Summer Goals & Achievements

It’s week 6 (out of 10) in my summer skating program, but what do I really have to show for it? I knew deciding to test would halt my learning progress, just like my competition did a month ago but I went for it anyways. See here’s the problem, when you sign up for a competition or test you work it to death. The program? You’ll do with your coach at least 5 times at each practice and outside of actually doing run throughs you are often working on stringing a few elements together at a time. A moves test? Say hello to running it at the start of every lesson, well there goes 10 minutes of my 15 minutes with a coach. In the last five minutes you might work on a couple spins or simple jumps. You say you want to learn something new? “Gina, you can’t get injured before a test/competition.” And that my friends is the end of that.

The purpose of this post is to share how my summer skating is going. Not to share my experiences off the ice or my thoughts about certain elements. Today I am sticking to facts, “this is what I am working on and this is how it needs to improve.” To this day I have been skating for just over 6 months, I spend nearly 10 hours a week on the ice, and have been for the last 4 months. If you’re just getting started, I wouldn’t compare unless you are on the ice for the same length of time. For two months of those last six I was on the ice with a coach between 2-3 hours every week.

[underlined statements are goals that were achieved within the 2 week time constraint]

Week 1-2 Goals: Be fearless. Take care of yourself - don’t over do it so that you don’t get hurt. Practice pre-bronze moves at the start of each practice.

Jump Goal: Strong check on the half flip and Salchow. Work on the toe loop from backwards crossovers. More distance and height on Waltz jump.

Spins Goal: Consistent 4-6 revolutions on 1 foot spin. Work on crossing leg on ½ of my spin attempts by the end of week 2.

MIF Goal: Consistent LFO3 on Waltz 8, more confidence when raising leg for spiral. BI edges need to be strong from the first push.

Program Goal: Pick a song and begin choreography

Dance Goal: Learn the steps to the Dutch Waltz. (learned only ½)

Week 3-4 Goals: Pass my pre-bronze moves test. Learn bronze moves patterns. Challenge yourself w/ 1-2 new skills at every practice (after your test).

Jump Goal: Work on the toe-loop with entry.

Spins Goal: 4-5 consistent revolutions on one foot spin.

MIF Goal: Consistent LFO3 on Waltz 8 and learn bronze moves.

Program Goal: Adjust music for jump spin jump spin choreography. Put together a difficult step sequence.

Dance Goal: Learn the steps to the Dutch Waltz.

Practice Goal: Mohawk crosses down the line, consecutive 3 turns down the line, power 3’s, and backward alternating crossovers.

Week 5-6 Goals: During open skate practice, work on improving basic skills. Check shoulders on all jumps. Learn a couple silver moves patterns. Do bronze and pre-bronze moves at all practices (preferably the beginning of each practice). Learn pre-bronze freestyle test order and practice it.

Jump Goal: Salchow w/ entry

Spins Goal: Scratch spin w/ ½ entry (try to get 1-2 good scratch spins at each practice)

MIF Goal: Power 3’s - less scratchy, backwards crossovers w/ landing position (work on arms and leg extension).

Program Goal: Adjust music

Dance Goal: Increase speed on Dutch Waltz and learn the next dance.

Practice Goal: Stay focused. Challenge moves: backwards spiral and shoot the duck (both haven't’ been introduced by a coach yet).

I am hoping that despite my conversation with coach last week that she’ll teach me something new at one of my lessons this week. I am so sick of doing the same skills over and over again.

Pre-Bronze Moves Test

Just over six months ago I decided to go to the ice rink to prepare for my friends annual Campus Martius ice skating outing in Downtown Detroit. The first day I came home, I was incredibly sore, but decided to go again the next day. I found myself at the rink everyday for a week. I even signed myself up for a learn to skate class a few days later. Before I knew it I was addicted to ice skating (to read more about my beginning click “here”). If you had asked me what the purpose of ice skating was then, I would have told you that I was just there to learn for fun. I had no idea that within a year I’d compete in a figure skating competition, take a moves test to pass into the first official level of adult skating, or even learn a couple jumps. It was beyond me, yet the skating community that surrounded me believed that I would succeed and learn quickly due to my age, dedication, and determination.

