First Skating Competition

I cannot believe that I skated in my first competition today! A childhood dream come true. Though I didn’t nail every move, I tried my best and really enjoyed performing in front of the judges, my family, and friends. Going into this, I was so over competitions. I worked this program for about a month straight and didn’t learn many new things, just worked on perfecting what I’ve learned thus far in my journey...a perfectionist's’ dream come true, right? I am not a perfectionist. I want to learn new things and clean up my moves along the way. By the end of this last week I had reached a point of boredom. Ask me to do my program one more time. I dare you.

Nerves? What are those? Before the first day of school or a new job I rarely get any sleep, so I just assumed it would be the same before my first competition, but I happened to sleep like a baby last night. I woke up ready to go! I spent some of my morning stretching and warming up and then I went to get a relaxing manicure before heading home to get dressed. When I got to the rink I thought the nerves would kick in, but surprisingly nothing. I was calm as can be. My mom on the other hand... she was more nervous than I was! After seeing a skater my age fall on her knees, she got even more nervous!

It was my turn to warm up on the ice with the two other adult skaters, I had the opportunity to  skate my entire program and fix a couple elements, so I was confident when judging time came. I was first after warming up, lucky me! I got out there, smiled at the judges and made my way to the starting position. Though it wasn’t my best skating, it was my first competition and I am so happy with the results, after all I didn’t fall and make a fool of myself in front of family and friends #goals (I'll see if I can get a video up soon). Got myself a nice first place medal too, funny how that works when there’s no one competing in your level, haha! Hopefully next time I’ll have some actual competition.

Quick shout out to my readers: Thank you for supporting this blog and my skating endeavors, I wouldn’t keep this up if I didn’t have any readers so thank you for being one of them. You da best!

Competition Is In Just 3 Days! AHHHH!

I can’t believe it’s already June! This (school) year has flown by and I have officially been skating for 5 months! My first competition is coming up this weekend, can you believe I am competing after such a short time on the ice? I don’t believe it and I am clearly unprepared for what’s ahead.

This past month has been program work month, I’ve hardly had a chance to learn new skills. I’m frustrated because I had made leaps and bounds of progress in the first 4 months of skating and then month five was a quick halt. Like hold the phone, we need to actually make these skills look decent all strung together in a program. Program logic: Take everything you’ve learned in the last four months and cram it into a minute and a half with music and choreography. That’s a nice joke.

While working through this program my coach mentioned that I could take my pre-bronze test after I compete, the first available testing date is in mid June, but I am not quite sure I want to take it on just yet. I’ve spent a month working on my program, so spending another month working on just moves might kill me. I want to learn new skills! Coach T showed me the half flip and Salchow in the last couple minutes of a private lesson about a month ago, she said they would be the next two jumps that I’d learn, but I haven’t had the opportunity to work on them because I’ve been working on my program.

I now understand why most adults just don’t do the whole competing and testing thing! They want to spend their time learning and practicing the skills they enjoy. I think I still want to test and compete, I just think that I should be more strategic about my timing. For example, I shouldn’t have scheduled my first competition during the school year when it’s difficult to find time to practice around my work schedule.

Since it’s the first of the month and I should be blogging my monthly progress I am going to do to it in a separate post, though I feel like I really haven’t learned much, argh!

Program Preparations w/ Coach T

Private Lesson W/ Coach T

I had another private lesson with coach T today, it was very productive. We worked on my program elements for an hour which meant a lot of repetitions! The following required elements are in my adult 5 level program: crossovers (forward and back) in a figure 8, t-stops, change of edge on a line, beginning 1 foot spin, and inside 3 turns.

The first half of my program is fine, I have some cheesy arm movements, a couple swing rolls and slaloms, and then I get into my figure 8. Then I stroke towards the center, do a couple more slaloms with arm movements, my inside three turns, and then my one foot spin. Everything after goes downhill. I am exhausted and very confused, I often forget my steps or go in the wrong direction. It’s basically a mess.

It was my goal to have this program down by mid-May so that I could just clean it up and make it more smooth by competition, so I basically have five more days to do this. In these five days I have two LTS lessons (Wednesday) and (Friday), then one open skate this weekend. I believe in myself, but yes I do have some doubts that I am going to get this where it needs to be for competition. I am by no means a perfectionist, but I’d rather not make a fool of myself in front of my family and friends who are all coming out to support me.

