Crossovers Galore?

A month ago I wanted a formal breakup with forward crossovers. I hated them with passion. Every time I got on the ice I would have to warm up for an hour before even attempting my good side of crossovers. My bad side? I’d do two to three around the circle with pushes in between and then I’d hit my toe pick and get frustrated. I was introduced to crossovers in the very last lesson of my first learn to skate session over four months ago. They’ve definitely improved, I now have more power and speed, but I have to learn to hold the cross longer and make them less choppy.

In these last few weeks I’ve worked on crossovers over and over again because they make up a third of my program (I have to do a figure 8 forward and backward). Today, I was having a difficult time with a move and decided I needed to rest my skills practice. After 2.5 hours on the ice I was close to a breaking point. Now in the past, I would spend this time doing slaloms or half-pump swizzles (alternating) down the rink, but today I naturally moved into my crossover pattern down the rink with more crossovers on the ends.

It occurred to me about halfway through my second pattern that my “rest” involved crossovers! The skill I ultimately thought would keep me from progressing in this sport. I’ve learned many new skills in these last few months, normally my coach introduces me to something and it looks awful the first time around. I work on it either on my own or with her for the next few weeks and in time it looks better and becomes easier to do.

I used to have to work my way up to crossovers and waltz jumps, even slaloms and now I just do them. When my coach introduces me to a difficult skill I don’t react like I used to, with fear and whining, I just do what she tells me (even if it looks and feels terrible) and I take her advice. Sure it seems impossible, but having done the “impossible” over and over again, there just isn’t a good reason not to do what she says.

“You want me to pick up one skate and glide with the other?? This is the first day of class, how?”

• Said while learning one foot glides

“You want me to pick up my foot and cross it over my other one without dying, how?”

• Said while learning crossovers the first time

“You want me to pick up one skate and put it behind the other skate without tripping on my toe pick? Haha”

• Said while learning cross behind step

“You want me to pick up my body and rotate in the air, muhahaha, so not happening”

• Said while learning waltz jump

As you can see, I complain a lot on the ice, but I am working on it! Whenever my coach shows me something new I make an honest attempt not to joke or whine about it. Yesterday I did crossovers for fun, to relax. Maybe in the future I’ll start doing jumps like the toe-loop or Salchow in my warm up!

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**

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.

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.

Practice Sessions & More

Another incredible skating weekend under my belt, I skated for just over 3 hours on Friday and about 1.5 hours on Saturday. I feel like I am really getting the hang of these new boots, finally. I know I’ve been saying that for a few days now, but every time I put them on they feel a little better than the last time. I got off the ice both days feeling really great about my practice sessions without a coach present.

I worked a lot on skills that I’ve been taught in the last learn to skate session, nothing new besides the power 3’s (which are incredibly fun by the way, when people aren’t skating through my line). At this point I really can’t wait to get back on the ice for a real session with my coach. I want to start jumping! I want to land my waltz and I have a feeling it’s coming in the next couple weeks. I also really want to clean up at least half of the skills that I need for my pre-bronze test. I feel like I can do my forward stroking and forward consecutive edges comfortably, so I have about 4 more skills to nail down: backward consecutive edges, crossovers, waltz 8, and spiral or lunge.

I also wanted to mention the fact that I missed my skating-versary a few days ago, it’s been 3 months! I will update my progress report in just a couple days, though I didn’t learn as much this month as I have in the past - I know that I’ve come so far from where I began. Much of it was due to the fact that I was breaking in new skates, but now that they’ve molded to my feet hopefully I’ll jump right back on to the progress bandwagon.

**Side note: Coach C walked in on me totally jamming out, singing, and dancing on the ice when I had it all to myself on Friday morning (for a short period of time). I was a tad bit embarrassed but totally in my element, if anything it shows that I am ready to present myself on the ice, have no fear skater Gina is here.... argh I can't help myself, I just had to go there.

