Here we go again!

I tried to put it off as long as I could, but now that I'm training daily, I'd like to keep track of it, and I'm just not a spreadsheet kinda gal.

So, I've got this completely crazy notion of wanting to be a hockey goalie. Maybe I'll feel like talking about WHY at some point, but I'm not forcing anything here. I don't expect anyone to read it. I just want to keep track of some stuff.

To that end, let's do a little skill check here.

SKATING:

• Stride - Don't embarrass myself on the ice as long as no one bumps me or whatever, I can work up a decent stride, though I still have to remember to keep my knees bent more than comes naturally to me yet. But I almost CAN'T skate with straight legs anymore, so that's good.
• Swizzles - I'm about halfway there on swizzles. I can get a decent distance but I still can't quite get the propulsion I should have and it eventually, er, fizzles.
• Crossovers - Not up to actually trying them, but I've toyed with it and found that my balance and confidence on one leg needs to improve dramatically before I can do these.
• Stopping - Not even close. Haven't even tried. Scares the puck out of me.

HAND/EYE:

• Juggling: Still can't juggle two bean bags yet. I was getting close there for a while, but haven't picked it up for a while.
• Reaction ball: Heh. Threw it once against the garage wall and it went under the car, so I have yet to back the car out and retrive it. It will be awfully challenging, though, I can tell.

STRENGTH:

• Balance: Have worked some on standing on one leg (knee bent in skating stance) and moving the other leg in "skaty" positions in the air. Figure if I can't cross a leg over on dry land and sock feet without falling over, I sure as hell can't do it on skates and ice! Would love to get a Bosu ball or something to make this more challenging and/or dangerous. :)
• Legs: I've realized the uber necessity of having rock solid thighs if I'm going to be squatting all the time in a goalie stance (or even just to skate), so I've started doing squats and lunges (holding a fitness ball in front of me) back and forth across the house. Right now I can do one round trip of each and I'm sweating and huffing. Let's improve that, shall we? Also found a great move here where you put your leg up on the fitness ball and do one leg squats. Nice groin stretch there, though I sure can't get way down low like that guy.
  Also, I put on socks, put a resistance band around my ankles and do power strides (well, you can see that in that link as well) on the hardwood floors. That's pretty fun actually.
• Upper body: Other than what I get out of yoga and holding the fitness ball out during lunges and squats, not doing so well there. Need to figure out how to work that in. Lots of gear for that upper body to hold up as a goalie.
• Abs: Just crunches for now. I pulled an ab muscle from coughing back when I had bronchitis about a year ago, so I've avoided abs until now (took FOREVER to heal), but felt fine tonight. Obliques, upper and lower abs all just get the standard crunches.

FLEXIBILITY:

• Yoga: Have two (beginner and intermediate) yoga videos specifically geared toward flexibility. I'm getting pretty proficient (and maybe a little bored) with the beginner one, but I know I can do better at it, so I'll stick with it for a while longer. Definitely works on stretching out the backs of the legs where I am so stiff.
• Splits: Yep, goalie's gotta be able to do splits at least in some form. I'm just starting to toy with that. Still very painful to do, so it will be a slow process, but I know I'll get there.

That's all for now. Watching the ECHL All Star game tonight. Got a couple of Wildcatters on the team, so that will be fun to see.