Weekend Fun

Well, we lost our broomball championship game... awwww. But, it was a really fun game! The team we played was awesome. I'd say we were pretty evenly matched. They were friendly, but competitive, just like us. It was a great game to end on, and we did really well this season!

Sunday I ran 8 miles and it went really well! Instead of huffing at a pace slightly too fast for me, we ran at a pushed pace where I still had to take breaks here a couple of times, but I was still able to talk for a lot of it. It got so cold while we were out there! It was late in the afternoon and the sun was fading and wind picked up. I've never been cold on a run before...there's always the acknowledgement of the cold of course. But it was an odd sensation this time that I was running and cold all at the same time. :)

Today I am sore! I was sore from broomball - sides, shoulders, a bruised knee. And now I am sore from the run. My feet hurt, which is kind of different. I might need new shoes soon.

This coming weekend I think we're planning to do 8 again, then we'll do 10. And then the following week will be 6 at a quick pace. And then...it's race weekend!

Sore Achilles

Well, today my left achilles tendon is sore. So I'm skipping the run and just going to do weight training today. It makes sense, since I did a lot yesterday. I don't want to push anything into pain-mode before running 8 this weekend.

Plus... there is the broomball game. Eeeeeee!  I wish people would come watch us. I do better when people are watching - get more energy. Plus I think we need people to cheer!

Broomball Update

So apparently, we've made it to the championship game!

It's kind of weird. There are games Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights. And then there are games Saturday mornings - the day we are in. It looks like the Mon - Tues - Wed group is having playoffs this week. Whomever wins that...plays us Saturday morning. We just automatically get in. Kind of weird, but whatever - it's just fountain square broomball fun!

Last game I scored our only goal. Yea, go me! I'm hoping my allergies calm down by Saturday so I can give 100% broomball-i-ness! Day 2 of Allegra...nothing has changed yet.


Today I spinned. I thought maybe there would be Valentine's Day rock ballads, but thankfully there wasn't. It was a good class- a lot of hills. My hammies are killing me. I didn't run before class because they hurt so bad. I stretched and did some rolling on the foam roller. Tomorrow I'll run regardless though. Tonight is yoga - woohoo!

Consistency

This past week has been a good one for activity. Thursday I did a spinning class...another hard one. Melanie is so good! Friday I ran 3 miles. I took my phone with me to figure out what pace I was going, but the app fizzled out both coming and going. Saturday we played broomball (our first loss...boo). Sunday I ran 6 miles with Greg and Casey. Heart Mini training is officially underway.

Today it's supposed to be near 50...and tomorrow near 60! I have a bit itch to get on my road bike. I have been trying to figure out how to do a bike race in the spring. It is so challenging to figure this out. All I can think of is to go to a bike shop and ask someone. It may be too late to join any teams, and it seems like you have to be with a team to race. I am pretty frustrated with the unsuccessful research I've had. I just want some dates, and to know how it works and what I have to do to prepare. I think it would be fun to try. But maybe you have to be really really good and it's not for just anyone.

I think I'll stop by Swallow Bike Works, the new shop in Loveland that replaced Cycle Sport, and see if someone there can tell me anything to guide me in the right direction.

Broomball...and Checking

Saturday was our 2nd broomball game and I got checked into the boards. Well, I think it would be better described as checked over the boards. It knocked the wind out of me a little and I coughed. I tried the soccer move where I whined and rolled on the ground holding my leg in order to get a penalty (not really). I am surprised there was no penalty, since there is no checking.

Anyway, a couple of hours later I had my diagnosis of a fractured rib cartilage. It's in the area next to the bottom of my sternum. Not sure what all it means yet. I do feel like it's getting more manageable. Last night I biked for an hour, breathing hard with no pain. Just soreness afterwords. Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can run. Fingers crossed!

This weekend at broomball I will be joining my friend Drew as coach. Maybe I'm co-coach? Or I should be The Coach of Flair, teaching the team to have a little more grace and clown-like presence on the ice. :)

Broomball at Fountain Square - Season 2. Party In My Tummy is Going All The Way

I've decided that broomball conditioning starts today. Boooyah! It's season 2 at the Fountain Square League for me. And thanks to last year, I know what it takes on the little ice skating rink downtown to be a kickass player.

Our games start January 8th. That's 3 and a half weeks of conditioning fun.

Really we aren't that competitive. There's not even off-sides. But I am desperate for something to motivate me into doing something. And I think a 3 and a half week period of time to get used to sprinting again without my chest exploding is a good thing to aim for.

Party In My Tummy is ready to hit some ice. And we're ready for crepes after every game.

Broomball Win!

Today we won our broomball game!! Yay! I think it was 3 to 1. I know we had 3... I got so excited I didn't pay attention to what the other team had.

It was a lot of fun this time too. The ice was actually slick and not like carpet. They must have ran the zamboni. The team we played was fun and nice. There were no hard feelings or over-competitiveness as we've been seeing with some other teams. It was a good time!

One guy was very whacky with his stick. I got whacked a few times on one leg... check out the colossal bruise - it hurts and is puffed up! But all in the name of victory! ;)

(There's a) Party In My Tummy - Season 2

We're playing broomball again this winter. This time it's with the Fountain Square League. We play on the small ice rink they have set up, so it's nothing like last year's Cincinnati Broomball Association where we played on an actual hockey rink. This way is a little more fun and goofy, though we still really really want to win (and haven't yet).

