Aerials & Figure Skating

I was watching Pandora's Holiday Moments on Ice yesterday. And I saw something...I was mesmerized. As if pair skating weren't dangerous enough...AERIALS? Wow. Just wow.

Of course, when she put the strap around her neck, I got really uncomfortable. When I was six, my grandma took me to the circus. I remember a beautiful lady with a sparkly pink halter top showing her midriff and matching harem pants. She performed this spinning trick with the strap around her neck. She fell. There was no net. She broke her neck. She died instantly. I've never wanted to go to the circus since.

At least this skater was holding onto the strap. Beautiful routine. I've always loved aerials. But I seriously lack the upper body strength and grip strength to ever do them. To combine it with figure skating is just epic.

back on the ice

Geez. I haven't been skating since Oct 14. 3+ weeks. Yikes. First, I wasn't feeling well that week. Skating and sweating in a cold rink is not the best idea when you're under the weather. Then time just got away from me. The new rink I skate at is a 50 min drive, and it's dreadful. I let my dread of the drive keep me from skating. I need to get me some books on CD to make that drive more pleasant.

I went skating today. Decent session considering how long I've been off ice. I did a couple scratch spins. Perfectly centered, mostly. Not much toe pick scraping. yay!

 

My back scratch was not happening. My outside alternating 3's need work still. I struggle with that back inside edge control. But my back 3's were superb. I'm getting a lot better at holding the forward edge.

Then I worked on the Dutch Waltz and Canasta Tango. There's a dance camp weekend next June that I want to prep for. It's good to have goals. I don't want to be such a dance newbie when I go. Definitely need to call up the dance coach for some private lessons soon.

Nothing

I'm used to bad sessions. I can usually tell myself a bad session is better than no session. But the last few sessions, NOTHING, and I mean nothing, has gone right. Those alternating outside 3's that were almost perfect...nope. It's like they've vanished. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but that back inside edge, I just cannot check it properly. I swing the circle too small and can't step out for the choctaw. I've tried going back to just working on single outside 3's on a hockey circle. I can't keep my edge on the tracing. I'm trying so hard, but I can't keep my arm in front, I can't keep my hip from dropping. I've tried. And then my back 3's, although the scraping is almost gone, are still too swingy, and I can't control it.

And getting to this other rink 3x a week is rough. No weekend sessions, so I'm trying to do it on weekdays and work later on other days to make up the hours. I can't keep this up. I'm going to have to skate on Sundays and only go twice during the week. But there aren't any freestyles. I'll have to go to a public session. ugh. I hate those. Crowded. Bratty hockey boys. Unstable little girls coming into the middle. I'll try it Sunday. I guess if it's awful, I'll only be able to skate twice a week until they bring back weekend freestyle.

Ice Dance 1

I've officially passed Ice Dance 1. Whatevs. I'm not terribly concerned with patches, although I thought it was cute that the patches for girls are pink and blue for boys. I may be feminist, but I still love pink. Coach said I'm close to passing Dance 2.

But I don't think I'll take this class again. The rink gave us such a small space. Honestly, it's ridiculous. We had one hockey circle. Imagine trying to do the Dutch Waltz in that small space. Coach basically kept saying, don't push.

Then he had me try part B of Dance 2. This needed to be fast to cover 4 of them on the entire circle. I joked, now I get to push?

I do, however, see more private lessons in my future. Perhaps someday dancing with him in a dance hold, but let's not get too excited. I'm going shopping today for some stretchy headbands. I'm hoping that will cut down on the sweat dripping down my face. It's so embarrassing. And if one more person points out I'm sweating, I'm gonna cut them with my skate blade. 

Posh Rink

Bit the bullet today and ventured way the heck across town to the posh rink for freestyle. My rink has unapologetically slashed their freestyle schedule. And no amount of complaining from me is changing anything. In fact, they've restricted it even more for even more hockey practice. *grumble*

But good news! My understanding of how their stickers and sticker books worked was incorrect. I knew a walkon was $15 per 30-minute session. So an hour was going to be 30 bucks. Ouch. I was told (and still have the email) that a block of 10 stickers was $120, which made an hour = $24. Still kind of ouch compared to my rink's cost of $10. Except I thought if I bought a pack of stickers, I had to reserve my spot in advance. My highschool rink worked like this. You bought X-number of stickers PER MONTH and reserved your spots in advance. If you couldn't make your session, your only option for a refund was to find another skater to take your place and pay you for the ice time. Otherwise, you were SOL.

This rink doesn't work like that. It's essentially walk on with your stickers. But a pack of 10 is only $75. That's half the price I was thinking. Still more expensive than my rink and nearly twice the distance driving, but it's worth it. They have a HUGE freestyle schedule with lots of time available.

Yay! And I was sharing the ice with Paul Wylie today. Can you beat that?

Coaching

I get tired of coaches who lose patience with their students. Do you think I'm doing it wrong on purpose? Yesterday, at dance class, I was struggling with the Canasta Tango, that quick progressive into chasse. Apparently, I'm leaning too much into the circle. He says, lean outside the circle and demonstrates. Whoa. umm, ok, I'll try. But I can't do it right. About three times during the lesson, I hear him say, "you're still leaning into the circle which I keep telling you not to do."

