October 10th, 2006

7:43p I passed Delta with a note to work on my inside 3 turns.

Onto Basic 7/8 :)

September 26, 2006

8:04p :( Kevin
Well todays lesson was good. I think I will pass delta. I have my edges (except that outside one I'm falling off of, but I used to have it) I have an okay lunge. I can do the three turns okay, just not great.

I also have back outside edges fairly well. And I can spin! On two feet. My one foot spin has a revolution though. We practiced stepping out of them and gliding on the back outside edge. I got the glide part- all the other girls could spin but not glide.

I can do bunny hops on both sides now :)

Kevin met me at the rink to go to dinner afterwards. He was there for half my lesson. I asked what he thought. He said "I didn't really watch. I was too tired to look up" Instead he read my basic skills book. :(

I need to work on crossovers. My forward ones aren't that good anymore, and my backward CCWs are terrible! Backward CW are good

September 12, 2006

7:11p well, it was bound to happen.
Today I caught my toepick while working on edges. I think I skidded about 3 feet on the ice. Great fun.

It turns out that Sue will be our permanent instructor. This makes me very very happy. She is great. Today we started with stroking, and man, I'm slow. I do think I'm using the blade correctly though. Then we went to three turns and my inside ones are better than my outside ones. Which is weird. I used to be able to do outside ones. Repeating "forward on the middle of the blade, backward on the front of the blade" greatly increases my chance of actually turning. I think I am scrapping the very front of the toe pick on the ice though, which isn't good.

My backward edges are sort of coming along, which is nice. My backward crossovers need work, A LOT of work going CCW.

My lunge is apparently not horrible, but my shoot the duck is. Which is okay, since STD (heh) is optional. I don't want a STD anyway. Of course when I get to a sit spin (HAHAHA!) maybe I will.

My bunny hops were looking really good until I realized there was a problem. I was jumping with the right foot picking into the ice. Because I spin CW, my left foot needs to go in the ice. Now the bunny hops are really really bad. I knew this would happen. I am very right dominant. I have no idea how I am going to make my left side work. I really wish I could spin CCW, but I really tried to learn to, and it didn't work.

My forward edges were good and my arms more fluid.

We didn't get a chance to work on spins, which was a little disappointing.

I might have to give up my practice time- so I will just have the 30 minute lesson once a week. A great work opportunity presented itself, and I might be working 60+ hour weeks until November. But hopefully it will be worth it, because at least then I can afford ice.

My entire left side (which took the brunt of the fall) hurts. Especially my hip and lower arm.

September 6th, 2006

6:30a Ice Skating Lesson
Lessons always seem to go better than practice. Maybe it's because I am comparing myself to a bunch of 8 year olds who can do one footed spins, but can't hold an edge, rather than to myself.

Anyway, last nights class was taught by Sue, the program director, instead of our regular teacher. I think her years of experiene really added to the control of the class. The girls still goofed off quite a bit, but they didn't talk as much, so it didn't really bother me.

We started off working on the arms you hold for semi-circle edges. We had the option of doing the semi-circles on two feet, but I went ahead and practiced edges. They aren't terrible, but aren't deep- and the outsides need a lot of work. My arms lack any flow. The idea was to be changing the arm as you rounded the end of each semi circle. You'd think with dance that wouldn't be tough, but man am I stiff on the ice.

Then we worked on actual edges and I was complimented on mine. I think it was a compliment because I was the only one who had noticeable edges, not because they were good though.

Then we worked on 3 turns. I don't know if ISI teaches them different, or if I just didn't understand them, but they seem so much different. It might just be because I don't hold the backwards edge long enough to see a 3, but in my USFSA classes we made a very short, distinct 3, and here we make a curve as long as our bodies (I think it should be in proportion to your blade length, not your height. I've got tiny feet!) and then turn, and then I guess the idea is to keep that, but no one in my level does. Anyhow I worked on inside and outside, and oddly enough did better on the outside ones. Then we did consecutive 3 turns, not twizzles, but step do it again ones in a circle, and that got me good and dizzy.

I don't know if my lunge looks and better, but I feel like it's better. I need someone to take a picture, I'm sure I'm not close to the ice, but I've figured out how to get the back foot to drag, as well as how to rise and dip with my body straight. I can't get my back knee to the ground, but I was told that was optional.

We worked on bunny hops again and I think they are so much fun. I might not be doing them right though. I know I don't start with my picking foot behind me, so that "swing" is wrong. Logic tells me that swinging my legs around on the ice is a bad idea. Go away logic, go away.

Then we did this exercise where we swizzled in a circle and held out back outside landing edge, as if we had jumped- to show us how important jumps were. My outside edge always turned to an inside edge. Then I realized something. If I turn CW, I have to jump CW, and we were basing this on being CCW. So I asked her if I should be going the other way, and after the shock of me not being a lefty, just being incapable of going CCW, she told me yes. And guess what. Not only are my backcrossover stronger going that way, but I can hold the "landing edge" on that side too. Guess I am a CW skater. This is bad news for synchro, and I WILL have to learn the other edge, but I'm excited to at least know I'm balanced on the one side.

