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| 2:24p | Skates for sale
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Quitting A Job
2 months ago
Showing posts with label skates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label skates. Show all posts
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Skates for Sale (Sold) Sunday, May 25th, 2008
Saturday, April 23, 2011
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 :)
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 21, 2006
5:03p Worst Lesson Yet
I had my make up lesson today. It started bad, even before the boots were on. I had forgotten my knee highs. (Well, I had 1.) So I had to wear socks, which were luckily in my bag, since I went to the mall barefoot. So the result was I lost feeling in my feet after 15 minutes instead of 30. I need to call a shoe repair place and see if they can stretch them. I've gotten a bit lazy about calling though since it used to be no feeling after 2 minutes, and now I'm up to 30.
So, today the regular teacher (who is different from my tuesday teacher) wasn't there and we got a sub. It ended up being Brianna, which was great. She has a very analytical approach and I like that. The problem is, I'm not entirely sure if she's done USFSA because she seemed a little unsure of how to specifically teach the skills. She skipped one, but the rest she taught, and taught well, just very differently from the three different USFSA rinks I've been at- which were all suprisingly the same.
We worked on our back landing position, mohawks- which we much easier because instead of back of blade to back of blade we did them at the middle of the foot, then we did ballet jump and that's where it really went downhill.
I had a panic attack. After trying about 4 on the ice, I told her I was going to go be friends with the wall. By the time I got to the wall my legs were shaking so bad, and my body was so hot, I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to do them there. The wall didn't really help at all, and I still couldn't really do them. I was just so scared.
And that's what I don't understand. I like bunny hops. On both feet. I've done a piddly, covers 2 inches, less than 1 inch high, but still off the ice, rotated waltz jump. I've done the equivalent of this "ballet jump" in ballet- and on pointe shoes. It should be much scarier on pointe shoes! But landing back on my toe pick, or really even jumping off of it when not moving, was the most frightening thing I could think of at the moment.
Then we moved to one footed spins from a T-position. My spins suck. I wanted to be a good spinner. I've always been a good turner- even when I was an okay dancer, that was what I was good at. I don't ever imagine I will be a good jumper. I sucked jumping in dance, and pretty much expect the same here. But I wanted to be able to spin. If I can't do either- why bother skate?
I also naturally have a "stronger" (meaning 3/4 rotation instead of 1/4 rotation) backspin than regular spin. Honestly if my core would hold I think I could actually get a whole rotation. I certainly get on my "sweet spot" better on that foot.
We also worked on outside edge pivots- the kind the man does going into a death spiral. Man it's weird to pivot that way. Kind of a fun thing to have in the repetoire though. I'll have to work on that one.
I guess the only good thing is that Brianna says she has time for a once a month private lesson. I really want my basic skills to be good. I almost feel I've moved up too quickly. And she's pretty inexpensive as skating lessons go.
I had my make up lesson today. It started bad, even before the boots were on. I had forgotten my knee highs. (Well, I had 1.) So I had to wear socks, which were luckily in my bag, since I went to the mall barefoot. So the result was I lost feeling in my feet after 15 minutes instead of 30. I need to call a shoe repair place and see if they can stretch them. I've gotten a bit lazy about calling though since it used to be no feeling after 2 minutes, and now I'm up to 30.
So, today the regular teacher (who is different from my tuesday teacher) wasn't there and we got a sub. It ended up being Brianna, which was great. She has a very analytical approach and I like that. The problem is, I'm not entirely sure if she's done USFSA because she seemed a little unsure of how to specifically teach the skills. She skipped one, but the rest she taught, and taught well, just very differently from the three different USFSA rinks I've been at- which were all suprisingly the same.
We worked on our back landing position, mohawks- which we much easier because instead of back of blade to back of blade we did them at the middle of the foot, then we did ballet jump and that's where it really went downhill.
I had a panic attack. After trying about 4 on the ice, I told her I was going to go be friends with the wall. By the time I got to the wall my legs were shaking so bad, and my body was so hot, I wasn't sure if I'd even be able to do them there. The wall didn't really help at all, and I still couldn't really do them. I was just so scared.