Shortly after competing in my first competition, my coach recommended that I begin improving upon my pre-bronze skills so that I could take my first skating test. Normally, when coaches suggest adults “test” many defer and choose to continue skating for fun. I on the other hand was excited to have someone truly judge my skating ability. I taught myself the elements testing order within a month and signed up for the test, with my coaches approval of course. Soon after I signed up, I began to see the weaknesses in my elements as both of my private coaches pointed out my many flaws.

I worked hard over the next few weeks. At every practice I began with the moves test from start to finish, without “re-dos” or  a proper warm up. Later in practice I would go through the elements that were weak in my first run through and within the next hour I’d run the test again. I’m not sure exactly how many times I ran the test in a month's time, but I did it everyday I was on the ice between 2 and 4 times. If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.

I had a hard time falling asleep the night before my test, so I used lavender oil to help me fall asleep. I got up very early the next morning to get my skating dress on and have substantial time to warm up at the rink. The drive there was nerve racking, so I brought peppermint oil with me to calm myself. Once I got to the rink, I found that no one was there, so I quickly strapped on my skates and ran my through my test once. People began to show up, so I got off the ice, tied my tennis shoes, and began my proper warm up. I ran one lap around the outside of the rink, went up and down the stairs in the stadium seats, then slowly stretched my leg muscles to prepare for my spirals.

My test time was 9am and I was the first on the ice. After warming up my "difficult" test elements, my coach requested I do a couple other moves - she said they looked good, but 5 minutes later, my time was up. The judges called my name, I skated up to the boards and said good morning. He asked if I knew the test order, then welcomed me to begin once his hand was raised.

It wasn’t my best skating, nor was it my worst. I could sit here and pick apart the weaknesses in every single one of my elements, but I’ve chosen to just go on and be thankful for the “pass”. Some of you other skaters may watch this and think, “how in the world was that a pass?”, but others of you outside of the skating world may see this as I do; a joyous skater trying her best on the ice. If you watch the video closely, you may even see me crack a smile as I draw near to the glass.

Thanks to all of my readers for your continued support and motivation. I can’t believe that this blog has reached 2,000 views. Enjoy the video below of my very first figure skating moves test. I look forward to doing my freestyle (jumps and spins) pre-bronze test in September and my bronze moves test in October.

Waltz Jump-Toe Loop? How? ... I Need New Summer Goals

There’s a good chance I am going to have to re-write my summer goals...I haven’t yet published them to the blog but it’s clear that I am going to achieve them considering that in the last two lessons I have learned two of the skills on my list. There’s always room for improvement in this sport, I don’t think perfection can ever be achieved, I just want to learn as many new skills as I can this summer because I won’t have as much skating time during the year.

I attended my last learn to skate lesson today at the other rink, it was a makeup class so I didn’t know the group that I was skating with. The coach asked me what I was working on, but I didn’t want to be a bother so I asked what the other skaters were working on, I figured I could work with one of the groups. Fortunately there were several levels of skaters so I could choose if I wanted to work on mediocre skills that need improvement (like the dreaded crossovers) or I could work with the youngest skater on more difficult skills like spirals, jumps, and spins. I chose the latter.

Though my basic skills need improvement, I have found that they look much better now that I’ve learned more challenging skills. For example my three turns have become consistent because I use them for my jumps. Consecutive edges have helped me skate deeper into my edges for power pulls and swing rolls. I decided to work with the young girl because I wanted to be challenged, and sure enough I was challenged. She was working on freestyle 2 and I am more comfortable in freestyle 1 (but I have learned a few of the skills in 2).

We began working on spirals then moved on to backwards consecutive edges. Since it was test day I asked the coach to test me on my edges, they are on my pre-bronze test and I needed the “pressure” for practice. She passed both my insides and outsides, which was shocking because my insides totally suck. I think the pressure helped, haha! Next we did spins, she said that I spun really quickly but needed to pull my arms in at the same time for even more speed and control. Finally we worked on jumps. I showed her my waltz from backwards crossovers, the half-flip (which I haven’t actually worked on with a coach yet), and my toe loop. I was surprised when she told me the half flip was correct (I need to end on an inside edge instead of an outside edge), my coach showed me this one time at the end of practice and I’ve just made myself practice it so that it isn’t miserable when I am working on it with her.

