Warm-upz - I had just finished my on-ice warm up and was working on some Silver Moves (forward cross strokes to be precise) when an upper level skater was headed backwards in my general area setting up for a lutz jump. I know she didn't see me so it was up to me to get out of her way and so I did so as quickly as I could. In my panic, I tripped on my toe pick and landed hard on both knees, both elbows, and my right hip. I went down so hard that it knocked the wind out of me. A couple of skaters, including the girl who ultimately had to abandon her lutz anyway as to not run into my flailing body, stopped what they were doing to make sure I was okay. So, yeah, not only did I hurt myself physically, but my pride was hurt from the embarrassment of it all. I told everyone that I was okay and got up as quickly as I could so as not to make a bigger scene than I was already creating but I realized soon enough that my left knee was in a lot of pain. The first waltz jump I did sent a very sharp pain all the way up my spine and so I did another one just to be sure that the pain was real (and also because I'm a masochist). Yup, the pain was so very real. Not to the point where I thought anything was broken but enough to realize that I probably hurt something. The pain lessened a bit as the minutes passed but it was still there when Christopher got on the ice for our lesson.
Lessonz - I didn't tell Christopher about the fall because, honestly, I've been falling a lot lately in our lessons and the last thing I want to do is tell him that I'm still not able to stay upright. So I tried my best to act like nothing happened and just tried to power through. If I thought I was really injured, I would have said something but I was just sore (mentally and physically) so I didn't think it was worth mentioning. We talked a bit about how the test went and I told him how disappointed I was that I didn't skate as clean of a program as I could have. He tried his best to focus on the good by saying "You got through it." I mean, yeah, I did...but barely. So I brought up a concern I had with my compulsory moves regarding the flip-toe combo. It's really sloppy and I told him that I would rather do a lower level jump combo and do it well than do a combo that is worth more points but perform it poorly. He agreed and we discussed alternatives and, in the process, discussed alternatives to the opening combo in my free skate as well. So, we made some changes! For the free skate, I'll be replacing the toe loop-loop combo with a salchow-loop since I've been having some technique issues with the toe loop. For the compulsory moves, we took out the flip-toe combo and replaced it with a loop-toe loop combo. I promised him I would still keep working on the flip-toe but this will take some of the pressure off. He also worked with me on a better ending to the compulsory moves since it was never really discussed in the process of choreographing the thing. Up until today, I just assumed I would just do the same ending that I have in my free skate but, to avoid redundancy, he changed it up to something a little more unique. So, when I exit out of my sit spin, I will pick in for a sort of back pivot and end with pretty arms.
So, changes have been made that will make things a bit easier for me but I'll keep working on the more challenging elements so I am still being pushed toward progress. Hopefully, I will skate a little more safely now. I'm also going to take some time to rest. I have really been pushing myself beyond what I think I'm physically capable of and I think that might be the source of all of these falls. I skated today and was planning on another session or two during the week but I'm going to sit the rest of this week out and let my body heal a bit. I'll come back next Wednesday refreshed and ready to get back to work.
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