Got Luck?

I had one of my best skating days today. It was absolutely incredible! I got to the rink fairly early to get my very first hour of contract ice and it was empty. I literally had the ice to myself for an hour! As soon as I saw my coaches sitting outside an empty rink my face lit up. I did a quick warm up and got onto the ice with Coach T.

We worked on my program and a few other moves before she had to leave. Wait...what was that...did you just mention a program? Why yes. Yes I did. My very first program is in place. I am skating to “All of Me” by John Legend (ft. Lindsey Stirling). It is a simple program, I am skating at adult level 5. Right now I am working on skills at a much higher level (toe loops, consecutive edges, consecutive 3 turns, waltz jumps, etc.) , but this is the best level for me to compete according to my coach. Oh how I would have loved to compete at level 6 where I can do a lunge or spiral in my program, but I digress. If I do well in this competition, I might have some luck convincing her that I can compete at a higher level next time.

I decided to stay for adult open skate, because there were only a couple other skaters. I didn’t get as much as I wanted done during practice since Anne was there “watching” me again and I didn’t feel so hot about that, but I ran through my program a few times and practiced several moves (3 turns, consecutive edges, mohawks, waltz jumps, and crossovers). Adult open skate ended and I walked out of the rink to find no one else getting on for public skate. My heart did a little jump and my face lit up again. Could I really get this lucky two times in one day? I wasn’t planning on staying for public open skate, but an empty rink. That would be a waste! Ice time is precious time.

I said goodbye to the other adult skaters, got on to an empty rink, and plugged in my iPhone to my program music. I ran through it about 15x before moving on to other things but boy did I fall in love with it. This morning I could barely remember the sequence of the program, by the end of my session I had gotten my figure 8 crossovers to the speed I need them to be to follow the song lyrics and because I sped them up I was able to add a few moves that feel comfortable to me. My coach put this program together for me and while I greatly appreciate that, I also felt like it wasn’t all “me”. I wanted to add steps and arm movements that felt natural to me but I couldn’t do it when we first began because I needed to get the footwork down first. What I can’t believe is that the second day that I have worked on this program is when I’ve gotten the footwork down and have begun this process of making the program more of my own.

I can’t wait to perform this at my first competition in June. My goal is to have this program clean by mid-May (that gives me two weeks) so that I won’t hiccup (aka fall on my butt) during the competition. “Don’t practice until you get it right, practice until you can’t get it wrong” that is how I am approaching my competition. Whether or not I end up competing against someone else, I will rock it!

I got off the ice feeling confident and satisfied in my work. After 4.5 hours on the ice I was starving and needed food immediately. I didn’t realize until I got home and laid down for an hour before work, that I also needed a great deal of sleep too. My body was so sore. 4.5 hours of ice skating is the same as working out for 4.5 hours. I don’t know why I don’t realize this when I am on the ice.

Until tomorrow friends! I have my first official private lesson on contract ice with Coach C (my soon to be official USFSA coach).