Mid month update

This is the second week without skating... But let me finish telling you what two weeks ago happened. I approached that week with the intention on working on the training process. That's what I've done on Monday, read about it here. Then, the rest of the week was kind of blah...

On Monday, after the session I skated on my own, I also had my private lesson. I lately added a second lesson on Thursday and they were all focusing on the Ten Fox. But as I haven't registered for the test, I felt I could use half the time for dance, half for something else. On Thursday the week before, I had some instruction on figures, question about the Foxtrot mohawk, then dance. This Monday (2 weeks ago) I wanted my coach to see the new 3-turns (with the free foot kept out) from the Pre-Juvenile moves pattern. They were mostly ok. The first correction was to use the upper body twist more (watching to align one arm towards the center of the circle). The second correction was that on some of the back turns, I wasn't turning on the back of the blade. So, with the back at the side board, I was instructed to "feel" the blade as I was turning. That helped a lot. Then we worked on the Ten Fox, but I don't remember much, I think it was on the right track.

Tuesday I don't usually skate. With the training process in my mind I happened to come across an article about muscle recovery. I was reading and experimenting about that a lot last year, as I was having muscle pain often. And I've decided that, at least for now, it feels that I work hard enough on Mondays, that I would need the Tuesday to rest and allow the muscles to build. But this particular Tuesday I was having a meeting around the skating rink anyhow, and I would have been able to squeeze in an hour on the studio rink. I don't feel that I put that much effort when I'm in the studio. But the ice wasn't done... again. My plan was to do figures and the ice was really not usable for that. Of course I could have done other things, like jumps, but being that I plan my effort for the whole week and try to pace myself and rest the muscle, it's not easy to switch. They offered to do the ice then, but 15 minutes were gone already, they would have take 15 minutes more to do the ice and then the ice would have been wet, and I couldn't have seen my tracing for figures anyhow. They said I can stay longer, only, I couldn't, I had the meeting... I feel very conflicted about this "adult only, cheep ice". I'm trying to keep things in perspective... especially nowadays, how I would love to have that ice, or a frozen puddle in the backyard. But at that particular point in time, the perspective was different. I was trying to "train" using a process... It doesn't matter to me that ice slot is cheaper then usually. I arranged my work around that ice, and my sleep, because it is not so busy. But I put a big effort into it. And the staff, chooses to not have the ice done, because only one skater skated before (member of the staff, not on scheduled ice time and for free too), and it didn't make sense to redo the ice after just one skater. Well, then don't let unscheduled skaters on ice... I don't know... perspective changes by the day.

Wednesday I went to my regular session but I was upset about the previous day. I was trying to shake the negative emotions and try to think of training process. It didn't work. A friend was visiting from out of state and we talked for a while. The new virus was already making headlines so that may have unconsciously affecting my mood too. I've also knew I wouldn't be able to have a lesson the next day as I had another work meeting I had to do so I couldn't find any motivation to push the skating.

Thursday, no skating.

Friday, rinks were starting to close for fear of the spreading the corona virus, not my rink. I went skating and there were many of the regulars skating, but the mood was gloomy. I kind of don't remember my skating...

Saturday and Sunday there were rumors of my rink keeping some session on, then off, then on, then it closed...

Last week I stayed mostly in the house, I did a quick trip to the grocery store, and I was lucky to be keep my appointment for spaying neutering at Anti Cruelty for 3 cats. It was their last day open. I had an appointment for this week for another 3 cats but that's gonna be postponed indefinitely...

Starting with last weekend, all my state is going into quarantine for 2 weeks, until April 7th...

Process oriented training day plan

Well, all the skating rinks are closed as part of the effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus. We also don't know for how long they'll stay closed. But I skated last week 3 times and I find I've made some progress about following a training process. I'm writing this so I won't forget where my thoughts were at. This is kind of a bookmark...

I usually skate on Mondays from 12 to 1.30, and I have half an hour private lesson after. I usually don't skate Saturdays and Sundays, and on Monday I feel way stiffer compared with the other skating days. So I always took the time to warm up longer. But I felt that this time, as I was thinking what I wanted, I got more out of it.

This is what I want:
1. pay attention to the body alignment
2. bring awareness to pressing into ice (something that it's not in my nature to do)
3. push myself to catch some speed (something that's against my nature...)

