33 Seconds.
That is how much I beat my previous 25 in 5 time by. I did my time trial last night at practice, and completed it in 4:41. Confidence in making calls notwithstanding… I have overcome my final hurdle in becoming a Bout Eligible 19th Warden Referee.
I won’t lie to you… it was hard. I was still sore from the aTOMic work-out on Sunday AM. I had an excess of adrenaline in my system. My lungs were on fire throughout the 2nd half. The ache in my knee returned; plus the addition of pain in the muscle running along the outside of my lower left leg near my ankle. My heel and under my arch started hurting when I first put on my skates but eased to a dull ache by the time the trial started. The final 5 laps were excruciating… but I finished it, and finished it within my personal goal of under 4:50.
We started off practice with some off-skates agility drills (3-cone), I gently jogged vs running, and did gingerly did side-steps and backwards stepping. REFLMAO asked me before we started on skates if I wanted to do my time trial, then said we’d do some agility stuff for a bit then take a break for me to do the trial. Then we went on-skates and did laps Derby and counter-Derby direction, a little backwards skating, a little agility (3-cones stepping, 3-cones skating, 3-cones skating backwards).
We took a water break, he checked with me to see if I was ready, then announced I was skating and asked for volunteers to pace me. Jack Ast and Walter Ego offered, Psi’d Kick stood inside track w/REFLMAO to count laps, and the rest of the Wardens stood outside track to cheer me on.
I started, and even from the beginning I couldn’t get my stride right… already frustrated… but I kept skating and hoping I’d get it back. I did eventually fall into a stride, tried to mix up full-on cross-overs and coasting through the turns… then felt the ache start coming back. At one point Walter dropped out… he’d come in late and didn’t get a good warm up himself… and Jack took over pacing me, then for the last 10 laps or so Walter tagged back in.
As I said, the last 5 were excruciating… I was doing a lot more coasting through the last 8-10 laps just to take some of the pressure off of the left knee. I’d be damned if I were giving up again, tho. I wasn’t quitting this time, and while it wasn’t the most impressive last lap sprint… I did try to get through it skating the entire thing.
I honestly don’t remember if I asked the time or if someone else did… but when I heard 4:41 there may have been a whoop for joy. ;) And then a recovery lap, and then the futile guzzling of water to try and put out the roaring inferno in my throat and lungs. I tried to skate another recovery lap and felt my knee protesting mightily, so I headed over to the beach (wall-bench on far side of rink); where I suddenly could do nothing to ease the pain in my leg (the cluster of muscles above the knee knotted up). I pulled off the pad and tried to massage it a bit; bending hurt, straightening hurt, everything hurt… so I accepted that I’d just have to ride out the ow until I could stand/skate on it again. Which I did (otherwise I’d be posting this from the beach and the crew from Horizons would be looking at me funny and wondering if they should start charging room & board).
Important note to self… last lap sprinting on skates is still sprinting… quads are still going to react the same way [omgwtf-owowowowowow-damnyou-diaf!]
So, afterwards we did Ref discussion on verbal calls, then “dodge the sneakers” laps, then done. I decided I deserved Ice Cream… which is good, because plans were made to hit Friendly’s after practice. I ate too much, but I had my ice cream, and it was good.
My mentor was proud of me (and told me I did in fact deserve ice cream… thanks, Psi’d!), and commented that he thought I set a good pace from the beginning… which I find interesting considering I had such an issue with finding my stride.
I will say this, tho… I am VERY glad I switched back to my old skates. I will swear that that made most of the difference… 33 seconds worth of difference. I suppose it wouldn’t be too much of a reach to say that 2 Coach aTOMic workouts in a row contributed… or maybe not so much (other than being damned sore). I think the conditioning is a factor; I think that may also be why I’m not skating quite the same… even if the muscles aren’t necessarily stronger, they are being pushed, they’re being engaged more than they had been, more is being required of them. So maybe I’m entering a phase of skating “growing pains,” as I now need to figure out how to use these newly engaged, challenged, and achy muscles.
The nice thing is, while I do ache… I am walking up and down stairs with a lot less grief (as in “pain,” not the Viking), my heel hasn’t hurt all day, the pain in the left lower leg is much less, and my ankle is less achy. This pleases me, especially since I have to skate tomorrow night.
REFLMAO told us at the beginning of the season at our first Ref practice, “Congratulations, you’re referees! Now you just need to pass eligibility to skate in a bout.” While I appreciate that… in my mind I wouldn’t consider myself a Referee until I passed the Rules Test and the 25 in 5 and developed some confidence in skating as a Referee in scrimmage. I have completed my tasks… and with full confidence and proper pride I can happily say “I am a Referee,” and mean it.
There is a joy and a satisfaction in saying that that I simply can’t put into words, but suffice it to say… Yay for me :)
Badass. And that pic is Teh Hotness. Go you!!!
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