3rd Private Lesson

Today I had my third private lesson. I still can’t believe that I am taking private lessons! I warmed up a lot today by running around the ice a few times and doing the stairs in the bleachers. I also stretched and did some off ice jumps.

The lesson was good, we went through a lot of things that we started in our previous session like lunges, spirals, and 3 turns. We went through some new things like backwards slaloms, power 3’s, and the waltz 8. While I am glad that we started some new things, I am really pleased with my progress on the backwards crossovers. I worked really hard on them after our session so I can’t wait to show them to Coach T tomorrow.

After the session, I continued skating during public free skate and worked on a lot of the elements that we worked on during the lesson. Unfortunately for me, I may have went to hard because I took a few difficult falls. I fell on my hips numerous times, I fell on my butt a couple times, and I can’t even count the number of times I fell on my knees. All learning experiences right? Instead of being scared now, I just go for it and a lot of the time that means falling. Olympic skaters fall, it’s a part of the sport. I’ll get over it one of these days.

I am really looking forward to my next session with Coach T tomorrow, I hope I don’t get stuck at work for the second half of the day. I am going to try my best to get out as fast as I can so I can get some practice ice time before the make up class. And following that, I can get some one on one time with coach! Woot Woot!

**OHH I forgot to mention what happened during public ice time today! A girl (about my age) came up to me to ask how I do that thing where I bend down, so I said, “like a lunge?” So, I told her, a few times actually, that I was still learning and probably shouldn’t be giving a lot of advice, but I proceeded to show and explain to her what I knew. From this experience, I just can’t believe that someone came to me for advice, as if I looked like I knew what I was doing. Ya’ll know I’m excited by this!**

Lesson:

Warm up

Stroking

Swizzles

Stopping

Spirals

Lunges

Crossovers (forward and backward)

2 Foot Turns

3 Turns

Consecutive Edges (inside and outside)

One Foot Glides

Slaloms (forward and backward)

Waltz Jump

Swizzles Crosses (forgot actual name)

Power 3's ( I think that's what they're called, one foot slaloms)

Waltz 8

Unscheduled Private Lesson #2

I got really lucky again this week and had a half day at work, even left a half hour earlier than I usually do, so skating! I headed to the rink knowing that there’s an adult class on Friday mornings that I could catch if I got there fast enough.

Sure enough I made it to the rink with time to stretch, change, and get my skates on. Coach T was teaching this lesson, which is awesome because she is my favorite, haha! During class I showed her the mohawks that I had been working on, only I found out they weren’t exactly mohawks because I was doing them on two feet. She showed me the proper way to do them on one foot, then helped me do them the right way. Then looked at me and said, “your turn”. Now, I just want to take a moment here to describe my experiences with Coach T thus far, she shows me what I’ll be working on, I blankly stare at her thinking there’s no way I can do that. She guides me through the move, I do it with her a few times. Then, she says, “your turn” and I blankly stare in fear and hysteria. HAhA, you want me to do THAT on my own? Good one.

So, I tried the mohawk on my own and didn’t die. Sure there were a few close calls, but I did it! As with any move I learn, it needs work, but I am so glad I learned the proper way to do it! In the last couple minutes of class I worked on spins with one of the other women in class. I am still using my toe pick to hold my left foot in place, but besides that I can get into my spin about half the time. Coach T came over and said to turn it into a one foot spin (start on a two foot spin and lift right leg). So again, I stared at her blankly thinking, really? She knows what I am thinking and pushes me to do what she’s asked anyways. And that my friends is why I love her.

Having a coach on the ice with you is great, they push you to do things you don’t want to do or you don’t think you can do. I don’t think she’s ever proven me wrong though, I have never hurt myself trying something new - yet. So, I trust her.