The change of edge on a line and one foot spin have been my hardest elements to learn in the last two weeks. They were the last elements to be presented to me by a coach so I’m still in the very beginning stages of picking up on them (If you don’t skate, skip down to the last paragraph!)

Change of edge on a line: My coach showed this to me about 10 days ago. Since then I have done it successfully maybe 5 times after attempting it about a hundred times in five ice skating sessions. For those of you who don’t know what a change of edge is, you basically do a swing roll, then bend your free leg so that its behind your skating leg calf and your edge changes. With that change of edge, all my body wants to do is continue on the same edge, so in order to switch to an inside my top half also needs some restructuring. One of my biggest problems with skating is my inability to totally relax, my shoulders are stiff and mentally I am timid, approaching every new move with caution. In the week that I have been working this I’ve come home sore, incapable of doing anything but eating and sleeping. My abs are sore from the resistance that I am putting on them from my change of edge. My abs are also sore from spinning. Over and over again.

One foot spin: My one foot spin is hard to come by, nowadays I think I hit my sweet spot two out of every three tries, but I only rotate 3 times if I give myself a really good push. My coach told me something interesting yesterday...she said even if you start to hit your toe pick you need to keep spinning, so if you feel like you’re coming out of a spin, get back into it. This morning I was watching the ladies free skate session on contract ice and I noticed that before getting into a camel spin most girls were hitting their toe pick and then getting on the blade for the spin. Other girls were just barely managing to land a jump and would hit their toe picks one or two times to land it - somewhat. This whole idea baffles me, if I am “going down” or feel like I am coming out of a spin I just follow what my body tells me. I rarely if ever push myself to complete a move when I think I am going to fall. This is clearly something that I need to work on. The idea that I can continue spinning even if I hit my toe pick or if my body is feeling out of balance is unnatural, but much of what I do in this sport does feel unnatural - because I haven’t been doing it since I was 3. One of the adult blogs that I follow closely really summed up the one foot spin experience for a beginner, here’s a link to it if you want to check it out: http://icedoesntcare.blogspot.com/2016/05/why-my-one-foot-spins-go-wrong.html.

I have a lot of work to do between now and June 4. I need to learn those two elements and make my program a whole lot smoother. I’ve taken a chill at the gym because I just can’t seem to manage two jobs, family commitments, figure skating 4 days a week, and working out. I get mini workouts in before I skate each day and I make sure I walk at least a half an hour at work so that seems to be working because I am continuing to lose weight (more on that later!). I just really hope I can get this program looking decent in a few weeks, I know I am cutting it close. Most figure skaters put programs together in the fall and work on them the entire year. I put mine together a couple weeks ago for a competition that is oh so soon.

Happy Skating!

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.

4 Month Skate-versary

Well, it’s my 4 month skate-versary! I haven’t made a ton of progress this month as far as actually crossing (or highlighting) skills on my curriculum guide, but I do feel like I’ve improved on many of the skills I have learned in the last month. So, even though I will be posting my curriculum guides on here for the month, I don’t think they accurately describe how much I’ve actually improved. For that reason, this will probably be the last time I post the basic skills sheets. My coach has showed me everything I need to know from the list, so what I haven’t already learned is “outdated” or unnecessary to learn according to her. Once I have more of these skills down, I’ll start working on my freestyle curriculum guide!

This month, I am going to do things a little differently by describing what I need to work on for each skill that I am currently working on.

