I've taken many breaks from the ice and always came back stronger so how is it that I feel so very much weaker than all those other times, even the ones where I came back from multiple broken bones? Christopher asked me today at the start of our lesson if things felt better today than they did last week. I told him I feel 5% better, but hey, it's not at zero so that's something.
I just felt unsteady and unsure and...slow. I'm thinking about my Devil program and wondering if I can even do that anymore. When I chose that program music, I felt stronger both in body and in mind. Now? I just don't think I can do it. It will be a while, I think, until I feel that way again. I'm honestly thinking about shelving that program for a later date and maybe starting slow again. Maybe I need a season where I can get my feet under me again and build up confidence. I ordered a Brad Griffies dress back in April that was intended to be a test/compulsories dress but now I'm thinking I should use it as a program dress and pick music that won't push me right now. And I'm not saying I don't ever want to be pushed skillswise but right now I need to build myself back up to where I was before all of this crap happened. I need to start slow and work my way up to the Devil program. I feel defeated even typing this out especially considering today was day 2 on the ice but I need to be realistic about where I am at right now.
Lessonz - We started with some field moves and I told him I was struggling with my backward power pulls on my bad leg (good ol' lefty). My outside edge on that foot is definitely stronger than the inside edge so once I switch to my left foot halfway through the move, I start to veer toward the boards. We worked a bit on straightening me out and then moved on to backward 3 turns. I'm just so sad about all of the progress I lost with these! I really need to trust my edges more, relax, look behind me, and use my shoulders. All I'm doing now is forcing the turn which makes things so spastic. We rounded out our lesson by looking at jumps. He asked me to just start basic and work my way up. Waltz jump was okay, toe loop needs a better glide through with my free leg, salchow was scratchy and spinny, and loop was okay, I guess. Luckily we ran out of time and didn't get to the flip jump. I haven't done one since the rinks shut down back in March. I was making real progress with it back then but I feel like a different skater now. I'm scared again.
I think another part of my problem is that there isn't any time to really practice between lessons. I feel like I don't have time to work on anything he gave me for homework. Also, another hit to my self-esteem was this adult skater I met today. She was lovely and skated so well after having been off the ice for two months. And she's 63! Inspirational for sure but I felt like a bit of a loser for taking such a hit to my skills when this strong ass lady was out there killing it and she's twenty years my senior. Ugh.
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Thursday, May 21, 2020
Guinea Pigs
Well, that was weird! I got to the rink, they took my waiver and temperature, then sent me down to locker room Blue 2 where Christopher's students were to put on their skates and wait to be called out. The other skaters went to their respective locker rooms. Before getting out on the ice, the director of figure skating came in and talked to us a bit about the rules. We were the guinea pigs, essentially (she said "pilot group" but guinea pigs sounds more appropriate). The first skaters to get on that ice since March. She said if all went well today, they will expand skating opportunities to several sessions a day utilizing all three rinks. She then led us out to one of the side doors where we waited six feet apart to get on the ice. She encouraged us to wear our masks but if we are having a hard time breathing, we were allowed to pull them down or take them off completely as long as we put them back on when talking to our coaches. There were 3 coaches and each coach had 3 students. Christopher split the hour 3 ways so we each got a 20 minute lesson and a 40 minute practice. I'm glad I wasn't the first one up because it took a while to get my feet under me again.
