November 22, 2006

5:06p Of spinning and picking a coach.
Skating last night was wonderful. I had an 8:00 lesson, and was so exhausted at 6:00, I went to sleep and told my husband to wake me up at 6:30 so I could get to the session by 7:00- I ended up leaving the house at like 6:40 because I figured I would go to target before hoping on the rink. But, I was wondering if it would be better just to stay home and sleep. This did not look good.

I got to the rink at about 6:45, and there were a good number of people, mostly freestyle skaters- not public, on the ice. Was there a session that took the place of LTS? Turns out they just started Family Skate half an hour early since LTS was canceled. Bummer... I missed 20 minutes of ice. Anyhow, i get my skates on and am on the ice by 6:50. I start with just some laps stroking, trying real hard to glide as long as I can (4 strokes per long axis. hah) and to do crossovers at the end holding my edges for as long as I can. I did a few circles of forward crossovers in each direction. (Since I learned backwards ones my forward crossovers have suffered.) Then I decide to spin. The hockey glide into the spin is working really well. I just want to give Lisa a hug. With that "entrance" I can get 4-8 revolutions consistently. I did quite a few of these because they made me so happy. A few times I spun on my toepick- something I hadn't done before and not a habit I want to pick up! When I first started attempting spins I could barely get into them- "frick" being the word of the night when they didn't work out. Gleeful squealing when they did. The people around me must have thought I was nuts.

After about 30 minutes I took a break to take my skates off and massage my feet. Stupid skates. After 5 minutes I got back on the ice. Worked on mohawks (i hate mohawks), worked on all 4 of my 3 turns, did some edges on the line. Forward are okay, backward I get really turned around about which foot strokes and which arm should go where.

After about 30 minutes my feet were hurting again, so I took another skate off break. By now it was almost time for my lesson, so I didn't want to go into that with my feet killing me.

At 8:00 I joined B. for my lesson. We started by spending 10 minutes at the board, where he explained his coaching style very quickly, told me I had to bring a notebook to each lesson and would be fined a quarter if I forgot it, and then started drawing some diagrams and explaining terms. Long axis, short axis, diagonal axis (why is this not actually the diagonal of the rink?). Then we talked about the position of the body, open, closed, and square positions. He demonstrated and had me do each position. Very hands on about getting me exactly where I was supposed to be. From a ballet background this is something I'm used to and like. It's a good thing.

Then he changed the stereo from the peppy pop music he had put on to some nice soft classicalish music. Apparently, from experience he has seen that during public sessions crowds are much more rowdy when the music is peppy. He was right. The ice instantly became a much slower going, easier to get around place! Interesting. The one who controls the music really mind controls the crowd.

I don't remember the exact order of the lesson or really everything we did. Instead of half an hour, we ended up doing a full hour with the zamboni kicking us off at the end of the session. When we finished we started talking about the last thing we were working on and it seemed as though he wasn't going to ask me to pay for the extended lesson. (Afterall, he didn't stop teaching) but I said "I think I owe you for an extra half hour of your time" and he told me he appreciated that. Paying people for services is just good karma.

Anyhow the lesson was overall good. We started with turns because he told me he had seen me practice them and noticed I was going CW. Have I tried CCW? That's the normal direction. I assured him I have, at this point it will not happen, and if it absolutely needs to happen for him to coach me, I'll give it a try, but maybe that's not the right coach for me. He told me a few coaches at the rink will not let their students skate CCW, but he's a judge, and the manual says skaters can go either way, and as long as I've tried "normal" then we can go with CW if it is really better. He asked to see my spin, and I told him that the only successful entrance I can do is with a hockey glide into it. So I did that. He told me that I can definitely spin around, so now that I have that I have to start doing the correct entrance, and adding an exit to it! The exit I've got down... the entrance.... UGH. So we did the same T entrance I had done with the other coach but instead of the emphasis on a deep edge, there was more emphasis on the kicking of my leg. I did a few with him actually holding my hands and helping to whip me around, and kicking was still difficult, which leads me to believe that strength is part of the issue. I just can't yet pick that skate boot up high enough to go into the spin. The other problem is that I suck. He taught me an easy exercise to do at the wall to help work on spins and "kicking" into them. I'll work on that. I really want to be able to spin.

We also worked on edges, like in delta. My forward edges are not bad, but still need work. I don't have a ton of control over them, which is very apparent when going slowly. We worked a lot on exact body position, which is good. My backward edges are not terrible if I can do them. I get very confused over which foot should be doing the stroking and which arm should be where. But the actual edges are not horrible. The backward outside edges are better than the inside ones.

