Half and Half

I am exhausted. I had one of the most exhausting practices so far back in my career. I think I’m going to cut down this week, give myself some time to recoup from my multiple times last week.

I also lost my car : ( My parents third car broke down so I’m going to be bumming rides to the rink this week. That isn’t fun. I wish I actually knew people at the rink so they could take me. I tried smiling at people today, but no one wanted to smile back. The petit freestyle sessions seem really, really solitary. Everyone does their thing, no one talks at all. Parents all line up in their long coats and puffy boots and coaches all say “bigger, bigger! Stretch!”

I practiced hard today. I took the Olympic Oval public on for my edges. I did 1,600 meters of edges, maybe a little bit more. After that I got really frustrated with the amount of tiny tots and recreational teenagers skating, so about after a half an hour I went to the people in the box office and asked if I could trade up for the freestyle ice. They said okay, so I waited for about two and a half hours. I got fitted for new skates - that took about an hour and kept me busy.

I am in between levels of skates right now. I will probably go for the Jackson Ultima Elite – It is heat moldable which would reduce break-in time, and it has a notch for knee bends. I felt the boots I want to buy, and they are so much stiffer. I feel like a floppy rag doll in my skates right now, and my toe pic is so tiny. I’m scared of going up a notch with the toe pic but it has to be. I can also go to the Elite Plus but I think I’m going to skip that because I just don’t skate hard enough to warrant something that stiff. I’m not doing doubles – yet!

Another option, if the Jackson’s don’t work out, I can get the Pro-Teri. I would rather get the heat moldable ones, and pay a little less for my skates. I guess I’m not really that demanding with my skates. The Jackson’s seem a little narrower, though, and my foot is probably going to swim in the Teri’s. And I know this is just me, but I really don’t like the “look” of the Teri skates, and that little sign on the heals annoy me.

I am for sure getting the Matrix Protégé Blade. Cheap and easy decision.

After a bag of chips and a magazine it was time to skate. I was the second one out so for a few minutes I had some blissful edgework on the empty ice. It was beautiful.

I didn’t remember to bring the list but here is what I did:

Waltz Eight after Waltz Eight.
After Waltz Eight.

I also threw in a few spread eagles, a brave amount of spirals and scratch spins. No jumping at all. I still can’t do Back inside three turns. I’m not sure why, because those used to be really easy for me.

I am putting up two skating dresses on eBay from when I was little in order to buy some more. I’ll go ahead and post pictures of those when I’m done posting them, and of course, include a link.

I cut out about after an hour of skating on the freestyle session – my knees hurt really badly so I did a mini-ballet bar and let the tendonitis sooth itself. I didn’t stretch enough mid-session. I can usually stave off the dull ache by stretching and stretching and stretching.

I have to arrange rides to the ice this week, so we’ll how much I can update.

Midget Ice

I had a lesson and about a half hour practice after that.

I didn’t pull out the “to do list” that I made during work today, for practice, because I had my lesson a half an hour early and learned some new stuff.

I was in a freestyle session – my first since I have returned to skating. It was a Friday at six thirty so I expected it to be a little empty, with all the freestyle kids going to whatever they do on a Friday night, but apparently they are all there, at the rink, skating.

The Petit was the quietest I had ever seen it, with the exception of the rink I was on. There were about eight or nine speed skaters circling, an adult hockey game, and then us, the figure skaters. On a hockey-sized rink, there were maybe, twenty five skaters. That is a lot. It started out really crowded and a lot of the girls had problems keeping away from me and my coach.

I started off with edges and three turns and moved to waltz eights. I have never done these before but they are really fun. All edges are challenging to me, because I’m more of a speed and grace than a slow, smooth, perfect edges sort of girl and I’m glad this coach is making me do them. We also tried some spirals, which were scary because of how many people were on the ice.

After the lesson, I tried some scratch spins a few bits of left over footwork and all my edges and three turns. I had a few good backspins that took me by surprise. A few took me by surprise. After I started spinning, I’d think “oh, man, that’s a back spin…” because I knew I was not on my regular foot. They felt really natural.

My backwards inside three turns are non-existent though. I don’t know how to do that so I’m going to be hunting for advice tonight.

Here is my practice schedule for the next week:

Sunday: Optional Practice, Freestyle between 3 and 5, or public 1 – 4.

Monday: Freestyle in the AM

Tuesday: Off Ice Training, maybe red arrow park if I feel like it.

Wednesday: Skating, Somewhere. Maybe Wilson park if they still have Wednesday eve open skate

Thursday: Day off!

Friday: Freestyle Session in the eve.

Saturday: Whatever!

Sunday: whatever.

I have no lesson next week, my coach is out of town. Hopefully I’ll be able to shock her with some lovely backwards inside 3 turns and a perfect waltz eight. I need some patience. I really am not as patient as I should be with footwork.

Here is what I need to practice:

Perimeter stroking (flow and extension)

Edges (all)

3 turns, (all)

Combinations (both ways)

Circular footwork (both ways)

Waltz eights

Spirals, both feet, with the intro.