And that's what I don't understand. I like bunny hops. On both feet. I've done a piddly, covers 2 inches, less than 1 inch high, but still off the ice, rotated waltz jump. I've done the equivalent of this "ballet jump" in ballet- and on pointe shoes. It should be much scarier on pointe shoes! But landing back on my toe pick, or really even jumping off of it when not moving, was the most frightening thing I could think of at the moment.
Then we moved to one footed spins from a T-position. My spins suck. I wanted to be a good spinner. I've always been a good turner- even when I was an okay dancer, that was what I was good at. I don't ever imagine I will be a good jumper. I sucked jumping in dance, and pretty much expect the same here. But I wanted to be able to spin. If I can't do either- why bother skate?
I also naturally have a "stronger" (meaning 3/4 rotation instead of 1/4 rotation) backspin than regular spin. Honestly if my core would hold I think I could actually get a whole rotation. I certainly get on my "sweet spot" better on that foot.
We also worked on outside edge pivots- the kind the man does going into a death spiral. Man it's weird to pivot that way. Kind of a fun thing to have in the repetoire though. I'll have to work on that one.
I guess the only good thing is that Brianna says she has time for a once a month private lesson. I really want my basic skills to be good. I almost feel I've moved up too quickly. And she's pretty inexpensive as skating lessons go.
September 2, 2006
2:01p I should have never bought new skates
I really just wasted my money. The only thing they've done for me is make me hate skating. All of the coaches I worked with recommended these ones, and I even tried them on before I bought them. They were definetly the "right" ones. But I really hate them. I can't skate anymore. I have better ankle support and a better blade than I did, but what's the point if I can't even do a stupid snowplow stop? I might as well start over.
I went to the rink today. I really just felt like crying. I only stayed for half an hour (normally when i practice on my own I only stay for an hour) and half way through just felt like crying. I left because it just wasn't fun. I know that once you get the basics you start picking things up slower, but I don't even have the basics anymore. The only thing I can do on these skates are crappy two footed spins (where before I had no two footed spins) even my forward stroking sucks now. I worked on edges and back and forward crossovers. They all look like crap.
I really just wasted my money. The only thing they've done for me is make me hate skating. All of the coaches I worked with recommended these ones, and I even tried them on before I bought them. They were definetly the "right" ones. But I really hate them. I can't skate anymore. I have better ankle support and a better blade than I did, but what's the point if I can't even do a stupid snowplow stop? I might as well start over.
I went to the rink today. I really just felt like crying. I only stayed for half an hour (normally when i practice on my own I only stay for an hour) and half way through just felt like crying. I left because it just wasn't fun. I know that once you get the basics you start picking things up slower, but I don't even have the basics anymore. The only thing I can do on these skates are crappy two footed spins (where before I had no two footed spins) even my forward stroking sucks now. I worked on edges and back and forward crossovers. They all look like crap.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
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.
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 15, 2006
I hate my new skates
No, it's not because they hurt. They aren't too bad anymore. I skated for 75 minutes and relaced twice.
I hate my skates because I cannot do anything. Nothing. You'd think I'd never taken a lesson before. I am horrible. Forward stroking- gone. 3-turns-gone. Forward crossovers- not on the right edges. Backwards stroking- gone. Backwards swizzles- can't get the edge. Outside edges- barely a full length of my height. Inside edges- a little bit longer.
I can't stop. I blame the new sharpening on that. Everything else I blame on my skates.
The only positive. I can "feel" where it is I am supposed to be turning on. But I can't turn.
I signed up for Delta lessons. I think they start next week. I think instead I need to be starting in pre alpha.
No, it's not because they hurt. They aren't too bad anymore. I skated for 75 minutes and relaced twice.
I hate my skates because I cannot do anything. Nothing. You'd think I'd never taken a lesson before. I am horrible. Forward stroking- gone. 3-turns-gone. Forward crossovers- not on the right edges. Backwards stroking- gone. Backwards swizzles- can't get the edge. Outside edges- barely a full length of my height. Inside edges- a little bit longer.
I can't stop. I blame the new sharpening on that. Everything else I blame on my skates.
The only positive. I can "feel" where it is I am supposed to be turning on. But I can't turn.
