In and out, again.

Went to the doctor last night to check up on my hip again, assuming they’d be all “You’re healing! Yay!” Instead I was told I have ruptured my hip flexor muscle (Commonly known as a “sports hernia”.) Kind of super upset about it, and will begin treatment within the next two weeks starting with a cortisone injection directly into the muscle.

If that doesn’t help then surgery would be the next step.

I’m not going to prematurely put myself onto LOA though, because the specialist (hip surgeon) I’m being sent to might have better news for me than expected. However, I will not be skating/doing anything physical, because it could make the tear worse. If I do have to get the surgery I will be out well into the season next year. What a bummer. =(

The positive side of things are that this may solve the pain for good. Cross your fingers for me that the crotisone shot works and I don’t have to get surgery.

Set aside my pride and my strife.

This should have really been posted last night, but I was too exhausted.

Yesterday, October 11th, I returned to practice. Several people worried for me, and lots of Go!’s and No wait!’s coming at me from all directions. I was anxious all of Sunday night. So anxious in fact that I did not get to sleep until 4am…had to be up at 6. THAT was fun.

Surviving on two hours of sleep I ate tons of energy filled foods all day long and before practice I layed in my bed on my heating pad for 20 minutes, and then stretched before running out of the door. Arrived at practice and geared up.

I was greeted by many smiling faces that were happy to see me, and several “Welcome back!“‘s Skated around for a few laps until everyone was ready and on the floor and then we warmed up doing sprints. 30 second sprint, drop where you are, 30 push ups, on your back 30 sit ups. Back up 25 second sprint, drop where you are, 25 push ups, on your back for 25 sit ups, and so on and so forth until we got to 5 second sprint, drop, push up, and sit ups. Count ‘em kids that 105 push ups, and 105 crunches. My.Arms.Are.Heavy.

But not my butt! We did a lot of cutting, and skating backwards. My backwards skating skills are pretty limited, because I never really did it until derby. So backwards cuts + wobbly rear trucks = some funny wiggles and flailing arms and also a few knee falls. My endurance suuuuuuuuucks. I have a lot of work to do.

We did a fun drill where you have to plow while a partner pushes you from behind. Fatal was my partner and she seemed impressed at my ability to dig while she was pushing me across the floor. After 5 minutes of that though my hip flexors were feeling tight and I sat out during the next drill (for the most part) to stretch and try and loosen myself up. I did practice trying to get around Xena and bounced off her booty a few times, but only got knocked down once and it was only onto one knee. I could have gotten around her if I had tried harder, but I wasn’t wanting to push myself too hard on my first practice back, and I got to practice a bit of juking and felt my lateral movements come to life which was nice.

New skates are breaking in loverly. The only sore spot I have now is that one bolt in the sole that isn’t flush. I have to figure out how to either get that fixed or cover it with something because 2 hours of on your toes work is harrrrd on your metatarsophalangeal joints as is. Imagine the head of a bolt digging into one! OUCH! I think I might try sticking some mole foam over it under my insole and see if that helps any.

I left practice at 9pm after I received full credit for the practice, and being the over acheiving bar raiser that I am, it was hard knowing that I was home before practice was officially over. Though it was nice to be in bed and sleeping by 11:30. I also left at 9 because I didn’t want to do too much at one time. I’m not trying to reinjure myself. I’m doing so well and I plan on just getting better. I’ve lowered my personal bar instead of shooting for the stars right away I’ll just aim to reach the next step.  Which is to not have pain for the rest of this month at practice or after practice. I think I’ll attend the Saturday practice this week, and the Monday’s practice next week and if all goes well with that then the following Monday and MAYBE speed skate. I’m not pushing myself. I’m not allowing myself to push myself. Not yet, anyway.

SO MUCH UPDATE!

I’ve been pretty fail at keeping up with this blog as of late, but it’s because I’ve been so derby busy!! ZOMG I CAN BARELY KEEP UP!

Actually that’s just an exaggeration. I’ve been keeping up just fine, but writing everything down? Not really happening. Also I’ve recently been working late every night to cover for a coworker that’s been out because of surgery.

BACK TO THE DERBY!

First things first to cover: EASTERN REGIONALS!

So effing cool. I highlyrecommend that if you have the ability to go to a regionals tourney in the future that you go. I drove up to NY early Friday morning and got there around 10:30 about half way into the first bout. (Which I can’t remember, am too lazy to look up, and don’t want to be wrong.) I sat with some of my derby folk and watched a little bit until more of my derby family arrived. Then I went exploring.

What was the result of the exploring you say?

BAM. New skates.

This is the Siren package that most skate shops sell with the Revenge Plate, but I got my skates with the Reactor Plate. Hoooleee sh*t they are TIGHT! and by tight I mean wicked awesome. My cuts have become SO much sharper and they really kind of force me to center my gravity to the center and heel of my foot rather than the ball of my foot. Otherwise I might tip over.