Half Flip

Loop

Non Scratch Upright Spin

See you on the ice!

(And to the only other adult skater I kept almost running into while doing edges, I’m really sorry! You looked so unhappy, our patterns kept crossing. I’m sorry I wrecked your flow. I hope you heard me say sorry, if you didn’t, I’m not usually that rude…)

Anyone can comment!

I turned on the anon commenting, so anyone can comment now!

Have fun with that.

I did off ice training yestereday, I go to UWM so I can go to their REALLY nice gym. It is not only functional, it is beautiful.

Here is what I did

• Ran a half a mile
• Stretched for about twenty minutes
• used machines for my back (because it is weak and has a tendency to go "out". I did fifteen reps with low (30-55 lbs) weights, two sets.
• Biked home in the harsh start of the snow.

So, no skating.

I'm not going skating tonight, my body needs to recoup. I will be skating friday, I have my lesson at six thirty on the freestyle ice, which will be nice. I won't have to keep going in a counter clockwise direction! (I'm so much better at my right EVERYTHING because that is the dominant direction in the public sessions)

St. Valentine's Day Skate

Valentine’s Day. The day of couples. I of course, spent Valentine’s Day in classes, but Valentine’s Night was spent with my best beloved, Daniel.

We had a lovely dinner, and then, afterwards, he asked me what I wanted to do.

“I want to skate!” I said.

He said “Okay, I’ll take pictures.”

We ran to my house and ran to the rink to catch the tail end of the public session. The crowd had mostly left by then, and the rink had a few couples, a few parents, and a few singles.

He sat on the bench to observe. I practiced edges, my footwork pattern, and combination crossovers. He sat there for forty-five minutes clapping (no pictures were taken, the camera was out of batteries..)

Another adult skater, who I have talked to on occasion came up and gave me a lecture on leaving my poor boyfriend sitting there on Valentine’s Day. I decided he was right, and I went ahead and did my footwork over once more and then called it a day.

Daniel looked relieved to be out of the cold, though he did seem to enjoy watching me skate/fall/come up to him every five minutes. It was a nice thing to do on Valentine’s Day for me. We decided to not give each other presents, so I baked him a cake and he gave me some roses that are BEAUTIFUL.

Fifteen Minutes of Scratch Spins on the Scratched Up Ice

I went rink hunting today. This sort of venture happens when the rink you usually skate at closes your session. I got there and they said “there is no public ice today..sorry.”

Oops on my part. Should have called ahead.

I had my skates sharpened for the first time since..say…1998, and went back to my car. I called two different skating rinks and none of them had open sessions at that point, so I thought a little bit and decided I would try the usually sloppy, choppy, hard ice at Red Arrow Park, where I go for recreational low-key afternoon sessions. I mostly spin because the ice is too small and too hard to do anything else.

I got there and I had fifteen minutes to skate, which is just fine, because that is about as long as I last on outdoor winter ice. I don’t have a very good cold tolerance (why I picked figure skating is beyond me…) and my feet start falling asleep after about ten minutes.

I rush-laced up my skates and got on the ice. A small boy, probably about four, was hanging on the gate to get onto the ice. “Excuse me,” I said, “I have to get out there onto the ice, can you please let me on?”

He slowly worked his way to the bar that surrounds the ice. I got on the ice and this kid decided, for whatever reason, to chase me down. I was doing relatively fast warm up laps on the broken ice and he was doing his best to keep up with me, all the while shouting “Can You See How Fast I GO!!!” at me.

Since when is it okay for small boys to harass the figure skaters? I understand this is recreational and family ice but I hadn't pulled out any tricks, done anything, or even talked to him besides trying to get him to let me in. Is this a new toll system?

I tried to keep away from him but for some reason he decided to make me his personal target. I had to do some pretty fancy unplanned footwork to avoid his stumbling and staggering in my wake. I don’t mean to intentionally snub this kid, but his parent was standing RIGHT THERE. I would Not let my child go chasing after some random lady who is just trying to get fifteen minutes of SOMETHING in.

I started doing the new crossovers that Deb showed me last night. They are definitely looking more fluid but I’m starting to wonder where the power is going to come in. I usually get my aha moments fast in both dance and ice skating, but there was no aha, and has been no aha moment yet.

It was really tough to do edges or three turns, though I tried both. Edges were so bad-I kept falling on the junk and bumps on that ice. Dirty!

The only thing that went well were my scratch spins. I tried both my forward and back scratches, and I hooked almost all my forwards and none of my backwards. There were these two little girls who were very excited by the spins and they took off on their own spinning ventures. Those poor girls had skates so bad that their ankles were nearly touching the ice. It’s a wonder they haven’t broken them yet.

As I came off the ice at the end of the session, one of the little girls came up to me and whispered “you’re good!”

“Thanks,” I said, “and so are you.”

Dresses to Skate in

I haven't had a new skating dress since I was fifteen. In honor of my skating lessons, I decided to make a skating dress or two.