For Game #3 we got our shirts which are awesome. I'm certain we will start winning games now that we have this awesome shirt advantage.

Eye black makes us much more intimidating. Grrrrr.

A view of the rink during the break. It isn't cleaned for us so it's not really slippery at all. In fact it's difficult to try to slide.

Greg and me in helmets and P.I.M.T. shirts.

Broomball Game #3

We played a very good team that had a couple of guys who were clearly not beginners. However, the team as a whole was fun to play because they weren't rough/dirty and they really pushed us to be better.

We scored first. Then they answered. Then we scored again. But in the final minutes, they scored and it was by a girl. Unknown to us, rules in co-ed are if a girl scores it's worth two points. Dumb. So now we have a new strategy - girls are going to play up front more. :)

I'm sore, but no one got hurt this time since it was such a clean game. Recently someone broke a rib after they were slid into, so the league has really cracked down on staying on your feet. Unfortunately, most of our team played on Fountain Square last year, where I guess sliding was what you did. Hard habit to break for some.

Broomball Game #2

Game #2 began with PiMT (Party in My Tummy) using some "key learnings" (forgive my corporate term) at the previous night's Cyclones hockey game we all went to such as: offense should stay in a triangle, center moves all over the place, and clear the ball during powerplays.

Alas, while we had some good strategies, we lost. Gremlins 1, PiMT 0. It was kinda a cheap goal though honestly.

We started out with good energy, but no one switched up the line for an entire 5 minutes– something to work on. Our opponents were a little bit better, or at least had some key players that had some better skills. And they were way more aggressive. Plus most of them had broomball shoes so they were faster. All considered, we held on pretty well.

I don't think anyone on our team got too hurt, but I did take an even better spill than last time. #23 slide tackled me from behind, taking my legs completely out from under me. So I landed on my elbow, stomach and head. There was a collective "Ooooh!" when I hit the ice that I do remember. The guy was of course sorry. It rattled me and I couldn't get up right away, but I did hobble over to our bench. Half time came a few minutes later and I was recovered by the time I went back out. I do have a nice lump on my arm that is starting to turn colors already. I suppose I will be donning my old rollerblade elbow pads for the next game :)

We have a pretty good defense, but miss chances to take the ball into our zone on offense. We get a little too carried away with clearning the ball rather than trying to score. We also need to put more pressure on the other teams when they have the ball. We're in an intro league, so in theory, the other team should be just as crappy at handling the ball as we are.

Post game we went to Gordo's for some burgers and beer. Definitely a great post game strategy. Here are some horrible blurry pictures I snapped while I was on the bench. At least you can kind of get the idea of what it looks like. Our team is in black. The net is bigger than a hockey net and what would be a puck is the orange ball which is about the size of an oversized grapefruit on steroids.

January Is Dark and Broomball Is Fun

Not much news these cold dark days, but in the spirit of posting somewhat regularly, in case anyone actually reads this thing, I'm posting about the most recent fun: broomball! For those not familiar: http://www.cincinnatibroomball.org/

Greg and I joined a league team and played our first game this past Sunday. It was ridiculously fun. Our team, Party In My Tummy really came together with all our novice-ness and managed to not score against the Universal Forest Products. (But they didn't score either!) We did manage to have somewhere around 8-10 penalty points, 6 of them taken by one proud, tripping teammate: Pete. In our broomball league, if you lose control of your body and inadvertently take someone out, it's a penalty whether you meant it or not. So for those of us flat on the ice more than on our feet, this could be a problem!

We started the game with probably only 3 or 4 of us truly understanding the floating blue line. (Once you are in your offensive zone, the blue line "floats back" to the red line and you get a bigger playing area.) So we had confused teammates screaming "offsides!" from the bench the entire game. And then there are those with soccer history that while playing defense think they can't come up past a certain line to keep the ball in the zone. And the rest of us just floated around on the ice not really knowing where to go or what to do. Did I mention the other team was a mirror of our fantastic skills? All put together this made for some GREAT broomball! :)

No one seemed to get too hurt on our team. I fell and smacked my helmeted head on the ice, which was just shocking rather than painful. I think trying to stop yourself from falling makes things worse. The other thing I learned was when you attempt to purposely slide on the ice, as in your body not feet, you go WAY faster and farther than you thought you would.

After the game, Greg and I went to dinner with our friends Shawn and Sarah and discussed strategies and ways to make it better. They played on a league last year at Fountain Square's rink, which is about a third of the size of the Gardens' rink. So the rules were a bit relaxed and the action quite a bit different. Positions weren't so important. We all agreed we need to go to a Cyclones game and pay attention to the positions. Having grown up watching hockey, I get the positions, the offsides, etc etc. The main difference is you don't change directions on a dime like you do in hockey. It was like we were all in slow motion. Hilarious to watch.

The ref was awesome, explaining all the rules and penalties and plays as they happened. By the end of the game, I think because everyone was so tired we just all kind of stood around looking at each other after a whistle. He had to yell at us to hurry up to faceoff a few times. :) Other key learnings: don't take your helmet off while at the bench (in case a tired teammate needs you to sub... NOW!), you can kick the ball but be prepared to fall, and remember a freakin' water bottle.

Good fun. Next week I'll remember to take my camera to our bench and snap some action shots. I'm definitely sore and could use a massage right now. Know some things to practice. I'm even thinking my studio building could be a nice indoor practice area :)