November 2004
Week of November 1, 2004
Skaters’ Reunion
Knowing I would have time off from work this week, I contacted a couple of friends I have not seen for at least a year. We used to skate together before I returned to work fulltime. While I looked forward to the reunion, I felt a twinge of superficial and unnecessary concern about the weight I have regained since we last met. By the end of last summer, I looked pretty good. Unfortunately, I am currently struggling to drop about fifteen pounds that came back to haunt me. These petty worries dissolved as I became trapped in a time warp on the long drive to my old rink.
I had gotten terribly sick of this trip, which has grown even longer since our move. I have also become spoiled by having a new ice arena less than ten minutes from my house. When I made this rink commute regularly, I always planned to skate for more time than I spent in the car. This made two hours the minimum. I felt guilty if the session was lousy and I wanted to leave early, though I eventually got to the point that I would rather leave and make the most of the rest of the day than become more frustrated at a bad session. My adult skating friends lessened this problem by providing après-skate companionship. We often went out for coffee or a snack. I did not mind the long drive and disappointing skating if I could hang out and shoot the breeze. In fact, it became a highlight of my week, to the point that I enjoyed my friends more than skating. When no one special appeared for the session and I was the sole grown-up on the ice, I felt lonesome and bored. I had become restless and disgusted with the rink mismanagement, the politics, and all of the crap associated with skating.
Since my husband’s bypass surgery, my life and priorities had changed. It was time for me to move on. However, I was shocked by how familiar the old routine seemed. How naturally I switched to autopilot, fumbled with the radio controls and drove rinkward. I used to do this three or more times every week. As I walked toward my old familiar stomping ground, tears welled in my eyes. I had not expected this reaction. Everything around me was disturbingly familiar, but vague. A previous incarnation would be too extreme, but this experience belonged to the past, a segment of my life that was definitely over and could not be reclaimed. I was only a visitor in this place; I no longer belonged here. My moment had passed. Emotion choked in my esophagus not because I longed to travel back to this episode, but because its termination signaled the aging process. This part of my existence was over; I was older, and this was gone.
I pulled my wheeled case through the lobby and toward the ladies’ room which had been painted a sickeningly feminine shade that made the joint look less filthy but definitely just as shabby. Everything I did followed footsteps I had laid down during previous years when I was someone else with different goals and aspirations. As I stretched and laced my skates, unfamiliar people entered the building. There were new regulars. I was the stranger. I felt like an interloper or a thief, a pretender to the throne. I kept glancing toward the front door waiting for my friends to appear and justify my presence. But they did not arrive until I had spent twenty minutes on bad ice.
Honestly, I did not want to be there. I was not there to practice and improve my lutz jump; I had come to see my buddies. If they turned up their noses at the crummy condition of the surface, I would happily accompany them to a restaurant for lunch and conversation. Both of them wanted to skate, though we all complained aerobically about the bumpy, cracked frozen stuff. Apparently, this is the present norm more than fifty percent of the time. This facility rarely had miserable ice, to my recollection. I guess the place is going to hell in a hand basket.
We had a good time, especially after we stopped skating. The session was crowded and the ice was bad, but the company was good. That was the point, after all.
Week of November 8, 2004
Three-Turn Wizard
I had to look back through this journal to recall how long ago I was first introduced to backward inside three-turns. I can hardly believe that fateful incident occurred well over three years and two rinks ago. These turns did not come easily to me. In fact, I struggled with them for years and complained about them intermittently throughout my entries. Truth be told, I still fail to do them at speed. However, I finally enjoy these turns. The exercises I did to force myself into competence were very institutional but effective. They taught me how to trudge through the movement in spite of my fear and awkwardness. They laid the foundation for experimentation and creativity, which would have been impossible without some fundamental mastery, even of the most rudimentary sort.
Double threes were always more fun for me than the garden variety isolated three-turn. I practiced forward outside to back inside combinations regularly with some degree of proficiency. This pattern is a standard move in the field, as are backward inside to forward outside threes. Unfortunately, I did not discover the beauty of the latter until recently. While bored at a crowded session, I began to fool around with them and enjoyed a startling amount of success. This revelation occurred within the last year at my new home rink. Currently, I look forward to practicing my own silly little bits of three-turn choreography. I like to do a couple of two-foot swirling changes of edge into a back crossover followed by a back inside to forward outside double three. Another crossover follows changing direction into the opposite three-turn series. The second set of three-turns leaves me on a backward inside edge, ready to step into a forward spin. After significant discomfort, I can finally incorporate these turns into freestyle skating.
One of my favorite new activities is a back crossover / double back three-turn drill. The basis of the pattern is alternating backward crossovers, a relatively simple field move. To jazz it up and make it more challenging, I insert a backward inside-forward outside double three turn set into each lobe of the crossover pattern. While this footwork progresses down-rink slowly at this early point of its development, it represents a stimulating and pleasant diversion. It also provides a tangible goal outside the realm of spinning and jumping. I continuously strive to improve my basic skating, but this new endeavor firmly grounds my vague ambition.
