Getting Past the Plateau

Plateaus happen in all kind of endeavors, physical training, weight loss, learning new skills. They are extremely frustrating. You are working, working, getting better, getting better, and then all of a sudden you're not getting better, even though you are still working. Then it becomes a mind game you play with yourself. Maybe you can't get any better, maybe this is it for you. That is what happened to me with skating.

I have been skating for 20 months, almost two years. I started off in the middle of the pack so to speak. I could skate fairly well in the skatewise direction, I had no problems doing crossovers, I sort of learned to stop (I banged into many a wall the first year), my endurance was average. And then last fall I felt myself falling behind. I had friends who I thought were getting better and faster and stronger and I was really struggling to keep up. I couldn't do turn stops, I couldn't get through a pack well, I was timid. My shoulders were killing me, then I fell ice skating and my knees were killing me. Lucky for me, by then I was devoted to Derby Lite (and was becoming a part owner) so quitting was not a viable option for me. I kept at it, even if I wasn't skating enough or as well as I wanted.

I was finally able to fall on my knees without hurting in June (I got really big kneepads which seemed sort of magical). I started going to some Sunday practices which are not as much about the game of roller derby as skating, and found by sort of slowing down, something was clicking for me (I am forever grateful to Papillon T. Logical, my kindred spirit in the dissection of skating). We played keep the plushie toy away (we have teams each with it's own little stuffed animal, and the idea is to keep your toy moving, but only within your team), and it was really really fun. We scrimmaged one night and I got stuck behind Poppy and another blocker and the rest of my teammates were no where to be found and I got really mad and really wanted to figure out how to get past them the next time. There is a huge difference for me between getting mad and feeling bad. We did some pack drills and I started being more aggressive. And then last night I blocked someone really well and almost felt bad, but actually I was really proud of myself. And in a couple of drills I've actually gotten past people. By pushing hard through and skating my a** off. I haven't fallen really hard or gotten hurt. Which sort of reinforced that it's ok.

Somehow I've stopped being afraid of getting in front of people or of getting right next to them and pushing them out of my way. Oh and I've learned to use my assets to block more effectively (and I have a lot of assets to use!) It's very exciting. So I'm calling my plateau, officially over!

Hurray! When can I skate again?