We still had a couple minutes left of class and the younger girl needed to do a watlz jump-toe loop. Coach asked if I had done it yet and I said I hadn’t so she told me to give it a try. Hmmm…. I don’t know how I feel about that. I thought I’d be doing a combination jump by the end of summer not the beginning of summer! I tried it anyways and once I again I made (what seemed like) the impossible, possible. I got it on the second try, the first one was a fluke after I couldn’t even land the waltz properly.

So, sure enough my goal to land a combination jump before the end of summer skating happened before summer officially began. I need new goals. Crazier, more difficult goals. My updated summer goals will be posted later this week. Summer skating officially begins on June 20th, can this next week just fly by so I can live at the rink?

Hello there Sal!

I can’t believe that I worked on the Salchow today! I briefly mentioned to my coach that I had given it a try at practice on Monday and she was shocked, “Gina, you were so scared to jump at first, I’m so proud of you for trying.” I showed her what I had tried on the ground before getting my skates on and she said it was pretty close.

We started the private lesson with some stroking and forward crossovers on the ends and worked our way through the pre-bronze test. Coach says I am ready to test this summer so I am really excited about that. Every one of my practice sessions now starts with the test as my warm up.

Next she asked to see my waltz jump from backwards crossovers, she said it looked good (if you skate you know these comments are far and few in between so I was pleased with myself). Then we worked on the toe loop, which Coach T also said looked better after a few tries. And finally she asked me to see Mr. Sal. As I briefly stated before I had given this a try on my own during practice so I wasn’t exactly nervous to jump, more so just nervous to show my coach. I asked her to show it to me first, but she wouldn’t do it, she said she wanted to see what I thought it looked like first. So I gave it my best shot and looked up at her with a question mark on my face, was that it? “Sort of, not bad for doing it on your own.”

I was smiling my way throughout the entire session. When coach said we would be working on jumps I was so relieved. After working on my program for the last month I felt excited to finally be working on something new. My Salchow isn’t nearly a Salchow, it’s more like a half-Salchow, too bad that jump doesn’t exist. Nevertheless, it’s going to look much better by the end of the summer.

After my private lesson, I headed over to adult public skate. I skated my heart out, beginning with the pre-bronze test and on to jumps and swing rolls (forward and  backward). An hour later the session ended and I got off to give my feet a break before getting on the second session of open skate. I had an incredible skating morning thus far, why I couldn’t just head home after? I don’t know, but I was about to pay the price for my obsession. Just 10 minutes after being on the ice I fell on my left knee and could barely get up. After my friend begged me to get off the ice I got off and began to ice it thinking that I could just get back on after icing it for a bit. Twenty minutes later I could barely bend my leg, I knew then that it was time to head home.

After icing in 20 minute segments this entire afternoon and evening I feel much better. Hopefully by tomorrow morning I will feel even better. I am excited for skating this summer, though I know there will be more falls I also know I’ll just have to learn to get through it as I have in the past. I felt like the fall today almost broke me. For a half second, I actually second guessed continuing on with this sport. But it brings me too much joy to just quit because of a careless fall. A summer at the rink is so close I can taste it, just 10 more days!  

When Coach Doesn't Show Up....

Teach class? Sure! At my last group lesson we didn’t have a coach for the first five to ten minutes of class. So, we all decided to start off with stroking and crossovers on the ends like we usually do. We did a few laps and then I asked the group if they were ready to switch sides. By this time, we finally had a coach show up. Side note: I love this rink, I like the staff, the coaches, but most importantly I love the ice. So, the fact that Coach B couldn’t make it today is one thing, but then she couldn’t find a sub so they were looking for someone to fill her spot at the last second and this played a big part in how the lesson followed.