Enough already. Coaches say they hate it when students say they can't do something. Well guess what? I can't do it. Yet. OK, so the "yet" is implied. I try to add it when I say it, but it's true. I can't do it yet. Your frustrated remarks about how you keep telling me one thing is NOT helping. Got it?

Forward Inside, Back Outside Threes

Finally took some more video of myself skating. Working on that FIBO 3-turn pattern. It's tough. My consolation is I don't look as awkward as I feel. But my back 3's need a lot of practice.

First up, my good side on the FI and bad side on the BO. (RFI-LBO)
By good side, I mean it feels less awkward. And by bad side, I lose my balance a bit and have to put my foot down. A lot. Maybe if I really exaggerate the knee bend after the turn, it'll be easier. See, this is why I like video of myself. It reassures me in some areas and helps me critique in others. 

Next up, my bad side on the FI and good side on the BO. (LFI-RBO)
But I struggle to control that forward edge on this BO turn. It's swingy. I know I should hold my left arm in front, but I just can't. The force pulls it around. I'll keep trying.
(funny, they both look about equal...equally bad or equally good, depending on how pessimistic I'm feeling at the moment)

oh, and a bonus...my dutch waltz. I go off camera a bit, so I cropped that out, but I got most of the ice within view. (I'm the one coming into view at the far right...)

Squeaky Wheel

...gets oiled. Or something.

I just sent an email to the customer service director of my rink. Since school started, they have slashed freestyle. It's as if they're catering to the young kids in school, but even then, it's a very limited schedule (short afternoon session right when school lets out). My beautiful Sunday sessions are gone for the rest of the year. The only weekend sessions left are those stinking early Saturday morning, where all the young kids and synchro girls skate. No thanks.

They've also axed the Monday and Tuesday mornings. Leaving me with only 3 options: Wed, Thu, Fri. My goal is to skate at least 3x a week, maybe 4. With this schedule, I would have to go 3 days in a row, then not skate for 4 WHOLE DAYS. That's just unacceptable.

It's not so bad right now because I have my ice dancing class on Tuesdays over at the posh rink, so I can space my skating out a little by going Wed and Fri. But there are only 3 classes left. I'm really not looking forward to being so limited.

Hopefully my email will be well received, and they can do something about it. There are so many holes in the schedule, times where I think the rink is open, that it makes no sense to have nothing on the calendar. And taking away weekend sessions is like killing the adult skater. We work, kids don't. Most adults need weekend ice time or forget getting any skating in.

*fingers crossed*

Dutch Waltz

Had a rather frustrating skate today. I overslept. Meaning I had 15 minutes to get dressed, get my shit together (gloves, towel, water), make coffee, eat breakfast. And then traffic was nasty. I didn't pin my hair well, and flyaways kept coming lose during my skate. And trying to repin hair down with gloves on...I ended up looking like a hot mess. But flyaways annoy the snot out of me.

I suppose I'll start with the one bright spot about today. The only one. OK, so yesterday, I had my ice dancing class. I'm basically the only student. My friend paid for the class, but of the last 4 classes, she's shown up to 1. One. Uno. Eins. That was last week, the 3rd week. She was a no show again yesterday. Anyway, I'm struggling a bit with this Dutch Waltz. It seems so easy. It's not. That "quick" progressive is tough. My swing rolls were shaky and off-tempo, but coach gave me a great tip. As I'm counting, when I get to 6, instead of saying 6 in my mind, say down. So 1-2-3 (hip shift, swing) 4-5-down, to get me thinking about bending my knee in prep for the next steps.

In our class, we have very little space. Honestly, I don't know what the rink organizers are thinking. We get one little hockey circle. It's ridiculous. Coach has to tell me not to push, or I'll run out of room. But today, I had the whole ice. And after a few attempts, I was ALMOST covering the whole ice. I was covering between the hockey circles, not quite to the boards, but I'll take it. (bright spot) That tip about the swing roll really helped. My progressives still stink. Especially clockwise. That 2-1-3 is just too fast for me.

Why did I spend so much time practicing this waltz today? Because I'm panicking. Yesterday, dance coach said that next week, we'll do the dance in a hold. Shit. I'm not ready. The steps are still too quick for me. I'm probably going to kick him in the leg with my swing roll. And he'll be fast, and if I need to bail or go slower, he'll be holding onto me. And I sweat. I'm gonna sweat all over him. It'll embarrass me. But I lack confrontational skills. He'll ask why if I say I don't want to. I just wish I could test this solo. The test manual says I can. Why must we do this in a hold? I don't wanna. *pout*

Now onto the suck. My alternating 3's were terrible today. Not sure if it was the cold. Man, it was cold. I almost never complain about the cold. Usually because I'm not cold, duh. But it was COLD today. I kept rubbing my legs to get them to circulate and warm up. Thirty minutes in, and I still had my jacket on. That's unheard of! Then I tried the FIBO 3-turn pattern. My back 3's are still rough. I scrape and can't hold that forward edge very well. On my good side, I swing around too much, can't control it. On my bad side, I have to put my free foot down too soon.

And that damn scratch spin. I cannot stop coming up on my toe pick. It's maddening. I try just holding the extended position, but I can still hear my toe pick. I try making sure my free hip doesn't drop, my arms are "10&2" although it ends up being more like 11&2. It's like my upper body rotates, or can't completely rotate around, and I can't fix it. I dream of doing a layback. I'll never get there if I can't nail this scratch spin. le sigh.

