FormicaLinoleum

Saturday 7 Jan 2012 Exercise Looking like a rest day! Food Definitely a "rest day" with regards to food as well... Breakfast: Cookie Crisp with soya milk, cup of tea Snack: soya latte and half a cupcake Lunch: big ol' salad (lettuce, cuke, red onion, fresh dill), Amy's Daiya mac 'n' cheeze Snack: almonds Dinner: dumplings, veggie burger, chips at Loving Hut etc Really excited about upcoming training--our coaches have arranged for us to work with a group that trains all sorts of athletes on strength, speed, and agility training; mental conditioning; etc. once a week for a trial month, and possibly longer if we like it. Can't wait for that!

A derby freshie? Yep a derby freshie I should have finished by now but I tore a ligament in my knee half way through freshmeat which set me back and then 3 weeks ago I dislocated my knee. This year though I will finish freshmeat lol! Cool, and good luck!

My bike is now in the shop getting new brakes put on. I won't get it back until Monday evening or Tuesday. I'm hoping it's Mon evening so I don't need to miss too many days of cycling. Today will most likely be a rest day. Saturday is supposed to be my rest day, but because I've had other unplanned rest days this week, I'm considering doing Insanity. We'll see. It's back to derby practice tomorrow, with a 3-hr scrimmage session.

Friday 6 January 2012 Exercise Cycled to and from work (8mi) Lifted weights: Front squats: 99lbs, 3 sets of 5 Bench press: 89lbs, 3 sets: 2/3/3 Barbell rows: 94lbs, 3 sets of 5 Stiff legged deadlift: 94lbs, 1 set of 12 Plank Speed skater stance Food Breakfast: my usual smoothie Lunch: bibimbap and miso soup, followed by soya latte Snack: cup of tea and Nakd cocoa mint bar Snack: handful of almonds Dinner: pizza!

A derby freshie?

Thanks! I'm looking forward to getting back to derby practice, which will mean a step back up in my exercise!

Thursday 5 January 2012 Exercise Ooops--none! Was supposed to lift weights, but we've put it off to tomorrow. Food Breakfast: Usual smoothie Snack: Small bowl Wheetabix minis with soya milk, cup coffee with soya milk Lunch: Big salad (romaine, cuke, red onion), cold soba/udon noodles with tahini/soy dipping sauce Dinner: Tofu scramble & black bean wraps Snack: A few almonds Bla bla Our coaches (who are skaters in the league) are arranging some sessions in other sports for fun cross-training. So it looks like we'll get to do some American Football type drills for footwork and movement, and some martial arts. Another skater will be leading some plyo sessions. I'm pretty excited about this!

Wednesday 4 January 2012 Exercise Insanity Plyo Cardio Circuit Food Breakfast: Smoothie (apple, pear, banana, spinach, protein powder (PlantFusion)) Snack: small latte, 1.5 ginger biscuits Lunch: variety of salads (barley, carrot/coriander, chickpea, broccoli) from Planet Organic food bar, purple corn kale 'chips' Snack: small Sojade yogurt Snack: big handful almonds Dinner: another smoothie, tofu scramble and black beans in wrap Notes I'm going to start trying to log my food as I eat so that I have a more accurate record. I'm also going to try to log my food properly every day. Perhaps I'll be less likely to eat crap if I realise I have to log it!

Here's some derby: This is a game we played in Aug 2011 against the 2010 world champs, Rocky Mountain. As you can see, we lost by a lot, but we were pretty happy with the score given how good they are. I'm in the first jam of this clip. I'm #410 in black.

My back isn't feeling too bad, so I'm hoping I'll be able to lift weights toward the end of this week. Tonight I am having dinner with my dad before he heads home and I doubt I'll get home early enough to do any exercise, but will be able to do some tomorrow evening. I guess this is really the start of my plan, now that holidays are over. As of this morning I am 71kg (about 156lbs) after having been pretty steady at around 69kg for a while. It's not a massive gain, but it's enough to make weight loss a bit more of a goal for me. I'm not changing any of my plans, but I just need to really stick to eating better and avoiding eating out as much as possible. I'd like to get down to 66kg, a loss of 5kg, but I would still be pretty happy if I could get back to 68/69.