In all of the adult classes that I have attended I have always had an adult coach who was able to accurately describe exactly how to do certain moves and how to fix my many mistakes. For this session we had an oh so young coach who didn’t know what our levels were and clearly didn’t have a ton of experience coaching. So naturally (I am a teacher in my other life) I decided to kind of take over...without overstepping of course!

I come to my lessons knowing what I need to work on. I no longer rely on the coaches at group lessons to come up with something new for me to learn because outside of class I am learning moves and jumps in freestyle (the usuals at the rink tell me I’ve outgrown group lessons, but I am trying to keep them up as long as I can because they are cheap compared to contract ice). For this reason, when asked, I told the coach that I needed to work on my consecutive edges. The others were about to start working on their crossovers (again, ugh don’t they get sick of these?), but when they heard I was going to work on edges a few of them followed me. Coach drew a line for us on the ground (that intersected with the circle - that became a problem because there were two others in class learning fxo’s there argh, but I digress). I started off with my backwards edges because they are weaker than my forward edges. One of the girls hadn’t yet been introduced to forward consecutive edges, but she wanted to try so I showed her how to do them and the other women followed suit. At this point the coach was still working with the beginner in the class so I decided it was time to work on my next skill that needed work, consecutive 3’s.

The other women who were practicing on the line continued with edges until they saw that I was doing something different. They asked me what I was working on and I said they were consecutive 3 turns down the line. I told them I had just learned them and didn’t know if what I was doing was correct, but they wanted to see what they looked like so I showed them and they followed suit again.

Next we did a few lines of power 3’s which they pretty much had a handle on, me not so much haha. While they continued working on those I headed to center circle to work on my one foot spin. This is the point in class when I noticed how little coaching experience she had. When sub coach finished working with the other student I asked her if she could help me count my rotations. I normally get between 1 and 2 rotations, if it’s a really good spin I get between 3 and 4 rotations (but that rarely happens!). Sub Coach said I got 3 rotations on the second try, I barely got one and a half in. I don’t know why she would say I got it when I know I didn’t. Either I can’t count or I am way too hard on myself.

Even though I didn’t fix a lot of skills today, it was a great class. I initially signed up for Wednesday nights so that I could just get some extra ice time and that’s exactly what I got today. I even got to run my program a few times before the Zamboni came on the ice. More than that however I got a little feel of what it would be like to coach. During the lesson one of the other adults asked the coach how to do a change of edge on a line and she didn’t explain it very well, so instead she asked to see how I did it and I explained it to the best of my ability. Then substitute asked me to do it again so that she and the others could see (this obviously makes me feel pretty great about what I’ve learned and how far I’ve come especially with the change of edge on a line. I’ve been working on getting that skill for a couple weeks now and during that lesson I was able to do it successfully several times in a row without stepping down).

I am starting to seriously consider coaching in the lower levels of learn to skate. Coach T says I am capable and my Coach C says I will be soon. I still don’t have a summer job, so I would really like to do it. How fun would it be to be at the rink and get paid to teach someone to skate? It’s not great money, but it should at least get me by this summer.

Skating is good….in moderation.

My name is Gina and yes I know I have a problem. I am obsessed with figure skating. If you know me at all in real life you probably know that I am easily obsessed with things. A nicer way to put it is perhaps that I become passionate about everything that I put my heart into. When I was growing up I was obsessed with Harry Potter, the High School Musical Series (Zac Efron to be exact), and the Twilight Series. As I got older I became obsessed with the ideas of a “perfect” future so I planned a fake wedding, designed my dream home on floor planner, and pinned to my “for the future” boards on pinterest.

So, when I began to take figure skating seriously in late February it was clear that it was becoming another obsession of mine. I lived and breathed figure skating (and still do). I ate healthy for figure skating. I went to the gym, for figure skating. I didn’t play other sports, so that I wouldn’t get injured...so that I could skate. I slept, so I could recover from skating. I ate more after skating to recover from skating. I even read about skating for hours on end. It quickly became a lifestyle rather than just a sport. Unfortunately for me, it is clear that I need to be careful with this rather obsessive lifestyle.

