workout/derby update
March 20, 2012
So, I passed the Minimum Skills Requirement test last week. By the skin of my teeth, but that doesn’t matter, because the difference between a fail and even a barely-pass is the difference between having to continue training with Fresh Meat and being able to scrimmage with full contact. My subsequent performance on Sunday night, in my first ever full contact scrimmage, showed pretty clearly how much I need that full contact play if I’m going to get better from here.
So, about my first full contact scrimmage: it was a weird, off night where everyone had the jitters or couldn’t concentrate or just sort of collectively forgot the last six months, or something; the packs were all elbows, people were falling awkwardly and backwards and spread out all over the place, and there was an alarming number of injuries. Our pack control was nonexistent and at times it seemed like all we were doing was racing for no reason. Perhaps it was the effect of St. Patrick’s Day having been the night before, or upcoming bout jitters, or the moon, I don’t know. What I do know is that in amongst all of this I was essentially ineffective, unable to even hold the inside line (hold the inside line is what Fresh Meat are always instructed to do, right? because it’s relatively easy?), too unaware at times to know when it was my jammer tapping me from behind and not an opposing blocker (UGH), and pretty much completely not in control of my elbows. Even with my league mates having a bad night and playing below their usual level, I was massively outclassed.
I did manage to get past some skaters a couple of times, and to positionally block effectively a couple of times, and the one time I got goated I was lucky in that the opposing team fell down in their communications and the player who had me isolated at the back was abandoned by her teammates to try and keep me there herself, and I was eventually able to get around her. But all of that is just barely playing, and really I struggle just to keep up most of the time. I joke about changing my derby name to “The Goat” because as the slowest skater I’m destined to be made the goat A LOT in games (and, surprisingly, the name’s not taken!). I get the sense that my teamies consider this a defeatist attitude, but you’ve got to admit The Goat is a funny name. My dad used to have a cat called The Goat. < /tangent>
The things I need to work on, then, are mostly the most basic of things: awareness. Elbows. Counter-blocking. But also, since I’m going to be the goat a lot, I need to work towards getting really good at breaking down walls. I think I mostly understand the concept of how to break down walls well: arms up so as to avoid a penalty call; wedge a shoulder between the players and then wiggle your body in there, hitting with arse and shoulder until a space opens up; stepping through instead of skating, using toe-stops to gain an extra push instead of trying to glide through with the leading skate on the floor. But of course in practice I’m unable to do any of this. So purely for the purpose of breaking through walls, I need to work on getting more comfortable stepping around on toe-stops, practicing moving on my toes with quick stops and starts and changes in direction (and, damn it, get over the fear that moving around on toe stops is going to result in a broken ankle). And at the gym: balance board work; box jumping exercises; core strength. Same old, now with more of the same old.
Posted by jodi on March 20, 2012 at 8.36am
good news, everyone
March 12, 2012
Just put up several pints of everybody’s favourite chutney for cheese-and-crackers, in time for the 2012 social season.
Posted by jodi on March 12, 2012 at 8.10pm
workout/derby update
March 11, 2012
These don’t come often enough of late, in part because I’m bored with my workouts, and bored with writing them down here. I wrote a whole long boring blah blah blah about it but that’s all deleted now, and we’re all better off for it, believe me. So! Onward.
Last spring, my most important workout concern was strength training and building bone density, but now my workouts need to be tailored more towards training for roller derby. The most important change is this: no more distance running. It’s not the right kind of conditioning for short, two minute bursts of intense work in a jam. From now on if I run at all it will be intervals. The routine I do on the stationary bike, a random hill programme at a relatively high intensity, is good and I will continue with that. On days when there isn’t time for my full cardio warm-up on the bike, I will row 1000 metres (which takes about six minutes, and in which I sprint all-out for 100 metres, rest for 100 metres, repeat) or do two minutes on the ladder machine (which gets your heart rate up very high very FAST and two minutes is about all I can take at one go and bonus! that’s the length of a jam!).
As for weights, I’ll still do my kettlebells routine at least once every two weeks, and once a week if I can fit it in, because it’s fun. Pushups will continue as well, along with more core work so that I’ll have the power to deliver a killer sternum blow to a lady when I need to. Dedicated upper body weight training will mostly go on hold for now and be something that gets thrown in for fun when there’s extra time. Generally when I’m feeling uninspired to come up with a workout I’ll just do the circuit of 6 weight machines, which provides enough arms and shoulders work that I won’t lose ground.
Lower body work is where things will be switching up, and the focus will now be on plyometrics and balance work, developing those fast twitch muscles in tandem with the interval training. So, lots of jumping on and off of boxes, jumping side to side, quick ladder work, squat jumps (yeah!). And a squatting sideways crossover walk back and forth across the gym, to hopefully force that backwards crossover, left over right, to feel natural. As for balance, our gym has a very wobbly wobble board and a not wobbly enough wobble board, so for now I’ll be working on just maintaining balance, and a slow controlled side-to-side motion, on the very wobbly board (it’s so hard, you guys!), and high reps of weighted squats on the not wobbly enough board. These exercises all carry a pretty big bang for your buck so the sessions can be shorter, making it easier to find time for working out every morning. All will help with the quick stop-and-start of derby, with reaction time on the track, speed in getting from one side of the track to the other, confident footwork both in blocking and in breaking down walls, agility in moving around on toe stops. All good things!
