Practice - July 11, 2010

The evening started with us Fresh Meat watching a great team scrimmage. Those girls worked hard, and I'm sure they were exhausted after a long workout right before, and the extreme heat in that gym...

Next, it was our turn and because it was a scrimmage night, we Freshies had the track to ourselves. It was definetly awesome to practice on the track, but my body just wasn't ready to cooperate...  Happily, the foot-rigging I did seemed to work... I had no foot pain!! Yay! But, we went from weaving on the track right into a two minute sprint (the length of one jam)... I started panting and trying to breathe through a stuffy nose. I opened my mouth to get air and my mouthguard came loose. Then the sharp pain in my lower back started....

I had a mental battle with myself.. Stop skating and stretch my back, or risk it going out on me. I reluctantly left the track and did some back stretching, only to get back out there and have trouble breathing again. Argh!!!

I enjoyed the pace lines, pace line weaving, hip whips, and finally some crossover training, which I think I actually understand! I just had so many difficulties that I couldn't complete the second two minute sprint and then practice was over.

I was so frustrated and angry with myself... I cried the whole ride home. It's kind of funny that last week I was the one doling out the encouragement, and this week it was me seeking reassuring words when it felt like I'd just "never be able to do it." Thank you to my friends for listening to my babbling, and for cheering me on despite it. Xoxo to you all.

So, I know that I need to work on endurance, gaining strength, stamina, and I need to pick up a stopwatch and a better mouthguard.... I've got to figure a way around these mostly technical difficulties so I can concentrate on trying to survive those two minutes!