My knee is injured and when I skate for several days in a row, usually by the end of the streak I start falling...a lot. I’ve decided to mandate non-skating days. I am absolutely, positively not allowed to skate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and at least one day on the weekend. Since I have skating classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday it’s really all the skating time I need. This mandate has gone into effect this week. The pain I get in my knee is from over training, I am almost positive of this now despite not yet having MRI results.

If I want to be healthy and fit for my competition I need to be more aware of what I am doing to my body. If that means limiting my skating then that’s what it means. In the past two months I’ve skated for more than 75 hours (averages out to ~10 hours per week). I’ve learned a lot. It is time to perfect the skills I am presenting in my program. I will have two months in the summer to learn some new skills. I’d love to learn a couple more jumps and have my pre-bronze test passed by September #goals.

Crappy Ending to A Great Skating Week :(

My sixth day in a row on the ice, 12 hours total. It’s like spring break all over again! A couple weeks ago I saw my general physician about the knee pain I was having due to the constant falling on ice and she basically told me to give it a rest. So, I stayed off the ice for 6 days and rested/iced my knee constantly. I got back on the ice with more ease and confidence ready to take on the world last Friday evening. I continued skating every day for a few hours until today. I got to the rink, skated beautifully during adult skate. I ran through my program several times, then broke it up into smaller pieces to work on elements. By the end of adult open skate, many people had gotten off the ice so I decided to just have some fun and ice dance to my current favorite song, "She", by Zayn. I was having a blast dancing along to it, I even found myself doing a new move, backwards power pulls (do those actually exist, because they are easier than forward power pulls). The zamboni came on to to the ice so it was time to get off. Luckily for me, there was another public session following adult open skate.

A few days ago I got really lucky and had the ice to myself during public skate. Today, there were four hockey players getting on to the ice and well, me. I knew that this session was going to end badly. While the zamboni was doing its thing I had a nice conversation with one of the other adult figure skaters at the rink. I’d seen her before and tried to be pleasant by greeting her but she seemed quiet. Today, she struck up a conversation with me! It was nice, we discussed our skating experiences. The conversation went as it always does.

Her: "What got you into skating...how long have you been doing it?"

Me: “Oh, around December I graduated from college and got really bored so I thought I’d come to the rink and skate. I was really bad at first, holding on to the wall but kept coming anyways. One of the other adult skaters convinced me to take an LTS class but I thought I was too old…”

Her: “Too old? I didn’t start skating until I was 40, I’ve been skating for 15 years. You are progressing so quickly and you have so much ahead of you.”

Me: “I really want to compete with other adult skaters, but I just don’t know if I’ll be able to”

Her: “If you want to seriously compete you need to skate between 4-5 hours a week.”

Me: “I usually skate between 8-9 hours a week, but I injured myself recently and I’ve had to limit my time”

Her: “Oh no, what happened?”

Me: “I hurt my knees from falling on them so many times”

Her: “You should wear knee pads”

Me: “I usually do, but I’ve been wearing a brace on my left knee”

Her: “You should still wear padding, double up”

Me: “I know that I need to…”

Her: “Well, I have to head out, I’ll see you later. Have a great day!”

Me: “Thanks, same to you!”

I literally had the same exact conversation with Anne (the other regular adult skater at the rink yesterday). Well, back to skating...I got on the ice with just my knee brace on the left leg knowing that it was going to end badly. Me and a few hockey players...they were sure to ruin the ice. I fell within the first 10 minutes on my right knee doing a crossover, arghh!!

After doing my program a couple times and working on my spins and mohawks I thought I should begin working on my backwards consecutive edges. As I was skating over I was looking down at the ice, it was already cut up by the hockey players, shocker. I thought I’d give them a try anyways. Before I made it to the end of the line I found myself on the ground again (thank you rut in the ice), on my left knee, in the same spot that I had been falling on for the last month. I held my breath, holding back the tears and I tried to get up but I couldn’t. Damn. I can’t get up. I tried harder and was able to just barely skate myself to the side where my stuff was. I had never felt this kind of pain before. It was miserable. For the first time in 3.5 months I was getting off the ice because I was injured. I limped my way off the ice, took my skates off and limped myself to the front desk for some ice. Then I drove my sorry butt home with the ice on my knee.