After class I asked Coach T if she had any time to come out on the open skate with me for a lesson. She had time! Woohoo! It was a great one hour lesson - unscheduled private lesson number 2! I learned several new skills so I have a lot to practice on my next open ice! During a break I also showed Coach T my new binder! I started a journal last week to write down notes during practice, but the binder thing, that is new. It has all the adult and basic skills curricula in protective sheets. I also included the pre-bronze competition sheets to reference. She wants me to compete and I have decided that I want to compete..officially. The next competition that I can attend (that isn’t too far) is in June. Look out other adult skaters, I am here to stay!

Total ice time: 3.5 hours. So naturally, death and destruction. Everything hurts, I need to ice. I need to stretch. And I need heat pad like 5 minutes ago. I’ll learn my lesson one of these days. So far this week I have had more than 8 hours on the ice! Not sure if I’ll be this lucky next week, but I am going to try for at least 5 hours. My official - planned - private lesson is Thursday! I bet you can guess how excited I am on a scale of 1-10. That’s right, 20 :)

1. Class: Warm-up stroking, crossovers, mohawks, spins.
2. Inside and outside consecutive edges. Switch feet, one pump only down the line. Shoot for 6-8.
3. Backwards crossovers, body straight - not leaning forward.
4. Lunges, two feet first, make sure leg isn’t behind you.
5. Spirals, stretch on wall first. Make sure arms are out, chest up and head up, strong core.
6. 3 turns, turn stomach, stay strong, weight on toes.

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!

Lost Count Of The Falls .... Another 3 Hour Day On The Ice

Not sure when I’m going to learn my lesson, 3 hours on the ice is not for me! Or perhaps another way to look at it, I’m not sure when my body is going to get used to being on the ice for 3 hours. I lost count of the number of falls today, but after I hit five in a row practice should have been “cancelled” aka I should have gotten off the ice. But then, people started leaving, two by two, and soon enough I had the ice to myself and I couldn’t get myself off. Thank God for my knee pads, too bad I don’t yet have hip pads because I took a really hard hit today. Two and a half hours in my body was starting to feel sore so I began to take it easy.

Soon enough, I got right back to work. I wanted to try a new move on my own, the lunge, and since it’s so close to the ground I figured it wouldn’t hurt as bad if I fell. That’s true, however it gets old when you fall over and over and over again. I’m not even sure if I was doing it right, but it was fun! I literally can’t wait to get on the ice again with my coaches. I have a good handle on what they’ve already showed me, except for the crossovers. But if I spend one more lesson working on those darn crossovers I might hurt someone. I’ve been working hard on them during open skate, but my heart rate literally goes up whenever I start doing them. Not the problem, I just want to be comfortable with them so I don’t have to spend valuable practice time working on them. I want to learn new skills so I have more to practice during open skate!

First Private Lesson, Bunny Hops, Waltz Jumps, and More!

Snow Day?

Skating of course!

As soon as I found out I would have the day off I immediately began planning my ice time. Adult open ice begins at 10:30, so naturally I’ll leave my house at 9:30 to have maximum stretch and warm up time. But then, I had a thought. What if I texted Coach T to see if she’s available for a private lesson. I didn’t think it was possible since it was so last second, but I got lucky. So damn lucky.

I headed to the rink even earlier than I had originally planned and got to see some of my coach’s practice, she’s a star on the ice! I warmed up, stretched, and picked up my newly sharpened skates! I thought that skating with newly sharpened skates would go very rye, but it actually went really well.

I am about to tear up just thinking about the progress that I made on the ice today (or perhaps it’s because I’m still in pain). Who knew what an hour one-on-one could do? The best thing about having a coach on the ice with you is to get you to do things that might seem uncomfortable at first. I’ve been on the ice for two months now (exactly) and I’ve already formed bad habits like turning instead of a legitimate stop, “sure it looks pretty on the ice, but it doesn’t mean it’s right”. Having Coach T there today meant business. After she left, I still had two hours of open skate to practice everything we went through, by the last half hour my legs were dying, but I pushed through the pain.

I made it home, got some (healthy) food in me before my workout at Lifetime. I had to push through it, due to the pain, but it was worth it. Afterwards I had my first massage! It went way better than I had expected. I think that it’s going to be habit to get one after my 3hr+ ice days.

