January 10, 2007

I have a bruise on the knuckle of my middle finger- most random skating bruise yet.
Skating is getting hard. I can barely move the entire day after I skate now. I guess that's a good thing, but I am SO sore.

Before the lesson report, let's talk about boots. Skating barefoot is fixing the "too tight" problem, and my feet did not go tingly or lose feeling in the 4 hours I was at the rink. This is a major plus. But it has downsides. 1) My big toes rub against the boot in an odd way and now I have a blister on each of them. The blisters aren't a problem, and it doesn't hurt while I skate- although I can feel it, but I don't want to "damage" my feet. 2) This is the big one. My boots dig into my ankles. I don't know what tights did to prevent this, but it is PAINFUL. I have red line circles around my ankles from them. And I have an open sores on the outside of either ankle from where the rubbing was the worst. I guess it shows I'm bending my knees, but I'm going to have to find a solution. The first might be that maybe it's not the boots that were constricting my feet, but the tights. So I'm going to try some ballet tights that I know my feet are comfortable in (problem is they are pink)- and if that works I'll buy some new skating tights. If it doesn't, I might try stirrup tights- which still leaves the problems on the toes, but bandaids will fix that. People always told me nothing is more uncomfortable than breaking in pointe shoes, but I'm convinced those people have never tried to break in real ice skates. Another girl in that class was just so tiny, and at first I was a little worried she was deaf because off ice we were just bending our knees and she wouldn't move. Finally she decided she did want to bark like a dog when we were working on getting up, so she did move, and then when we got out on the ice, she was one of the better "skaters". But poor thing, getting off the ice, she couldn't figure out how to step (she's tiny, the step would be hard for her) and decided to dive. I could tell she was doing it, but was helping someone off, and didn't react quick enough. She fell off the ice and hit her knee on the step. She was fine, but real scared. I hope she comes back next week happy, because on the ice she did so well.

Then I hung around and watched the freestyle lesson. A lot of the kids asked me why I wasn't in it. It definetly is stuff I could use the work on, but I just feel like 30 minutes of attention to me, not having to deal with the issue of having a kid skate so close to me I can't move, and no standing around time makes private lessons worth it. B. also asked me why I wasn't in the class, and I told him it just didn't work as well for my learning style. I think he'd prefer I also be in group lessons, but I can't afford it at this point. The skating director asked me if I'd always be hanging around, and I said yes because I have an 8:30 lesson- so she asked me to help with the adult class as well. None of those adults have balance issues, so I can help- I just can't support an adult. For my "helping" I had the option of being paid, but went with free ice instead. I got a 20 public session punch card, which is worth about what I'd be paid- and hey, no taxes :)

Okay, my lesson.

Okay, still not to the lesson yet- let's talk about teaching group lessons! Thankfully rather than teaching, I'm "helping". This makes me much more comfortable, and I really like the girls that I am helping out. Hopefully they think I actually provided some help. I am working with Snowplow Sam 1, which is good, because the Basic 1 kids are all at the same level as SS 1- but some of them are taller than me! I don't know if I could support the ones who just can't do it on their own. In the first class we had a 3 year old who did okay standing still, could do a few marches, but couldn't stand back up at all. He was in hockey skates, so that may have been part of the problem. Two kids in that class wore helmets, and really, I'm glad. Those two really needed them! In the second class we have one girl who is scared to death and did some stuff without holding onto me, but really wanted to take my hand. I let her hold my hand, but I wouldn't hold her up- she could do it on her own. That class went really well, although we have one boy who can "skate without taking steps"- it's hard to explain to a 4 year old that the marching is closer to real skating than shuffling your feet along in weird glides.
My lesson with B. went really well. It wasn't until 8:30, so I taught, took a break, skated for about 75 minutes before the lesson and then took a 15 minute break. By 8:30 though most of the public session had left the ice! Major bonus to late lessons. First, he gave up smoking- so now talking to him closely isn't awful! YAY. Way to go B. keep it up! The first thing we did was go over my practice report from Sunday. He told me I did a good job filling it out and appreciated that I put good notes on each move. He laughed when he read my notes on my jumps toe loop- practiced 5 "good" ones, but they are very cheated. Salchow- practiced 5 in center and 5 at wall. Forget to jump in the center, a little better at the wall.

Apparently, when I was jumping on the salchow I was jumping too EARLY. I'm so confused. It seemed like it was too late. But we did a couple and one of them got a "good". So YAY. But mostly this lesson we didn't jump or spin.

We started with perimeter stroking, to waltz music- which to me is fast. We did 3 laps in each direction and I learned two things. 1) 6 laps is hard. I need more stamina and 2) Stroking and crossovers CW is hard because it feels "wrong" since no one in the rink is goign that way. When B. found out I didn't know how to stop, we worked on t-stops. I can do all the stops going really slowly, but can't do any going quickly. He told me it shouldn't make a difference, but I don't believe him.

After stroking we worked on forward 3 turns. They are all pretty good, going into them with 2 strokes except the right inside turn. That one is pretty bad, even from a standstill. But i'm getting more comfortable turn after having already been moving.

Then we worked on backwards 3 turns, which a different coach had showed me once, but I had never really done. I didn't do any good ones, although I did manage to turn around a few times. But I can add these to my practice routine. He also asked me to add consecutive 3-turns to my practice, forward, then backward, and repeating if I can. Twizzles here I come (Of course, my one footed spin really is just a bad twizzle, since I rarely center it!)

After that we worked on backward cross rolls. These were hard, but as he explained how to do them, I think I got a bit better. I did these holding onto his arms, so I know if I hadn't been doing that my posture would have been such that I would have fallen in a heap after every cross, but I was able to try an exagerated movement a few times. It seems that my legs and butt get ahead of my upper body though. Then we did forward swing rolls, which aren't deep enough, but not too bad.

Last we worked on backwards spirals which I was told I had "good" extension on. I love backward spirals, it's just hard to find a place to practice them since I skate on public ice.

We didn't work on spins during the lesson, but I did a bunch of them during practice. From a t-position I can get 5 or so revolutions, and from my hockey glide 10 or more. I want a video so I can see just how slow I'm going, but it feels great. I'm also working from a t position of holding my leg out and then crossing it over, that's going a little better. I also worked on my "combination" spin. This is where I spin 2 revolutions on my right foot, switch for 2 on my left foot, and then back to 2 on my right foot. From a 2 footed spin I can get about 3 revolutions of a beginner backspin. I'm excited. I might turn into a spinner after all!

And lastly, after my lesson B. told me that our club got sponsorship from some local (des moines) business and they were going to be using the money to put on a show, where all members could perform for free. So he'd like me to perform a spotlight routine. The theme is "magic" so I have to think of "magical" music. I'd like to do something pretty like a classical Cinderella (where the godmother is turning mice into horses...), but if I ever compete I'd rather have something jazzy and characterish so I can play it up and the judges can ignore my pitiful skating. So now I have to think of some sort of magic themed music- and something no kids has already taken. He also asked me if I wanted to compete in the Iowa games- ummm February 11th? I don't think I'll be ready in time. But he told me if I wanted to he could choreograph a program and I'd have plenty of time to learn it. Not happening, but thanks :) So, spotlight routine by april. This will be interesting.

Oh, and then I learned how to sharpen skates. And went home to a husband who wondered if I was ever coming back. Did anyone make it this far?