Lessonz - I was the second student to get a lesson during the hour so I had a good 20 minutes to warm up and I needed it! My legs felt like jelly and turns were hard to manage. Also, I remembered that I had gotten my blades sharpened the day the rinks shut down so when I got on the ice, my blades were really sticky and it was hard to stop. Christopher asked how things felt and I told him my edges felt fine but everything else was garbage. We started by looking at cross strokes. They were fine. I was surprised that these were still okay. We moved on to power pulls. Forward pulls are still garbage but they were garbage before the plague. Backward was easier. Next, I mentioned that my backward 3 turns had disappeared so we worked on those using one of the hockey circles. I was sad to discover that I lost a lot of progress on these. After working on Silver Moves for a bit, we transitioned to spins. I started with a two foot to one foot spin, some scratch spins, and a decent back spin (without the leg cross). Pleased, we ended with some jumps! Since I've been off the ice a while, he wanted me to do some bunny hops as a warm up. I warned him that it had been 12 years since my last bunny hop (once I was in my car I recalculated and realized it has actually been 14 years!). He showed me how to do one and on my first and only attempt I fell. Hard! Like one of those really bad backward falls. I hit my head on the ice but luckily my bun took the brunt of the impact (yay for smooshy bun forms!). I got up and told him NO MORE BUNNY HOPS! EVER! So I did some waltz jumps, salchows, and toe loops.
I did some loop jumps on my own later since we ran out of time with our lesson and he had to move on to the final girl in our group. My loops feel awful. I'm not sure if it was the sharp blades or the time away from the ice but....ew. I worked some more on backward 3 turns, spins, and jumps to round out the hour. I think I only did one camel spin and it was actually a good one! So much so that when I skated by Christopher while he was teaching one of the other girls he said "that was a nice camel." Yay! I did something right!
It was great to be on the ice but I'm not sure when I can go back. Right now, you can only be on the ice if you are working with a coach so it's not like I can go back and practice when I want. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'll get a lesson next week either. Regardless, I'm lucky that Christopher gave me one of his slots and I was able to get on the ice today. Super grateful for that! That did so much for my mental health!
Lessonz - I was the second student to get a lesson during the hour so I had a good 20 minutes to warm up and I needed it! My legs felt like jelly and turns were hard to manage. Also, I remembered that I had gotten my blades sharpened the day the rinks shut down so when I got on the ice, my blades were really sticky and it was hard to stop. Christopher asked how things felt and I told him my edges felt fine but everything else was garbage. We started by looking at cross strokes. They were fine. I was surprised that these were still okay. We moved on to power pulls. Forward pulls are still garbage but they were garbage before the plague. Backward was easier. Next, I mentioned that my backward 3 turns had disappeared so we worked on those using one of the hockey circles. I was sad to discover that I lost a lot of progress on these. After working on Silver Moves for a bit, we transitioned to spins. I started with a two foot to one foot spin, some scratch spins, and a decent back spin (without the leg cross). Pleased, we ended with some jumps! Since I've been off the ice a while, he wanted me to do some bunny hops as a warm up. I warned him that it had been 12 years since my last bunny hop (once I was in my car I recalculated and realized it has actually been 14 years!). He showed me how to do one and on my first and only attempt I fell. Hard! Like one of those really bad backward falls. I hit my head on the ice but luckily my bun took the brunt of the impact (yay for smooshy bun forms!). I got up and told him NO MORE BUNNY HOPS! EVER! So I did some waltz jumps, salchows, and toe loops.
I did some loop jumps on my own later since we ran out of time with our lesson and he had to move on to the final girl in our group. My loops feel awful. I'm not sure if it was the sharp blades or the time away from the ice but....ew. I worked some more on backward 3 turns, spins, and jumps to round out the hour. I think I only did one camel spin and it was actually a good one! So much so that when I skated by Christopher while he was teaching one of the other girls he said "that was a nice camel." Yay! I did something right!
It was great to be on the ice but I'm not sure when I can go back. Right now, you can only be on the ice if you are working with a coach so it's not like I can go back and practice when I want. In fact, I'm not even sure if I'll get a lesson next week either. Regardless, I'm lucky that Christopher gave me one of his slots and I was able to get on the ice today. Super grateful for that! That did so much for my mental health!
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
68 Days Later...
Well, that sucked, huh? But, even though things are starting to reopen, we still have a lot more suffering to contend with. The pandemic is still raging and half of the country is in denial about it. I feel like these people won't care until it affects them personally. In the meantime, I will continue to do the right thing and go outside sparingly and wear my mask when I do.
