November 2005
Week of November 6, 2005
Productive Session
I had some time off from work this week and indulged in a cheap daytime public session. I was on the ice alone for nearly an hour before a couple of other people appeared. A while later, a group of children came in for a birthday party. Most of them could barely escape the gravitational pull of the wall, so they did not affect my practice. I had to watch out for them a little, but not so much to create a distraction. I skated a total of two-and-a-half hours. My stamina is fantastic, thanks to running. My legs are strong and powerful. I am in great shape, and I no longer suck on the ice. While I may not be back to exactly where I was when I could skate more regularly, most of my skills have returned to their former glory.
Nothing improves a person’s overall skating more than simply skating around the rink. That sounds dimwittedly obvious; but many people, particularly adult skaters, forget the importance of merely being able to skate. Covering the ice with speed and power may be as unachievable (or daunting) for some adults as landing a decent axel. However, I have discovered skating with confidence is an achievable goal. For me, it makes more sense to aspire to great basic skating that jumping like a youngster. By the end of the session, I circled the rink in a wondrously robust series of chassé steps. Each stroke dug into the ice and pulled speed from the frozen surface. My legs stretched for ultimate extension. If I were not built like a brick shithouse, I might have passed for a genuine ice dancer. Those chassés were some of the most satisfying skating I have experienced. I skated as fast as competitive ice dancers who would ordinarily scare me into a corner. It sure feels good to be on the other side of that equation.
I also worked on a few step patterns, most I created (or at least created for myself, as they are not captured on a test, as far as I am aware) and another that I learned from one of my former coaches. The first pattern is based on the preliminary power three-turn field move. However, my version incorporates a set of alternating backward crossovers between power threes. The three-turns are performed in opposite directions such that the pattern repeats down the rink. The second is a variation on the five-step mohawk. Instead of holding the backward outside edge, the skater immediate steps forward. The back outside edge pivots almost completing a backward outside three-turn prior to the step. The forward outside edge created by the step forward is held with dramatic extension of the free leg before culminating in a forward progressive. The progressive leads to repetition of the pattern. My coach’s pattern is also based on mohawks and crossovers, both forward and back. Additionally, I am developing a series of alternating backward crossovers incorporating a backward inside figure loop. For now, this is fun but slow. I am also doing backward crossovers with the cross in front to backward inside-to-outside double threes. This is one of my favorite three-turn exercises. Someday I will be able to do it fast.
While working with my last coach, Eileen, I began to explore removing the flutz from my lutz, a long standing bad habit. Unfortunately, this remained at the half-jump stage without the opportunity to flourish before the rink closed. I have not seen Eileen or taken a lesson from anyone since. But I still play with her lutz exercises. Almost as an afterthought, I completed a quarter lutz (half rotation but lands forward on the tapping foot), and stepped forward ready to do a flip. I caught myself, startled by my body’s willingness to jump without prior planning. Upon further observation, stepping into a three-turn preparation for a flip seemed perfectly reasonable, so I road a backward outside edge into the lutz corner, this time intending to follow through with a flip jump. The flip occurred naturally and over-rotated just as easily as the similar quarter flip-flip sequence I learned last fall. This is an interesting little trick. I would like to work on a double flip when I have more time to invest. These exercises invite excessive rotation, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of it.
I left the rink after this productive session with a lot to think about, not the least of which is how to get more practice time.
Week of November 13, 2005
Last Session
The expensive freestyle session I have been attending after work once per week has evaporated. Actually, the club that sponsors the session had to move it back later in the evening to accommodate the rink’s bread and butter, namely hockey, as though that surprises anyone. This change makes the session no longer convenient for me. I have to find someplace else to skate. I desperately need to find someplace else. Now that I have recovered my skills, I want to restart the building process, rather than taking another long and unnecessary break then scraping the pieces back together.
