Fighting Fit - The crying week

Yesterday at fighting fit was really weird, everyone seemed really emotional, I was on the verge of crying for no reason at all, and I was not the only one...

It was sooooo relieving when I got to do kicks followed by body punches. Yeah, felt real good to punch hard into those pads.  Sometimes the fighting part gets a little frustrating to me, since I'm so uncoordinated... 

Yesterday the crossfit part was freakin sooo hard, we have had much harder rounds, but yesterday it was just like all of us were empty.

We did:

70 push-ups with claps

70 jumping squats

70 burpees

70 switch lunges 

70 toe-touch situps

70 mountainclimbers

It is for sure not the hardest program we done, but we were ALL struggling to get trough it, except from NeveRest (her first time) who just kept going like a little mashine... Must be her cheerleading background. 

On my way home I got some protein-powder, since I've realised I'm real bad at eating, and I might not get enough calories into my body. I'm really determined to get my body into the best shape I can be! 

Starting next week, me and Thunder are going to Fighting Fit twice a week... Yeah... True story! I'm also going to start hitting up the gym more often to get some more strength training.

Next week I will also hear back from my doctor about my second MRI of my hamstring, to get to know more closely what the best sort of physical therapy would be. I just started to go to a sports massage place, and it seem to work out quite well. The level of pain is going down.

Cancelled flight to Helsinki

Soooo I showed up to the airport with plenty of time just to find out that my flight was cancelled. Helsinki flight at 19.20 was not leaving. 

SAS was kind enough to book us on a flight that was 3,5 hours later and give us (me and Loony) a voucher of 75 kr each (about 10 dollars) to a restaurant where the cheapest option was 130 kr. Very generous! 

So afte some stretching and cracking my back in the sort of empty airport we still have another hour left until our flight leaves... And tomorrow we have a bout and all I wanted to do was to hangout with Only and Pygmi in the sauna... Vittu! 

 

Tomorrow: Team Sweden vs. Team Finland

I am still at work, but soon to leave and head to the airport to go to Helsinki, tomorrow is thefirst bout with the 2014 Team Sweden. I am so EXCITED and a little nervous. I will be staying with Only as usual, I love seeing only and her wife (!) Pygmee, and hopefully she will feed me some Karelian Pirogies.

I am also really excited knowing that my lady will be watching the VIDEOSTREAM from her home cheering me on, and many others with her. I am so amazed and happy how far we have taken rollerderby the past years! Yay for Euopean Rollerderby! Yay for worldwide rollerderby and YAY for all of teh amazing people that have made this possible.

Magazine party pre-reading night... in QX style

Me, Gisela, Mire and new friend

Wednesday I went to the pre-read of the Swedish Gay and Lesbian magazine QX. It was my friend Giselas birthday, and since we are both superbusy it was nice to spend some time with her.
I also had the pleasure to see a whole bunch of the other girls from the TV-show Flator that I'm in. Well, it's airing this spring, and I guess it will mean I become gaymous or something...

Well, it was nice and chatty and free drinks, that I only had very few of, since I have the important Sweden vs. Finalnd game this weekend... oh and looking at the pictures I get very pleased with my haircut (yeah, I know, I am shallow)

My friend Gisela is currently the vice-chair of the Swedish Youth LGBT organization, and i have so much respect for what she's doing. I really often think that I should and could do more. I guess being as involved as I am in rollerderby that is such a female empowering sport and very open to LGBT people is a step, but well, I don't think I'd have time for much more... sometimes it might be the thought that counts...

I'm getting shown  pictures. Matilda (the blonde) is also in Flator

Team Sweden 2014 - first practice and first bout

The Team Sweden training group that were in Malmö this weekend

This past weekend the traininggroup for Team Sweden 2014 got together in Malmö, to get ready for the bout we have this upcoming weekend in Helsinki.

A few years ago, in 2010 to be completly accurate I applied to be the HeadCoach of Sweden, at that time Sweden had one full bouting team, and that was Stockholm rollerderby that JUST had bouted their first time. When we held the try-outs in May 2011, a majority of the girls trying-out had only one or two bouts under their belt, but most of them were in their first season and a few had just been scrimmaging. I had NO clue what I was getting myself into, and it was probably one of the hardest things I've done in my life. Having to dissapoint people is the worst thing I know. I didn't have any clue what was coming, and I did my best and I had times really fun, but most of the times I had no clue what I was supposed to do, but all I can say was that I learned a lot from it! I learned how important it is to delegate, how important it is that people show up on time and that we are all human and here to help and support each other. But I did learn this the hard way.