I feel that until now I've paid attention mostly to the body alignment. I generally start my sessions with forward/ backward slalom, forward and backward power stroking and edge presses and focus on alignment. The pressing into ice I used to notice if it was there or not, but not try to correct. I think I was thinking I'll pay attention to it during the rest of the session. But I don't feel I was successful. As I was working on more difficult skills I wasn't able to concentrate on the ice pressure. This Monday, I didn't feel I was "in the ice", so I've done the edge presses again, this time focusing on pressing. Better! I was then, able to take this awareness into most of the rest of the session. I've decided to continue with the moves (Pre-Juvenile level) starting with the many 3-turns that I now rework. That gave me the opportunity to keep working on both body alignment and ice pressure. I continued with the backward circle eight (alignment) and the forward/ backward power pulls  that I've done 3 times (pressure and alignment), then the 5 step mohawk where I surprised myself with more speed then I usually put in. That gave me the idea to do again the forward/ backward power stroking concentrating on speed. See, in dance I need that speed, but it's hard to get it concentrating on all the steps. It's a better plan to already have worked on the speed as a warm up, before starting to work on ice dancing. All this took like 45 minutes.

Then I had 45 minutes for dance. I started with forward/ backward stroking concentrating first in posture, extension then in ice pressing and speed. I feel speed is not comfortable if the posture is not there. Extension helps to hold the posture. The ice pressing is both in the ankle pressing at the push into each stroke, and in pressing into the skating foot while gliding and holding the extension. Next would be forward and backward chasses, progressives and swing rolls. I'll tell you that at this point I was kind of loosing my patience to "work" on things, especially because I knew that I wanted to work on 3-turns (as I always do), then on the Ten Fox. But I've gathered my will as my coach corrected on the previous lesson to stay on the skating hip while rising and rebending to change lobes going backwards, and I forgot to do it lately. I feel that skill holds back my dance 3-turn too, so I've "worked" on all those too. On the forward exercises I was also paying attention to press the outside edge at the end of the lobe, that I usually release too soon. Again, I feel this will help in many places, but on the entry edge of the dance 3-turn too. Then came the 3-turns, concentrating on the entry edge, lifting over the hip while rising AND pressing into the ice. Then concentrating on counting and holding the exit edge and keeping the weight on the skating side while rebending.

At this point, it wasn't much time left from the session, just like 10 minutes and I've still had to run the dance. I  was feeling exhausted, both physically and mentally. Also, I was having a lesson next, and I haven't done the dance yet... pressure. But I had a big surprise! I knew the dance it's gonna feel good after all these work, but I wasn't expected to feel that good. This is proof the process oriented training works! I writing this down for me to read it when I'll start skating again!

 I'll tell you about the rest of last week on my next post. There isn't gonna be new skating to tell you about anyway...

Skating Technique: Figures

I had my first lesson on figures three weeks ago. Read about it here. I don't have enough information about figures yet, so I feel cannot really make a plan, like how much to practice, when to have a lesson. But here is where I'm at...

I looked online to buy a scribe, unsuccessfully. People say they see them on ebay occasionally, but now there are none. I remember I saw a post on Facebook about somebody making them, new, but I'll have to dig to find that post. A friend suggested some skating websites, but I haven't write the names down and I couldn't remember them. I have to wait until a see her next time. I'm also asking around if anybody would let me borrow theirs. Then I could take my time to find one...

Meanwhile, I tried to make a guide on my own. I measured a thread, and knotted looped at both ends and took two nails with me. I asked a friend to hold a nail and went around her. The first problem was that the thread I used was stretching, if I would do it again, I would choose maybe a ribbon for packing gifts. Then, the tracing wasn't very visible, I would need to go over it with a marker (I would have to buy one first, it needs to be a washable marker, so the Zamboni cleans the markings. This is the one my coach is using (Marks-A-Lot Jumbo Chisel Tip Washable Marker), I'll buy it on my next order. But, the biggest problem was that it took a while to trace it, and both me and my friend stayed in a squared position, we braved it trough but I don't think it;s worth it.

But! I had the feeling that my forward outside circles eight are quite round if I do them on the middle of the rink circle. I thought I'll ask my coach to bring out the scribe and check it, after I did it on clean ice. And... it was close enough. It was a little bigger, but the lobes were equal. So I'll use the forward outside eight tracing as my guide for the other figures, at least until I'll find a scribe.