So comfortable have I grown with my former arch-nemesis, I have begun to toy with the supremely difficult novice field move, “Back Perimeter Power Stroking with Backward Inside 3-turns and Forward Inside 3-turns”. Actually, I am only playing with the three-turn part, and doing nothing that would be considered powerful or quick. But I’m trying it, and that is reward enough for me…for now.
Week of November 14, 2004
Mini Lesson
My friend, Autumn, had a headache that she optimistically hoped would go away once she took the ice. However, her temples continued to throb, and she decided to cancel her lesson with Eileen. I took one lesson from Eileen over the summer and have not had one since. Autumn worried about backing out on her coach at the last minute. I volunteered to claim her slot. I had never taken a fifteen-minute skating lesson before. “What can you achieve in fifteen minutes?” I always wondered. The shortest lesson I took was a half-hour. Geoff and I often worked for an hour at a time together. I had terrific stamina in those days.
~Warm Up Spins~
Since I have not had a spin lesson for over two years, I told Eileen I would like some advice. I know I have developed bad habits in my area of expertise and need some fine tuning. As a strong spinner, my ambition has always been to spin as well as possible, to the highest levels of the sport. Now that my basics have improved and I have more power on the ice, these awesome spins look like a natural extension of my skating rather than a happy accident.
Eileen asked for a forward scratch. As I exited, she said it was perfect and could make no suggestions. I examined my tracing. Yes, it was indeed flawless, the best I have done in weeks. I confessed my scratch spins are not always that good. Sometimes they travel, though usually not very much. Next she requested a camel-sit combination. Again, I drilled it into the ice. Both of us stood there looking at the etching then at each other feeling a little silly. Eileen said she was always a better spinner than jumper. She could do any spin in the book when she was younger. I am the same type of skater. When I worked with Geoff and skated four days a week, I owned some incredible combinations. Now that I skate less frequently, it is difficult to maintain an extended repertoire of complex skills.
On to something harder.
~Cannonball Sit Variation~
How I have coveted this trick! I can do a type of cannonball; I can even hold it for a while. However, when my head touches my knee, my eyes lock onto my employed blade and stare transfixed as it carves circles into the ice. I cannot help but look. Every time it makes me nauseous, and I sit down in the middle of the spin. I eventually abandoned cannonballs because I could not overcome this counterproductive fascination.
Eileen’s variation does not required grabbing the leg and achieving a traditional compact cannonball pose. She suggests extending the arms gracefully to the sides and bending at the waist until the chest contacts the skating knee. Keeping the head raised eliminates the sickening problem of looking down. She advises turning the head to the side for an even prettier appearance. In my first attempted, I pulled my arms in, then extended them and assumed the position. Naturally, I stared at the ice and collapsed onto my rear end. I scrambled to my feet grasping my stomach. I thought I might lose my cookies right there at the back of the rink. Eileen reinforced the proper head position, which I attempted after my guts ceased to churn. I discovered I felt comfortable extending my arms from the beginning of the spin, though this is generally considered more difficult. Eileen encouraged me to continue to practice this beautiful spin. And I will until I master it.
~Inverted Backward Camels~
My layover back camel is one of my prize moves. Eileen suggested I drop to a back sit and conclude with a backward scratch after the novel camel position. I have never combined a layover with anything but a traditional swan dive camel. A layover must be performed with ample speed to hold the position in tight rotation. This is especially important if the spin is to be combined with subsequent elements. We also experimented with combining a full invert with a back sit and scratch. These additions blend readily. The challenge is to attain sufficient speed to complete the series with power and strength. In the future, I will practice these from a flying entrance.
~Flying Camel~
Lately I have had trouble initiating my spin directly atop my landing. Eileen examined my flying camel and corrected it quickly. My kicking leg must reach upward in addition to outward. My first enthusiastic attempt landed in a wreck just like the old days when this skill was a new endeavor. I have not crashed like that in a long time. Each try improved and I spun immediately over my touch down point. Problem solved.
~Forward Inside Backward Camel~
The basic backward camel is performed on a backward outside edge. While many skaters drift to the inside edge in upright back spins and back sits, it is virtually impossible to unintentionally execute a back camel on an inside edge. While the advanced version of the forward camel (on a forward outside edge) is often seen in higher level competition, the advanced backward camel remains a rarity. Eileen and I put our heads together. Apparently, she had never done this spin herself. She watched me rotate and urged me to rock backward on the blade and shift my weight. I hit the elusive inside edge and flopped to the ice. During independent practice, I rode the desired edge for a few rotations. This spin is within the realm of possibility.