Unrelated to all that, there were two other adults on the ice with me. Very basic skaters. I love seeing adults learning to skate. I think I recognized one of the women. She was working on shaky crossovers and forward edges. But the other woman...was wearing jeans. JEANS! the hell? Jeans restrict your movement. Your muscles tense up. You wouldn't wear jeans to the gym. Don't wear them skating. Plus, it's against freestyle rules. (Why is the rink so vague on the definition of "beginner" skater?)

 
She looked like a skater on a public session, just shuffling around the perimeter. Not to mention, for a while, the two of them were skating together, casually, around the perimeter, socializing, like it was a public session. That kind of irked me. But I guess they were moving. :-/

Carolina

Molto Bene...Bellisimo...Perfecto
I'm talking about the outfit...oh yea, her skating is fabulous, too...but that outfit!
I want.

Couldn't find this in English so I figure in the language of her home country is good enough. What can I say? I want this outfit! It's one of my all-time favorites.

Shibutanis

I saw this routine and loved it. It stuck with me. How her dress is the color of cherry blossoms. Memoirs of a Geisha is one of the most beautiful soundtracks. It's a lovely medley of the best pieces, from soft to intense. I just love this...it's another piece of art. Just watch...

Brackets and Counters

I think I've finally weaned myself off the psychological crutch of the boards while practicing bracket turns. I still only attempt right leg brackets (inside and outside). My right leg is stronger. I figure when those feel solid, I'll try them with the left leg. Cuz these turns are a bit scarier than 3-turns.

At practice recently, I noticed something...the tracing on the ice looks like I'm doing a counter and then coming back to finish the bracket. So I thought, why the heck not? Let's try a counter turn. Wow. It felt easier and more natural than the bracket. First, I was working on the forward outside counter. Then I moved onto the inside bracket and decided to try a counter there, too. Again, feels a lot more natural than a bracket. Weird. I thought counters were supposed to be hard or harder. I mean, there are no counters on the Adult Track for MIF. Just brackets in the field. What's up with that?

Here's how they look on the ice...calling them three-turns and brackets makes sense because duh, that's what they look like. I have no idea how "they" came up with the terms counter and rocker.

Essentially, with a 3-turn, your body rotates in the same direction as the curve (clockwise or counter-clockwise). The opposite is true for a bracket turn. But both of these turns are not only a change of direction (forward/backward) but also a change of edge (inside/outside).

Counters and rockers do not change edge, only direction. Counters start out like a bracket, while rockers start out like a 3-turn. So while brackets are harder to learn than 3-turns, counters are easier to learn than rockers. Probably because of your turning momentum. Or something. But who knew counters would be easier than brackets...

And there's your figure skating turns lesson for the day. You're welcome.

three turns & more three turns

Ms. Hu was there again this morning. Just the two of us on the ice. But today, I decided not to let her get to me. And I succeeded. That or she really wasn't feeling her session. She did about 4 jumps and a couple spins...in an hour. Otherwise, she just skated around, stood around, played on her phone.

I abandoned that line by the hockey goal. It's not ideal. I only use it when I'm trying to stay out of the way. I used the lines more in the middle of the rink. My alternating 3's are quite good now, if I do say so myself. For the outsides, I almost never struggle with the choctaw step, controlling the back inside edge nicely. My inside 3's could use a bit more speed but are otherwise satisfactory.

Then I worked on the FIBO 3-turn pattern. This is tough. But I remember when forward alternating 3's were tough. Just a few short months ago. I'm scraping a bit more than I should on the back 3. This also slows down my forward edge. I corrected it on my good side, using my hips to turn rather than relying on my arms. But understanding the concept and applying it to my bad side are two different things right now.

I worked on my spins. The first one...man, I wish I had filmed it. I held the extended position until I thought I found my center. I couldn't even hear my toe pick scraping, so I pulled in. My toe pick started scraping just a bit, but it was much quieter than usual. Spin was fast and centered, and I even checked out. I wish I took a picture of the ice. Then I tried about 5 more and could not do them. I decided to try one more before moving on, and while it wasn't as good as the first, it was close. Minimal sound of my toe pick scraping. I traveled a bit, but the whole spin felt secure. yay!

And then onto back spins. These were just not happening. At all. I'm still entering this from a back pivot. My coach tells me to keep my toe pick lower, so I don't have to bring my skate down so far to spin. I thought I was doing this every time, but I guess it's low when I start, but once I pivot around, my heel comes up when I bend my knee. I don't know how to pivot on the bottom part of my toe pick.

By this time, there was 15 minutes left. I needed to work on the progressives and swing rolls for the Dutch Waltz for next week's dance class. Coming along, I guess. Still not great. I tried the full pattern. My goodness, I don't have enough power or speed. Those swing rolls in 6 counts cover a lot of ice. If I try to cover that much ice, it's more like 10 counts. But if I keep it to 6, I'll need to do like 4 swing rolls instead of 2 to cover the necessary ice before the next progressive step. Whoever said ice dancing isn't hard needs to be smacked. Not sure if anybody ever said that, but I'm sure there are some skaters out there who've thought it.

