Hey Derby Luvvers! I know a long, very long-awaited DerbyLuv website change or comic re-start after a good test run, or something fun is needed around here, and I have something for you. Coming Soon, Derby Luv is going to start doing some specialize product reviews thanks to Rollergirl.ca and FCDG! First, we're reviewing RADAR MOJO Wheels with Aluminum Hubs (in green to match our team colors) first with a small, fast jammer, and then with me, a larger, slower blocker. We will try these on some different surfaces and come back to you. When we find the perfect set for me, I'm buying them, but we'll keep going!

Secondly, I turned 35 this weekend, and learned that I can no longer handle drinking for 11 hours, and that mixing shots of anything, beers and mixed drinks all night is a good way to lose a day because you have to sleep it off. But I had a great birthday party and only have to ask to untag about 3 photos on facebook, so it was lots of fun! I received a piece of artwork from our team bench manager, Neil aka Bad Pitt, our captain and president (Anya Face and SufferJet). I'll get you a photo. It's lovely and you can see his stuff at beepart.etsy.com

If anyone else knows me, and knows how often I offer HAM to people for doing me favors - like, "Hey, I'll totally owe you a Christmas Ham or something...." this one would be perfect for my ofice http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=25003978 :)
But, they gave me one with a blue bird trailing a ribbon that just simply said HOPE. And I was told that they chose that piece because I have been working my ass off, and they want me to know there is always hope. - yeah, I wanted to cry but instead I rocked out all night. LOL Go roller girls!

I've had some friends tell me they are a little worried about me, that I am doing roller derby AND becoming a daily gym rat too, and when I got hurt at the gym and put myself out for 8 weeks... well it has been a wake up call. I started studying, and I was like, wait. If I am training 2-4 hours a day, and tracked what I was eating, well not 100% perfect, but only about 1400-1500 cals a day, why wasn't I, at 5'10", seeing results?

I think it's been two-fold. Insulin resistance from being a PCOS sufferer (I can bet almost everyone has heard of this by now, or knows someone that suffers from it - if not, you do now), mixed with too many carbs in the diet added to a low metabolism caused by years of starvation dieting yo yoing, and mix that with over-training/under feeding and you get me!

So, last week I started on Fat Shredder portion of the P90X diet (one serving of carbs per day only) as a test. My scale moved in a negative direction for the first time since June. I was tired, sure, from the adjustment, but less hungry. Today is my Day 1 of 90 and here's the plan:
P90X Workouts - at home in AM - 6 per week plus a rest day. A recovery week every 4 weeks. (Lean Program)
Roller Derby - team practice 2 1/2-3 hours 2 X per week (Mon and Thurs)
Roller Derby - Rookie/Skills Practice 1 1/2 hours 1 X week. (Tues)
BodyFlow - Tai Chi/Yoga/Pilates + meditation (1 X week) (FRI)
RPM Spin class - replaces any RD practice missed and on WED and Weekends if at gym (no ride/cancelled/etc) - Same muscles as RD and good feet speed training.
walking 1 time for errands per week (approx 5 Km)

Sundays will be my rest/at home yoga only days, and I will also have available 1 extra carb that day. But, no cake, cookies, chocolate, sweets, junk food, chips, crackers, or ice cream.

At the end of the 90 days, I will assess, and try Classic or Doubles program if I do not feel this has worked for me.

Diet: I am on Phase 1, which lasts 30 days, and is called Fat Shredder. I get: (per day)
5 Protein (lean proteins/chicken/turkey/tofu/soy/whey) But I eat 4 as I eat an additional dairy daily.
1 Carb (2 slices rye or wheat bread/1 bagel/1 potato/etc)
1 fat (olive oil, flaxseed oil, olives, canola oil, etc - healthy fats)
1 fruit
2 Vegetable (1 cup cooked, 2 cups leafy)
2 Dairy ( as a woman at 35 years old, I am getting 2 as a Calcium requirement (not 1) - but the extra replaces one protein).
1 snack - (1 1/2 oz skim mozz. cheese, celery and peanut butter (1 tBSP), yogurt, etc)
1 condiment (fat free dressing, bbq sauce, mustard, ketchup, etc)
1 protein drink recovery/1 protein bar (if desired)