In skating practice we’ve been doing a drill lately where we alternate core work (burpees, planks, situps) with track skating (skating backwards, skating clockwise, skating sideways or coasting on one foot in the corners) in two minute bursts, which is nice in how it spreads the burn from quads to abs and back again, but also because I can count that as a partial core workout in planning out my morning routines. We’ve also been doing an exercise where small groups of skaters come up with drills to lead the group in, which results in more standing around than I’d like but the drills end up being a bit more varied. During available moments of free skating I’ve been working on my crossovers, focusing on getting that push with the left leg and trying to find that sweet spot in the lean where both legs are doing the same amount of work. It feels like I’m getting that, more than ever before, although I have no idea what my form looks like at the moment. If it’s shite I’m sure someone will tell me. Tonight I tried crossovers in the opposite direction (skating clockwise) for the first time; it’s terrifying, and the urge to put the right skate’s toe stop down while crossing the left leg over is strong. That’s not something I ever did when first learning regular crossovers.
Skills testing again this Thursday. I feel like I’ve improved quite a bit since last time, when I only failed the test by 1.2% (you guys I went around for a week with a giant thought bubble over my head alternately flashing the word EXCRUCIATING and the number 1.2% in glitter block caps, for real). Obviously the bare minimum is not a goal to strive for, but when that bare minimum, a minimum 1.2% improvement, is the only thing standing between where I am now and finally being able to train with FULL CONTACT, just for this week I will be happy making the bare minimum. Next chance after this isn’t until June.
Posted by jodi on March 11, 2012 at 11.02pm
a bunny in a bee suit peeing rainbow glitter onto a baby’s face
March 9, 2012
Uh-huh that’s what I said.
Posted by jodi on March 9, 2012 at 8.55pm
in which we are twelve years old
March 8, 2012
This has sat outside a business in my neighbourhood, unfixed, for I don’t even know how long.
I did not do this. If I had, I would not have passed up the opportunity to make it say “69″. OBVIOUSLY.
Posted by jodi on March 8, 2012 at 6.51pm
today in the studio
March 5, 2012
Making future heirlooms! Photoshoot tomorrow at the grocery store. It’s going to be a fun one.
Posted by jodi on March 5, 2012 at 11.59pm
basement progress
March 4, 2012
Next up: connecting the blue to the blue, sealing and painting the section to the left of that line of hockey sticks. Covering up all the grossness with a blue paint lagoon.
Posted by jodi on March 4, 2012 at 8.54pm
daragh sankey in store trailer
March 1, 2012
Check out this trailer for a series of documentary shorts by Daragh Sankey about the artists and projects that made up Broken City Lab‘s Storefront Residencies for Social Innovation series in summer 2010. During this residency I gave my Sweater Factory project a trial run (and learned some important things: the sweaters I was making were such a pain to put together that they’re still not finished, a problem that needs a solution before I can take this project on the road).
In Store Trailer from Daragh Sankey on Vimeo.
Posted by jodi on March 1, 2012 at 8.35am
for the good idea book
February 29, 2012
File under: ideas to be executed by others.
1. Nathaniel Hawthorne Theme Park. Now, I can’t remember why I originally thought this idea would be so funny awesome but it came out of Peter and Claire reading The House of the Seven Gables while we were camping last year. The Nathaniel Hawthorne theme park would have lots of dark clothed dour people in it, creepy old houses, major guilt trips, and of course the main attraction, the Tunnel of Adultery ride. I’d have to actually read some Hawthorne to come up with other ride ideas but realistically you can expect visitors to want to ride the Tunnel of Adultery at least three or four times, right? So that’s a mini goldmine right there.
In researching this article, staff at jodi’s weblog have discovered that this idea is such a good one that apparently there is a Nathaniel Hawthorne Theme Park already! But sadly no Tunnel of Adultery. So clearly there’s some room for improvement here.
2. Neko Case and Neil Young should trade bands for one album (each) and accompanying tour (each). Just think of it: Neko Case and Crazy Horse; Neil Young and Her Boyfriends. That idea is PURE GOLD you guys.
3. Along the same lines, Meatloaf should record a cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart and Bonnie Tyler should record I Would do Anything for Love (But I Won’t do That). Besides the fact that they’re so perfect for one another, check out the videos for the songs: they are practically the same. And that lady in the Meatloaf video is wearing Bonnie Tyler’s dress. Bonus if these two tracks are released together on a 7″ single.
4. Peter and I recently had a great idea for a supergroup, originally inspired by Jian Ghomeshi interviewing an asexual activist named David J. on Q, who is apparently NOT the David J. from Bauhaus. BUT: Davy Jones, David Bowie and David J. I know, right? Sadly we just heard that Davy Jones passed away today, so this is just another guaranteed platinum idea that will have to be shelved.
5. Jones is also sadly now out of the running for the other supergroup idea we’ve been working on here at jodi’s weblog (yes we are working on it shut up): the one made up of Last Surviving Members. So far this group consists of Tommy Ramone, Otis Williams, Michelle Phillips and Betty White. With luck Ringo Starr will be freed up to join soon and then this band is a go.
Posted by jodi on February 29, 2012 at 7.14pm
helvetica
February 28, 2012
Still plugging away at this big production commission for Broken City Lab. We’re in the thick of the tedious part, making letters and making letters and making letters and yet there are still more letters to make. Deadline is the end of this week.
Posted by jodi on February 28, 2012 at 7.06pm