Setting that problem aside for now, I have begun to work on new skills and rediscover tricks I had just begun to explore last spring. I am practicing an intentional inside edge backspin with creative arm positions. My backward attitude spin has become reliable and transitions especially well after a back camel. The inside edge back camel is very difficult and will require considerable effort to master. On the completely new list is the backward sit spin performed as a solo element from a forward inside three-turn. A very sore thigh as convinced me this skill is within my range. I would like to develop my backward sit spins into the leaning variations that have become popular under the new Code of Points judging system.
This new judging system may be giving some of the elite skaters fits, but it has provided me with a fresh assortment of elements to copy. I am particularly intrigued by the flying backward sit spin American skater, Matt Savoie, has incorporated into his short program. This move appears completely novel. I have never seen anyone perform it, nor have I heard of it or read about it in any of my many vintage skating manuals. Perhaps it existed in the earlier days of modern skating during the era of school figures, when a double jump was a jaw-dropping stunt. Regardless of its mysterious history, Savoie performs it smoothly as his required flying spin. He begins with a forward inside three-turn. Instead of snapping directly into a back sit; he jumps, tucks in the air, and lands in a backward sit spin. The move is an obvious counterpart to the forward flying sit, a spin I never mastered. At least it seems obvious now that someone has pointed it out. I want this spin. It’s on the top of my to-do list.
But first I need to solve the immediate dilemma of finding a new place to skate.
Week of November 20, 2005
Birthday Present
Aside from all of the crap I have recently purchased on ebay, if someone were to ask what I wanted for my birthday; I would have to reply: “I want a decent, reliable place to skate”. That sounds like a tall order, and I guess I have had my doubts, which might explain my auction gluttony. Apparently, I really like myself as I have absolutely no qualms about buying myself gifts, especially when ice time and lessons do not present a continuous drain of funds. But more than another cool pendant or coral necklace, I need to get back on the ice and start developing my skating skills.
So my husband and I checked out another rink that I can access from work within about fifteen or twenty minutes. Of course, it is in the opposite direction from home, but after paying nearly twenty bucks per hour for freestyle ice and enduring a miserable rush hour commute home from that place, I am willing to suck it up and compromise. My new potential home rink is a multi-pad facility with a legitimate hockey arena complete with stands. It offers freestyle sessions all week, but only one day that fits my work schedule. However, on the other four weekdays, public ice is available, and the guy in the office said it is not crowded. He also claimed there are no high freestyle skaters, pairs, or dance teams. He said only about ten or twelve girls occupy a given freestyle session. That sounds no worse than the sessions I have been successfully utilizing for the last couple of years.
I planned to try the freestyle session this week. Although it was a short week, due to the Thanksgiving holiday, it was a rough one for me. I faced more aggravation than I really needed, and the long weekend came as a welcome respite. Ordinarily, I enjoy escaping my troubles on the ice and thought about going to the newly discovered rink regardless of my foul mood. When the time came to sign out, I did not even glance at the skate case on the backseat of my car, nor did I take the freeway on-ramp in the rinkward direction. I headed straight for home.
After I griped to my husband about the challenges of the day, we went to the YMCA where I rode the exercise bike and ran on the treadmill. I also explored some of the weight training equipment and am especially fond of the inner thigh contraption. I thought I might try a public session another day, but instead decided to wait until a normal week and found myself at the YMCA running on a treadmill while watching some goofy television show about women trying out for the Dallas Cowboys’ Cheerleaders. Then I took a water aerobics class followed up by a stretch in the steam room.
I will sample the new rink next week. Its abundant (and cheap!) sessions have filled me with hope. Maybe I can start taking lessons again and work toward my testing goals. Maybe I can teach a couple of group classes. Even though teaching was another obligation, I enjoyed and miss it.
If this works out, it will be a better birthday present than any of the sterling silver goodies that arrived in my mailbox. Now that I am thirty-nine, can I stop having these damned birthdays?
November 25, 2005
Turkey Buster
I attended a one-and-a-half hour aerobics and body sculpting class today that was appropriately called “The Turkey Buster”, in honor of the caloric indulgence performed by most Americans on Thanksgiving Day. While my husband and I did not have a traditional meal of turkey with all the trimmings, I cannot ignore an unusually long exercise class.