So, what have I been doing this whole time? I've been working from home so I have had a lot of time to do off-ice training. Christopher kicked it right into gear from the beginning and created an Online Figure Skating Academy for his students with 2 sometimes 3 classes to choose from every day of the week. He offered off-ice jumps, pilates, ballet, stretching, spins, and even private lessons over zoom. Really cool.
Ballet - Most of my classes with him were ballet. I've been meaning to return to ballet after getting injured last fall so I was excited to get actual ballet instruction from my coach. I actually feel like I have learned more from Christopher than when I was taking in-person classes at the studio. Maybe it was the small class size or maybe it was the fact that I didn't have prima ballerinas in my adult beginner's class making me feel inept, but I feel like I'm getting a better handle on some of the technique. Once things open up more, I want to go back to in-person ballet classes but I'm thinking of switching studios so I can take an honest beginners class.
Jumps - I only did one off-ice jumps class with Christopher and it.kicked.my.ass! It was a great workout and I learned some helpful techniques for practicing jumps safely at home but I must have aggravated my torn calf injury because I had a hard time walking on it for a good week.
Stretching - In addition to a weekly ballet class, I took part in a weekly stretch class. I can do splits now! What! This class has helped so damn much!
Private Lesson - I took one private lesson with Christopher over zoom and we focused on jumps, spins, and jumping from a spin. It was also an ass kicker. I got myself a spinner to practice on while at home (one of the metal ball bearing type spinners) and so we worked on some forward and backward spins and getting into a jump from the spinner. Tricky, but helpful.
Overall, it's been nice to still connect with my coach and other skaters from my rink to keep the learning happening even if it's in a virtual environment instead of the rink. Tomorrow, I return the ice. It's been well over 9 weeks since I was there and I'm apprehensive about how it's all going to go. The last time I was on skates was March 13th (Friday the 13th!!!!) and I was feeling pretty good about some of the progress I have been making. I know I won't be able to exactly pick up where I left off and I also know that ice time won't be as plentiful as it was before the pandemic but I also know that I still have the spirit and the desire to continue working on challenging skills and making progress. From what I gather, I will be in a group lesson format with two of Christopher's other students. I think there might be another coach teaching a group lesson to some of their students as well. No more than 10 people on the ice at once and we should be wearing masks. I'm pretty nervous about that given my breathing problems but I'm just happy to get back to work. I'll do another blog post tomorrow about how it all went!
So, what have I been doing this whole time? I've been working from home so I have had a lot of time to do off-ice training. Christopher kicked it right into gear from the beginning and created an Online Figure Skating Academy for his students with 2 sometimes 3 classes to choose from every day of the week. He offered off-ice jumps, pilates, ballet, stretching, spins, and even private lessons over zoom. Really cool.
Ballet - Most of my classes with him were ballet. I've been meaning to return to ballet after getting injured last fall so I was excited to get actual ballet instruction from my coach. I actually feel like I have learned more from Christopher than when I was taking in-person classes at the studio. Maybe it was the small class size or maybe it was the fact that I didn't have prima ballerinas in my adult beginner's class making me feel inept, but I feel like I'm getting a better handle on some of the technique. Once things open up more, I want to go back to in-person ballet classes but I'm thinking of switching studios so I can take an honest beginners class.
Jumps - I only did one off-ice jumps class with Christopher and it.kicked.my.ass! It was a great workout and I learned some helpful techniques for practicing jumps safely at home but I must have aggravated my torn calf injury because I had a hard time walking on it for a good week.
Stretching - In addition to a weekly ballet class, I took part in a weekly stretch class. I can do splits now! What! This class has helped so damn much!
Private Lesson - I took one private lesson with Christopher over zoom and we focused on jumps, spins, and jumping from a spin. It was also an ass kicker. I got myself a spinner to practice on while at home (one of the metal ball bearing type spinners) and so we worked on some forward and backward spins and getting into a jump from the spinner. Tricky, but helpful.
