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.

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.

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.

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.

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.