Other than aqua aerobics and an occasional session on a cruise ship, I have not attended aerobics classes since dropping out of a program that became too inconvenient over two years ago. Before I discovered trampoline and jogging, I did aerobics in the comfort of my own living room on a regular basis. So I have been away from floor aerobics since early last spring. I have meant to get involved in fitness classes again since joining the YMCA but have focused instead on the exercise equipment and swimming pool.
This class provided a good benchmark for my cardiovascular conditioning. My stamina is terrific. I can do an hour of hard aerobics with little difficulty. If I felt tired, I toned it down a little then start pumping again. I sweated like a pig! The whole dance studio smelled of body odor. It was fantastic! I love to sweat. I love rigorous exercise. I had forgotten just how much. Yes, I sweat profusely when running, but running does not work as great a variety of muscles as a well-balanced aerobics class. My thighs screamed, my calves ached, my shoulders hurt. We lifted weights and my arms begged for mercy. I am from the old “no pain, no gain” school of athleticism. I felt happy to be truly sore. Stretching afterward, I hit incredible splits on each leg. My legs were beautifully extended with torso upright. It looked gorgeous in the wall of mirrors. Anyone watching would have been envious. I could not believe that limber, flushed, perspiring creature was me.
After the class, I strapped on a pair of swim fins, thus increasing water resistance, and swam some laps. Then I soaked in the hot tub. It was wonderful. I have examined the schedule and plan to add at least two aerobic classes to my weekly fitness plan. I may have to jettison water aerobics because it simply is not rigorous enough for me. I may attend the odd class just because it is fun, but I plan to focus on serious burning.
One of the women in the class said she lost over thirty pounds since she took up aerobics a few months ago. She also told me threw all of the Thanksgiving desserts people contributed to the feast at her home into the garbage after all of the guests left. I was utterly shocked. She could have given them to me! I would have gladly removed them from her kitchen. I suppose that’s the difference between a woman who loses thirty pounds and me.
Week of November 27, 2005
New Freestyle
After work, I went to the one freestyle session that fits into my schedule at the rink I discovered a week before. It is actually more convenient than the expensive freestyle I had been attending. I stretched and laced my boots by myself listening to little snippets of conversation from all around and noticing the variety of people who entered the lobby. Someone noticed the session would be more crowded than usual. Someone else said this session is usually “empty”. Her definition of “empty” and mine may vary greatly. However, the rink was busier than what I have enjoyed recently.
Several adults practiced on this session, most of them intermediate level skaters. One could spin in interesting positions, but spun slowly. She also had nice moves in the field. Another worked dances. She was pleasantly smooth. Another with stocky legs did an axel with a wildly swinging take-off free leg. A younger woman (college age?) skated competently. She landed some doubles and carried good speed. She tried grossly under-rotated double axels under the guidance of a coach. A few youngsters also shared the ice. Overall, I had to watch where I was going, but other than the person trying doubles, no one seemed especially good. I have concluded that a session with more people can be acceptable if they are all lower freestyle skaters. Even the young woman with the truncated double axel did not intimidate me. If there were half a dozen such skaters on the ice, it would have turned into a free-for-all. They would have dominated the session.
I had not skated for two weeks, and it showed. Between lack of practice and unfamiliar surroundings, I probably did not look much different than the other “intermediate” adults on the ice. Usually, I can whip around a rink like a higher level athlete, and could certainly match the gal with the budding double. But this time, I was a stranger on a strange rink, testing the water (frozen, of course). When in doubt, I always spin. This establishes my position on the ice, as surely as a squirt of strong urine marks a lion’s territory.
I plan to skate this session regularly. Although this rink also offers afternoon publics, I have not tried one yet. I hope to include one public along with a freestyle each week. The downside of skating at this facility is the horrible commute home. That actually could discourage me from skating on days when I might be a little tired. If I want to skate, I will have to suck that up.
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