1. Stroking - stay low, keep knee bent on the hold and extend free leg longer with more control.
2. Forward Crossovers (Fxo’s) - hold the cross for longer. These babies have really sped up over the last month!
3. Backwards Crossovers (Bxo’s) - hold the cross for longer, keep looking back to keep body in control, use “other” leg more in order to keep on or near the circle. I also need to remember that I don’t have any pumps before I cross on the figure 8. I don’t even think I could do these consistently a month ago and now I’m doing them on figure 8’s!
4. Forward Consecutive Edges - give myself some self some space when starting these, I don’t need to start right next to the wall. Remember that the first circle will be the size for the entire line. These have gotten a lot smoother and more consistent in the last month.
5. Backwards Consecutive Edges - Both outsides and insides are miserable still, but at least I have the patterns down. A few weeks ago I kept switching between insides and outsides. Remember to pull hip up and bring knees together for insides, and for outsides I need to remember to keep my shoulders pulled back and more relaxed (I tend to hunch and have too much weight on my knees - hence the issues I am currently having with my knees).
6. Mohawks - I can do these more consistently and with arms! Now, I need to work on doing them with speed and not on the line. I am almost there with the left side since I do it on the crossovers figure 8, but I have a lot of work to do on the right side.
7. Waltz Jump - I am landing pretty consistently now with decent posture, until I psych myself out. I am practicing these from backwards crossovers now. I’d like to see myself getting some more height on these in the next month and possibly doing a couple in a row for a simple combination.
8. Mohawk Crosses - If I pay more attention to my arms and pay less attention to the ground, I might actually get these down soon. Less toe picks as well, those things are going to be bare soon if I continue scraping them on every cross.
9. Consecutive 3 Turns - Once you have a skill semi-down in this sport we make it more difficult by looping it to other skills, in this case it’s doing these consistently down the line. Outsides are terrible because I miss the LO3 half the time but also because I am not going in the right direction after the turn. I need to get the pattern down. Insides are better since the turn is more natural for me and I actually hit the 3 turns each time - unless I’m not paying attention to what I’m doing…
10. Swing Rolls - Don’t bend the free leg! Bend skating leg and stand straighter on the “swing” for more speed and “technically” control, but I don’t have that yet. I feel like I have less control when I do this.
11. Toe-loop - This jump barely exists, I jump one out of every five or so tries. I can’t believe I landed it on my first try, but now I just psych myself out. I need to remember to keep my free leg straight while bending my skating leg (this is awkward and unnatural). I also need to keep from hammering my toepick into the ice, beginner problems...I thought you were supposed to do that.
12. Spins - I have the two foot spin with some speed and 4-5 revolutions on a good try, not always the case. My one foot spin is coming slowly but surely. I need 3 revolutions by my competition on June 4 and right now I have 2 revolutions on a good try - which is rare. I need to remember to bend my left knee and straighten out for more speed, I also need to remember to keep the weight on the balls of my feet while spinning.
13. Waltz 8 - I did this with pretty good control and speed a couple times at my last practice and then almost fall due to lack of control on my final run. So, it’s obvious that consistency is an issue here (and on EVERY single skill I’ve “learned”). I need to remember keeping my free leg forward for the backwards one foot glide.
14. Spirals - Look good according to Coach C and Coach T (on separate occasions) which shocks me because I never feel like I have my free leg up high enough. I need to remember to keep my weight in the back of the boot so I don’t fall on my face (again).
15. Lunges - I love doing right foot lunges! I need to practice my left foot lunge though, half the time I can’t go down and then when I do I can’t get back up without falling.
16. Bunny Hops - I can do four or five consistently on my right foot, my left foot I can do 1-2 while feeling like death. Easy to say that my left foot is not as coordinated as my right foot. Coach T always makes me do these on both feet, but I asked Coach C if I need to learn them on both feet and she said no, but it’s good to learn them on both feet so that my left foot learns to be more coordinated. The joys of having two coaches!
17. Forward Crossover Pattern - I did this with Coach T one time more than a month ago and I had to hold on to her the entire time. Last week she had me do these around the entire rink and I did them on my own. The pattern was off, but after doing them at practice a million times I got them down and with a lot of speed. I need to remember to that there are three steps on each side and that I can’t have two feet on the ground at the same time.  Can’t wait to learn them backwards, it will be challenging, but I am so pumped!
18. Program - My program is slowly coming together. In a month I need to have it down for competition, but I’d like to have it completely down in two weeks so I don’t make a fool of myself in front of my family and friends.

I began skating in late December and started taking group lessons in early January. It's been about four months and I cannot believe that I've made this much progress. When I first began I thought I'd be doing jumps in 2-3 years and I started jumping more than a month ago. I can't say that skating comes easy to me, because that's far from the truth, but I love it and I spend between 8-10 hours on the ice each week. On some days I am on the ice between 3 and 5 hours! Sure, I'm in grave pain afterwards, but it's worth it because I'm following my dreams. I am determined to get better at this sport. They say you shouldn't compare yourself to others, but I do it anyways. I've made progress in this time that many other adult skaters make in 2-3 years of skating. I hope that I can continue to progress at this rate, but I know that I will plateau soon unfortunately. The things I am learning are getting harder and my ability to do them consistently is fading. In this upcoming month I will be spending most of my time on the ice working on my program to prepare for my very first competition so I am not sure how much new stuff I will learn. I think I am going to slow down the pace that I am learning and practicing at so that I can be in good shape for that competition. This summer I will be contracting ice and working with a coach at that time, so I hope that I'll get back to learning a lot during the summer months! Happy Skating!