Sharing the ice

First weekday morning freestyle since school started. Jessica Hu was skating. I had no idea who she was. Still don't. But I can recognize a triple jump, and she was doing them. Well. At first I was impressed. Until I discovered her inability to share the ice. We're TWO skaters on the ice. Just two. I'm WAY off to the side, using the line by the hockey goal, giving her the rest of the ice. Then I'm using the corner hockey circle. (No, she wasn't working on lutzes. Besides, there are 3 other corners she could use if she were.) But she just HAS to skate near me. And fast. I'm working on back 3's, and her constant closeness was getting on my nerves. So I moved. I guess she had the same idea, because she moved, and was still skating too closely to me, repeatedly.

Honestly, I don't understand this attitude from elite skaters. And frankly, I like my rink because there really aren't any elite skaters. The kids may be rude and not quite understand right of way, but the adults are always polite. There's two of us on the ice. And I'm giving her the vast majority of the ice. Can she try not to skate two feet from me? Once, as I was coming around a back 3, she came up behind me in my blind spot and cut me off. I nearly peed, I was so startled.

I took a quick glance at the sign up sheet on my way out to find out her name. Later, a quick google search. 11th at Junior Nationals in 2012. I guess she's now skating at the senior level but possibly didn't qualify for 2013. And her home rink is Raleigh. She's just in town visiting (I hope). No way our rink has a triple jumper. Any elite skaters in the area prefer the posh rink 20 minutes away. I'm surprised she didn't bother skating over there. I wish she would have.

I'm probably still ornery from yesterday's ice dance class. Not the class. I decided to stay and skate the public session after to practice moves from the Dutch Waltz. I needed to tighten my laces, and while I'm doing so, a little girl about 7 or 8 comes up to me and asks incredulously and with disdain, "are you sweating?!" Brat. She's not some toddler who doesn't know any better. Anyway, I felt too self-conscious to skate after that.

Ice Dancing

Today, I signed up for a beginner ice dancing class, over at the posh rink. Cuz duh, my older but comfortable rink doesn't offer such luxuries. A friend of mine who takes lessons with the ice dance coach told me about it, and why not? Class is a half hour. Drive time one way is 50 minutes. But I suppose I could hop onto the public session after (this rink has two sheets) to get a bit more skating in, make the trip worthwhile. I'm looking forward to it but also am nervous. My edges and skating are all comfortable, but I lack speed and power. I'm worried I'll be the worst skater by a lot. I hate that. But I'm doing it, have already paid. It's 7 weeks. Wish me luck! (Did I mention the coach is Gary Shortland? Two time UK National Champion. Fun!)

Also had a lesson with my coach this morning. It's been a month. She gave me some things to work on when it comes to my scratch spin...you know, the one that left me. If anyone finds it, please return it to me. I'm sure I could scrape up a reward of some kind. I told her about my bucket list goal of passing senior moves. (Yup, I want to someday say I can do all the same moves tests the olympic skaters can do...maybe not quite as technically correct as they, but you know, roughly passable.)

I was perhaps not completely clear with my coach. I probably won't test. I will be the judge of whether it's good enough or not. But she wanted to go back and do perimeter stroking from pre-preliminary with me. I indulged her, but I certainly don't need to spend money on a private lesson for her to watch me do perimeter stroking. When she wanted to move on to basic edges, I stopped her and told her I wanted to work on more difficult moves.

Cross strokes and edge pulls are what she suggested. These are comical. But...at one point, I said the same thing about alternating 3-turns. And look how well those are coming along. Just keep skating...

When Moves Disappear

My scratch spin has gone on vacation. I have not authorized this. I have no idea how long it'll be gone. *sad face*

I remember for the longest time, I would spend such a large portion of my practice time just on edges. My main goal with skating is to take even the simplest of moves and make it look flawless. For like a year, I would spend 10 full minutes on each set of edges, 40 minutes total. Until my forward edges felt solid, then I would only spend 5 minutes on each forward edge. Then the back outside edges felt solid. May not sound like a lot, but when you're doing nothing else but that move, you can cover a lot of ice and lobes in 5 minutes. And get mighty sweaty. Or at least I do.

Now my thing seems to be alternating 3's. I probably spend at least 10 mins on each set. After warming up. So by the time that's all done, almost a half hour has passed, roughly half the session. I still struggle a bit controlling the back inside edge on my left leg, which makes that choctaw step to a forward outside edge tricky. So I worked on waltz 3's on the hockey circle. Over and over and over. I need to be able to sustain the edge along that circle.

And back outside 3's are fun now. I can pretty much do the back power 3's on my right leg (the strong leg). Along the hockey circle. I'm trying to get this on my left leg. After about the second turn, I start drifting toward the center of the hockey circle, like a spiral pattern. But I'll get it. Hell, a week ago, I couldn't even turn clockwise on two feet, let alone one. Just keep skating.

My back spin is decent. Slow but decent. Much better than when I first began working on it. Now if only my regular scratch spin would come back from vacation. I think most skaters have this problem. You'll nail something only to have it leave you for a while. And you never know how long it's going to stay away.

4th Freestyle

Whee! Skating again today. That back outside 3, on my left leg...I finally got it! Broke it down again doing it two foot without moving, then very slowly, then building up speed. Moving onto one foot, struggled a bit. When I finally did it and held the forward edge, my mouth popped open wide. Audible gasp. I was so excited! I did a few others, a little inconsistent, but I did a few more. Then I tried the power 3 move. I struggled but eventually could hold a steady enough forward edge to then mohawk step back into position for the next back 3. I can't quite get these on the big hockey circle yet, but I'll get there. I was just so stinking excited to get it!