Not only are these skates awesome but where I got them from is awesome too. Ever heard of Five Stride Skate Shop? You know…the one run by Bonnie Thunders and OMG WTF of The Gotham Roller Girls? Yeahhhh… OMG WTF fit me for my skates. I was sooo nerdy too because I had never seen these girls up close before so I didn’t know who I was dealing with. I asked OMG her name and she said “Oh I’m O.M.G. W.T.F.” and I instantly went fan girl “OH MY GOD!” She replied “I know, right?” After which I profusely apologised for getting so excited, but WOW!

Next thing I know OMG says to another girl who has had her back turned, busy with someone else, “Hey Bonnie come look at this.” I never actually thought that I would face-to-face meet Bonnie Thunders.  SO AWESOME. Since then I’ve skated in my new skates 3 times, and each time I’m getting more and more confident. It’s making waiting to return back to practice until November almost impossible. The wheel is the Radar Zodiac, and I really really like them. They’re wide, but not too wide and have a 93A grip. Now I stick to the ground when I land from a jump instead of sliding. Cool! Bonnie has been SUPER helpful with answering any questions I’ve had about my skates or skates in general.

Okay, now that I’m done gushing about how awesome my new skates are and how incredible it was meeting OMG and Bonnie onto the even more exciting news.

CHARM CITY IS GOING TO NATIONALS BABY!!!

The All Stars placed 3rd in the East in an upset over Denver. WOW that was exciting. There is so much more that I can touch on about that weekend, but it would take far too long to write about.

This is the last weekend of WFTDA Regional Tournaments and the first week in November marks Nationals in the Windy City, CHICAGO, for Uproar on the Lakeshore! Will post more once I see who we’re playing in the brackets and whatnot.

I went skating last night with a few of the girls from my meat class and one of them told me that I looked good and she wouldn’t really be able to tell I’ve been out for so long. That made me feel really good.  So my return to practice is scheduled for November. I’ve been doing A LOT of yoga, extra stretching, and taking anti-inflamatories with muscle relaxers on nights that I’ve worked out to keep the pain at bay and my piriformis from getting too tight.

I’ve also been doing quite a bit of derby office work, and that’s time consuming too, but I wont go into the boring stuff. That’s about all I have time for right now. Have to catch up on my work-work so I can leave at a reasonable hour tonight.

Double wheel bearings! What do they mean?!

So, everybody knows that in order for your skate wheels to move you gotta have bearings, right?

………….

Ehh..not exactly everybody. Something that I was surprised to learn was how little some people know about the mechanics of a skate, and even more specifically the bearings that go inside your wheels.

Every roller skate wheel has two bearings in it, one for each side of the wheel. If you have China Reds, for example, the red plastic should be facing outward on both the inside and the outside of your wheel. Yeah, yeah…technicalities…but what does it mean?!

I mean, how exactly DO bearings work?!

Here is a link to livestrong.com to an article about skate bearings.

If you decide that article is tl;dr here are some key points from it:

The concept behind skate bearings is relatively simple. When an object slides across a surface, it produces friction that slows the object down. It also produced heat, which can damage the material from which the object is made. Objects tend to roll more easily than they slide. When an object is rolled, there is little friction generated. No friction means smoother movement and reduced risk of damage.

Okay, so that’s cool and all…but it still doesn’t explain why we need bearings…

Whether four-wheeled standard or inline type, roller skates rely on bearings to make their wheels turn freely and easily. The resistance that would normally be created by a wheel turning on a bare axle is greatly reduced by skate bearings, allowing the skater to glide smoothly and with little effort. Constructed of steel and plastic, skate bearings are designed to withstand high pressure and tolerate millions of revolutions, providing a long-lived friction-reducing device.

Alright, I’ve got a bearing in my hand, and depending on where I hold it depends on how it spins. How is this put together?

Skate bearings consist of several parts that work together in a self-contained bearing set. The outer part is called the outer race, which acts as a casing for the bearing and has a groove in which the ball bearings will ride in. A plastic retainer is then inserted into the outer race to hold ball bearings in place. The ball bearings fit into little clips in the retainer. Next, a metal ring called the inner race fits in the center of the bearing. The entire assembly is then covered with a rubber shield. This assembly forms a single skate bearing.

But HOW does it WORK!?

The axle, the threaded metal rod attached to the skate that holds the wheel in place, and the wheel itself. The axle fits through the inner races of the bearing and is the bearing is then bolted to the axle. The inner and outer race of the bearing roll over the surfaces of the ball bearings. This reduces the friction between the inner race and the outer race, allowing the wheel to turn freely and easily.

Guess what? If you read this whole thing- you basically just read that whole article.

Trickery I say! But it is super informative.

THIS JUST IN: Maryland Area Junior Roller Derby!

CHECK IT OUT! My buddy Paige Fault is heading up the start of Maryland Area Junior Roller Derby. They’re having open skate tomorrow at Dundalk, and there is an interest meeting on September 30th.

Fore more information check out and “like” the facebook page and/or follow on twitter @MDJrRollerDerby!