Do I Need A Secondary Skating Rink?

I didn’t think I’d be doing this so soon, but I am looking at a secondary rink to skate at. I love my home rink, the Onyx, but I am getting kind of sick of seeing the same people over and over again. It is also too far from work, so if I get a half day job it doesn’t make sense for me to drive out there to skate a half hour.

I visited a rink in Royal Oak yesterday evening and it was okay. It’s a small rink and after talking to the workers for a bit I quickly noticed that they have a very small tight knit skating community. It also seems as if they have a decent sized adult skating community in their skating club, more than that in Rochester. I figured I would give it a try a few times, it couldn’t hurt right? Plus, if I end up working near there next year I could set up some contract ice time before work. I picked up a learn to skate flyer on my way out. They have a Thursday night adult class that begins next week. If I signed up for this class I would meet some other adult skaters and I would ultimately get to skate Wednesday-Sunday (week breakdown below) every week without a work conflict!

You guys know me pretty well by now if you’ve been keeping up with this blog. Ice time is precious time and I will take what I can get. If I sign up for this class I can stop skating during the day while I should be focused on other priorities and just skate in the evenings.

Now unfortunately I need to seriously start considering my finances and how much I am spending on this sport. I am literally dropping hundreds every month on private lessons, group lessons, competitions, the gym membership, and skate gear. If I sign up for this class it’s almost another $100 for an extra night to skate every week. Gahh!

I have until next Thursday to make up my mind, I should know by then if I want to make this jump. I know I need the extra practice time, especially with my first competition coming up. I just don’t know if it’s feasible.

Skating Breakdown -

Wednesday Evening - Adult Class at Onyx (1.5-2 hours)

Thursday Evening - Adult Class at Royal Oak (1.5 hours)

Friday Evening - Private Lesson at Onyx (1.5-2 hours)

Saturday - Open Skate (1.5 hours)

Sunday - Open Skate (1.5 hours)

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).

Competition Dress. Already?

I purchased my first competition dress today! Almost all adult figure skaters can empathize with me on this one, finding an adult skating dress is difficult. They are tiny. They are expensive. Most of the designs are either too childish or too ugly. And buying online is a nightmare waiting to happen. I got ridiculously lucky on this one.

When buying my skates a month ago at the Detroit Skating Club I noticed that they had a used dress and skates sale coming up in April. I didn’t think much of it at the time because I didn’t think I’d be competing anytime soon, but when my coach told me I was ready I started shopping for competition dresses online. I didn’t like much of what I was finding and every dress was $150 or more. There was no way I was dropping that much on a dress I hadn’t tried on and fallen in love with, especially since this is a basic skills competition (nothing major...yet). I was beginning to think that I was out of luck until I remembered that the sale was taking place at the DSC.

I got up early on Saturday and headed to the rink to look at the dresses. I went thinking that there was about a 10% chance of me finding something that fit and a 2% chance that I would actually like it. But boy was I wrong. When I asked if they had any adult dresses the woman said they had a ton (this was an overstatement, because there was about half a rack) but nevertheless there were options.

When I began looking at the dresses I knew I wouldn’t find anything. The “larges” looked like x-smalls, there was no way I was going to squeeze into one of those tiny things. After expressing this to the woman who showed me the dresses, she said that her daughter had a similar figure and fit into several small sizes, so I should just give them a try.

I grabbed a few that I thought didn’t look horrible and headed to the room to try them on. Saying that I was shocked that they fit would be an understatement. A couple “smalls” fit and a couple “larges” fit. So, I am not exactly sure if there is a standard sizing system with these things, but I was happy that I had some options. After sending some pictures to my coach and friends, they helped me to decide on one of the dresses.

I never thought I’d be able to squeeze into one of these tiny things. I didn’t think I would find anything decent. I didn’t think I’d find anything cheap. That’s a lot of negativity, but I mean come on. A girl who was a size 14 in a little skating competition dress. Yeah right. Losing weight definitely helped the situation, but even at a size 8  now I didn’t think I’d find anything. Figure skaters are tiny and strong. I am not….yet.

So, overall I am really glad I found a competition dress that I’ve fallen in love with. I got it at a great price and I am looking forward to competing in it come June. And of course, I cannot wait to take pictures in it. I have some of me in the dress now, but I kind of want to treat it like a wedding dress. No one will see it until my competition. Muwahahaha (my awful evil laugh).