Oddly enough, I hold that forward edge stronger than the other leg, which is the "easy" leg. Go figure.

I wonder how long before I need to start learning back inside 3's? oy. Can I just bask in this excitement for a little while?

Scratch spins were not happening today. I was getting mighty frustrated until I remembered it's not good to keep trying something when it's just not clicking because you might reinforce what you're doing wrong. But back scratch was decent today. A few of them even looked like real spins on the ice, maybe 3-4 revolutions, centered...made a nice little image on the ice. I wish I'd had my camera to take a picture.

Today was my 4th practice this week. Go me!

Back Three Turns

Ah, scratch spins. Will these ever be consistent? I did one semi-great one today, super fast and controlled. My free leg and arm position need a bit of improvement. Did a few other decent ones, but I can hear my toe pick scraping. And completely fell out of a few others.

Forget my back spin today. I was making progress Tuesday. Today, it just wasn't happening. Annoying.

But my back 3's are making considerable progress. Back outside, I mean. I can't do the inside ones yet. So right foot, which turns counter-clockwise, is fine. I struggle to control the forward inside edge after the turn. It's a bit swingy. But I'm working on it.

However that left foot, clockwise turn, has never been close. I keep coming up on my toe pick. Maddening. Even on two feet. After about 10 mins of trying it over and over, I was standing there thinking, not moving. I went through the motions of the turn on two feet and did it just fine. Why on earth can I do the turn not moving? I did a few more. Then I tried with two feet extremely slowly. Perfect. Every few turns, I would add a touch more speed, until I was doing them normally with two feet.

Time to try one foot. MUCH better. Still not quite there. But I'm hardly coming up on my toe pick. The last few I did, I had a tiny flow of edge after the turn before I had to put my free foot down. Then the session ended. But I'm happy. It's incredibly frustrating to practice something over and over and not see a lick of progress. Then when I see even a tiny bit of progress, I relax a bit. I'll get these. Eventually.

Update on last post

My rink may have lackluster freestyle and an online schedule that doesn't provide a whole lot of detail, but they have great staff. I skated Sunday as usual. Signed in for the walkon. Again this morning, and the guy (who knows me by name) told me he never charged me for Sunday. To make up for the public session last Thursday. I'm so impressed.

And also relieved. I looked into the other rink freestyle costs. Holy shit! At my rink, I pay a flat rate of $10 for the entire session (usually freestyles are 1.5 or 2 hours). So if I skate 10 minutes or an hour or the entire session, it's 10 bucks.

At the other rink? The walkon rate is $15 for 30 minutes. Basic math means that's 30 bucks an hour. I maintain...holy shit! You can buy stickers and reserve your spot in advance for $12 a half hour session, or $24/hour. But don't show, and you're out of luck. Not to mention, this rink is an additional 20 mins drive from my house (50 mins total).

I think I'll stick with my rink, thankyouverymuch.

Unreliable Schedule

Furious. First, most of the freestyles have been cancelled this week. I assume because of this synchro team camp. But hockey appears untouched. Heaven forbid we inconvenience the hockey players.

My attempt to go to the public session this afternoon ended up in extreme frustration. They coned off half the ice for the synchro team. But was there ANY mention of this on the public session calendar or daily rink schedule online? Nope. Pay full price, expecting full ice, get half, thus rendering the session to feel twice as crowded. The middle became nonexistent.

The guy at the front is nice, knows me by name, and did give me a refund. But I drive an hour round trip to get to the rink, not to mention gas. If there had been mention of this on the schedule, I would have saved myself the trouble.

I just sent off a complaint, politely worded, to the customer service manager. I don't know what I expect. The most I'll probably get is an apology, which gets me a whole lot of nothing. But from now on, no more public sessions. Or I'll call ahead of time, which defeats the whole purpose of an online schedule.

grrr

Roller Derby

I allude to this a bit in my bio, but last October, I decided to try out for my local roller derby. The year before, I tried out for the synchronized skating team. That didn't work out so well, but I couldn't let go of the fascinating idea of being on a team. Roller derby may be on wheels, but it appealed to me in that respect. I gave it my all as fresh meat, which apparently wasn't enough. I took what are called assessments in April, and it was the worst experience of my life. I never want to go through that again. My time in roller derby felt like nothing more than heartache and damaging self esteem, which I'm still trying to recover from.

However, there is one amazing thing derby did for me. It has renewed my love of figure skating so fiercely. I haven't seen this kind of dedication bordering on obsession since high school. Even in college, skating was tough. The drive was long from campus, and finding a class schedule around skating was frustrating. But in high school, I was at the rink almost daily. Of course, I lived a lot closer to the rink then. And had a flexible schedule. But it was all I wanted to do. Eat. Sleep. Skate.

It's ~20 years later from when I took my first lesson. I have adult responsibilities. A job. Bills. A husband. A rink that is 30 mins drive away. I couldn't possibly skate every day. But I'm skating a lot. ~3x a week for an hour with hopes of increasing to maybe 1.5 hours and adding a 4th day. I have recovered the abilities lost being off ice so long with roller derby...and then some.