Overall, it's been nice to still connect with my coach and other skaters from my rink to keep the learning happening even if it's in a virtual environment instead of the rink. Tomorrow, I return the ice. It's been well over 9 weeks since I was there and I'm apprehensive about how it's all going to go. The last time I was on skates was March 13th (Friday the 13th!!!!) and I was feeling pretty good about some of the progress I have been making. I know I won't be able to exactly pick up where I left off and I also know that ice time won't be as plentiful as it was before the pandemic but I also know that I still have the spirit and the desire to continue working on challenging skills and making progress. From what I gather, I will be in a group lesson format with two of Christopher's other students. I think there might be another coach teaching a group lesson to some of their students as well. No more than 10 people on the ice at once and we should be wearing masks. I'm pretty nervous about that given my breathing problems but I'm just happy to get back to work. I'll do another blog post tomorrow about how it all went!
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
Going Quiet
Hi all!
As most of my readers know (because I assume you are all adult skaters too!), most of the ice rinks across the nation have closed for awhile. If you are like me, you are already going through withdrawals. We were all working on things (new programs, jumps, spins, and other skills) and it's really frustrating to be forced to stay at home when all we want to do is work on improving our skating skills. Although we cannot train on the ice right now, there are loads of other things we can do to keep some of our progress going!
Off-Ice: Remember all of the "Skate Forever Strong" stuff we did earlier this year? Keep it going! There are plenty of off ice workouts we can do so that we don't lose our mobility, flexibility, and strength! Mix it up and do something different each day. Yesterday, I did an hour of "Just Dance 2019" on our Wii and today I went for a long walk. Tomorrow I might go for a run and do some stretching. Perhaps browse YouTube for some fun new workouts that target different areas. One of my goals was to get back into ballet this year, and even though the studios are closed right now along with the rinks, there are loads of ballet classes and workouts online (I really like The Lazy Dancer! Highly recommend!).
Watch some Skating: Keep the passion going and get inspired by watching some old skating competitions of yourself competing or some of the current or past figure skating greats!
FitBit Challenges! Need a little extra push? I'm on FitBit (look for LibrarianOnIce) and am always up for a good challenge! If you find me on FitBit and tell me you are a skater, I'll add you to the Fitgure Skaters group too!
This blog may be silent for a while as there won't really be much for me to update you on in regards to my on-ice training but I'll be back once things go back to normal. We will get through this! Figure skaters have to be strong and resilient to do what we do so don't forget that, just like everything else...WE GET UP!
As most of my readers know (because I assume you are all adult skaters too!), most of the ice rinks across the nation have closed for awhile. If you are like me, you are already going through withdrawals. We were all working on things (new programs, jumps, spins, and other skills) and it's really frustrating to be forced to stay at home when all we want to do is work on improving our skating skills. Although we cannot train on the ice right now, there are loads of other things we can do to keep some of our progress going!
Off-Ice: Remember all of the "Skate Forever Strong" stuff we did earlier this year? Keep it going! There are plenty of off ice workouts we can do so that we don't lose our mobility, flexibility, and strength! Mix it up and do something different each day. Yesterday, I did an hour of "Just Dance 2019" on our Wii and today I went for a long walk. Tomorrow I might go for a run and do some stretching. Perhaps browse YouTube for some fun new workouts that target different areas. One of my goals was to get back into ballet this year, and even though the studios are closed right now along with the rinks, there are loads of ballet classes and workouts online (I really like The Lazy Dancer! Highly recommend!).
Watch some Skating: Keep the passion going and get inspired by watching some old skating competitions of yourself competing or some of the current or past figure skating greats!
FitBit Challenges! Need a little extra push? I'm on FitBit (look for LibrarianOnIce) and am always up for a good challenge! If you find me on FitBit and tell me you are a skater, I'll add you to the Fitgure Skaters group too!
This blog may be silent for a while as there won't really be much for me to update you on in regards to my on-ice training but I'll be back once things go back to normal. We will get through this! Figure skaters have to be strong and resilient to do what we do so don't forget that, just like everything else...WE GET UP!
