each position, so last night for the first time, I got to be a jammer. Of course, I was jamming against a veteran named Mental who is ten feet tall with twelve-foot long legs. But I think I did okay! Mental tripped or got knocked over as she was working her way through the pack, which allowed me to catch up and slip through the pack while they were all distracted. Hauling ass BACK around the track was hard…I was exhausted and trying as hard as I could to keep her behind me. I don’t remember exactly what happened next, but I do know I got through the pack again. And then I believe I tripped over someone’s skates. I did what you’re supposed to do, and “fell small” — make yourself as small as you can while the pack skates around and over you.

I felt the pack go by, so I started to stand up. And that’s when my darling Pamberly was rolling up and getting ready to step over me. So I think what happened was she lifted her skate to step over me, I started getting up, her skate wedged under my abdomen, I fell back down, she fell on top of me and then rolled off. We looked at each other, cracked up, and then scrambled up and skated like hell to catch up with the pack. Looking forward to a toe-stop-shaped bruise on my ribcage.

I’m not going to lie, I was worn out and could barely keep up. But strategy is strategy, and while I was the jammer, my team purposely kept the pack at a slower pace so I could do my best. That’s teamwork. And as I rounded a corner, skating as hard as I could, I heard some of the girls on the side going, “GO DEBBIE!” For someone who’s never played a team sport, it was the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard.

Maybe now’s a good time to give you a primer on how roller derby works. Here’s a great link.

Related posts:

1. A Discouraging Practice
2. And We All Roll On
3. Feeling Better
4. Skating in the Hellmouth
5. Another Practice Down