Being a coach this year, I'm in a completly different position, we have a few coaches working together, we have the Swedish Skating Federation helping us. And I have said that this time around I mainly want to do the on-skate training, I also want to progress as a skater, I don't want to be stuck in admin or telling people that they are not good enough, I don't want to worry about what shirts we are bouting in or if people are in time. I love seeing the game evolve and I love pushing forward, I just wanna be one of the players, one pwersaon on the team, a part of this amazing team that I know we can become.
I am so proud of what we, rollerderby players of Sweden have accomplished, that we together have multiple bouting teams, that we have arranged a Swedish Championship, that we have pushed forward and upward, we have two leauges that are full members of WFTDA going to US this year to compete beyond the level most had even seen four years ago. We have so much talent and we have so much drive, and I love it!

I love playing rollerderby, it really makes me happy, I work out because it makes me a better derbyplayer, and I love the girls I've become friends with in rollerderby. I love my homeleauge Stockholm Roller Derby soo much, all the girls are soooo hardworking and developing fast. I also LOVE that we have a National Team, I have such a great time to see everyone on the track pushing themselves, I love explaining a drill, and everyone understands why and how it's done in no time. I love that we have so many high level players in Sweden! And it makes me feel a tiny bit old, that i remember a bunch of those girls from when they JUST began rollerderby!

I love how we just can line up next to each other,  all from different leauges and we already know what to do, what to look for and how to act and react together. I love that we can do this together, that we can travel to finland and feel confident that we are a great team. We are made up by induviduals but with a great goal to push ourselves together, because it's all about making the team look good, let our jammers shine, let us all work together. And most of all, let us all just have freaking FUN!

Can I tell you I'm SOOOOO excited to play Team Finland this Saturday in Helsinki, and the next day we get to scrimmage against Helsinki Rollerderbys A-team. This is going to be epic, and I love rollerderby and being a part of this.

Valentine gift...

So I sort of don't relly endorse those holidays that are just made up for consumption reasons, I like to buy gifts at any time, just because I feel like getting the people I care about a gift. Earlier this month I ran into a shop that had a shirt with an eagle AND roses on. What could be a better present for my lady than that? (She plays for Rose City and her nickname is Eagle). I just like getting gifts for people I care about, because it makes them smile.

Today when I was home writing a paper for school a package arrived, and it was full of  heartshaped Jolly Ranger lollipops and each of them had a HANDWRITTEN supersweet message for me! WOHOOOOO... made me so EXCITED and sucking on a lollipop of course made schoolwork so much easier. 

Another crazy week: Recap the past week

If you haven't noticed, but my life is crazy busy, it seem like I'm always on the move, on my way somewhere. I like it, but at the same time it does take a major toll on my sleeping habits, I'm always so wired up I have a hard time falling asleep, with insomnia as the result. So coming in to this past Friday I was operating on an average of four to five hours of sleep per night, and that is not at all enough. Especially not if you are working out as much as I am.

One of the reasons I get up quite early is work, but also that before work i wanna catch some chatting time with my girlfriend that lives in Portland. Yeah, that is the westcoast of USA, so we are working on a nine hour difference. So I make coffe and chat with her, either facetime or just voxer before I head to work.

Since i have work and I go to school part-time and I also do a whole bunch od derbywork for my leauge and so on... Yeah, and the nights I don't have derbypractice I do off-skate activities such as Fighting Fit or just go to the gym and do some weights. So... with this all said, I have very little time for my really fab and new apartment... ha ha ha... you catch my drift. It maes me miss living with someone and feeling sad about my girlfriend being so far away, I am so not motivated to keep my apartment looking as fab as it could be.

Well, last week was crazy busy:

 Monday night was boardmeeting, the last meeting of the 2013 Stockholm Rollerderby Board. We had a really great board, and I'm going to miss our meetings, I do think the new board will do a fab job. 

 Tuesday was practice on our sticky floor, we have to take a bus out to an island, and me and Loony laid track for the first time, I think it went better than we expected... We made teh track to long first, but after one lap, we could feel it, and adjusted it to be right. It was a great practice Loony ran and I gotta go over a thing that Fisit Cuffs explained so amazingly in Dresden.

Wednesday was the Annual Leauge Meeting (lasted for 4 hours and we got unicorn cake Crash made) and we voted a new board in. I am no longer on the board of Stockholm Rollerderby, that means I can put more time and work into WFTDA, European Rollerderby, Coachign AND playing myself of course!!

Thursday was Fighting Fit and Panica our new transfer skater joined together with CrackHer, and it was superduperfun, even if the part where we did 300 kettlebell swings felt a little taxing. But hey... it's only about 65 days left until Florida....