Friday, March 13, 2020
Because Corona
I was supposed to get my skates sharpened on the 20th but they texted me and said they are shutting their doors after today and if I don't get my skates in now, they won't get sharpened for a few weeks. I had to send my husband out to get my skates done after he was already settled on the couch in comfy clothes. He had to sit through a traffic jam and I'm sure he's cursing my name as we speak for making him do this on such short notice...because Corona.
I was supposed to have a lesson tomorrow but my rink just announced that it is shutting down for two weeks. I won't get to learn any new choreography or work on problem spots...because Corona.
Not like I was going anyway but I'm sad for my fellow adult skaters who planned on competing at Adult Nationals (and especially sad for those who qualified for championship events). We will all have to just wonder what would have happened...because Corona.
Nobody has access to toilet paper...because Corona.
I went to the grocery story today and was only able to obtain 2 cans of chili, 2 cans of corn, 2 bags of egg noodles, and 2 jars of pasta sauce. I might starve...because Corona.
In work-related news, all of the programs I had planned for March and the first half of April have been canceled including my book club, Virtual Reality Escape Room, Adult Gaming Night, "Harry Potter as a Tool for Social Change", Yoga, and my fully booked "Sew an Infinity Scarf" program on Pi Day... BECAUSE CORONA!
Harrumph...
I was supposed to have a lesson tomorrow but my rink just announced that it is shutting down for two weeks. I won't get to learn any new choreography or work on problem spots...because Corona.
Not like I was going anyway but I'm sad for my fellow adult skaters who planned on competing at Adult Nationals (and especially sad for those who qualified for championship events). We will all have to just wonder what would have happened...because Corona.
Nobody has access to toilet paper...because Corona.
I went to the grocery story today and was only able to obtain 2 cans of chili, 2 cans of corn, 2 bags of egg noodles, and 2 jars of pasta sauce. I might starve...because Corona.
In work-related news, all of the programs I had planned for March and the first half of April have been canceled including my book club, Virtual Reality Escape Room, Adult Gaming Night, "Harry Potter as a Tool for Social Change", Yoga, and my fully booked "Sew an Infinity Scarf" program on Pi Day... BECAUSE CORONA!
Harrumph...
Running it
This morning was the first time I ran my program on my own (or at least what I have of my program so far). A couple of things I've noticed:
1). I'm hella scratchy! I think this is a result of me not really being comfortable with this program yet so I'm riding my toepicks way more than I should because I'm scared of speed. Which brings me to...
2). I need a lot more speed! I've been running this program in the small space of my living room so speed isn't needed and I'm able to hit my marks. But this doesn't translate to the ice very well. I need to pick up the pace quite a bit in order to be where I need to be when I need to be there.
3). I can grab in time! I had no issues with the cross grab spiral at all and the loop jump right after is fine. Yay!
4). My wonky camel still needs more work.
5). My choreographic step sequence was fine on solid ground but is REALLY bad on the ice.
6). I remembered everything!
I did two runs because they were both pretty short. I only have about 40 seconds of choreography so far so I'm hoping we can add more tomorrow during our lesson. Ugh, this needs so much work.
1). I'm hella scratchy! I think this is a result of me not really being comfortable with this program yet so I'm riding my toepicks way more than I should because I'm scared of speed. Which brings me to...
2). I need a lot more speed! I've been running this program in the small space of my living room so speed isn't needed and I'm able to hit my marks. But this doesn't translate to the ice very well. I need to pick up the pace quite a bit in order to be where I need to be when I need to be there.
3). I can grab in time! I had no issues with the cross grab spiral at all and the loop jump right after is fine. Yay!
4). My wonky camel still needs more work.
5). My choreographic step sequence was fine on solid ground but is REALLY bad on the ice.
6). I remembered everything!
I did two runs because they were both pretty short. I only have about 40 seconds of choreography so far so I'm hoping we can add more tomorrow during our lesson. Ugh, this needs so much work.
Saturday, March 7, 2020
Don't Look Down
Lesson today!
