monday and tuesday and saturday
I keep forgetting to post so I'm cheating and posting my skatingforums reports. I've had two bad falls this week. On tuesday the fall on my hip hurt my neck badly enough that it was sore until Thursday. Today I slammed the side of my knee onto the ice.
I need new blades now. I'm about 90% sure I'm going with the Ultima Lites. I was thinking the Coronation Ace, but one of the coaches told me that if you drag your toepicks you need a bigger rocker- so I don't think switching to a 7' is a great idea for me- the great toe skater.
Monday
I actually skated Monday! I always mean to, but never do.
Boots hurt my feet badly. I need something with an arch support. The rink has GREAT deals on Jacksons- but I'm not sure if Jacksons are best for me (I'm in them now. I don't know if it's a bad fit, or the brand isn't right.) The nearest pro-shop is a few hundred miles away. Getting fitted is not an easy thing. I also really need new blades, but I want to have an idea if I'm going to be getting larger boots, so I can order the blade so that it will fit it too. I need the blade now, but can't afford the boots until Christmas. I hate skates.
Rink was really crowded with a school group. Usually no one is there on mondays.
Well, kind of. I practiced the things we learned in the dance lesson and they went better. I have NO knee bend and need to get the skates sharpened if I want an outside edge. But in the progressives and the cross rolls I was able to hit the ice before moving it over. YAY. Swing rolls I'm still leaning forward a bit rather than bending, but during the cross rolls I was able to keep my chest up better.
Tuesday
Today wasn't a good skating day.
I got to the mall about 45 minutes before LTS started, so I went to Target to buy insoles. There is no way that my foot and an insole can be in the boot at the same time. So that's a no go. But I put them in a pair of shoes I wear a lot to work and they fit great.
Did about 20 minutes of skating. Progressives are improving, cross rolls are maybe even good, swing rolls not so much. Went into a spin and immediatly popped something in my leg. My PT pulled my quad on Monday while stretching me, so I took that as a cue to get off the ice.
Taught classes that are comically small and have 2 instructors so I didn't do too much because the other instructor was doing fabulous, just helped a few kids out a little.
Saturday
I seem to have forgotten how to skate. I had yet another bad fall today- once again catching my toepick (while trying to check a back inside 3 turn). At least I'm not catching them while doing stroking. It has been confirmed by a coach that while I scrape my toe picks on almost everything I DO NOT toe push.
Anyhow- the fall was at the very end of class and was bad enough that I couldn't get up on my own. I bumped the side of my knee and I just couldn't get it straight. A coach helped me to a hockey box, and I tried to breathe deeply so as not to cry. A friend came over to check on me, and her hug made me start crying, but then we started laughing and that made me catch my breath well enough that I tried the low freestyle class. It still REALLY hurts. I hate falling in singles- synchro falls are always so much better because I'm moving fast enough that I slide.
Okay skating report:
Just got back my skates. I need new blades NOW. These ones are completely shot. Rather than having that "new sharpening" feel to them they just felt completely off. I have totally lost my backspin. I skated for about 45 minutes during freestyle. Mostly stroking, progressives, crossrolls. Spins and jumps were so frustrating so I barely did any.
Specialty class was nice today (except the fall). We worked on field moves. Started with crossovers in a figure 8. The left side forward is SO difficult now that I am getting strong pushes. I do each side of the circle in 3 pushes (I remember when thinking getting down to 5 was impossible) but I'm so unsteady with that power. The right side is getting good. Backwards felt great- not as scratchy as normal, but scratchy. Got told to turn my palms down- guess that's going to be another one of those things to remember to do differently on Tuesdays than Saturdays. I kind of like them up- I feel like I'm channeling Kristi Yamaguchi and it makes me think to take a big wide step like a figure skater. I don't really know if she holds them upward though.
Did power 3s next. I got complimented for staying on the axis, but not much else was said about it. We did them "synchronized" which made it impossible to build up power, because I had to stay with the counts, which weren't getting faster- but then the instructor admonished us for dragging our toe picks which slowed us down. Urgh. Maybe he was just counting what the people nearest him were doing, rather than acting as a metronome. 3s in the field were my downfall- literally. I can do them on the back outside, but not on the back inside. My knee looks like it has a second knee cap- it has a huge red/purple bump on the inside.
Freestyle was next. I took low freestyle and we started with scratch spins. I was getting 8-10 revolutions, but the problem was I could count them really well- I was traveling insane amounts. Then we worked on inside edges, and I moved on to cross rolls.
Also taught girl scout groups and that's always fun. Now I need to go ice my knee. Stupid toepicks and stupid back inside 3 turns.
My lesson- started with crossovers in a figure eight. Had a fall on forward ones- just caught my toepick and slide far. It was a good fall though, as I was able to fall on my hip, and not face plant, and there was good slide to it. So I was fine and went on my way. The problem with forward crossovers is I'm changing on a real strong inside edge now, instead of 2 foot transition. My edge to change has me going so fast that when I start the left side I can't keep up. I'm not a very balanced skater.
Then we did back crossovers, and our instructor had us widen out stance and really step toward the circle. My body position was probably wrong, but the crossovers felt fantastic. Started working on one foot transitions here- those are hard!
Then we moved to waltz 8s. Mine were okay. I haven't worked on them since last summer, but the other girls hadn't learned them yet. After a few tries they were pretty good. I was trying to get the parts to be placed evenly on the circle (something I was never very good at during PB moves)- and I leaned too far back on a back outside edge and went down hard. I fell on my hip (which is quite sore today) but in kind of reverberated up my spine and my neck popped really hard. That was enough for me to end the lesson. I might have been able to skate- but I would have been shaking hard enough that I probably would not have done well. The thought of breaking my neck again is enough for me to act like a wuss and leave a lesson. I told the instructor that I was fine, but I was done for the day. Today my neck is really sore, much more so than the hip I fell on- it's like all the muscles near it reacted by getting as tense as humanely possible 
I'm not sure I'm going to take a lesson next week. In an effort to get us off our toepicks our instructor has asked us to wear hockey skates. Honestly- the toepick isn't the main difference in the hockey skate- it's the rocker, the complete lack of a tail, and the fact that only a very small portion of the blade touches the ice at a time. Not to mention- the blades are going to suck because we'll have to use rentals. I guess I can see why he might want to do this, but I really don't see the value, and I haven't worn a rental skate in 15 years and don't really want to after seeing how they are maintained. So any other instructors want to weigh in? Is there actual value in this? Or is it just going to be an exercise in me trying not to die?
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