Friday was practice, only four people showed up for the off-skate part, but the ones that did, we were superfired up, maybe a little sore since the kettlebell swings from the previous day. The onskate part was run by Sloppy, and it was superfun and everyone looked amazing. I am so proud of how much Stockholm Rollerderby progress all the time, how we push ourselves to become faster and better at all times, how our rookies and our Allstars always are developing and pushing themselves. 

Saturday morning I got up superearly to catch a train at 06.21 to head down to Malmö, to watch Malmö play Copenhagen and for the Sunday Team Sweden practice! But that's all another blog...

In school

So yeah, besides everything else crazy I do in my life, I'm also in school. I'm taking business classes online via a Swedish University. We meet every 6 weeks for seminars, and then we have a final before we start a new class. I'm sometimes struggling to keep up with the homeworks, since I always seem to travel or have something derby.

Yesterday Stockholm Rollerderby had their annual meeting, and we elected a new board in, meaning that I'm no longer on the board. After two years on the board, it's quite nice to no longer be on the board. I will be able to focus more on coaching, be a better captain, WFTDA and Team Sweden.

Crash made us cake for the Annual meeting

Dresden Derby Days

All the participants of the bootcamp! 

This weekend I spent coaching in Dresden with Fisti Cuffs, it was a bootcamp that Dresden Roller Derby put together. Fisit is one of the most awesome rollerderby players I know, and also one of the most amazing people I know, so this was a camp I knew was going to be amazing in so many ways. She is not only a very good player, but she's also really smart, and probably one reason we get along so great is because we do share a lot of views on how rollerderby should be played and what's important for a team to progress and become better.

The bootcamp was fairly small, with only about 30 participants and it made it possible for us to plan to have the girls on-track at almost all times. I ran a short little off-skate session on Saturday while Fisit did some wallwork. Oh, and the bootcamp also had a referee part that was run by the always, oh so chaming Dr. NoNo from Berlin. I love whe nbootcamps have an officals part to them, I think it's so important that we have good officals at bouts, and just like us skaters they need to practice, not fair if only us skaters get all the fun.

NoNo, me and Fisti taking a little break! 

The camp was really well organized, we had time to do on-skate, off-skate, video-analysis and some basic inclassroom strategy... there was also a little portable sauna for the nights. The participants of the bootcamp all spelpt in the hall and the food was all AMAZING! AND they had gotten me some WINESCHORLE, so I was of course really delighted.

For the onskate stuff we did lot's of plowstopping and walls, and everyone were developing so much, it's so amazing to see! We alos did backwards blocking and when to do it, we all know it's the hot thing to do, but that deosn't mean you should be doing it all the time. Both Saturday and Sunday the day was ended by a scrimmage, and it was really cool to see how everyone where using things during the scrimmage that we had been working on during the day.

This is how happy we are to coach together. 

All photos are stolen/borroed from Roller Derby Dresden facebook page. 

What the fuzz and buzz is all about

No longer on the team, but hella fighting spirit...

So Stockholm Allstars are aiming to become more fit for the Beach Brawl tournament in Florida, the first weekend of may. I know, I write about it a lot, but it's because it's something I've dreamed of doing ever since I moved back to Europe. To have a team that is excited and good enough to go to US and play, and we finally  are there now. 

It's so awesome to have a goal, the team having a goal together, to play and aim to climb in ranking. Over a year ago we went and played our first big tournament together in Berlin, we prepared for it at length, and we did real well. I was really proud of the team taking third behind Berlin and London Rollergirls.

In March last year we went to Berlin and beat them, but after that it was like the air just went out, people moved and decided to take breaks from rollerderby, leaving us with to few and  unmotivated players for the Gent tournament. We just didn't seem have it in us, the aim, the spirit nor the drive.

This time it's different, it's like the entire team is buzzing, pushing, skating and wanting. Everyone are showing up at practice, ready to go, to push themselves and excited to go to Florida. We need to create a winning mind, to want this equally and to be excited for progression.

A few things I'm personally doing to become better and more fit is for sure the Fighting Fit class and recovering my hamstring. We are reintroducing the Friday off-skate before/after practice and we will have monthly team meetings where we do some bondage.... Oh, I mean bonding.... I still have some sessions left with my Personal Trainer that I was using before and after Berlin, and I'm thinking of maybe activating those. I am also really looking forward to when I can start biking to work, I probably could already, but there is something about not wanting to bike in February. It should be snow, and somewhere in my mind I do wanna hang onto the thought if it being winter... 

A hundered of it all

Go go go go.....

