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.