I was expecting to go to Worlds this year and reach a certain number. A certain rank. A certain win. What I came home with was very different than my expectations. I came home with a less-than-stellar performance. A loss of numbers. A loss in my head. But I realized it was never about winning at all. It was something else all together.
Hey all. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Every once in a while I go into stealth mode. Just wanted to report that I was still alive. Here’s what what.
I temporarily said bon voyage to my friend/neighbor/fellow trainer Elizabeth, who set off to join her husband currently doing a fellowship in Hanover, Germany for a year. So far she has been eat/pray/lovin’ all over Europe and then some. You can catch her adventures here.
I dressed up as the 90s Rock for Halloween and nailed it.
I learned what kettlebell sport was all about from the awesome team at Seattle Kettlebell Club. It was awesome to learn proper form and technique from Master of Sport Mikhail Marshak. SKC owner Nikolai also showed us how to endure long cycles. Talk about being soaked in sweat.
An adventure in the Olympics for the first time that involved lots of rain, unplugging and zero sightings of vampires in Forks, WA.
As part of my 2015 goals, I signed up for the STP. My official riders guide arrived in the mail this week and reminded me to step up my training. That’s 202 miles in two days, yo.
The year of many marriages and babies. A short visit back home to Chicago to see an old friend get married and to hang out with other people’s babies. The very next weekend? Another wedding here in Seattle. Two down, at least 2 more to go.
Diving into the world of rock climbing for the first time. My first visit to Stone Gardens was just about bouldering, and the second visit was just about belay climbing. I like both, they require different approaches, but there is a 5.9 route that I am determined to conquer on my next visit. I took their Women’s Intro to Climbing Class, where the class size is small and instructors do the belaying and let you explore the wall. Even though it was my first time on the ropes, the instructor said it didn’t look like it and I had great body awareness. It is probably all those years of dodgeball and derby.
You can start seeing some contribution posts from me on bootcampideas.com. If you are a fellow boot camp instructor, this site is a valuable resource for boot camp drills and examples, as well as tips for running a boot camp business.
Also look forward to reading some tips from me about injury prevention and training specifically for roller derby over at the Derby Injury Prevention Network blog. DIPN is a collaboration of health care professionals dedicated to promoting health, safety, fitness and athleticism in the sport of roller derby.
May marked seven years with the bf. It is funny how time flies, because it always still feels like the first year. I am looking forward to many more adventures with him.
It was that time of year again for Sara Problem’s Birthday Challenge. This year she requested 5 push ups a day for 45 days until her birthday in June. We finished the challenge strong and all of her friends participating were very glad to not have to do burpees like last year. I completed all 45 days this year, you can view the videos all over on Instagram.
Fellow Sync Fitness Trainer Steve and I collaborated and hosted a Movement Basics Workshop. We had an excellent turn out and taught our boot campers how to move better and really feel what it means to brace the core. With its success we plan to host more this summer. Stay tuned!
There are 4 weeks until STP. Insert freak out here.
I will now leave you with a start of Summer playlist to inspire fresh air workouts and wind (sprints) in your face.
Traumatic brain injuries are becoming an increasingly heated topic of discussion in sports the past few years, along with initiatives changing the way the are handled in youth sports, revisiting how a football helmet is designed for impact and how brain trauma results in long term effects in professional athletes.
image source from NYPL
In a documentary that airs this week on HBO, the crash reel focuses on snowboarder kevin pierce and his journey from the building of his career to a shot in the 2009 olympics, to the accident itself, followed by the long recovery and acceptance that the person he woke up as was no longer the person he used to be.
Playing any sport has its risks. a traumatic brain injury, no matter how severe, is a permanent injury. It is like no injury your body will ever sustain. When I fell during a practice back in 2012, I laid on the ground in a daze. It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized i had a concussion. The weeks that followed were more than frustrating. Not only did I have to stop skating, I had to stop everything in my life. my recovery was slow, taking several months before I could even focus on a single person talking in a crowded room. As an athlete all you can think about after an injury is when you can return to it. For kevin, like any athlete with a dream to be the best, his snowboarding days were far from over. But his determination to get back might overlook the harsh reality that he shouldn’t return to the slopes ever again. because if he did, just one more fall could mean death.
The crash reel airs this week on HBO the 17, 18, 21 and 23rd. for the full listing of times and dates go here.
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