Then, trying to implement my first lesson instructions, I have to change from what I was doing before for MITF test. Firstly, the push is very exact push. The pushing foot marks have to be on top of each other... I also had the push too laterally, but I don't feel I cannot really work on these yet. I feel i have to find the right speed, enough to bring me around, but slow enough so I can actually control the spot of the new push. At this point I'm going too fast I think. I was also concentrating on the spot (mark) where the new foot (the ball of it) should start. But it seams it may be better to try to alight the pushing foot over the old mark, one reason being that it is more visible. My coach says I have to do both... Also, one side is better then the other, when I push to the left, the marks are more consistent, when I push to the right I think I lean forward a little, and the push mark is a little back, I don't touch the boots in a T position. My coach showed me that my coming back to the center marks sometime pass on the other circle, so I need to keep it neat. I feel it is still an issue with going slower. AND looking down. Yes, on figures you are allowed, actually you have to look down. I still have to work on these things until I add to it. Because there is adding to it... My coach showed me that there is a difference in marking between a forward outside push and a forward inside push...

Then I had to work on the the lower body position... I used to hold the free foot extended back, then bring it at the ankle at the middle of the circle, then extended it forward. Now, I have to bring the foot at the ankle immediately, and I bring it at the back of the ankle, my coach wants it almost laterally. All this is so the hip position is locked in from the beginning of the circle, then you just hold. At the middle of the circle, I do extend forward, but without changing the hips alignment. I'm starting to do this consistently. And this would make my circles consistent so I can push with less speed and have more control on the push.

The waltz circle eight is more of a struggle. Firstly exit edge of the 3-turn was going out of the circle. My coach says I lean out of the circle on the exit edge, as I do on the dance 3-turns... See, figures will help my skating overall, including the dance. I'm able now to align the 3-turns on the circle, it was a  trial and error until I've got the right curve. I'm also Able to keep the cusp of the turn in the same spot (generally). But my coach says I'm forcing the 3-turns, they should be smoother. Then, the back outside push, again, goes out of the circle and mostly, I couldn't figure out how to turn forward at the same spot. My coach showed me I have to look down over my middle back, staying align over the hip. I was looking around, and that pulled me out of the circle.

I also figured that I have the time and I like working on figures twice a week at the beginning of the sessions for around 20 minutes. That is Wednesday, when I want to take it easy and save my muscle for my next day lesson, and Thursday, when I skate in the studio rink, so i cannot do power and speedy skating anyhow.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month I recovered from a flu and so I couldn't skate as much as I wanted. I skated 3 times a week. The last two weeks I added Thursday to the schedule and I added an half hour lesson to the one I take on Mondays. But... both these last two weeks I didn't skate on Friday. Something came up and it would have been a stretch to get to the skating rink.

Freestyle: I've done zero jumps and spins. As I was still congested after the flu, I was too out of breath to jump and not finding the balance for the spins. I'm feel excited to get to work on them again.

Figures: I've introduced figures in my training. Read about my reasons and the first lesson from two weeks ago, here. It seams I'm settling in practicing them around 20 minutes on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the very beginning of the sessions when the ice is clean.

MITF: The big change here is that I'm doing the backward 3-turn holding the free foot out, before I was bringing the free foot at the ankle when I turned and extended it after. I worked on them in isolation in cluster of two: forward 3-turns into backward 3 turns. I'm planing to start putting them on the pattern now, so 3 sets of two on the length of the rink. I think the rest of the moves I'm doing, those from the Pre-Juvenile, test are strong. I plan to start doing all these exercises with awareness on presentation, with entry steps and exit steps as I would do them when testing. I also plan to start working at the 5 minutes warm up, that's what I would have before the test. I don't want to do this as soon as I step on ice, as I remember it used to unsettle the whole skating session in the past. It made my rush and push too hard and then I felt tired.

Ice Dancing: it's definitely improving. The proof is that I finally got to partner the Ten Fox with my coach, on music. It could still use a little more work so I haven't registered to test. The 3-turns are stronger, but they are different in different days, I have bad days when I cannot really make them good, meaning they are still not reliable. Partnering is better. I added speed at the end pattern and that made me scared of the outside Mohawk, but it is happening now. I should start working on a 5 minutes warm up for dance, as soon as I step on ice, then do the dance so i would really mimic the test session.

Training process: Not being ready to test the Ten Fox got me disappointed and made me wonder if my goal of testing standard is appropriate, or I'm setting myself for failure. Then, I was questioning the training process. You can read my thought on process oriented training versus goal oriented training in the previous post. I feel that lately all I had in my mind was testing the Ten Fox and I've lost sight of the process. But I'm realizing I've never really figured out a training process... So, that's my goal now! Plus, of course, I want to test the Ten Fox...