I wrote this Friday, but didn't have any wifi in Dresden to post it.Giving a hundred percent, today at Fighting fit we as usual did a bunch of punching combos that made me confused. It's funny how "knee, jab,cross,jab, elbow" can be so hard when I have no problem blocking a jammer while looking for my own jammer and getting hit by the other team... I guess I know why kickboxing never really stuck on me and why I love rollerderby.
Never mind, the fighting part is the most fun when we get to wrestle, we did some sparring yesterday, but I'm just not into hitting anyone and I really don't like to get punched at all. I'm not really taking the class for the fighting part, but for the second part when we really get a workout.
Yesterday we got the mission of doing 100 burpees, 100 kettlebell swings, 100 squats, 100 push-ups and 100 sit-ups. We got to break it up as much as we wanted to, and whoever finished first would win wraps for the hands. Hand-wraps to have in the boxing gloves, ou know the kind Rocky would sport... You know what I'm talking about... Too my surprise I finished first, well JUST at the same time as Thunders. Since I'm a terrible counter I did do 10 extra burpees... So I got the wraps, which will be me from some pain, my wrist does act up sometimes...  We are kick-ass... It's really cool to see that it's a bunch of STRD girls that show up at almost every Thursday practice. It's Kimizooka, Thunders, Chaos, Slinky and me from the Allstars and Alpha, Ziggy and Asstroid from BSTRDs. I wish we were more girls from the Allstars. In March when we don't have Tuesday practices I think we are planning on all coming twice a week. 

Yeah, I think the byproduct of getting fit for BeachBrawl will also get us into getting fit for bikinis... Ha ha ha ha... Whatever that means...

Stockholm Allstars getting ready for Florida

Some people aim for Beach 2014, meaning that they are supposed to be ready for a bikini summer of 2014, Stockholm Allstars are getting ready for BeachBrawl 2014... BeachBrawl is a tournament in Florida, and we are playing really highly ranked teams... teams that are almost 100 spots above us, you would say that we are taking on a lot, and if you say that, you are probably right. Still, it's such an amazing opportunity, Steele City, Houston and Tampa Bay, we could not have asked to play against more amazing teams!

AND the BEFORE we go we have TWO bouts here in Sweden, first we are going down to Crime City in Malmö to play our annual match-up. Always a very tight and nervewrecking game, and in April we are playing against an American team coming to Stockholm. Yeah, we are not shy when it comes to take on the top teams of the world, we might get beat down, but only so we can get up quicker... yeah...

Yesterday we had an Allstar meeting, planning for Florida, doing some teambonding, me making hot apple cider and some of even went for some ice-skating before. Ice-skating REALLY is fun, except from when you forget that ice-skates don't have toestops and you fall flat on your face. At least hte flatfallonyourface entertain the rest of the people, and we all almost do it. Freaking Chaos is amazing on skates, she does some really impressive hockeystop and running out of it. yeah... at least I was very impressed by the footwork and wished I could do it... one day, one day... I must admitt I feel like such a amatour on the ice with NEverest, Slinky and Chaos, that all have very solid hockey/Rignette backgrounds... damn those sporty girls, All I have to come with is competative snowboarding... 

Shitty, shitty SHITTY day

Damn, all I need is a hug...

Well, yesterday was one of those days when everything was superduper frustrating, I missed Eagle more than usual and I just felt superdeuper lonly!

Practice was good, lot's of ppl shopwed up and we did a bunch of great drills, I still feel like I am not fit enough, and there is just not enought time in the day for me to get as fit as I want too.

One big problem is that I just don't sleep enough, I go to bed, and I close my eyes, but I just don't sleep, I don't fall asleep. It is SO frustrating and I'm always sort of tired, and I feel like nothign can inspire me! I want to be inspired, I want to push forward, I wanna see my girlfriend, I want my team to get tremendously much better. I feel like I don't develop, that I don't get better, I feel like I'm bringing others down by being a grumpy old lady!

Yikes, life is not easy! There are so many things that are positive and awesome, but sometimes it's hard to see the forrest because of all the trees... and yesterday I just saw hellalot of trees...  All I need is a hug and a pat telling me that I am good at what I do and that I really should stop doubting, becvause it's really silly!

I love my leauge

Brooklyn Skate Company - so amazing

Stockholm Rollerderby, you are so fine! Tonight our practice got cancelled because of a bunch of dumb reasons, and after exhausting all of our resources we ended up getting ONE hour in a hall, 9pm to 10pm, instead of the usual three hours we have...

Did anyone pout and not come to practice? Nope... Still 36... Yes you read right, 36 girls showed up to participate in the very intense practice me and Loony ran! It was a blast and I truly felt sooo much better afterwards, I think we all did! It was a great way of ending the workweek! 