Starting Details:
HT: 5'10"
WT: Unimportant to me - that's just gravity
Size: Women's 16-18 (16 top, 18 pants, some 16 pants fit)
BF%: 47% (this is what I am trying to change)
LBM: 128 lbs
BFM: 92 lbs

Before photo coming soon. My goals are to:
1) Reduce Body Fat - cause I think my percentage is dangerously high.
2) Improve derby skills, pass minimums with ease and with good overage numbers.
3) Play in at least one game in 2009 season (Sept 26, Oct 3, or Nov)
4) Make travel team in 2010 season (make it full season on permanent line up)
5) Lose 3 clothes sizes or so - to wear no larger than a 10-12 - weight is unimportant.
6) Be able to wear green lame leggings and a black pair of undies and tank top T as my uniform in 2010 - for 2009, I am hunting a shirt to get lettered..... LOL

So, expect a nice roll right now about training, product testing, and my derby challenges continuing as my ankle heals and I try to come back again, and in the winter off-season, I'll think about how to again improve DerbyLuv. Feedback is welcome!

PS - How are you spending the fall roller derby season?

Labels: P90X, Rollergirl.ca, training

Well, it's official. Monday's MRI results showed a torn ACL and some other damaged knee-goods. So much for a sprain.

I meet with the Orthopedic Doctor tomorrow. I'm assuming one of two things will be discussed: 1 - surgry or 2 - bionic knee brace. Either way I'm out for a while.

I will accept my fate whatever it may be. I just keep thinking about what a great season I was having - all the progress I'd made and all the things I still wanted to try. I felt like I had just earned my pack's trust as a pivot and was feeling exceptionally comfortable on the track during game play. But I guess everyone gets injured at some point - this is a full contact sport after all.

I know I'll be back, but I can't help but letting the dark thought in my head that I may have peeked. That's it for me. I'll never reach the next level of game play. Even if I never get to play as Bombshell again at least I can say I did it, and I did it well.

When I really think about it I accomplished something amazing. I saw something on a TV show that sparked my interest. I tried out for derby by myself, I had no friends on the league or who even really knew what derby was. I worked my ass off. I set goals and I got good. How many people in the real world can say they did that? A little post-injury retrospect for ya.

I know an ACL injury is the most common sports-related injury and that through physical therapy, CrossFit and the determination, passion and love for derby that I have, Raven Von Kaos will be back . . . with vengeance.

Hugs & Bruises,

Raven

Labels: injuries, santa cruz derby girls

Drew Barrymore, Ellen Page, and a cast of lots of well-known actors and skaters are gonna be known as roller girls as of  - drun roll please - Oct 2. 

Oct 2, 2009 is the newest release date of Whip It! says get the big picture, roller girls and guys. Mark your calendars and start to get your derby wives, derby widows, derby sisters, friends, and entire leagues ready for a Friday night movie night or weekend or repeatable movie nights after Oct 2 to see Whip It! until you can repeat it without watching it, so we can drive Hollywood and others to make us more derby movies. LOL Drum up fans of roller derby so we can become the next Olympic sport! 

Well ok, so I won't be at any rally, I'll be at the movies, but my heart is in the right plac

Labels: whip it

Hey Hey Derbyluvvers, well, there was nothing in derby I could do to tell you about these last 6 weeks, since I was off skate with this stupid, severe ankle sprain. At this point, I am pretty sure it is just a bad sprain and residual pain is from remodeling of torn ligaments. So with a new ankle support at the ready, I am back to skating this week.

Sad to hear Raven has knee injury - looks like injuries hit us all at some time or other.

But I am just too excited to worry about my healing injuries now. Did you know August 28 it my birthday? Yep, I'll be a whopping, scary, 35 years old this Friday, and on Saturday August 29, my friend is hosting a Hotdog BBQ Birthday BBQ party for me. If you're in London, grab some drinks for yourself and some side dishes or chips, and head on over. Facebook event has the details. start time is 5PM at 503 Pall Mall St.

