March 2007
Thursday March 1, 2007
Layback Musings
After reading a discussion on skatingforums.com, I became curious about an alternative method for performing a layback spin. I have been doing laybacks for close to 15 years and learned them early in my adult skating odyssey. My natural aptitude and childhood recreational roller skating background may allow me to learn spins readily; but, in general, most female skaters learn laybacks (or attempt laybacks) fairly early in their training. Girls will learn sit spins, camels, and laybacks after the basic forward scratch spin. The layback may be the last of the set, and upright backspins are usually interjected soon after the skater demonstrates competence with the forward version. Personally, I learned a variant of the attitude spin before the layback, and the layback happened on its own and received polish from several coaches over the years since its first occurrence.
A coach, who worked with me during my first couple of years of adult lessons, taught me an attitude spin. A former show skater, she knew how to get a lot of bang for the buck. She understood positions as a dramatic art form. She moved her arms such that mundane spins became unique creations. Plus she had a monster split jump. I wasn’t ready for the split jump, but she taught me the attitude and a very deep sit spin. She was the first to lay hands on my proto-layback. Many years stand between those days and these, so I cannot remember her advice exactly. I did the layback completely by accident from an attitude spin. Upon seeing my newly birthed layback, she encouraged me to improve the position by arching my back more and placing my arms in a distinct arrangement. Since then my layback has flourished. It is fast and centered and widely coveted among other female skaters. It is as natural to me as tying my shoes (or skating boots).
I never learned to initiate a layback from a basic forward spin. However, the discussion I read and subsequently contributed my two cents, listed testimony from several skaters who do laybacks starting from an upright forward spin with the free leg held in front of the body. My advice to skaters on that thread (and in person) is always to keep the free leg to the side; do not allow it to come all the way to the front. This is how I learned, and it works for me. I have a killer layback. At forty-ish, my layback can kick the ass of a layback half my age. Someone suggested the forward free leg technique might be European. In any case, I seemed to be the odd man out on this one. Someone else posted a link to a clip of Sasha Cohen performing an exquisite layback from a beautifully centered upright spin with the free leg held in front of her body and parallel to the ice. I wondered if it might actually be considered a combination. Another poster assured me those first few revolutions do not count as another spin position under the rules of competition.
During my next skate, I decided to experiment with this technique. If nothing else, it offers something new to play with. I had no problem hitting a nice forward spin with front extended free leg. Then I had to turn that thing into a layback. Enter the challenge. I trying to bring the leg back and lean. After a wobble, I held the position. Examination of my blade tracing indicated a large misaligned loop where the transition from front to back occurred and continued traveling after achieving the layback pose. Several more attempts resulted in similar errors. Maybe this method works for some people who start out with it, but I am too far along and too satisfied with my own spin to compromise. Off I skated to practice a dance pattern.
Yet this unresolved issue lingered in my mind, not because it rang of a certain rightness, but because I could not do what should have amounted to a straightforward modification. If nothing else, I should learn to exaggerate the upright pose then transition to a layback. Call it a combination, even if no one else does. With a new mindset, I took a contemplative stance in the center of the rink. I tried again. Nothing changed in terms of spin outcome. Then realization struck me like a brick to the head. I have been skating for many years and pride myself on understanding skating technique, particularly spin technique. I was trying to reposition the free leg. That was the wrong approach. I had to move the body. The free leg should remain stationary for an instant while the hips open and the torso leans backward. This set of movements resembles “snapping the hips”, an essential ingredient to achieving a backspin position whether on the ice or in the air for an axel or other change-of-axis jump. Instead of snapping the hip closed, as a skater would to transition between a back camel and back sit spin, the skater “snaps” the hip open.
No wonder recreational and beginning skaters have trouble with this spin. They are learning an highly advanced technique that requires precise balance and control. This very issue forms the root of similar problems people have learning the upright backspin and, of course, the axel. Once I understood this subtlety, I mastered the front-to-layback spin, and it flew with thrilling speed. I decided to check on my regular version. Practicing a more difficult method immediately improved my usual layback, and I cranked fast rotations on the ice like a skater in serious competition.
While I am glad I learned this alternative style, I doubt I would recommend it to a layback novice. Personally, I would prefer to teach the simplified method first then fine tune it once the skater has gained understanding of the dizzying layback posture. Through these experiments, I may have uncovered the mystery behind why women struggle with the “simple” layback.
Monday March 19, 2007
Black Ice
In the 1941 movie, Sun Valley Serenade, Norwegian figure skating champion turned Hollywood actress, Sonia Henie, glided across black ice in a display that may look crude by today’s competitive skating standards. However, at the time, she was a vision of grace and beauty. Only the truest die-hard skating aficionado would think of a Sonia Henie movie before a treacherous remnant of a nasty winter storm when presented with the phrase “Black Ice”. I doubt even I fall into that category. No pun intended, but my last sentence leads to the crux of this entry.
I walked through the parking lot to my physical therapist’s office and approached two shallow steps to the sidewalk. Before I knew what happened, I was flat on my ass in a puddle. My clothes were soaked, my water bottle had ruptured, and the pages of a perfectly good medieval novel swelled with absorbed water. I had slipped on an unseen patch of black ice. So much for pretty scenes from old Sonia Henie flicks. Fortunately, I had not fallen on my injured hand. Fortunately, I was not hurt again.