~Summary~
I thanked Eileen for the lesson and said I enjoyed it. She enjoyed teaching these moves again, spins that she no longer does herself due to knee problems and other injuries. Surprised by how much can be accomplished in so short a span of time, I requested another fifteen-minute lesson for next week. Eileen agreed short lessons are a sensible choice for me. She said I am already a strong skater, and she does not need to spend a half-hour with me teaching me to skate. I was particularly impressed by this remark. Eileen has excellent credentials as a long-time coach and former childhood competitor. Even though I lack tests and big jumps, she recognizes my abilities.
I look forward to our next little meeting.
Thanksgiving Day 2004
Exercising at Home
Last spring, I dropped out of my aerobics class. While I saw this decision coming, I clung to the class long after it became inconvenient. Finally I became frustrated with the loud music and icy parking lot and quit. Predictably, as months passed without replacing aerobics, I gained weight; not a tremendous amount, but enough to make me take notice. Although I have regularly supplemented ice skating with walks, this moderate activity is no substitute for a good old-fashioned heart-pounding sweat. After we moved, the aerobics class became too far away to be realistic, assuming I wanted to commit to it again. Instead of looking for another class closer to the new house, I thought about buying exercise videos, but didn’t.
We have an exercise bicycle that I previously found terribly boring to ride and only did so in case of emergency. A couple of months ago, I hoisted my broadening ass back onto the seat and began to pedal. I ride the thing for thirty minutes at an interval setting that allows my heart rate to vary. The chore becomes less tedious with a little help from the television. I save televised skating tapes to view during exercise sessions and have exhumed some of my training videos. I also watch football, reruns of Boston Public, nature shows, and Toni Brattin’s HSN airings. A half-hour passes quickly when my attention is focused on another form of entertainment.
Once off the bicycle, my leg muscles are warm and pliable. An ideal opportunity for stretching! Before my stretch, I work my arms with a set of aerobic weights. Then I stretch myself like a rubber band. I have always liked stretching and am fairly supple. This routine has further increased my flexibility. I love the feel of a good stretch and perform my at-home workout three or four times weekly. The entire ritual takes about an hour, and I have come to enjoy it.
Someday I will find a way to apply my limberness to the ice. As a kid, I used to do catch foot spirals on my old quad skates, but I have not conjured the nerve to expose my chest and face to that sort of failure. Catching a toe pick means a busted lip, tooth, or jaw; none of which are high on my wish list. Perhaps a side extension would be a reasonable compromise between art and safety. I might be ready to take a risk.
Saturday November 27, 2004
Eddie Update
Last month, I wrote an entry about a self-absorbed young man in one of my group skating classes. The session has concluded, so I decided to offer an update on Eddie and his progress. During the lesson following the one that was the topic of my previous entry, Eddie became nasty and demanding in class. He insisted upon a marker to draw an obstacle course on the ice. He had no interest in practicing skating skills or working with the other children. Perhaps this was the wrong tactic, but I convinced Eddie to participate in class and did not give him a marking pen.
After the class, I talked to the boy’s father. I told him Eddie loves to draw on the ice, but I need to see a little more skating from him. The father nodded and told Eddie pens would be a reward for skating. This made sense to everyone involved. From that day onward, Eddie’s behavior changed. He tried all of the skills I suggested and was rewarded with a pen. His sister, Emily, also likes to draw, but she is sponge for skating instruction. She eagerly experiments with anything I demonstrate. I showed her how to glide and dip while drawing with a colored marker. She learned to skate backwards while dipping and drawing. For Emily, the pens enhanced her skating skills while Eddie, the rink artist, happily plopped to his backside on the ice.
Eddie has trouble keeping his blades perpendicular to the ice. This may be a deficiency in leg strength or a rented boot problem. His ankles buckle, dropping his blades inward. I suggested he wear a smaller size and passed the information on to his father. Eddie has trouble lifting his feet to march on the ice and shuffles along dragging his inside edges. Dad wants to enroll Eddie in a hockey class and asked my opinion. I advised that he should wait until Eddie can march and glide properly. This may take a while, though I kept that bit to myself. Emily, on the other hand, is progressing beautifully. Dad acknowledges Emily’s superior leg strength and coordination, apparently due to dance lessons.
Along with other parents, Eddie’s father complimented me and said his children enjoyed my class. He asked which classes and days I would be teaching for the next six-week session. I responded that the director bounces us around and we generally do not know which groups we will teach until we receive our clipboards on the day the classes begin. To my utter shock, Eddie’s dad offered me a tip. I was uncomfortable and followed my natural instinct to politely decline. I do not know if skating instructors are supposed to (or allowed to) accept tips. The rink already pays me fairly for my services. However, I thanked the man and told him he is very kind and generous, but that is not necessary. I hope I did not look horrified or cause him embarrassment.
That’s why I love skating. Everyday is a new adventure of one sort or another.
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