In league news, the Derby News Network did their Best of 2011 poll, and my league was voted most improved and our game against Montreal at the East Region Playoffs was voted bout of the year. http://www.derbynewsnetwork.com/2011/12/dnn_best_2011_poll_results

More rollergirls! I have a training journal on here as well. I'm Missyle Elliott and I skate with the London Rollergirls. I know your blog, Vegan Derby Girl! If you don't already know about it, I started a Vegan Roller Derby group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/18532073890/

I unfortunately hurt my back on Friday when deadlifting. I did lots of dancing on New Year's Eve and that hasn't helped matters. It's not horribly painful, but I think it would be wise to hold off lifting weights until it's feeling a bit better. I was supposed to lift weights today, but I'll try Insanity instead. One more week until we're back to derby practice. This week is supposed to contain cycling, lifting weights, and insanity. There will be some disruption to my schedule as my dad has been over for the holidays and is passing back through London on his way home to NY. So I have dinner with him on Tuesday, which means no cycling to work and no exercise in the evening. Then I'm going to the airport on Wed morning, which means no cycling to work. Food has been horrendous. Yesterday I spent most of the day with friends eating all sorts of stuff--sandwiches, cake, scones, lemon bars. I'm back to work tomorrow and things will get back to normal then. Today we are having a lazy morning then household chores in the afternoon.

Today I did Insanity Pure Cardio. I was really tired but managed to finish! Off to a friend's for a New Year's Eve do this evening.

Friday 30 December Exercise Lifted weights: Cleans: 64lbs x5, 69lbs x5, 74lbs x5 Overhead press: 69lbs, 3 sets: 3/3/2 Deadlift: 158lbs x5 Plank Speed skater stance

Hey Robert! I've always been around here. I post only now and then, but I've never stopped reading the board regularly. I'm back from holiday, so it's back to exercise starting today.

Thanks! Yes, I'm trying to get better at roller derby. There's a long ramble about it in my first post.

I'm going to try to attach some photos of me right now. I'm 5'5" and about 155lbs. So I'm pretty big. I don't want to lose any muscle, but wouldn't mind losing some fat. That's not my main goal though.

Didn't do any exercise yesterday due to the ballet. Thursday 22 Dec Exercise Lifted weights: Front squats (with power clean to get weights into position): 99lbs, 3 sets of 5 Bench press: 84lbs, 3 sets of 5 Barbell rows: 94lbs, 3 sets: 4, 5, 4 Stiff legged deadlift: 94lbs, 1 set of 12 Plank Speed skater stance Food Too lazy to list it all out. It wasn't too bad, though. Ate only homemade dishes. Tomorrow I'm off up north to spend the holidays with my family for 6 days so won't get to lift weights and probably won't do much other exercise.

Tuesday 20 December Exercise (ended up working at home, so no cycling) Evening: Insanity Plyo Interval Workout Food Breakfast: Smoothie (spinach, apple, pear, banana, protein powder) Snack: Vietnamese coffee (made at home), small bowl of Mini Wheetabix Choc Chip Lunch: Bulgar wheat with broccoli, courgette, and carrot (homemade) Snack: Hot chocolate Post exercise: Shake with watered-down Alpro choc soya and protein powder Dinner: Salad (just lots of lettuce and cuke) Wasn't up for much dinner after Insanity and shake tonight. I cooked quinoa, beetroot, and black beans and had a couple bites, but that's mostly for tomorrow. Tomorrow I am going to the ballet after work, so I won't get any exercise in.

I forgot to mention that I lift weights at home, so am a bit limited in what I can do. I have a bar and some plates and a bench. The only squats I can do are front squats as I don't have a rack.

Monday 19 December Exercise Morning: cycled to work (4mi) Evening: cycled home (4mi) Lifted weights: Cleans (working on full cleans rather than power cleans after not doing them for a while so starting with low weights): 59lbs x5, 64lbs x5, 69lbs x5 Overhead press: 64lbs, 3 sets of 5 Deadlift: 153lbs x5 Plank Speed skater stance (hold a low stance for 90sec) Food Breakfast (after cycling to work): Smoothie (spinach, apple, pear, banana, protein powder) Lunch: Selection of salads from Planet Organic food bar Snack: Cup of tea, Clif Bar Dinner: large salad of lettuce, cucumber, red onion then takeaway (ma po tofu) Dinner wasn't ideal. But I made my lunch for tomorrow so I don't need to go out and I'll cook dinner tomorrow night. At the moment I don't track my food so don't know calories or macros. I might start tracking at some point.