We worked on mohawk on a circle, forward and backward, inside and outside. Mohawks are hard. And i get really confused when doing all the different kinds in combinations. My feet just don't know where to go. I don't like mohawks.

We also worked on 3 turns. They didn't go as well as I normally think, partly because the size of the lobes was predetermined by a marker, and I actually had to stay on it. My 3 turns are usually quite small, so this was a good thing- but hard. We only did forward ones... thank goodness.

Lastly we worked on arabesque (which is apparently and attitude) and then eventually to spiral. My spiral on the wall is better than my spiral moving on the ice. (duh... it's because I'm not worried about falling flat on my face) My leg height suffers if I am trying to keep my weight on my heel. Due to the fact that I don't want to fall flat on my face, the leg height is just going to suffer. I was told if I can't see my foot over the top of my head in the mirror than it is unacceptable. Considering my leg is just above hip height on both legs right now, and slightly higher on the right side, I think it's somewhat acceptable. We'll work on it. He also had me do a backwards spiral (flat thank goodness) while holding onto his hands. I've never done a backwards spiral, but other than OMG going too fast! my main thought was this was an excellent exercise in not looking down. Looking down while being held onto puts your eyes in a spot that you don't want them for someone you've just met. We ended with forward spirals on edges, which I've also never done. Then the zamboni chased us off the ice. It was a great lesson.

Starting in January I am no longer going to do the LTS classes, just because the age of the kids and the group atmosphere isn't working as well for me. I feel like a lot is glossed over in interest of having things passable instead of good. I haven't had a bad instructor yet, so that's not the issue, just the nature of group lessons. I talked with B. and he is giving me a reduced rate if I can commit to a once a week lesson. It's only about 30% more expensive than the group lessons, but I'll have to start paying for ice time- which is a bummer. If I can pass out of Basic 8, I might ask the skate director if I can interview for a group lesson teaching position. I think I'm a good enough skater that I can teach snowplow sam or basic 1-4ish. Having ice time paid for would be wonderful.

It only gets more difficult from here, But I'm real excited about the prospective of having an actual "coach"

November 12, 2006

1:41p Private Lesson
Today I had a private lesson from 12:30-1:00. I got there and saw that 3 birthday parties were scheduled at 1:00. Good call on the early time, Jessi.

I got to the rink at 12:00 to warm up a few laps around the rink, and there were only 2 people on the ice. So I skated 2 fast laps, did some 3 turns, a few toe loops and waltz jumps, some backwards crossovers and two footed spins. I also worked on my edges on a straight line concentrating on even size lobes. This was all in the span of 20 minutes, so no real intense work on anything. Then I got off the ice for about 5 minutes to take my right boot off before my lesson. Stupid boot still only lets me skate comfortably for about 40 minutes at a time, but if I take it off for five it "resets" the time.

By now the ice had a good number of people on it, but no birthday parties yet.

So at 12:30 we start my lesson. I had told her I wanted to review the basic skills, since I skipped around in so many programs. We start with edges, which I told her I am very comfortable with, so rather than do forward ones, we did backwards- which I've never done at all except to hold landing edges and for a few seconds in three turns.

HOLY MOLY those suckers are hard. First off, I am throughoughly confused about where my hands go. Then, since we were doing half lobes on a straight line I got very confused about how to push off/backwards stroke into the edge. (Glad I did learn backwards stroking) anyway my outside edges weren't too bad and my inside ones were laughable, but got to not horrible. That will definetly be something to practice when the ice is near empty.

Then she looked at my forward three turns. All of them behaved well and I was told that the only problem was I wasn't using my knee bend but otherwise they were as they should be. So we decided to try backward ones. I have never ever done a backwards three turn. This statement still holds true after about 5-10 minutes of work on them. But at least now I have the idea and can practice them. I once again didn't use my knees and I either popped my hip too soon or didn't follow with it. My outside ones were not bad for a "i've never done this before", inside horrible. none of them had the 2nd lobe on them, I'm just remarking on the ability to turn!

Then we did stops since the only stop I've ever learned is a snowplow. T-stop I can do well with my right foot, I always put it down on the inside edge on the left foot. Snowplow stop I understand but can't imagine wanting to do while moving quickly. My tango stop is bumping and I didn't try it with my left foot. I need to sit into it more. Overall, I'll practice all these but stick with snowplow- which isn't even that reliable now that I've switched skates.