I signed up for Delta lessons. I think they start next week. I think instead I need to be starting in pre alpha.
August 8, 2006
Skated again
The skates weren't nearly as painful, but I noticed that my right foot is almost tilting towards the inside. I don't know if thats because my skates are completely unsharpened, or if it's because my laces aren't long enough to go all the way up to the top hook.
I paid to have them sharpened, but wanted to leave them for Sergei because I've been told to do that or take them to Cedar Rapids. The guy at the counter said he would take them, but didn't ask for my name, or anything like that. It kind of made me nervous, and I asked him if he had like a ticket or something I got to show I left my skates, and he looked at me like I was crazy. The guy said "do you think someone is going to take them" when I asked. And no, I really don't, but I'd hate to leave $300 skates and then have someone take them and me have no way of proving I left them. SO Kevin is going to take them tomorrow. I'm okay with leaving them for the day, but overnight without any sort of 'check' makes me very nervous. I probably am crazy.
Anyhow skating was okay. I switched to my old skates, which while much roomier in the toe box, I see why they suck now. I also fell really bad because Kevin scared me while I was doing bad side back crossovers, and landed right on my knees and slid across the ice on my forearms. I have beautiful red scratches down my arms now.
The skates weren't nearly as painful, but I noticed that my right foot is almost tilting towards the inside. I don't know if thats because my skates are completely unsharpened, or if it's because my laces aren't long enough to go all the way up to the top hook.
I paid to have them sharpened, but wanted to leave them for Sergei because I've been told to do that or take them to Cedar Rapids. The guy at the counter said he would take them, but didn't ask for my name, or anything like that. It kind of made me nervous, and I asked him if he had like a ticket or something I got to show I left my skates, and he looked at me like I was crazy. The guy said "do you think someone is going to take them" when I asked. And no, I really don't, but I'd hate to leave $300 skates and then have someone take them and me have no way of proving I left them. SO Kevin is going to take them tomorrow. I'm okay with leaving them for the day, but overnight without any sort of 'check' makes me very nervous. I probably am crazy.
Anyhow skating was okay. I switched to my old skates, which while much roomier in the toe box, I see why they suck now. I also fell really bad because Kevin scared me while I was doing bad side back crossovers, and landed right on my knees and slid across the ice on my forearms. I have beautiful red scratches down my arms now.
August 6, 2006
skates are still too tight
You'd think living 2 minutes from a rink I could skate more, but alas I have not skated once since the tight skate experience.
I WILL skate on Tuesday. But once again on dull blades because I haven't been able to take them to get sharpened yet. Urgh. Dull blades suck. I can't even stop.
I will also bring my old skates so when I can no longer stand the pain I can do some real skating.
I heat molded with my heat gun tonight, but I don't think it did too much. The fit is actually really good except the width in the metatarsal. We tried stuffing Kevin's shoe holder thingies in, but they were too big, so we couldn't use them to stretch because they wouldn't go in at all.
Lessons start on the 22nd. I am very upset that we decided I can't afford to do synchro this year. Next year, I hope- but in the meantime I can just get better at skating.
You'd think living 2 minutes from a rink I could skate more, but alas I have not skated once since the tight skate experience.
I WILL skate on Tuesday. But once again on dull blades because I haven't been able to take them to get sharpened yet. Urgh. Dull blades suck. I can't even stop.
I will also bring my old skates so when I can no longer stand the pain I can do some real skating.
I heat molded with my heat gun tonight, but I don't think it did too much. The fit is actually really good except the width in the metatarsal. We tried stuffing Kevin's shoe holder thingies in, but they were too big, so we couldn't use them to stretch because they wouldn't go in at all.
Lessons start on the 22nd. I am very upset that we decided I can't afford to do synchro this year. Next year, I hope- but in the meantime I can just get better at skating.
July 27. 2006
OH MY GOD the pain and lack of pain...
People often complain and say that pointe shoes are the most painful shoes to break in. Those people are wrong. They have clearly never ice skated.