A woman approached me and asked if I was okay. Nice lady. She had fallen in this same parking lot a few weeks before and was not as fortunate. She had injured her back and hit her head. I assured her I was alright. I reported the incident to my therapist who told the property manager they need to arrange for the parking lot to be salted earlier in the morning.
Ironically, I have been so cautious at the ice rink, only working on selected skills to build back my strength and coordination, omitting anything risky that might lead to a fall. So where do I fall on the ice? Not in a rink but in a parking lot. Accidents can happen anywhere at anytime. Instead of staying home and avoiding the potential “danger” of ice skating, I enjoy my time at the rink with common sense. So far, my only fall has been a completely unprecedented slip on black ice.
Week of March 18, 2007
Back at the Y
I have only been to the YMCA a few times since my ankle injury, or maybe it has only been a couple. Anyway, somewhere between a couple and a few. Following my most recent injury, I returned to the ice and have been regaining my strength and technique with basic skills. Now the time has come to get back into shape, the shape I was in at the beginning of last summer before any of this misfortune happened.
While I might be skating decently, I have lost a lot of quantifiable physical strength. This frustrates me tremendously, but after not being able to seriously workout since last July, what can I expect? However, the reality still hurts. I can lift/press/push/whatever about half of what I could before my ankle injury. To make the deterioration even more dramatic than fifty percent already indicates, I used to lift/press/push/whatever quite a bit of weight. For example, I leg pressed at least 100 pounds for three consecutive sets of ten or twelve reps. I will spare the details, but all of the lower body exercises were impressive, as would be expected from a skater and runner. I do not have tremendous arm strength, but was working toward improving my upper body conditioning. My level of physical fitness gave me great pride and confidence that I absolutely want back.
Now I have to pick up somewhere in the middle. If I did it before, I can do it again.
Sunday March 25, 2007
Power Walking and More
My orthopedist said my ankle is healed, and I can run on it again. As the weather transitions to springtime, I have been spending more time outside, mainly taking my spoiled cats into the backyard for supervised play. Over the weekend, I decided to start power walking and jog a little if the mood struck. I began jogging for exercise about two years ago by taking walks interspersed with short stints of jogging to gradually build up stamina. When I broke my ankle last summer, I had moved up to jogging at least two miles outside and could do longer distances up to five miles on occasion. I routinely warmed up for exercise at the gym with one-mile treadmill runs and regularly completed two or three miles of focused running. At the time of my injury, I was working on increasing both speed and stamina. My goal had been to run three miles in thirty minutes. I even considered entering local 5K races, not to win, but for the experience. None of this actually happened.
So here I am starting over, walking around the same neighborhood. I decided to jog the length of a road that probably amounts to two city blocks or maybe a little more. In any case, it is a very short distance for a runner. Running again felt good, except for the following: my butt jiggled, quads tightened, knees stiffened, and breath rasped. No matter how well I might be skating, I am definitely out of shape. However, I did not limp very much. After the stretch of jogging, I walked around the block and jogged some more.
I returned to the house feeling euphoric. My goal this spring and summer is to regain my basic running ability. I hope to run two miles continuously at about five miles per hour. For experienced runners, this accomplishment looks unimpressive, but I have to start over. Maybe I will exceed my goal, but for now another thousand-mile journey has begun.
Late March 2007
Additions to the List
As my time of disability came to an end, I became more and more bold, once the pin was removed from my injured hand. I was no longer at risk of doing serious damage to my delicate extremity. I plan to visit my father for the first week of April then return to work. I relished every moment that I spent on the ice. I promised myself to try to come for a Friday afternoon public session and told the manager I would attend any freestyle that fit my schedule (once I readjust to "real life"). I have made so much progress toward skating like my old self that I dread backtracking.
I added several fun skills to my previous list of skating activities. Most importantly, I started jumping again. Let me place this in context. These jumps started as babyish walk-throughs, progressed to hops, then beginner versions. I have not been jumping with power and speed, but I have been jumping. The only jumps I have practiced so far include: salchow, toe loop, waltz, and flip; no combos. Maybe I did a loop or two. I have also done some half jumps. Jumping was never my strength, but I have focused on improving and attaining large, impressive singles and even flirted with doubles a few years ago. Allowing myself to fall out of a jump landing represented major progress. Although I did not break my ankle jumping, I did take a nasty fall. In order to enjoy skating and make the progress that keeps this sport challenging for me, I cannot be afraid to fall. A footwork fall caused my injury. Based on my experience, those have always been more unpredictable and dangerous than jump falls.
My spin list has probably doubled. I am doing all of the back spins and included a few basic combinations, particularly camels. I have tried a few sit spins, mostly the backward variety. My formerly injured leg still lacks the strength to achieve a deep knee bend and rise out of the position. I may have to relearn this skill with a small cheat of a push from the other foot. This is how I learned my deep forward sit spin over ten years ago. It worked then, it can work now.
Next I hope to get back into aggressive spinning, namely flying spins and multiple combinations. I used to do complicated and unusual combinations and would like to have them back. I also want to turn my tentative safe jumps into big, bold leaps. As always, I have plenty of work to do.
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