Now it's time for weekend, and this weekend is rollerderby work, reps from all Swedish Leauges are meeting up this weekend to continue to shape the future of Swedish Rollerderby! So damn EXCITING!!

American Football

Me and Kim all done with catching balls

So in the wake of the excitement of Super Bowl (seriously not interested but it seem like all my American friends are, thanks Facebook for teaching me everything about Seahawks) we decided to go to an American Football practice. Well, to be honest, my friend Kim is dating a girl that plays American football, and asked if anyone wanted to come and try it. So about 10 Stockholm Rollerderby girls showed up. And it was superfun, I tried rugby last winter and LOVED it, and I must say that I might jus like all he drills, I'm not too sure I'd feel about actually putting all that gear on and play it...

Well, I think a few of us are keen on trying it again... I like that the ball isn't round and that you can run with it... Yeah... Yeah... It was a real good time!

The drills were lots of footwork, running back and forth and getting the non-round balls thrown at us, expecting us to catch them. Yeah... 

Amy got attacked by a ball... staying with rollerderby...

The funniest part of the practice was that the girls kept on telling us "take it easy, we don't have the pads on"... Hm, and I think they were really impressed about our fearlessness in running into each other, maybe a little less impressed by our fear for balls... 

Short practice times

So as usual Stockholm Rollerderby has a hard time to get practice times and even when we do they get cancelled, sometimes just with a few days warning.

Not to be a complainer, but it sucks when you plan your life around practices, and then they don't happen... So this week we decided to just book whatever we could get, rather than not have practice at all. 

We managed to get ONE hour in a hall that's to small for a track and the floor is soft but super slippery. Yikes, but still soooo much fun. 

Instead of laying track and using valuable time in that, a track that wouldn't even fit in the hall, I ran a quite intense practice with footwork and agility in focus... I ended the practice with partner sit-ups and and burpees still on skates.

It was a fun and exciting practice, I tried my best to push and make things work under the circumstances we are in. You know, it's amazing at a point, what we do for rollerderby and how much fun it is!

QX Gaygala 2014

The cast of Flator (see me hiding flexing my arms)

I have never been to the QX Gaygala before, it's the Swedish Annual Gay Awards. Since I never do anythign halfassed when I do it, I entered the stage TWICE... once on skates and once off-skates. I felt accomplished and then I danced in heels for hours.

Things I accomplished yesterday:

Me, Amy and Loony getting ready for the stage

- Got down a set of stairs in my skates together with Amy and Loony, not falling flat on my face or stumbling over each other.

- Danced with a dragqueen on stage in my skates... I was ALMOST taller. (she rocked)

- Met my mothers hairdresser AND my hairdresser

- Met a guy that I went to highschool with, he's gay, I'm gay, neither of us where back then, we didn't know each other then, but I apperently look just the same! YES, I DO love this guy now!

- The trailer for the TV-series I'm in this spring was shown on the big screen on stage, and we all went on stage to present the Movie of theYear.

- I got to say "AND THE NOMINEES FOR THE BEST MOVIE ARE: "

- And then I said "AND THE BEST MOVIE OF 2014 ACCORDING TO THE QX READERS ARE: BLÅ ÄR DEN VARMASTE FÄRGEN" (I thought I was going to DIE at this point)

- I pounded a beer to calm my nerves after all that, thanks Fru Matilda and Maria for providing me with those beers.

- Wore red lipstick for a hot moment because I thought it was funny, until I forgot about the lipstick and wiped my mouth... Yeah, probably a reason why people see a resemblance between me and Courtney Love.

- Pussy Riot as suprise guests and lot's of talk about Russia in general. What's wrong with the world? The girl who got awarded Hetro of the Year was Emma Green Tregaro, who wore rainbow nailpolish at worlds in Russia this summer. There are moments in all this glitter and glam you are reminded that we aer so fortune to live in a country like Sweden, where we freely can express our love to the one we love.

- Photobombed a photo with PussyRiot without first grasping it was two members of PussyRiot, not until they started to speak Russian...

Photobombing.... 

- Met a whole bunch of really interesting new  bunch of gay gays. Like really? Where have you been all my life!

- Hung out with a bunch of dragqueens, and got to lay my head on the most gigantic boobs I have ever seen... (not real) *very pleased*

- Danced in heels, and my legs/feet HATE me today. But dancing was hella fun and totally worth it!

- Spent money on a cab to go home... to sleep four hours before work...

We went to HighSchhol together in Malung

And this whole shebang will be sent