There was pain today, I fell multiple times, even brought my coach down with me once...but overall it was worth it. I did a bunny hop without the wall and the waltz with some help from coach. I think I might be able to land the waltz in the next week or two if I skate on my own instead of just for class. I learned the proper way to do a t-stop, two foot turn, and hockey stop. I got a little more comfortable with my crossovers and spins. I think I am going to take some time off soon to get another session in. I know that I say this a lot, but I’ve literally been on the ice for two months and I am already jumping. What???

1. Stroking
2. Crossovers (on the ends)
3. Crossovers over the lines, one on each side
4. Snow plow stop
5. Hockey stop

6. T-Stop
7. Bunny hop
8. Waltz jump
9. Spin, weight on left foot, half pump swivel, bring feet together, arms to the right (bring in for momentum)
10. Swizzles
11. Half pump swizzle one on each side, practiced forward and backward
12. Backwards walking/beg. Stroking
13. Two foot turns on small half circles, make sure both feet are turning parallel, weight on toes of foot when going forward, balls of feet when going backward. Turn stomach.

You Couldn't Wipe The Smile Off My Face If You Tried

Michigan finally decided to man up and dump a large sum of white on us. While this made me pretty happy (early dismissal at school today) it also completely threw off my schedule. I got home from school and began watching Gilmore Girls season 1, before I knew it so much time had passed and I was going to be late for class. I was in my car a half hour before ice time, which clearly was not enough time. I got stuck on the road for an hour! I missed practice time and got right on the ice for class, no time to get used to the ice. To say the least, I got almost nothing done in class. I used 15 minutes to warm up on the ice, for the next 10 minutes I worked with a younger coach on my crossovers and finally began the bunny hop on the ice. Very basic, but fun. I have some work to do, that’s for sure!

It’s interesting that in these last couple weeks the things and conversations that have occurred off the ice have been more motivating than my ice time. After class my coach went over a couple more stretches with me and then we walked over to the rink store to check out some skates, none of which were “to my potential level”. I need new skates, desperately...and I probably can’t drop the cash for another month or so. I know it will be worth it though because I’m in this for the long haul. I also left my skates today for their first sharpening, getting on the ice afterwards is going to be miserable.

When I got home the big news came! No work tomorrow due to inclement weather, for me of course, this is an excuse to drive to the rink for some much needed ice time. I could have made so much progress had I gotten on the ice before class today. Lesson learned, I cannot skate once a week at class, I need more ice time! I texted Coach T when I found out work was cancelled to see if I could get in for my first private lesson. I honestly didn’t think it would happen, seeing as I haven’t officially signed up for private lessons and it’s also super last second, but she said she was available! You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face if you tried.

I cannot believe that I have my first private lesson tomorrow. Sure class today was meh, but I’m hoping that my muscles are re-acquainted with the ice so that tomorrow I can rock it and make some progress. No gym for me tonight so that I can rest up, just a hot shower and good nights sleep in my future to get ready.

So Many Disappointments Today….Progress Overall: Exceptional

I am so incredibly excited for class today. It’s the first day of session two and I am crossing my fingers that I’ll have the same coaches as the last make up sessions on Wednesdays. I decided to show up at the rink two hours before my class today. I really didn’t want to be at home, but here’s my thought process… ½ hour to write/watch the actual figure skaters on the ice, ½ hour to warm up, and 15 minutes to get my skates on (I tie and re-tie over and over to get it just right). Nope it still doesn’t add up, I don’t care. I want to be here, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two from watching the skaters and coaches do their thing.

-------

So yesterday’s class didn’t exactly meet my (very high) expectations, but nevertheless I made some progress. My first disappointment was the coaching staff surprise, unfortunately I didn’t have the same coaches as the makeup sessions. Now, we only have one of the figure skating coaches and even she will only be there every other week. The other coach we will have is younger with less experience, my understanding is that she is strictly a learn to skate coach. I will make the best of the time I have with figure skating coach C.