The first dress I made was this:


Its really soft, warm polarflece, with a Little stretch, but mostly none. I put a zipper down the back.

This dress makes me look like I have a torso that is a thousand miles long. I have a long torso (I'm 5'10") but it's not that long. It is also not fitted. It's really really warm and cost me about fifteen dollars to make. I'll probably never wear it indoors because I'd cook, but I love going to the outdoor rink down town (red arrow for those of you in milwaukee) and if I put sleeves on it, (I ran out of fleece) it'd be perfect.

The Second dress I made is:


This was my first time sewing with spandex and there is no way I'm going to do THAT again. I think. No promises. The scalloping on the bodice took me forever to figure out. It was a six hour mental challenge, but I figured it out. It is fully lined and the skirt is kind of clear which is cool. I like this one more. I'll probably wear it to practice, it is fully functional, though not completely fitted.

From now on, though, I'm going to buy and alter dresses on ebay. I have a bunch of dresses from when I was younger at my parents house, so I'm going to see if those fit, too. If so, I'll post pictures in there. I'll do my hair and put on makeup, too, so I don't look so "I've been sewing the entire weekend" like.

My First Lesson.

Today was my first lesson as an adult skater. I am twenty, turning twenty-one in may, so I cannot yet compete in the circuit but I can work on things and head into it when I turn twenty-one.

I took my roommate (she’s learning to skate, too) and we headed to the Petit. My lesson was during the open session, on a speed skating track. I am VERY people shy and I don’t feel confident in the control of my edges yet enough to go very close to people.

We got acquainted with each other. I told her my dance history, the back injury of doom, and my desire to actually perform and compete, and she seemed encouraging of that goal. I’m hoping to at least get my feet into one competition by August. That is my goal.

We started at the basics. Which I had all forgotten.

There was a point in my life where backwards three turns came very easy to me and edges were nothing, but not today! I started with crossovers which were just fine, perfect, actually. I don’t struggle with them at all, its one of the residual things left from my lessons. She taught me new “power” crossovers, called combinations. I can do those backwards but no one has ever taught them to me forwards.

After that, we worked on Mohawks, which were perfect, again, and three turns. My three turns are in a sorry state. I used to, when I was little, draw with a marker on the ice a three and trace it perfectly. Now they look like curly cues or uneven piggy-tales. I am okay on the front ones, both edges, but really really bad on the back ones.

I was given a little footwork sequence, circular, because I love footwork, that goes in a circle. It is FXO twice, Mohawk, BXO twice, open step into the circle, and again! I did that a bunch and it’s a cute little combination.

Then, we worked on edges, which were okay. Deb told me to go straight back into them, and let my body do the work and I came out with wonderfully large sailing edges. I do need my skates sharpened.

Time was up after that. We had spent 45 minutes on elementary things.

My next session is on Friday, in a Freestyle session, Friday night.

I’m excited to get off of public ice. I hate the bad skaters and racing hockey players. Ugh.

On Ice.

Well, I haven't been skating in YEARS. I skated competitively as a child, mildly. The only thing that I still retain is an okay pair of figure skates, a lovely blurable scratch spin, that is pretty inconsistent, and some fancy footwork. I still retain fluidity on the ice that comes with learning to skate before you have to take care of your joints. I went skating yesterday, as a little preliminary practice before my lessons. I usually go skating in public sessions with the intent to "show off" to the little kids and whatever friends I happen to convince to go skating with. I pull out a scratch spin, some footwork and my waltz jumps if it's not crowded. This time, though, I wanted to brush up on elements I haven't touched since I was fifteen. Here is what I attempted:

-Scratch spin - pulled most of these off in fine form
-Back scratch spin - I tried about fifteen or twenty of these and I was pleasantly surprised that I got a few uncentered ones, and I got one that I was able to hook for a few revolutions, though not blur out.
-Spirals - I think I'm okay with these on both my right and left foot. My extension may or may not be okay, but I don't have a reliable source to tell me.
-Camel Spins - Nope. Didn't happen. Fell out of every one I tried.
-Two Footed Spins - Perfect.
-Bunny Hops - Just fine, just like being eight again.

It was really crowded, I was on a speed skating track that had not been zambonied after the last speed skating practice so there were huge gouges off the ice, and there were dozens of little kids running around everywhere. There were also about eight or ten twelve year old hockey players that raced around and around, building speed. They hit my unable-to-skate roommate twice and I was very mad at them. I wasn't able to jump, which is okay, I guess. I did take a fall that I am feeling today in my left leg. I tried getting the trigger points to release but they were not having it. I have knee problems that I have developed from years of skating and ballet and skateboarding. I have to stretch (I just do a short ballet barre on the edge of the rink. There is a large space and a railing that helps) about every half hour to keep my IT bands stretched out and my knees from hurting. The pain the next day is also lessened, too. I take my first lesson in six years on Sunday. I'm very excited, a little nervous and very excited.