Anyhow- lesson=good, practice=bad. I kind of hope Sue teaches us again.

August 29, 2006

Skating Lesson deux
So the first thing I find out is that the rink will soon be switching to USFSA. I'm happy about this. But now that I've wasted a whole session in Delta, I'll be starting probably basic 5. (Maybe I can get to Basic 6) but if I don't get to basic 6, I'm considering this a waste, since I passed Basic 4 quite awhile ago, and passed Adult 2, which covers a lot of 5.

Anyhow, the classes with kids thing is not to my liking. It worked really well for ballet. I don't like it for ice skating. I have been kicked multiple times. Run into multiple times. It's annoying. They don't pay attention to what they are doing. They spend half the class saying "I can't believe your 24" and ignoring the teacher.

Anyhow, I love/hate my new skates. Love them because I can finally spin. I got about 6 revolutions (including a bit of a bending/recovering oopsie) on a 2 footed spin. Bad news is that it was going clockwise. I just cannot go counter clockwise. Hate them because I no longer have 3 turns.

My edges were better. Inside edges are great. Outside edges are there, but I keep slipping on the top of the curve on the right outside, the instructor said my blades are probably dull, but they have less than an hour of skate time since they were sharpened. And Sergei was the one I was recommended to have them sharpened by.

The lesson was okay. We started out with shoot the duck. My dip isn't good. You can image what my shoot the duck looks like. Besides the fact that I'm not close to the ice, I think I have too much forward lean, but I am gliding with my foot in front of me. That counts? No, it doesn't? Aww, you're no fun.

Then we did spirals. I can't do these as well as in my old skates. I miss my old skates.

Then we did outside edges, and I got a "great job" but I think it was just a great job in comparision with the straight lines the other girls were skating. I think learning these on a circle, rather than making half circles might be a big factor.

Then we did outside edges. Another great job. But these were pretty good.

Then we did bunny hops. I think I did this better here than I did in Troy. I think it's because I have a toe pick now :) I still don't have much attack, but it went okay.

Then came 2 footed spins. YAY. I like spinning. One of the girls told me "you spin fast even though you look like a robot" hehe.

The instructor had to leave 5 minutes early (are you kidding? That's 1/6 of the lesson) so we had practice time. I practiced backwards crossovers- even the bad side. The good side is getting back to good. The bad side, I can't hold the edge of the "still" foot. It just won't go there. I also practiced forward crossovers. On the new skates, those aren't too great. Kind of weird.

One of the moms was not pleased about the instructor leaving early, so I think the director is going to cover the last 5 minutes. Good idea, seeing as how I was the only one practicing still. The other girls were just goofing off. But they are 8, that's what they do.

My feet were completely numb when I finished, and in a lot of pain when I took the boots off, but they don't hurt while I skate. So I can get about 30 minutes now. I really hope that number goes up.

Well, 6 more to go.

August 22, 2006

First skating lesson in Iowa
YAY! Skating lessons. I am a Delta- which I was kind of nervous about- the new skates have rendered me PreAlpha :) I was also nervous everyone would be four years old. I was close. The closest to my age is 9. Well that's not true. She's 22- our instructor.

I'm okay with an instructor younger than me, because she's been skating 10 years longer than me. That's the number that matters.

First my skates- they still aren't great. I didn't get to skate again before today, so it's only my 3rd skate in them (4th?). They are still quite tight, and I have a few pressure points, but they aren't painful. By the end of the half hour, I couldn't feel my right foot, but it never went through a "holy moly pain" stage. I still can't stop on them, but am slowly getting things back. My 3 turns are rudimentary, my backwards crossovers those of someone who has learned them but can't do them. So neither is where it was, but I am confident it will get there.

I'm not sure how much I will get from the lessons, but I am sure I will be able to pull something. I forgot how much of lessons with kids is run before we walk. We did some 3 turns and she saw that the kids had no control of their edges at all. So we practiced edges (YAY me- except the RFO which was a little wonky, I still have all my forward edges)- during which all the kids would do 1 footed turns on the tip of their semicircle. Impressive, but almost none of them could hold the edge.

Then we did a combo- 4 fwd strokes, lunge, spiral. For the most part the rest of the class did, push off from the wall, really good lunge, eh spiral. I've never done a lunge before, so I didn't get that- but I got the fwd stroking. In my opinion a perfect lunge isn't going to get you anywhere if you can't stroke and push off your toepicks.

The other reason I'm not sure how much I will get is because, as an adult, I listen when the instructor is speaking or demonstrating. Most of the girls just either goof off, or practice what she is demonstrating, without really listening. So I am skating signifigantly less during that 30 minutes. But I think it will be more beneficial to listen, so I know what to practice on my own time.

This is going to be very different from my very analytical adult lessons- but we'll see how it goes :)
I definetly am glad I did not join the adult class. Stephanie told me last session they could barely get them off the walls. This class will take patience to go to, but it is at my level.

The best part is, even though they raised the price, 8 30 minute lessons, 8 public skate session admissions (usually $5.25), and 3 (probably go unused) guest passes are all only $90. That's a pretty good price to me.