Then we moved onto spins. From a two footed spin if I really think about it and switch my weight before I pick my foot up I can get one revolution of a one footed spin. She told me to keep working on that and we moved to going into the spin from a T position. I really need to think about holding my right arm rigid and getting a really deep edge, and then lifting my hip up. Of course with these my 3 turns were beautiful! Which meant I rode the edge into a lovely lobe, rather than staying right after the turn part and spinning. I really don't understand what I'm supposed to be doing. But I was told that now that I'm watching my hip I'm starting on a really loopy spin rather than just holding a long edge. Um sure. I'll keep working on it, but it's so frustrating. I'm going to focus more on getting revolutions from the 2 footed spin. And in a 2 footed spin- I'm still only at about 4 revolutions.

Then the lesson was over.

I stayed on the ice for about 15 more minutes, but by then it was packed with kids and there wasn't much point, so now I'm home again :)

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 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.

July 18, 2006

Ice Skating in Iowa
Well, I went ice skating today. It took me under 2 minutes to get to the rink- not bad.

And the rink apparently has no rules. No "skate in a counter clockwise direction", no "stay out of the center if you aren't a figure skater", just "don't kill anyone else".

So that's good. I can practice on public ice until I am good enough to bother affording freestyle sessions. It's also bad. A small, chubby boy in rental skates was practicing "spirals" meaning in between walking on his toe picks to "skate" he would kick is back leg up as high as he could- kind of creepy.

There were good skaters too, and very bad ones, and a few kids in hockey skates who who lay out in the center of the ice while better skaters were having lessons- I don't know how they managed.

Enough about others. My skating was kind of crappy today. My tendonitis was killing me. I am ready to get my new skates (Jackson Competitors are on their way). My FO3 turns were existant, but not good. I did an inside one a few times too. My left to right mohawk worked, and I started trying it from movement, instead of from a stop. My right to left doesn't work. I KNOW I'm not supposed to put my foot behind me but thats where it always goes. My 2 foot spin is getting better, but still sucks. My edges are getting stronger. My backwards glides were actually pretty good. My backwards crossovers aren't bad but are very uneven between the sides.

Best part of the night was meeting Courtenay from skating forums. She was really really nice. We talked for a few minutes when the session started and then she had a lesson. After her lesson we just did forward stroking around the ice (at a faster pace then I am used to! It was hard to keep up when I was on the outside of the corners) and chatted. I'm hoping she and I become friends. It would be nice to have a friend in this state. She also showed me the circle sequence the synchro team is working on. It seems doable. I hope I'm good enough to join them- It will be fun and a good way to meet people. I'm going to drive ALL the way to the rink tomorrow and watch them practice, just to get an idea of what they do.

Only bad news- lessons won't start until mid-august. Maybe I can get a few privates in (I need a job first) so I don't completely stink by then.

July 1, 2006

Just a little public skate
Kevin and I went up to Hobart for the public skate last night. We skated about 90 minutes. It was great to be on the ice, but I found myself feeling that if I was being watched by a coach I would be killed. No bent knees, pushing from a straight skate instead of stroking properly. But in that sort of environment it's hard to skate properly.

I showed Kevin 3-turns. Both of my forward inside ones were awesome. I was so impressed I could do them while he was watching. I showed him my bunny hop (at the wall) and it was wussier than I remember it being. I couldn't get the guts to do it without the wall with so many people around. I also showed him a pathetic spiral, but I was scared to glide for too long because my free leg is about head height of the kids who were skating back and forth through the center (where is a rink guard!!!) and I know it's my fault if they skate straight into my blade.

I couldn't do my back crossovers to save my life. Some of it might have been the environment I was in (no one yields to anyone) but when I finally got them going, I lost my balance, and made myself fall forward before I fell backwards. My hips/thighs are apparently not as padded as much as they look like they are.

Overall it wasn't a great public session- Kettering is run much better. The center is kept coned off and enforced. This rink had the general figure skaters in the middle and circlers on the sides (which I would have been doing for the most part) but four kids (maybe 7?) were playing tag straight across the center! Three girls were practicing jumps and spins and were knocked down more than once. I couldn't believe the audacity of these little boys to just run into someone spinning.

The rink also rents hockey skates unless you request figure skates, which I really think builds the skate anywhere doing whatever mentality. Really.

March 19, 2006

Skating with friends two weekends in a row
So once again this weekend we went ice skating :) A couple that we invited last weekend but couldn't go asked us if we wanted to go this weekend, I certainly didn't want to turn it down.

One of my friends decided at last minute she didn't want to go skating. Turns out she thinks she might be pregnant and didn't want to do anything to jeopardize that before she went to the doctor to verify. Seems a bit early in the pregnancy to be sitting things out- she was feeling fine. Turns out my other friend also had a positive pregnancy test and she's going to the doctor soon to verify that. While these gals are having kiddos, I'm going to stick with skating lessons.