No more skating for one week. I just can’t. I need to let my knee heal and that means ice and rest. I can’t keep doing this to myself. I just can’t. **Insert tears of pain and sadness here**

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).

Daily Skating Thoughts

1. I haven’t been skating since….
2. Why can’t I just be at the rink everyday?
3. I need to go to the gym
4. Gosh, I can’t eat that
5. What can I add to my program?
6. I wish I could have crossovers down by now
7. I want another lesson
8. I’m hungry
9. My knee hurts
10. Why can’t I just join the skating club in April? I need ice time!
11. If I am an hour late to that event I can squeeze in a public session...but then I’ll be tired...but skating.
12. Well if I can’t be on the ice I can…
1. Read adult skating blogs
2. Watch skating programs on YouTube
3. Read about figure skater nutrition and exercise
4. Visualize my program in my head
5. Study skating curriculum guides
6. Re-read my skating journal (for the 10th time)
7. Write a blog post
8. Pin to my figure skating pinterest board
9. Shop for a skating dress/apparel online

And this is why I don't get anything done.

Official Progress Report - April

A month has come and gone which means it is time for me to update you all on my official progress. Even with the new skates, I have learned a lot this month! On the documents, highlighted means I’ve learned the move, highlighted with a dot means I learned the move in the last month (and probably need a lot of practice doing it), circled in blue means it is something I want to learn next month. As you can see, everything left on both curriculum guides is what I want to learn. So hopefully, by May I will have completed the Basic Skills and Adult Basic Skills Curriculum.

Landed My Waltz Jump!

I landed my waltz jump today! I cannot believe I landed my first jump! I’ve said this before and I am going to say it again. When I began skating, I thought I’d start jumping after a year or two. I’ve been on the ice for three months now and I’m learning to jump, and this is crazy to me!

If I’ve learned anything from this experience it’s that skating is all mental after basic skills. When I go into the waltz knowing that I am going to land it, I do, and when I’m shaky I don’t. Coach T and I spent a fair amount of time working on the waltz on Tuesday and just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Then during my private lesson on Thursday we went through more of the smaller pieces that go into the jump and I got it! The look on my face was priceless, according to my coach, and I honestly felt like I was going to start tearing up. But there wasn’t time, because my coach wanted me to do it again and again. When Coach T says “one more time” it really means we are going to continue doing it until I start flubbing it again.

My coach also started to show me a one foot spin, I think it might be a scratch spin but I am really not sure because we just went through a couple of the intro steps. I’m posting my first videos on the blog. Below you will see my waltz jump and a two foot spin (which I fell out of, but I tried my best!).

I can’t wait for spring break boot camp. I have three private lessons scheduled, so I am hoping I can learn some new skills and perfect some of the ones that I’ve been working on.

Spring Break Boot Camp!

Well, tomorrow is the day that my personal boot camp officially begins. In the next 10 days I will be on the ice for more than 20 hours and in the gym for at least another 10. Surely, I will be destroyed by the end of the week, if not broken.

When I decided not to travel over spring break, I did so with the intention of using my week off to push my skating to the next level. There are certain skills that I need to have down in order to really move forward, the first of them being crossovers. More than that, I just need to get myself more acquainted with the ice. I still have my random jerky moments with my arms flailing all over the place.

Boot camp is probably going to be the most physically exhausting week of my life to this day, but I know it will be worth it. After all I really want to pass my pre-bronze test! After my practice session on the ice yesterday I was talking to one of the regulars in the adult skating community to get some advice on what she wears for testing, but she told me that she hasn’t tested yet! She’s been on the ice for two years and still hasn’t tested….now I know she wants to, so why the wait? I guess I’m speeding things up by wanting to test so quickly, after all I’ve only been on the ice for three months.  But I know where I want to be in 3-4 years, adult nationals. I can picture it and I know with hard practice weeks, like the one I have coming up, I can achieve my goal.