Eeyore says: Rain clouds. Every silver lining has one. But in this case, the rain cloud that was derby has quite the silver lining. Just keep (ice) skating...

Cancelled Freestyles

Fabulous practice yesterday. Got a scrip from my doc to help me sleep. And it worked wonders Sat night. Up and at the rink for roughly 75 minutes of skating. Too crowded to bother with the camera. At first, 12 skaters on the ice. Maybe I'm spoiled, but that's pretty crowded for this rink at this time. Plus a few coaches. I spent probably a third of the time trying to get out of other skaters' way. But by the last half hour, we were down to 3 skaters and 1 coach.

If only I could start seeing improvement on these back 3's. Pretty decent on the back right leg outside. It's counter clockwise. My right leg is the stronger leg. Once I figured out that I balance better by keeping my free leg close while going backward then pull it in front when going forward, it's pretty clean. But the other leg outside, forget it. I try to sit so deep in the turn, but I still come up on my toe pick and can't finish the turn. And forget the insides. I do the same thing, both legs, come up on my toe pick and can't finish. le sigh.

This week is some synchro team camp, thus cancelling my usual freestyle times. The team is for kids. boo. My rink really shafts the adult skater. Tomorrow, there is freestyle an hour earlier than usual. I suppose I could swing this, since it's not on a regular basis. Gotta hit the sack early tonight. And hope I sleep well. Thursday will likely be an afternoon public. I hate public sessions. But it beats the alternative...not skating.

Insomnia

Enough is enough. I'm sick of this insomnia. Three times this week, I've had to miss skating due to crippling insomnia. Sunday, yesterday, and today. I maybe got two hours sleep last night, spread out over the entire night. ugh. I'm calling the doc. I even took a sleeping pill last night. Fat load of good it did me.

I just want to sleep so I can go skating. Is that too much to ask?

Missed Practices

My rink doesn't offer a robust freestyle schedule. There's not much money for them in figure skating. Hockey keeps my rink open, so I shouldn't complain too much. However, the slightest wrinkle in my plans can keep me from skating.

Thursday nights are my red wine and old movie night. There's something very peaceful about watching an old movie and drinking a bottle of red wine. Most times, I'm fine with just one bottle (yes, you may call me a lush, if you wish). But I've been in a funk lately, and I just wanted to keep drinking, so I had a bottle of champagne after. This made me far too hungover to make it to skating Friday morning. 7am comes early, yo.

Saturday, I was a good girl. I showered early. I went to bed early. But ugh, insomnia from hell. Woke up around 3am with quite achy calves. This has been happening to me more frequently, often at night, thanksverymuch. I am good about stretching after each skating session, so I don't know what the issue is. I was still awake at dawn. Lovely. No way was I making the Sunday freestyle. I've skated before on very little sleep. It ain't pretty. I'm not a fan of wiping out simply because my limbs feel like jello.

Even though I don't normally skate on Tuesdays, I went today. And it cleared my head. I spent quite a bit of time working on bracket turns away from the boards. When I first learned these turns, I fell hard on my tail bone. Like, not able to move for minutes on end, staff walking out on the ice in sneakers, talk of calling an ambulance, type pain. I told them I was ok, just needed a minute. I was sore for days and days. Ever since, I work on these turns by the boards. But when I try to work on them away from the boards, it's a hot mess. I'm working on weaning myself off the psychological crutch of the boards. And today was a fairly nice success.

I've been thinking about adding a 4th practice day per week, anyway. Although I might make some of them a public session, to do some lap skating. Babbette over at The Ice Doesn't Care suggested this. Goodness knows, I could use some help with my power and stamina.

Private Lessons

I think I need a break from private lessons. I feel like I'm spending all this money, but not getting a whole lot out of it. I can't really move on because everything I'm working on still needs so much work. And what's wrong is still wrong; it's not getting any better. And coach says the same thing to me, week after week, and I can't do what she's telling me to do.

I wonder if I would feel the same if this were my original coach. My former coach got herself a day job. And she's religious so Sundays are out. Her only available times are afternoon freestyle and early morning Saturdays. Neither of these times are convenient for me. First, I HATE the afternoon freestyles. They're crowded because all the kids are out of school, and that's when they skate. And I don't do early mornings, especially on weekends. I'm talking 6am. I refuse to leave the house before 8am, and it takes me a half hour to drive to the rink.

For a long time, I didn't have a coach. In May, I took an adult LTS class to ease back into skating after being off ice with roller derby so long. I enjoyed the class, but I was too advanced for it. My rink only offered through Adult 4.

But it was fun, a nice way to work on basics, and I was by far the best skater there, so it stroked my ego. I liked the coach, so I asked to take private lessons with her. She's older, which was nice. Being coached by someone who's not younger is nice. And she's a great coach, even though we don't quite mesh as well as I felt with my former coach.

But last week and today, I'm getting increasingly frustrated with lessons. I'm just tired of hearing the same corrections that I can't quite do yet. I'm not giving up skating. I'll still skate on my own 3x a week for an hour+. But I need to get to a point where what I'm working on feels solid before I pay a coach to teach me new moves.

It's the money, but it's not the money. Yes, we can easily afford weekly private lessons. But my inner cheapskate keeps yelling that I'm kind of wasting my money because I'm not getting any new insights out of these lessons. Maybe in a month, I'll re-evaluate.