Skating Weekend

What an incredible skating weekend! It was rough at first, but I ended on a high note and that’s what makes this experience worth it. On Wednesday, I attended my group class and it was awful with the new skates and I began to lose faith in my ability to continue with this sport. The pain was unbearable.

On Friday, I went to the rink and practically begged the director to let me skate on learn to skate “practice ice” and he said yes, thank God. I got on and skated for a while and again, it was unbearable. The whole losing faith thing, totally applicable here.

On Saturday I woke up with a renewed passion after waking up from a dream of me skating (this happens often now that it’s taken over my life). I texted my coach to see if she had time to do a lesson with me and she did, woot woot. I just needed a quick pick me up to get me used to the new blades.

We spent a half hour together on the ice (less than what we usually have unfortunately, but I couldn’t afford to do longer on a lesson like this). The entire time was “breaking in skates time” we did knee bend exercises the entire time. I took one really bad fall while doing my crossovers and fell on the same exact spot that I fell on last week, that was miserable. I’m so glad that I’m seeing my doctor tomorrow to check out my knee. After a few minutes of relaxation after that horrible fall, I got back on the ice and managed to get a little more breaking in done.

After my lesson Coach T came off the ice and requested to “play” with my shiny new skates. She then began to bend them in a few different ways. This made a world of difference for me as I got on the ice today to skate. There was still a little pain at times, but it was such a great practice session because I felt like I was getting my moves back. I worked on my  3 turns, consecutive edges, mohawks (I think I got them down!), lunges (nailed the new technique a couple times), stroking, slaloms (wide strides and short fast ones), 2 foot turns, waltz jump, and spins. I didn’t have any “bad” falls and my feet weren’t killing me by the end of it, so I’d say my practice was quite successful! 

I am pleased with the progress I’ve made in these new blades and I am very excited to start jumping and working on some more complicated moves in the field. Who knows, I might be testing a little earlier than I expected.

My Unfortunate Reality (Private Lesson #4)

Well I’m not broken, yet, that’s the good thing. But I have reached a progress plateau. My 4th private lesson was yesterday and I was working hard, but my boots just weren’t working with me. I kept skidding on my consecutive edges and my ankles and feet were killing me while I was doing simple bunny hops. I just won’t have it any more. If I want to progress I need new skates. After my lesson I actually got off the ice and didn’t want to skate anymore (first time since I began, oh no!). I had fallen on my butt three times during practice, now usually I just stick through it but now that I’m seriously considering new skates I feel like I’m going to lose a lot of what I’m learning on my current boots.

And so I have officially decided to pick up my new pair of skates this week. After doing some extra work this weekend, I have made some more money and will shell out the $300 for the Jackson Freestyle Skate. While it is at a lower level than the Jackson Competitor, I remember it was a lot more comfortable for me.

Now, back to practice, we didn’t get through as much but I think it’s because we spent more time working on my 3 turns. I think I have the small 3 turns down, but when I move onto the larger circle they become a lot more difficult. Coach T and I worked on spins, bunny hops, swing rolls, lunges, and the waltz 8. After our session we discussed testing again and I learned that each rink has a testing session each month. So I very well may be testing before June. I imagine it will probably take another month or so for me to get the skills down. The only thing coach hasn’t showed me yet are my crossovers in an 8 pattern. My crossovers are still clunky but I know that if I keep up with practice I’ll get them down eventually. Afterall, I learned my backwards crossovers way faster than my forwards.

Competition?

I think about skating all the time now, like all day and night. I dream about being on the ice. Last night I just kept tossing and turning and while doing so all I could think about were the steps to a certain move.

So during my prep I figured, why not text the coach to set up another lesson in a couple weeks? Sure enough, it’s happening. Again. My second private lesson on the ice is in 13 days. Yeah, watch me count down, it’s going to happen.

Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey coach, can I set up another private lesson in a couple weeks? Same time and place.

Coach T:Yeah, of course!

Me: That’s perfect, thank you! I just took the day off work #priorities

Coach T: No problem, I like how committed you are, we can start getting you ready to compete.

WHHHAAATTTT? I’m sorry, how in the world am I going to start competing? Sure I’ve been playing with the thought. At first this was a two years in the future thought, but as I’ve been skating it’s been brought down to one year in the future. Apparently it’s happening and way sooner than I thought. I’m so excited!