I skated for just over an hour between practice time and class time. I have made leaps of progress with my forward half pump swizzles, now I can do them with confidence and speed (this would not have been possible if I didn’t do open skate for 3 hours on Monday!)There’s another woman in that class whose taken it 4 times already and I’m pretty sure we’ve made the same progress, so that excites me. We took a short break after working on those..this became my second disappointment for the day. We don’t (correction: I don’t) need a break in a half hour class. I want to be learning new exercises so that I can work on them when I go to open skate. During our little break one of the women mentioned that she didn’t know how to fall "correctly" (really now, we are going to spend time on learning to fall?). Well for the record, I have taken several spills and I know how to fall and get back up...not sure if I want to spend class time doing this, disappointment #3.

After our falling lesson we moved on to crossovers. Coach C asked if I was ready to begin these, little did she know I had started “working” on them with Coach T. So I started and didn’t look like a complete embarrassment because it really wasn’t my first time, haha! I didn’t fall in the 5-10 minutes that we worked on these so that was good. Coach C fixed my posture and explained the step by step process. This explanation is exactly the reason I decided to sign up for Wednesday classes as opposed to Saturday classes!

We took another break (arghhhh), disappointment #4. I couldn’t really take it anymore so I scooted myself back a little and just played around, while still making it seem like I was a part of the useless conversation.  Then I mentioned that I wanted to work on my spins so coach suggested we all work on them. I showed her what I had been working on...something that I “figured out” but to my dismay I’ve been doing it all wrong...arghhhh disappointment #5. She showed me how to do it the proper way, gliding in the shape of a six with my weight in my left leg, half swizzle with right leg, keeping the weight on that foot, and spin! Sounds easy enough. Nope. My brain definitely gets it but my body sure doesn’t. Disappointment #6.

Class ended and the other women skated away, but I took the opportunity to ask Coach C a couple things before the Zamboni came out. First I asked her if I could show her the Waltz by the wall that I had been working on. She looked really scared for me at this point, clearly I am way ahead of myself...but jumping excites me and I am going to work on it simultaneously with basic stroking. She made a couple changes to my posture and toe picking foot, then we had to skate off the ice because the Zamboni came on. Once we were off the ice she asked me if I had learned the bunny hop (clearly I was supposed to learn this before the waltz), I hadn’t. So she showed me off the ice what I was supposed to do. Yay! I have something to work on next time I skate on my own!

[Bunny Hop: Scissor right foot (lift, bring forward, bring back, then forward again, small jump - toe pick, land on right foot, glide with the left, repeat.]

After this conversation, one of the practice time coaches came up to me and talked to me more about my waltz (I had asked her a question about it during practice time). The conversation was very helpful and motivating, I had mentioned that I’ve only been on the ice for 2 months and definitely wasn't ready to do the jump without the wall by my side, but she had a lot of faith in me (or at least made it seem that way). She said that she couldn’t believe that I had only been on the ice for that short of a time period and was impressed with my progress.

Though there were many small disappointments today, I still feel like I’ve made a lot of progress in these last couple months. At this point I have mastered my forward swizzle, forward half pump swizzles on both my right and left legs, one foot glides (my left foot is a tad bit weaker but I can still go on one push ½ the width of the rink), and 2 foot turns with a start on both my left and right leg. I hope I can squeeze in an open skate session sometime between today and next Wednesday...if I don’t I am taking a day off next week so that I can do an adult open skate session. #priorities

Last Learn to Skate Class (of session 1) & An Incredible New Skill

Wow, today was the last day of learn to skate. I feel like it was definitely worth the money I paid for it. Today as soon as we got to practice there was no “warm up time” we went straight to the circle and began with challenging moves, half-pump swizzle (right and left legs), then one foot glides, and finally crossovers. Coach T came over to help me with those, what a relief! Unfortunately, it didn’t last long. She let me do them on my own….and I took a great big fall. Flat on my face. It didn’t hurt that much, until I got home and saw the bruise, but at this point falling is a learning opportunity for me. I’ve learned how to fall and not completely hurt myself and I’ve learned how to pick myself up and continue doing what I was doing. Now as soon as I did so, my favorite hockey coach told me that the “toe pick” got me. No shiz bro? I know that...thanks for letting everyone else know too.