Alissa

I guess I'm a collector of favorite skaters and favorite routines. Alissa Czisny is just elegant.

Her spins are phenomenal. And even though she singles her double axel here, this is just a beautiful piece of art. le happy sigh...

She just creates works of art. Her choice of music. Her choice of costume. Stunning.

Meh

Every skater has good practice sessions and bad. Today was my turn for a bad session. I skated for 80 minutes. I worked hard. But nothing was clicking. 

Never fails...set the camera, finally start seeing improvement in your back scratch, get excited to watch, only to discover you double-clicked the record button and got nothing. *grumble*

Today's skate...meh. I was getting so frustrated with my lack of ability to control the back inside edge from a simple outside 3-turn. grrr. I'll never get that back choctaw step. I discovered I lower my back arm too much, bringing down my hip to the inside of the circle. I was correcting that by keeping that back arm higher. Nice, controlled edge. Then I tried it with the alternating 3's again and just could.not.do it.

Not much improvement on my scratch spins. My arms are still too high on the entrance, free skate too low, and not enough speed. Coach has been trying to get me to do this spin with the arms finishing overhead. Here's the best of the bunch:

Working on a spread eagle from back crossovers. ick. Needs serious work. And see how sweaty I am? ugh.

Freestyle Video

Finally got some video of my skating. Basic consensus...I need to bend my knees more and keep my arms lower. oy. Like to the point of exaggeration, and then maybe it will look right. And work on controlling these open hips of mine.

Infamous alternating 3's...outside and inside. That back choctaw from my left foot to my right foot...I just cannot get this. I keep stepping down. Holding that back inside edge with proper check is a struggle for me. Hopefully the above corrections will help next session.

Scratch spin...coach is trying to get me to raise my arms above my head, but that is not going so well. So for now, traditional arms, but I'm still entering the spin with my arms too high.

8-step mohawk pattern...I love outside mohawks, but my backward inside mohawk needs work. Again, bending my knees should help.

Back to basics, I wanted to see my forward crossovers. They were actually feeling not so awkward while the camera was rolling, and they don't look bad. I guess I got lucky cuz they often feel awkward. Especially the clockwise ones. But I really need to work on holding the underpush.

And finally, a baby back scratch...

PIC skate

This is kind of exciting. I mean, it's probably quite an adjustment to learn, going from a blade to inline, but you could essentially figure skate almost anywhere with a PIC skate. No need for an ice rink, no need to work around limited freestyle schedules.


I may look into how much these cost...and get me some. I'll never have children; it's just me and hubs. We gotta spend our money on something...we're always saying, "can't take it with us!"

Layback

So Haley Dunne is kind of a friend of mine. And she sent me this a while back. Totally fun! She's a hoot.

Is there a more iconic skating move than a layback spin?

Skating Camps

I have a good friend online. We met online. We've never met in person. She skates roughly my level, so we love to "talk shop" together. What we're working on, what we're struggling with. We pat each other on the back when we make time for skating. We commiserate together about what our bodies just won't do. She just told me today that if she won the lottery, she would take us to Dorothy Hamill's figure skating camp. I looked it up and nearly choked on my coffee. $4,500? And that doesn't even include airfare or accommodations. umm, I better come away from that camp knowing how to skate like Dorothy Hamill, for that kind of money.

However, it intrigued me. Surely there are other adult figure skating camps. There are. Most very far away from my little southern, east coast locale. Except for this baby...

Atlanta Ice Dance Weekend

This is driving distance. I've actually been to this rink. I used to skate at Parkaire (now renamed Marietta Ice Center) when I was in high school. The Cooler didn't exist then. But it's a posh rink, much like my local Extreme Ice Center.

Too bad I missed this year. But it's probably for the best. I'm just getting back into my figure skating. But by next summer? I'll be much improved. I'll have lost some weight. Hopefully. And besides, I need reasons to look forward to summer. It's my least favorite season.

Sundays

If ever there were a perfect freestyle to take video, I forget my camera. In my defense, the last several Sunday freestyles have been crowded. But yesterday? Must've been a competition somewhere. I pulled into the parking lot and saw one car. One. I worried the rink cancelled freestyle. But I checked! I checked the schedule right before I left. (it's happened once, only once, but I got all the way to the rink, and there was hockey instead of freestyle. I was hot. Thankfully, the manager was apologetic and credited me with the cost of a freestyle for my trouble. I wasn't the only skater to show up and find out the schedule was wrong.)

That one car meant one other skater on the ice. No music. Just quiet. The sound of my blade (it helps if I can hear when I come up on my toe pick to try to avoid doing that). I got a lot done. None of which is really super great yet.

Warmed up with figure 8 back crossovers. These seem to be the best way for me to warm up. I'm too shaky to do forward crossovers all that well when my muscles are cold. Into back crossovers/back outside edges. Then power stroking. Power 3's. Waltz 8. Alternating outside 3's then inside. My inside alternating 3's are getting much better. Wish I could say the same for outside. They're noticeably better, of course, than when I started, but they seem to be stagnant lately. Oh well. Just keep practicing.

