Intensity Rules

Sometimes I give myself a break.  The logic goes like this:  I work hard.  I exercise a lot.  I'm tired.  I'm fresh meat, I shouldn't expect to get everything right at this very moment.  I'm here, isn't that enough?  The answer, of course, is no.  Sometimes just showing up to be there is just as bad as not coming at all.  At least if you don't go you're not developing bad habits. 

This is the face of a very intense person

This past Monday our B52 practice was coached by The Reanimate-Her (Mater).  I've mentioned her once or twice lately and then realized that some of you may not be derby players, or follow derby, or maybe you just live under a rock.  Suffice to say that she is a top notch derby player who has recently joined Jet City.  I usually refrain from mentioning names here, but have made this exception because A.)  I wish to pay her a compliment and B.)  Sometimes stories have a greater impact because they are about someone who is well known.
At any rate, whether by design or an accident of personality, the theme of the evening was intensity.  It is an easy lesson to take from someone who so obviously employs it herself.  Mater's skating style is characterized by (among other things) wide screeching hockey stops that are designed to leave her perfectly positioned between you and the place you wish to be.  Everything about her stance, her gaze and the way she plays appears to be calculated to convey a singular message:  I mean business. 
The drills for the evening were long.  They required a lot of hanging out in derby stance followed by moments of intense play.  It was exhausting and very tempting to simply let up a little at exactly the times it was necessary to give more.  Near the end of practice she looked around and said something along the lines of, "you guys look like it's 11:00 at night.  Practice how you play.  I want to see the intensity."  This seemed to be a simultaneous acknowledgement of both the difficulty of our task (It was 11pm and we had another half hour), as well as its necessity.  I left that night feeling like I could in fact be doing more.
Yesterday after Cross Fit I ran up a hill.  I’ve been doing that a lot lately.  The hill is short but very steep.  We had been doing squat cleans with high weights for the Cross Fit workout so the first time I went up the hill I anticipated difficulty.  I ran at a slow jog and slowly walked down to catch my breath, except that the breath didn’t need to be caught.  I was fine.  Realizing that, and thinking of the night before, I turned around at the bottom and sprinted – and I kept sprinting intervals until there was no more sprint to be had.
<posted on 8.8.12>