After our circle exercises we moved on to the normal layout of exercises moving from one end of the rink to the other. We did swizzles, half pump swizzles, one foot glides, and then the awful half pump backwards swizzles. Dun Dun Dunnnn. I am not about that life. So...I moved over to where Coach T was, working with the really beginner group again. It was near the end of class so I asked to work on my spins, thankfully another woman in class was thinking the same thing and came over with me. We attempted on working the spins again, but didn’t get much farther. I understood what I needed to do, but had a difficult time actually doing it. So….Coach T decided it was time to move on….to JUMPING!!! I’m sorry? What’s that you say? Jumping in the first learn to skate session? I didn’t think so either. But apparently we were going to jump! ARGGGHHHH!! Excitement through the roof!

[So, here’s the thing. I’ve been going through this process and it’s been really exciting, motivational, and challenging in so many different capacities. I never thought I’d be doing any jumps in the first year of this, yet alone the first two months! I was shocked, excited, and very nervous!]

Coach T grabbed my hands, explained what I was going to do (very quickly I might add) and had me do exactly what she described. I basically had no time to think. I took a leap of faith (literally) and landed. Sure, most of my success was dependent on the fact that she was basically holding me, but I landed my first jump! After doing it with her, she did the same with the older woman that came with me to practice spins. The best part: there was still a few minutes left of class. So, she showed us how to practice on the wall!

This first jump is called the waltz jump, fairly simple to explain and incredibly difficult for a first time adult skater! You essentially swing your foot back, then swing forward, jump up (turn 180) and land on the opposite foot.

At the end of class I thanked Coach T for everything and asked if she taught private lessons. I’ve considered this a little over the last few weeks, but I thought I would ask just to get it out of the way since I am no longer taking Saturday classes. She said she was fully booked for the upcoming session, perfect for me since I wasn’t going to do it until the following session! Get excited folks, this is getting serious!

Open Skate:

I went to open skate today and spent every minute on the ice working on my spin and the waltz jump by the wall. I was annoyed because I had to keep moving away from the wall for first time skaters, but I had to keep myself grounded. I was a first time skater not too long ago (literally 2 months) so I should give them the space that I also needed at the time.

Saturday’s: My New Practice Sessions

Today’s class was pretty good, not as great as Wednesday’s session but I don’t think they can be compared at this point. I am basically considering my Saturday class a practice session from now on and my Wednesday's will become my learning classes. I’m pretty good with that setup, plus it means two days on the ice. Perfection. I was on the “advanced” side of class again today which meant...hockey teachers. Although there were several people missing from class today so it wasn’t as bad. Plus Coach T (the one that referred me) came over to help me start doing crossovers. I swear every time my foot crossed over the other, my heart dropped. It was a very uncomfortable experience, but for the first couple rounds most of my weight was on Coach T. Unfortunately she had to leave and I didn’t feel like I could do it on my own so I began doing one foot glides, which I thought would be somewhat helpful because when I am doing crossovers I have to be comfortable with the idea of just one foot being on the ice at a time.

In the last five minutes of class I ditched Mr. Hockey coach and headed back to Coach T. I wanted to learn how to do a proper spin! I asked and she showed me how. I’m pretty sure I fell three times in the 5 minutes. I wasn’t really sure how it worked, she kept showing me but I wasn’t exactly getting it. Ultimately my feet were moving before my upper half. Class ended before I knew it, but I was definitely going to work on it during free skate after class.

I cannot wait to be on the ice again this Wednesday with the other coaches. I might actually learn the proper way to do a spin!