May 2006
The First of May 2006
A Little More Skating
I managed to avoid a meeting after work that would have claimed my ice time. I felt a little sore from Sunday’s kickboxing class, jogging and swimming. Knowing I would not have another chance, I went to the rink anyway. Once I stared moving and residual stiffness worked itself out. I had good power in my warm up exercises, mostly resulting from the inordinate amount of practice I have enjoyed lately. My spins achieved excellent speed and form. I hit a couple of nice flying camels with the free leg already at hip height and in camel position upon landing. A good flying camel distinguishes itself from lower ranking versions because the skater does not have to quickly whip her leg into position to turn an awkward landing into a spin. I still execute quite a few inexpert flying camels and strive for improvement and consistency.
The split jump has been driving me crazy for a long time. I first learned it years ago with an odd, halting technique that seemed to consist of two stages: kick then lift. It was very uncomfortable and certainly just as ugly. Now my technique is much smoother, but it lacks the free leg lift. My most recent coach, Eileen, noticed that I am just kicking, and little or no push occurs from the vaulting toe. This results in a short jump, a low jump, and a kick rather than a split. I have no trouble doing the splits. After a warm up jog, I can split quite nicely on the floor with my torso erect and head high. I am also working on box splits. On the trampoline, I jump into splits that do not extend to a full 180 degrees, but have a respectable greater than 90° separation. I can also do a decent Russian split and am working on a pike. On the ice, I lack a proper take off with an upward push that provides airtime to achieve the desired pose. Maybe this summer I can invest in a few lessons and learn this relatively simple jump in a harness.
Week of May 7, 2006
Playing Hooky Again
I recently decided to change jobs and am going to leave behind over three weeks of accumulated sick days with my current employer. Rather than let every solitary day go to waste, since I will be compensated in no way for this unused time, I want to inconspicuously take a couple of “mental health days” between now and my resignation. What could be better for one’s mental health than skating? This week I called in sick, slept late, and went to a two-hour freestyle session. Afterward, I even treated myself to lunch. Going back to work the next day was tough, especially since I know my time in that place draws to a close and my motivation level has also diminished.
During the daytime, few people occupy most rinks. I have been skating at a municipal facility that has a skating club, a list of coaches, and freestyle sessions scheduled all day. However the place lacks serious competitors. Probably some of the young people at this rink think they are serious, but none of them look like contenders. A few might make the final round of a regional, but I have yet to see a clean double axel or triple jump. Anything beyond a double flip or maybe a lutz is grossly under-rotated. Of course, several of these skaters look good, especially compared to me, but a huge chasm opens between a skater who can look good in local rink and one who looks good in a qualifying competition.
A couple such young ladies shared the ice with me on my “sick day”. I had no problem skating with them. I have gotten used to practicing with better skaters because I have no choice. Ice is ice, and when ice is available, I grab it, within reason. Hence another delineation between good local skaters and serious competitors. I still do not feel comfortable skating with potential elites. These people occupy a different stratum than the average “good” hometown figure skater. While I am not in the same class as girls half my age who have been skating since they were five and benefit from virtually unlimited resources, I can fake my way through pretty effectively. I skate as fast as they do but without the intricate higher level footwork. I spin as well as they do, minus the Biellmann positions. I don’t do doubles, but the quality of my singles would not reveal that secret.
I spent a huge chunk of time on moves in the field, dance steps, and my own self-choreographed step sequences. I have become competent enough on my edges to make up unique patterns and execute them with respectable flow, often culminating in a spin or a jump. These are my personal version of “in between moves” to add interest to mundane jump and spin practice. The more I skate for the sake of simply cutting skillfully across the ice, the more I enjoy this aspect of the sport. I spend significantly less time training jumps and spins than I did a year or two ago. Overall, I believe this change of focus has made me a better skater.
Week of May 14, 2006
Two Hours of Heaven
I enjoyed a two hour freestyle session this week. For all but about thirty minutes of it, I was the only person on the ice, then a little girl and her instructor came on. The kid was a beginner and easy to avoid. The first hour I did moves in the field, dance steps, and stroking exercises almost exclusively. These skills no longer seem like tedious necessities, as they did a few years ago. Instead, with greater leg strength and stamina built up from running and aerobics, they present a challenge. I concentrate on speed, power, edge quality, and all of those important characteristics that make a skater look advanced.
Later in the session, I practiced jumps, focusing primarily on the flip. My goal is to regain the distance I used to achieve on this jump while adding height. The flip captures my interest because I have accidentally almost completed a double on several occasions. During this particular session, I came very close. A jump sequence I like to perform just for fun is a half-lutz variation followed by a forward outside three-turn into a flip. The half-lutz lands on the picking foot and amounts to a half-turn skip. My most recent coach, Eileen, showed me this jump as a means of combating the flutz. It can readily be done without changing take-off edges. Since it lands on the normal landing foot, but facing forward, the skater can easily step into a forward outside three, which leads naturally to a flip jump (or salchow, if you prefer). The fluency of motion created by the sequence makes over-rotation of the flip practically unavoidable. I very nearly did a double and actually worked on it for a while. However, once I intentionally tried to do the double, my mind interfered with the easiness my body had discovered on its own.
For the first time in well over a year, I did a couple of butterflies. They are sorely out of condition, but were a thrill just to remember. I did some sloppy stars and played with the mazurka, a supposedly simple jump I never officially learned. I had a great time tearing up a whole rink full of ice all by myself. It was two hours of pure heaven!
Twizzles are basically multiple three-turns, but done in quick succession with the free foot held close to the skating leg. They may be entered from any edge. A twizzle may consist of a simple double three-turn or a longer series. I never really learned how to do them, or more appropriately, I never officially learned to do them from a coach.
On a day off from work, I went to the rink to enjoy a morning public session and met a couple of friends there. I admired a footwork sequence one friend was practicing. She performed a right inside edge, stepped to a left inside and did a forward-inside-backward-outside double three-turn exiting with her free toe pointed forward gliding gracefully on a left forward inside edge. She told me the move was a twizzle. Gee, I thought it was a double three-turn, then I noticed the distinguishing characteristics as she demonstrated. I copied her movements slowly and carefully at first, trying to control the turns without using my free leg, except for the exiting flourish. It was not very difficult, since I already do many flavors of double threes. I created a pattern of mirror image edges and twizzles, working both directions. Soon I skated them with more fluidity and speed. Now I have to learn twizzles from every possible entrance edge and exit edge. This may get complicated.
I enjoyed the session, skated two hours, caught up with my friends, and learned a new trick. Not a bad day.
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