But before I arrive to my own birthday party, I'll be at the London North Optimist Center Skating rink from 1-4 PM to train intermediate/advanced skills with SmartyPants of the TXRD and the Forest City Derby Girls. I'm off right now to get it on our webiste at http://www.forestcityderbygirls.com. It's open to a small maximum cap, but other leagues are welcome, contact FCDG or anyaface@gmail.com for more info. 

Labels: event, FCDG, injuries, training

Well I'm not sure if it was the scream heard around the world, but it definitely shook the Seabright Palladium and will be ingrained in my memory for at least a couple months. I came really close to dislocating my knee last Thursday at practice. I went to take a lateral hit and my skate got locked up with someone else's - I moved and my skate did not. I literally felt my leg rotate in my knee socket and start to push out - It was THE worst pain I have ever felt in my life. It felt like my body was tearing apart from the inside out.

I went to see Dr. Roitz (the most fabulous sports doctor ever) the following morning and she said it was a sprain and taped me up. I'm so relieved, I thought for sure that I had really messed myself up this time. Torn a PCL or something career ending.

I've fallen on my knees and injured them a few times now - Last season it was an issue for me on an almost constant basis, one contusion after the other. This season I have really been focusing on cross training and I believe that it has helped me build up my knee strength and the muscles around my knee.

There was just something about the way it felt this time though that has been haunting me. When you fall directly on your knee, you pretty much know what you are in for - a couple days of soreness and stiffness. Maybe a nice scab if your pad slipped down during the fall (I have matching quarter-shaped scars from this on both my knees and I'm sorta proud of them for some reason).

Feeling my leg rotate in my knee socket was the grossest thing I have ever felt - it's really messing with my mind. Part of me is worried that this will be one of those injuries that follows me around for the next few years. Something I'm always gonna have to watch out for. I'm also worried that since I came this close to dislocating my knee this time, is it going to be easier for it to fully dislocate in the future? Meh!

I'm sure in a few days my knee-kankle will go back to looking normal and I'll regain full range of motion and all my fears will subside. Time just seems to be going by slowly and I kinda feel like I'm stuck in straight jacket watching the clock.

The idea of sitting and watching practice is torture - I think I would rather be waterboarded - but I have three games next month and I gotta keep that attendance up if I'm gonna play. Did I mention I break into tears every time I hobble past my skate bag and I keep having gnarly mood swings? Damn exercise endorphins . . .

We all play this sport knowing that anything and everything is a reality in the injury realm. I know that, I made my peace with it and I've accepted it- I just gotta get through the next week.

Aye - I guess the most appropriate quote to apply here is: "This too shall pass."

Hugs, Bruises and Knees-Kankles,

Raven

Labels: injuries, santa cruz derby girls

This has been an amazing year for Santa Cruz Derby Girls. We've become a nonprofit, have the day-to-day operations for the league pretty much down to a beautiful evolving science and the skaters seem generally happy and their skills are consistently improving. When I sit back and see the fruits of SO many people's over-the-top labor I can't help but smile.

On July 19th SCDG held open tryouts and almost 30 girls showed up. WOW. I think we now have 22 new skaters - which is amazing considering I think we only had about that to start. Our program just doubled and the best part about it it that we are totally ready to take these women and make derby girls of them.

Monday night all the newbies had their first practice. It was so crowded, but amazing to be surrounded by that much raw talent. Not one single girl dropped out of a drill or left - every girl pushed herself to a new level - it was great! True Santa Cruz spirit. It made me realize this is one, if not THE reason we all work so hard on the back-end - to ensure a solid, transparent structure to guarantee that SCDG has a nice long, healthy career as a league.

With the addition to our skaterific family is also the Santa Cruz Derby Groms - our Junior Derby League. The Groms will be making their debut on the 22nd during the halftime of the Hellcats v SVRG Killabites game (and oh what a game it will be).

The next generation is what it's all about - I work my ass off today to ensure girls who are my sister's age (15) will have a solid league to join when they are of age. I bust my ass every practice to lay the tracks for the skaters of tomorrow. I want every girl like me to finally have that "place" where they belong - Derby has given me more than I ever thought possible - I want other girls to feel the same joy :).

Hugs & Bruises,

Raven





Cute girl is my lil sister Leigh "Mini Kaos"

Labels: Keeping the dream alive, santa cruz derby girls