I know I am shooting for the moon here, adult nationals are like the Olympics for kid skaters...at least in my mind. But what difference does it make? Having goals like that should only push me forward. That is why I am working so hard. That is why I am going to push myself next week, like I’ve never pushed myself before.

First Skate Fitting

I had my first skate fitting today! I was super excited for it, maybe a little too excited because it wasn’t really what I thought it would be. I guess I went in thinking it would be this great horah event, but it was a skate fitting, haha!

The skate shop I went to is inside an ice arena, specifically the one that Meryl Davis and Charlie White trained at...the Detroit Skating Academy! I couldn’t help but think that the same women who fitted me also probably fitted them for their skates! I walked the same floors, soon to be skated the same ice...blah blah blah. Nestled in a fairly large arena is a very small skate shop.

In the 35 minutes that I was in the shop, I believe I tried on at least 6 or 7 boots. Sue helped me put each pair on, which I felt bad about, but I guess it’s her thing. She ties and puts each pair on to help me figure out the best boot for my foot.

In the end I walked out with three potential pairs. My coach had suggested Riedell or the Jackson equivalent of the Motion 255, Edge 229, or Flair. Riedell boots are a lot more expensive and are made for narrower feet, so they were pretty much out of the question for me. The three skates that fit the best were the Jackson Elle (Used 6.5), Jackson Competitor (6B), and the Jackson Freestyle (6B). I felt that the competitor probably had the most support, but they were the most expensive, the freestyle were the most comfortable but had less support. The Jackson Elle fit fairly well, but are scuffed and definitely felt used...because they are.

Time to weigh in on the pros and cons:

Jackson Elle - cheapest option (used), probably a good idea to drop $150 instead of $300-$400 on the first boot. Only single jumps.

Jackson Competitor- most expensive option, will last a couple years, can be heat molded to fit my foot better. Single and doubles. $360

Jackson Freestyle- most comfortable of the choices, will last a couple years, can be heat molded to fit my foot better. Single and beginner doubles. $310

Right now I’m thinking that I will probably try the Jackson Elle on the ice first to get a feel of it. I forgot to mention that all of these boots were super chunky compared to the recreational skates that I am using now. I’m pretty sure any transition to competitive boots is going to suck for me at first. After feeling out the Jackson Elle’s I will reconsider the new boots. Ultimately it’s going to probably be between the Elle and the Freestyle, but if I can manage to drop the $$ on the competitor I will do it since it has the most support. Such a difficult decision to make!! Any suggestions are welcome!

Half Way Through Session 2!

Today I had the third lesson in session two which means I am already half way through! I got on the ice an hour before my scheduled practice time, I absolutely love the girls that are on the ice at that time because they always let me on early. I learn so much more when I’m acclimated with the ice before lessons. I began with simple stroking and moved on to one foot glides and swizzles. Then started to work on stopping again, I really need to get that down because my habit of turning to stop is silly. 

During class we began with stroking, then worked on crossovers for a little. I am really glad that I didn’t work on them the entire time like I feel like I have been these last two weeks. Next Coach C took about half of us on the circle to teach us how to do a two foot turn. Now, technically I already know how to do this, but she showed me a different way to make it a little more challenging. After we worked on that for a bit she moved everyone back on the circle to begin learning Mohawks! I didn’t think I’d be learning this skill for a while since it’s listed as an Adult 6 lesson on the US Figure Skating Curriculum. 

Coach C showed us what the first part of it looked like, make a T on the circle (right foot in), push out so boots like like a spread eagle then bring it back to the circle. I had that down very quickly, I was astonished! With only a few minutes to spare coach came over and said I had it down and that I was ready for the second step. She also said I would have it down by the end of class, that’s in 4 minutes, but okay! I like a challenge! Do step one, then instead of keeping my body weight on my right leg I shift all my weight to the left leg and lift my right leg up. After trying it a few times I had it! I am really looking forward to working on this new skill at my next open skate practice session. Right now I have that scheduled for Saturday night, but if I don’t get an afternoon job tomorrow I will be heading to the rink! Get excited!