Movez - We started with some Silver MITF since we haven't touched them in a while. There were some things I wanted him to look at that I think went a little downhill since the last time he saw them. We began with the cross strokes. The forward strokes really need more of an emphasis on the underpush extension and the backward strokes were a little rushed. I think I'm rushing them because I feel like I'm loosing momentum so I really need to make the push stronger and then hoooold the free leg out before bringing it back for the stroke. Next up were the power pulls. We didn't look at the backward pulls because I think I'm doing okay on those but the forward pulls need a lot more work. I had a couple on my good leg where I could hear the rip but mostly I'm just snaking along and not pulling enough. These are getting there, though, and they are definitely better now than when I started working on them in the fall.
Jumpz - I just wanted him to take a look at the flip jump. I'm still struggling. He says they really aren't that bad but I think he's just being kind. Personally, I think they are a pile of hot trash. Since I've been working on the forward 3 turn entry in practice, I wanted him to look to see if I'm even doing it correctly. He actually prefers this entrance anyway so this is what I'll work on from now on. So, according to Christopher, I need to flatten out the 3 turn, hold the check, and don't mule kick my picking leg out behind me so much. He made a good observation today which kind of changes things. He noticed that when I pick in, I'm looking down at the ice which is causing my upper body to pitch forward. No wonder I'm struggling! I tried another one and forced myself to look out straight ahead and the jump felt much easier! This is something I'm really going to have to remember to focus on in my practice sessions. Hopefully, this one thing will result in some improvement.
Devilz - We talked a bit about which jumps to include. We already have a loop jump and a salchow so he might add a loop-toe combo and a flip jump to round it out. Cool. We were running a bit short on time so we didn't add much to the choreography today but he wanted to add the choreographic step sequence here. So, after I land the salchow, I do a back pivot, step forward cross stroke, RFO 3 turn with pretty extension and arms, step forward onto a LFO with pretty arms, and then RFI twizzle (and I think a ballet jump?). I'm not sure if this is it or if he'll add more. We'll see. That back pivot is going to be a struggle. Ugh.
Movez - We started with some Silver MITF since we haven't touched them in a while. There were some things I wanted him to look at that I think went a little downhill since the last time he saw them. We began with the cross strokes. The forward strokes really need more of an emphasis on the underpush extension and the backward strokes were a little rushed. I think I'm rushing them because I feel like I'm loosing momentum so I really need to make the push stronger and then hoooold the free leg out before bringing it back for the stroke. Next up were the power pulls. We didn't look at the backward pulls because I think I'm doing okay on those but the forward pulls need a lot more work. I had a couple on my good leg where I could hear the rip but mostly I'm just snaking along and not pulling enough. These are getting there, though, and they are definitely better now than when I started working on them in the fall.
Jumpz - I just wanted him to take a look at the flip jump. I'm still struggling. He says they really aren't that bad but I think he's just being kind. Personally, I think they are a pile of hot trash. Since I've been working on the forward 3 turn entry in practice, I wanted him to look to see if I'm even doing it correctly. He actually prefers this entrance anyway so this is what I'll work on from now on. So, according to Christopher, I need to flatten out the 3 turn, hold the check, and don't mule kick my picking leg out behind me so much. He made a good observation today which kind of changes things. He noticed that when I pick in, I'm looking down at the ice which is causing my upper body to pitch forward. No wonder I'm struggling! I tried another one and forced myself to look out straight ahead and the jump felt much easier! This is something I'm really going to have to remember to focus on in my practice sessions. Hopefully, this one thing will result in some improvement.
Devilz - We talked a bit about which jumps to include. We already have a loop jump and a salchow so he might add a loop-toe combo and a flip jump to round it out. Cool. We were running a bit short on time so we didn't add much to the choreography today but he wanted to add the choreographic step sequence here. So, after I land the salchow, I do a back pivot, step forward cross stroke, RFO 3 turn with pretty extension and arms, step forward onto a LFO with pretty arms, and then RFI twizzle (and I think a ballet jump?). I'm not sure if this is it or if he'll add more. We'll see. That back pivot is going to be a struggle. Ugh.
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