Officially Back!

I started the new winter contract this morning and it feels good to officially be back on the ice. I can't say I was awesome today but some progress was made.

New Skatez - This weekend, I replaced the laces that came with the skates because they were too wide. They were more like shoe laces than skate laces. I replaced them with proper skate laces and it makes all the difference. However, since the new laces are a bit shorter, I discovered that I can't use all the hooks on my boots at the same time. There will always need to be one set of hooks on each boot that goes unused. This is fine since the Premiere boot has like a gajillion damn hooks so it won't hurt to miss a set. So, now it's a just matter of choosing which ones to skip. I started out with all of the hooks laced except for the middle back hook but about 10 minutes into the session I realized I could not bend my knees. I got off the ice and relaced, this time using all of the hooks except the very top. That helped. I think I'll stick with this lacing pattern until things break down a bit more. Otherwise, the new boots/blades didn't feel as hurty as they did last time I got on the ice. It's still not entirely comfortable but it's getting there.

Movez - I started out with edges (forward and backward) before moving on to Bronze moves. I didn't want to just jump right in with Silver moves because I'm just not there yet so instead I worked on things that were more familiar. Once I felt comfortable enough, I dabbled in some Silver moves. I began with forward and backward cross strokes and then spent the rest of my time on FO-BI three turns. Let me just state that doing backward three turns was already a scary endeavor but now with new skates, the scary has intensified! I was able to get around on the LFO-RBI turns but not on the other side. I just need to get the feel for these blades.

Jumpz & Spinz - Seriously not a lot of time on these. It wasn't that I was scared to jump or spin, I just don't feel comfortable with these skates yet and I don't want to injure myself yet again. I did a few waltz jumps, one salchow that I fell on, a few half flips, and a couple of toe loops. They were all small and hesitant for reasons. Spins were okay. I just did a few basic one foot spins to get a feel for where my rocker is on these blades. When I hit the rocker, my spins are really nicely centered. Beautiful! I will venture out and do some sit spins, camels, and back spins on Friday when I go back.

Overall, it was an okay session. Not bad for my second practice since September. Once you factor in the new skates and the fact that I'm recovering from an injury, I think I did pretty well, actually. I'm back with Christopher on Saturday so I'm trying to get as much back as I can before then so I'm not a total disappointment.