I can wear the skates at home for about 15 minutes before my feet go numb. I went skating today (on dull factory edges, I could barely do forward stroking... need to fix that) at first I could only make it 4 minutes before I couldn't feel my feet, and not only needed relacing, but had to take the skates off. By the end of the 1 hour period I skated in, I was up to 8 minutes at a time. My feet are bright red. What's nice is they only hurt for a few seconds, right at the "were about to go numb" stage, and then I just loose feeling in my feet.
Either way, these are going to be hell to break in.
I would think they are just too small, but my toes are barely touching the front, and when I skate they go closer to the front and my heel slips just barely. Any bigger and my heel would be able to lift up. I need to get a split width toe/heel, which is too expensive at this stage in the game. So my poor wide toes/metatarsal are just going to have to suffer.
I really hope this is normal. Maybe if I run the toe box over with a car, like some girls do with pointe shoes, it will soften up. (Just kidding.)
People often complain and say that pointe shoes are the most painful shoes to break in. Those people are wrong. They have clearly never ice skated.
I can wear the skates at home for about 15 minutes before my feet go numb. I went skating today (on dull factory edges, I could barely do forward stroking... need to fix that) at first I could only make it 4 minutes before I couldn't feel my feet, and not only needed relacing, but had to take the skates off. By the end of the 1 hour period I skated in, I was up to 8 minutes at a time. My feet are bright red. What's nice is they only hurt for a few seconds, right at the "were about to go numb" stage, and then I just loose feeling in my feet.
Either way, these are going to be hell to break in.
I would think they are just too small, but my toes are barely touching the front, and when I skate they go closer to the front and my heel slips just barely. Any bigger and my heel would be able to lift up. I need to get a split width toe/heel, which is too expensive at this stage in the game. So my poor wide toes/metatarsal are just going to have to suffer.
I really hope this is normal. Maybe if I run the toe box over with a car, like some girls do with pointe shoes, it will soften up. (Just kidding.)
June 26, 2006
| 5:23p | I wonder If I will ever get past the point where I wait all day to get to go skating and I sit here wanting to leave, but not letting myself because it's 2 hours early and only a 40 minute drive. I mailed the skates back to rainbo. A different person is helping me now- I think the woman might have thought I was a bit nuts. Maybe my posts on skating forums were- but for me this is a lot of money and I know nothing... I needed opinions. I am exchanging for regular width Jackson Competitors. I included tracings though, so they might suggest something else. I don't know why I decided on the competitor instead of the freestyle because it is $100 more- but if you're gonna do it- do it right. The boot is good for my level and it's a better blade. The freestyle probably would have worked though. |
| 9:16p | Skating lesson... Well this week didn't leave me with the same oomph as last week. The lesson went just as well but this coach has a way of not making me feel that good about myself. I brought the camera planning to tape my 3 turns, backwards crossovers, and spiral- but then we didn't have any extra time at the end of the lesson. I'm not going to tape it next week- unless Kevin comes to watch. (He just said he would) But I'm wearing a skirt next week to celebrate backwards crossovers- so if I look really bad in it, you won't get to see the videos or pictures. So the good- backwards crossovers, even the left side is getting better. 3 turns I praticed on my own and they are improving. The bad- 2 footed spins. I just can't do them. Knee bed- it doesn't exist. The eh- backward snowplow stops. Apparently I stop too quickly. He tried to show me how to skid, but it wasn't working. The new- Mohawks- right to left is BAD, left to right I can fake it. Waltz jump- A JUMP! I JUMPED! Okay, after that excitement, I will say I use jump in the smallest sense of the word. Maybe a centimeter. But both of my blades are off the ice at the same time and I am rotating a half turn. Maybe a fourth turn. Kathleen said I look graceful, but I feel like a fool. But still A JUMP! Instructor said I need better skates than told me it was silly to get them from Chicago instead of Cincinnati- but Cincinnati didn't have blades small enough for the boots I wanted and were going to "make these ones fit" with ones 1/8" longer than the boot I was buying. Um, I'll take my chances with Chicago. problem is, since mailed the return today, I probably won't get my skates by next Monday, so I will have to make 2 seperate trips to drop off and then pick up them after permanent mounting. But yeah- overall the lesson was good, it was great to be skating but I don't feel good about it. During crossovers I was told "but you're an old pro" because he told me I didn't have to pick my foot up but could cut it over. I only started them last week- don't dismiss me as if I've been doing it forever. The only thing useful I've been told is to bend my knees. I need to call the woman about a private lesson- but first I need to find out if I am moving in 2 weeks. |
