October 1, 2006

1:34p another quick skate
Well I meant to skate for an hour today. I finished up the copy-edit assignment and have moved on to another one, so I still have no free time, but kevin needed the computer to write a paper so I was going to skate during that time. After 30 minutes a bus load of kids in hockey skates (an actual busload) most of whom had no control of themselves on the ice (or really, off the ice) invaded the rink. So off I went. I don't mind the skating time being cut short, because really I had to go home and clean, but because there were about 20 people still in line at the world's slowest register I wasn't able to leave my skates to be sharpened.

Anyhow the 30 minutes was pretty good. I pretty much ran through everything I can do. My 3 turns pretty much suck, I always drop my foot. But they are improving from when I got the new skates (not at old skate level yet, but I didn't have inside ones at all yet then). I worked a lot on entering a one footed spin from backwards crossovers and exiting with a backward outside edge. That went really well, but the spin didn't. I also praticed the entrance/exit using a 2 footed spin. My two footed spins are slowly becoming awesome for a beginner. I'm quite excited.

I worked a lot on forward and backward crossovers. I still need to work on stroking. My lunges look like lunges and my bunny hops like bunny hops :)

I think that at the end of this session I will probably be placed in Basic 7. I really want to look into a once a month private lesson because while I have been introduced to all the Basic 5 and 6 skills I'm not sure I am happy with the level of mastery, though a lax coach would probably pass me. I don't really want to be in a lower level becaues I think the higher up I go the less likely the kids will be goofing off, because they might actually care, but I also think it's important no to skip the basics.

Gotta go work.

September 24, 2006

1:32p short ice skating
I am so busy today, like last weekend, so I barely had time to skate. I probably wouldn't have gone at all, but Kevin needed the computer. I skated for about 30 minutes.

My two foot spins are getting really good. My "backspin" happened, and my "scratch spin" didn't at all. The one footed spins are not good, when they do happen.

PRacticed all kinds of 3 turns, which ranged from good to eh, worked on backward and forward crossovers. Worked on backward and forward edges. The LFO edge is completely gone- I need to get the skates sharpened, but they won't be ready by tuesday so I will have to have another lesson without an edge.

Bunny hops are good on the right side and tenative on the left side.
If the standard isn't too high I think my lunge is passable.

Gotta get back to work

September 10th, 2006

2:28p Ice skating pratice
Well, today I made it to 40 minutes of practice time, but this 40 minutes was much different from last weeks 30 in that I actually enjoyed myself.

I still can't stop. But I don't think my blades were sharpened right because I am falling off (slipping?) off my left outside edge on the same part of my blade each time.

Today the public session was the most crowded Sunday I've seen, and seeing as how there are no rules at our sessions, it was madness. One boy aborted every jump attempt he went for for almost 20 minutes. When I left I saw him get one in. Another girl took out a hockey skater while praticing backward crossovers. Although she wasn't looking (bad), he pretty much skated into her on purpose.

So I forward praticed edges inside=good, outside=eh. Backward one foot glides (the right one always goes onto an inside edge), backward left outside edges are kind of working. Didn't try any other backwards edges.

I worked on 2 footed spins. They are totally workng clockwise. I even tried one footed, but I couldn't figure out if there was a specific foot I should be on, because both didn't go for a full rotation even. Eh, I'll work on it.

I pratcied backward crossovers, the bad side is still very bad- and with all the crazy hockey players (I guess the season starts tonight?) it was tough to go backwards.

I worked on forward stroking and felt like an idiot because I tried to hold my arms up. What's the point if I don't have good posture when praticing?

But most of all I worked on lunges. I'm not sure if they are anything like what lunges are supposed to be, but I feel like it's looking better, and my boot is sure looking worse.

May 7, 2006

1:08p

Skating on Friday
I just realized i never posted about skating on Friday. I told myself I would post everytime I skated- because I wanted a true journal of how it was going. (at least until I skated more than once or twice a week)

First off, dull blades was the problem. I picked up my skates an WOW were they a dream to skate on. This by rink sharpeners. I can't imagine what it will be like when I have a "real" sharpening on real blades.

I skated for an hour and a half and my ankle hurt a bit after it. The 6-weeks of rest aren't up yet, and I guess I need to stick to that. Nothing like it did before, but still, hurt.

Overall the session was not good. The Silver Skate is coming up next weekend and so the ice was filled (well 5) with high level freestyle skaters. I know that adult sessions are not treated as open sessions and you can skate however you want, but when there is more than 1 or 2 people jumping and spinning like mad, it makes it very difficult for the rest of us to fit anything in. The low level freestyle skaters I saw (who weren't jumping, but running through different program components) seemed to be able to fit things in okay, but the basic skaters I talked to all said they were very frustrated and that's how I felt.

There were also about 2 new skaters who were clinging helplessly to the wall who looked terrified and about an hour through the session the seniors came to rink circle- which just made it impossible to do anything.
Couldn't use the center, or stay near the wall.

I got a bit of practice on three turns in. I am consistently trying to turn the right direction, but never actually did one. At one point I was prepping for one- from a stop- as is required in basic 4, and a couple dancing cut right in front of me so I had to wait to push off. As I was about to get started one of the high level girls comes flying by me and yells "stand by the walls" That really made me mad. I wasn't standing, I was in a t-stance waiting to push off and not hit the pair, and I was only about 2 feet from the wall. I wasn't in a lutz corner, and she was just practicing stroking (although really fast). There is no reason I would have been in her way. If it was a freestyle session, then I shouldn't even be on the ice with my lowly three turns, but it wasn't. It was an adult session and we all had the same right to the ice. I spent most of the session making sure I was out of the way of people a million times better than me.

The good part of the session was the man who offered to teach me dance holds before I hurt my ankle taught me them this time. (he said he thought he had scared me off because I never showed up again) I learned a Killian hold, a Reverse Killian hold, a Foxtrot hold, and a Waltz hold.

So we worked on basic stroking around the rink in each of the holds. I realized how unsure I am on my left foot. When I do stroking I hold my left foot out for a long time, but rush through when my right foot is up. With counts I couldn't do that.

Then he taught me how to do swing rolls. My edges aren't good enough to hold them for long, but he kind of held me on the edges and we did laps of swing rolls in the Killian hold. Then we tried them in the Waltz hold, but because he was facing backwards he couldn't hold me on my edge and it was just to difficult for me at this point.

My main "correction" was to stop looking down. That's tough to do when you are worried about slicing through a semi-strangers leg.

Dance might be something I look into- it seems fun.