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.

The Very Beginning

After reading about 10 books in two weeks during the start of my winter break, I got bored and didn’t know what to do with myself. I am not the type of person who can just sit at home and watch TV all day, sure if I am sick and need some rest I’ll do it, but it is difficult! I knew that I needed to do something productive with my time and I definitely was not ready to start looking for a full time job as a teacher. After accepting a full time substitute position for the second semester at a local high school, I knew that I was satisfied. As a teacher, there is always work to do outside of the classroom, as a substitute, there is no work that has to be done after the school day is over. So, I had to find something else to put my energy into.

I began skating during my winter break, I had just graduated, finished my student teaching, finally I was free. About a year ago, I found a pair of new (and very cheap) figure skates online, so I purchased them for no reason at all. Each year my friends and I go skating in Campus Martius park in downtown Detroit, so I figured it would be an investment. I wouldn’t have to rent disgusting skates and I could get used to my own blades. So, thankfully in beginning this process I had my own skates.

The first day on the ice was miserable, sure I never fell, but I didn’t really move either. It was a “slow day” for the first hour of the free skate, I held on to the wall with my life, barely moving. I circled around like that, somehow I didn’t get bored. I was so eager to learn. I learned to skate awkwardly in the second hour and slowly but surely, I let go of the wall. I didn’t exactly get much further from the wall, but I was no longer hanging on to it with my life. That’s progress right?