9:25p | I did a waltz jump and other skating updates http://community.livejournal.com/skittl |
| 10:07p | waltz jumps so- I was practicing my waltz jumps in the hallway- with actual airtime and distance- rather than the 1 cm jump I do on the ice. After a beautiful one I smacked the bathroom doorframe with the back of my left heel. SO MUCH PAIN. You'd think it would be tougher to do these on the ice than in the hallway, but so far that's been more difficult. |
June 23, 2006
| 4:33p | New Skates Yep- too big. At least I think they are. It's hard for me to tell. When I wear them and sit flat, my feet don't quite reach the toe and I can move my foot, and I can wiggle my toes around a bit- and pick up my heel. When I stand I can pick up my heel, but my toes touch the front of the skate. And man- these things are STIFF. |
| 8:27p | skates So i still don't know if the skates fit or not. I feel like an idiot not being able to tell if boots fit. My left toes touch the front of the boot- I don't know if I could get smaller. My right toes are pretty durn close, but not touching. But there is a lot of room around my toes for me to move them, and on my right foot I can actually scrunch my toes under my foot (if that makes sense). That seems like a lot of movement. The main thing I amm woried about is I can easily pick up both heels. I think the heels should be staying still. I wonder if that is because the boot is too big, or too wide. The blades on these are longer than my old blades, so the guards are about 1/4" too short. I'll have to get new guards. That's kind of annoying. What's really weird is how different they feel on my legs. The left one is very very stiff around my ankle, and the right isn't- but it pinches my ankle bones. And WOW I can bend my knees so much better in these boots than my old ones. Only problem is I can only wear them for about 30 minutes before my feet go numb. I wonder what that is about. So all you boot wearing people- do these things fit? |
June 20, 2006
| 3:58p | I can crossover- backwards! I have never ever had such an awesome time skating. It started off looking not so good. There is a pee-wee hockey class, and then a hockey power class on the rink before the learn to skate session, and the ice was torn up big time- but for some reason, unlike last week, they didn’t cut new ice. EEK! We did, however, get to be on the ice 20 minutes early. So I spent those 20 minutes doing some stroking, a couple pivots and working on 3 turns. Then a woman called us together, explained that our instructor from last week was not there and she would be teaching. She was very soft spoken and hard to hear. She lined us at the wall and had us stroke the width of the rink, so she could see where we are at. It’s tough to stroke the width of the rink and have good extension. I got maybe 4 strokes in before I was at the end. After doing that, we worked on the circle- all 8 of us on one circle- my goodness it was a HUGE traffic jam. The class is pretty mixed level so I felt like I couldn’t move at all. We did forward crossovers, which I can do well on my right side and okay on my left side, but I still need to practice, and then did forward pumps. The pumps were especially hard because they get me moving fast, but the people in front of me weren’t moving fast. Oh well, got to share the space. Then we moved onto backwards things. We started by trying to hold back edges. Eek. We set up by doing 3 swizzles, a 2 foot glide and then hold the outside edge, then we repeated for inside. Back outside edges appear to be easier than back inside edges, and the opposite true for forward. I wonder if that’s true for other people. While I can generally hold my forward edges for a long time, I had trouble holding these for more than a few seconds at a time, I certainly couldn’t hold them consistently enough to glide around the circle. Then we went to the wall and talked about how to be on the proper edges for backwards crossovers, and got paired into partners. Our partners held our arm while we did back crossovers to steady us. I was scrapping my toe pick a bit, and really watching the ice (and watching for blades on the ice behind me to some extent, but I wasn’t looking over my shoulder- oops) but I picked these up pretty quickly. Then I helped my partner. I loved doing backwards crossovers. They almost immediately came together for me. The left side was not as smooth as the right but I had anticipated so much trouble with these because of the trouble I had adjusting to swizzling to my toe