Lots of work on forward crossovers. Will these ever not feel awkward? I should film myself. See if I really look as awkward as I feel. Then 5-step mohawk pattern. Some 8-step mohawk circles. Scratch spin. This is still not as consistent as I would like. And I come up on my toe pick a lot. I can see the circles on the ice, two lines running parallel in a circle, showing me I'm scraping my toe pick. Back scratch. Did a few "not too bad" ones. Stable position with arms and free leg out. Pull in. Maybe 2-3 revolutions, foot crossed over, arms tucked in. Not bad. Then I lost it. Always. I'll start to see improvement on a practice session only to lose it. That means, move onto something else for today.

And some back 3's and forward brackets. Finished with back crossovers into spread eagle. This really stretches out my laces. Made my boots super loose. I don't know how skaters do this move without needing to re-tighten their laces. Maybe I'll ask my coach. I already knot in between each hook. I don't know what else to do to keep them from getting loose.

Right of Way

Let's talk about right of way on freestyle ice. Most kids get it wrong. One did with me today. If I weren't more concerned with spending my time in a lesson wisely (since I'm paying for it), I would have given this kid the what's what.

Coach is working with me on power 3's. These take the length of the ice, then around to take the other length of the ice. I'm working on timing and following the axis and getting the correct number of lobes down the ice plus form, carriage, edge quality. The whole gamut. A child skater is doing something in a small area in my path. As I modify my movement to go around her, I say I'm in a lesson. She back talks me, "I'm playing my music." I know for a fact she's not in a lesson. There's only one other coach on ice, and I know who's in a lesson with her. I kept skating, but here's the what's what.

A skater in a lesson trumps a skater not in a lesson, every time. A skater in a program in a lesson has first right of way. Second, a skater in a lesson. That's me, kid. THEN third right of way is a skater not in a lesson but skating to program music.

I hate summer. I hate 9 month school years. Being a military brat, I've been in school systems that were year round and others that were 9 month. As a child, I preferred year round. As an adult, seeing our future in these kids, I still prefer year round. Seriously, it's never a good idea to give a kid 3 months off from learning. Hell, it's never a good idea to take 3 months off from anything if you're serious about getting better at it.

My rink has cool camp. Basically summer day care for kids whose parents work. ugh. And with summer, those kids who normally would skate at the very early freestyle and then head to school, leaving my later morning freestyle to the adults (or better, giving me the ice to myself)...well, in summer, those kids don't have school interfering. My usual freestyle times are much more crowded in summer. The adults, oddly enough, are no where to be found. Except me.

My Favorite Skater

OK. There's no more beautiful skater than Caryn Kadavy.

She is the reason I had to have brown skates in high school. I could watch her all day. She is and always will be my favorite skater. A favorite routine? I don't have one. They're all my favorite. Her layback position is just exquisite. She steps on the ice, and I get chills.

She really thrived as a professional skater. Not a ton of success or popularity as an amateur. But dim the lights, give her some brown skates, add lyrics to her music, smooth the curly hair...et voila! Perfection.

But in browsing videos of her skating, I came across this familiar piece. And whattya know? At 2:20, she does alternating 3's. I'm working on those and have gotten so much better at them. I seriously thought they would forever be impossible when I first tried them.

ah...to skate as lovely as Caryn.

Michelle Kwan

So...Michelle Kwan was never my favorite skater. But no one can deny her impression on the sport. Her name is legendary. And this has got to be one of my favorite of her performances. That hair! ♥

Summer Freestyle

I just love skating. Even when I'm not very good at something. Like everything, with practice, I'll get better. I love seeing small improvements. I love gliding and turning and finding it easier and easier to control my edges. What I don't love is how much I sweat. I swear, I'm the only skater ever at my rink to be sweating. It's embarrassing. But my gloves work well as handy sweat towels. And yet, I have to keep a sweat towel on the boards. And I wear my hair in low pig tails because it gives the sweat somewhere to go instead of sitting on the back of my neck.

I think even steam rises from my head sometimes. I can kind of see it when I roll my eyes upward. I'm just a hot mess on the ice. Thankfully, my skating isn't such a hot mess.

I drove through torrential downpour to get to the rink today. Got soaked just running to the door from the car. It's summer so the later morning freestyles are much more crowded than usual. I can't wait until the kids go back to school.

I warmed up with my usual power stroking into backward crossovers to backward outside edges. My alternating 3's are getting better. I swear these felt impossible when I first tried them a couple months ago. Power 3's, waltz eight, and the mohawk patterns, 5 & 8 step. My scratch spin is much improved. Coach started teaching me edge pulls last time, and they were comical. But today, I could do several in a row, albeit slowly. Worked on progressives/chasses and back 3's and brackets. Then finished up working on my spread eagle. I can do a nice one from a forward entrance, but I'm working on being able to do this from back crossovers. It needs work, but I'll get there. 

And it was too crowded to feel comfortable setting up my camera. Maybe next time. Sunday, perhaps.

My Dream

It's my dream to skate like this...well, something closely resembling. I'll never have her speed. The beauty of this piece? No jumps. For me, figure skating is so much more than jumps. Let's see, my layback needs work. Like serious work. I used to have a decent one in high school. 10 years off ice and nuh uh. My spiral needs a bit more flexibility. Forget that split catchfoot...that ain't happening for me. But that spread eagle? You betcha. All in all, I'm close. Maybe I should write down the steps and bring it with me to practice.