Here's some of the info from the 12 Days of VBBF thing. Not sure what to do about mentors as my goal/plan is pretty specific. I mostly am after motivation to stick to it. New Year’s Resolution Goal: To stick to my exercise plan for derby improvement (see post above) and clean up my eating. Start Date: I've kind of started, but can't do the full exercise plan until 8 Jan as we are on derby break right now and practices don't resume until then. For now I am doing cycling, weights, and some Insanity workouts. (I also will be away at my mom's for 6 days at the holidays, which will mean I can't do those either.) Desired Achievement Date: Mid-April, by the time of game roster selection for important games. Past workout History: Been doing derby for over 4.5 years. I lifted weights quite regularly 2005-2007 and have lifted irregularly since then. I ride my bike to work. Biggest Obstacles: I have trouble being consistent. A large part of that is time, which I never seem to have. I could have more if I were better organized, so part of sticking to my plan will be getting things together in other areas of my life, like being more efficient at work so I can go home earlier, and planning meals better. Favorite Foods: Too hard to narrow it down. Favorite Exercises: I love skating, obviously! And I enjoy lifting weights. I like the basics--squats, deadlift, bench, power cleans. Current training frequency: Can vary. Generally at least a few days a week, up to six days in a good week. Any injuries or info your mentor should have: Nother serious but I have slightly bad knees. It's not too much trouble. They are just achey sometimes, and when they are really bad, they hurt a lot when I fall on them (which sounds obvious but it happens in derby!). Right now they aren't too bad.

I'm going to take part in the 12 Days of VBBF things, so here's my log. I'm going to start using it now, as I have started an improvement plan already that coincided with my derby break. But this is program is pretty good timing. Here's some background info on me. My main activity is roller derby. Right now, just about everything else I do is aimed at helping me improve at roller derby. I've been doing derby for a while--March 2012 will be my 5-year anniversary of skating. When I started I could barely skate! My league has improved rapidly. When I started it was quite new and lots of other people could barely skate. We are now full members of WFTDA. Last year we went to WFTDA East Regional Playoffs for the first time and did quite well. The league has four intra-league/home teams that play each other regularly. I'm captain of my home team. And we have two travel teams that play other leagues. One is our A team, and that's the one that plays in sanctioned bouts and went to Playoffs. It's made up of the top 20 skaters in the league, though a game can have only 14 skaters on its roster, so within the 20 there's competition to be in the top 14 in order get on game rosters. Then there is our B team, which is our "reserves" team. That team plays other leagues in Europe, as our league is quite a bit stronger than other leagues in Europe at the moment. So games are closer when other leagues' A teams play our B team. I've provided all this boring background to explain my goals. I am currently on the A team. I generally get put on game rosters, so I'm ranked somewhere in the 13-16 range. But in tough games (and they are almost all tough these days) even people who are on the roster but aren't among the strongest players don't get played much. I guess this is pretty standard in sports. Basically, I tend to get on rosters but am not a starter, so can spend most or all of the game on the bench. I want this to change. First, I need to ensure that I remain in the top 14 so I get on game rosters. It's really competitive, so this is far from guaranteed. I have to work hard just to hold onto that spot. But what I really want is to improve enough that I get on game rosters and actually get played. We have important games in April, maybe in June, and then Regionals will be in Sept. I want to play in these. There's no mystery about what I need to do. I need to be fitter, stronger, more agile, and smarter on the track. This means I need to go to practice as much as possible. I also need to do exercise outside of practices. We have 3-4 practices per week. My attendance is generally around 60-65%, which means on average I get to 8 practices a month. I'm going to aim to get my attendance to 80% per month. The other exercise I do is to ride my bike to work and sometimes to practice. It's a short ride to work, so it's not too taxing to cycle and I will usually be doing other exercise as well on the same day. I aim to do this 4 times a week (I work at home one day a week). I aim to lift weights twice a week. And I want to start doing plyo once a week. So that makes my ideal exercise schedule look like this: Monday: cycle (8mi), lift weights Tuesday: cycle (13mi), derby practice (2 hrs) Wednesday: cycle (8mi), plyo Thursday: derby practice (1.5 hrs) Friday: cycle (8-13mi), lift weights (around once per month, derby practice instead of weights, 2 hrs) Saturday: rest or lift weights if I didn't lift on Friday due to practice or going out Sunday: derby practice (3 hrs), sometimes cycle to practice (20mi) Right now I do bits of this. I do cycle and lift weights, but not as often as in that schedule. As far as eating, I just want to eat more home-cooked whole foods, fruit and veg, and less junk. I forgot to mention that I am 39, so my body is not quite as resilient as it used to be. But I'd say I'm in pretty good shape. I wouldn't mind losing some fat--I hover on the border of normal/overweight. I have quite a bit of muscle--I'm lucky enough to seem to build and hold onto it quite easily--but I also have a good amount of fat over that muscle. But losing weight is not my main goal, and I want to keep muscle so don't want to lose weight rapidly. Oh yeah, and I'm a woman.

So what do we do to get involved? Where do we put the information from the first post? Should I just start a log with that info? My training is pretty specific as my goal is to improve at roller derby, but what I really need is motivation to really stick to my exercise and eating plan, and this seems like a good way to have accountability.