instead of my heel- but apparently that prep worked. With just 10 minutes left in the class the instructor wanted to teach us something fun. She had a young adult skater demonstrate a spiral and then told us we could do this, first by just lifting our foot to calf height behind us and getting used to gliding on one foot. Then she etched out the ‘banana’ position with her foot on the ice and told us a bit about how our body should be and left us to practice. Psssh. I’ve glided on one foot before. So since she set us to practice on our own I went ahead to a waist high arabesque, gliding on a flat- obviously. I’m proud to say my (flat) spiral on ice is as good as my arabesque in ballet. Unfortunately that doesn’t say much. But the instructor did give me a little clap and say “you must have done this before” Nope- and I’m surprised I didn’t fall on my butt. So I did more of these, and now because a spiral is so much fun I’m really going to have to work on my flexibility. I tried to practice a few times gliding on my left foot, but I can’t get my leg as high on that side so it’s not as much fun, but my left foot is my weaker skating foot, so I need to make sure to give it equal practice time. Then we had 20 more minutes to practice on our own. I tried forward pivots (closer to doing one than last week), more spirals (weeee!), forward crossovers, forward outside 3 turns (these are still very small but I rarely put my foot down anymore) and more crossovers. We had another instructor ask us if we had any questions and I asked her if I was doing the crossovers correctly before I kept practicing wrong. She looked at them, corrected my arm and shoulder position (so now I physically can’t look at the ice if my shoulders are correct) and told me I looked great. Then she helped other people while I practice (having them step one foot over the other at the wall) when they moved back to the circle, I moved to the outside of the circle so I wouldn’t hit anyone- problem with crossovers is I get going really fast- and my only backwards stop is a snowplow which I can’t do very efficiently at speed, so once I get going really fast I wobble and then I have to figure out how to stop. The instructor came back over to me and said I was ready to learn the next part of crossovers, so she explained to me how the second foot pushed (we had just been pushing with the first foot) and how to pull the blade of the other foot. So I did that, and wow adding that push some how makes you center your feet correctly so you don’t drag your toe pick. Anyway I left the rink feeling like a star. I’m so so so proud of myself. |
| 7:31p | Nervous about new skates Well, I ordered skates and now I am having second thoughts: First off, I ordered size 3W Riedell 300 Gold Medallion skates with a Club 2000 blade (stock blade). It cost $250, plus $20 shipping and they threw the sharpening in for me. That’s what I planned to spend on the Competitor but the blade it came with is a slightly better stock blade. So now my issues that are making me worry I made the wrong choice (and something to refute them, because I am probably worrying needlessly): -I didn’t try them on ahead of time. (There is no where in southern Ohio that seems to stock my size anyway, so I would have had to guess at a store too) -None of the Reidells I tried on in the store were comfortable. (They weren’t the right size, of course they weren’t comfortable) -I really wanted the Jackson Competitor because it was a better deal. (But the price was the same. Get over it. Reidell is a great brand) -The people at sports plus didn’t think I was a wide. (The people at sports plus generally proved to be idiots) -I might have measured my foot wrong so the woman at rainbo might be wrong about me being a wide (uh....) Now the reason I didn’t get the Jackson Competitor is that the 3.5 wide is not in stock at Rainbo or the Jackson warehouse in Canada. But I’m not really sure I needed the wide. The 3.5 I tried on in Cincinnati fit well, but maybe I just thought it did? Is it possible to be wrong about things fitting well? It’s hard to tell if skates fit well because they are supposed to fit tight. Because if I could have gotten that skate, I’m going to cry. It was $250 for the boot and a protégé blade. The blade normally sells for $150 and the boot for $200. That was a great deal. Why didn’t I buy the freaking skate. I didn’t buy it because I thought I should wear the 3. But rainbo sports suggested the 3.5. So if I was right about the 3, then the boot I just bought is also going to be too big. So now I’m worried the skate I just spent a ton of money on (but not compared to quad figure skates) is going to be too wide, too stiff, or too big. If the boot doesn’t fit, I can always return it- but that costs $20 shipping both ways. Maybe if I exchange it I don’t have to pay postage to get it back again. Still, double shipping though. Why is this so stressful? |
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