Plan for the first time on ice

I really really want to take it slow as I start skating after more then two months break. I told you in my last post that I've red that other adults skaters had a pretty hard time coming back. They complain mostly about feeling stiff and wobbly and that they've lost skills. I think my biggest fear is... muscle pain or re injuring my hip.

At first I thought I'll go out there with absolutely no plan and just enjoy. But, I'll skate in a Freestyle session with kids that will just fly around me. I bet that will  get me excited to follow some things they are doing.

So I think it is better have a plan, like a list of exercises easy enough for the first time on ice. Before the break I was skating sometime on a studio rink, half size, and I found I had to skate differently than on the big rink, slower, more methodical. This re starting to skate is somehow the same.

Here are some drills/ exercises I can do in a relaxed manner
- skate in a public skate style
- swizzles forward/backward
- swizzles with breathing lifting the upper body
- easy edges F/B outside and inside
- hopefully the rest of the skaters will still be busy warming up and I will be able to use the middle for some figures style circle eights

And then, a little more power
- slalom B/F
- edge presses
- light crossovers on circles F/B
- power pulls

Then
- light 3-turns forward and backward
- dance dropped 3-turns
- some spins
- some jumps

If there is time
- MITF crossovers pattern
- MITF 5 step mowhok pattern
- chasses, progressives, swing rolls F/B on lobes (no extension)

And also a list of what NOT to focus on...
- no high extension as those were hurting my hip
- no knee bending so I don't get my quads sore
- no speed

Update: Rinks are opening!

I'll wait to write my usual beginning of the month post for next month, until I'll skate once or twice next week. Yes! you heard right... the rinks (some rinks) are opening. I live in the city and my rink is not gonna open until July 6. I've occasionally skated in some north suburbs were my coach was teaching when ice wasn't available at the city rink, and those rinks are probably gonna open mid June. But some south suburbs rinks announced at the beginning of this week that they'll open June 1st, and these last days I've seen some further north rinks opening too.

I'm set for next week to skate Monday, Wednesday, Friday far south. It was the first rink I heard will open and I jumped and reserved the ice as they announced it. It is a rink were a good friend works occasionally, so I had early information. It's gonna be a long long drive, but I think I'll get to see my friend one of those days, so that's a bonus. It's also expensive, as only 10 people are allowed on ice, including coaches... 3 sessions cost as much as I was spending before for 4-5 session plus one private lesson. The day after I signed up for this expensive ice, I saw another south rink offering ice a little cheaper, and it would have been a little closer to me also. But there are no refunds so what's done is done.

A rink I've skated before and where my coach gives lessons, still not close to where I live, but closer, announced reasonably priced ice (half price of the expensive rink) from the second week of June. They allow 10 skaters on ice and coaches off ice. Now, I couldn't decide how further along should I pay for. Their schedule is not fitting mine too well. This is combined with the decision if/when I'll start my private lessons. I kind of feel I want to skate a little on my own, but if I would want lesson I should better say asap, so I can get the time slot that I want. Then, there is another rink opening probably mid June, that would be more convenient to me location wise, so I would kind of want to wait and see that rink schedule and price. So ideally, I should have bought ice only for the second week of June, but as the registration started and I saw sessions getting full all the way until end of August, I've panic and bought 3 weeks.

So I'm excited that I have secured ice for the first four weeks of June, 3 days a week. What I'm not excited about is that my schedule is gonna be very tough, the days super full, and I bet I'll be physically very very tired... I was saying in my previous post, 2 weeks ago that I would want a more balanced life, and here it goes again, skating is taking over.

I'm also unexcited about numerous reports from adults that started skating already in another states. They all say that they feel shaky and slow and lost lots of their moves. But, I was kind of making my mind during this break to maybe switch my focus from skating for progress to skating for enjoyment... So, I'll start with that in mind and see where it's gonna get me. I also don't want to push my muscles, and my stubborn hip that keeps tensing up, so, the plan is to start slow. Theoretically I shouldn't get frustrated about the lost skills. As I was saying at the beginning of this post, I'll skate few times just to see how I feel, without putting any pressure, any judgment, or try to make plans.

Part of skating for enjoyment and not training for progress is meeting the skating friends. One group of skating friends, took upon themselves to rent ice per hour and split the cost. Actually they've got a deal for 5 sessions, each sessions allowing 11 people on ice. I signed up for one of the session for Monday, June 8th. It is a long drive north and at 8 pm and the most expensive per hour compared with the other options... Oh well, I'll see my friends, and if it's true that we are all gonna feel wobbly, we'll comfort and encourage each other...

The only other update I have at this point is that I've tried on my skates and they fit like a glove!

Mid month update

I had a nightmare last night. We were going back ice skating, there was pre registration to get on the ice and a waiting line outdoor. I could see that the skaters getting of ice were excited and that built the excitement for me to get on ice already! And then, as I entered the building, the rink wasn't familiar. It was redesign in terraces, different levels of ice surfaces. BUT they were very very small... the one on the bottom was the length of a tennis court but narrower, and the upper terraces were really more like balconies. I just couldn't believe that other skaters were content about it. I woke up from the dream right then, so I don't know if I actually tried skating or I just left. In real life I would have left for sure...

As time is passing without skating I have this growing worry that skating won't be the same, for me... I put in the past quite an effort into it. I had to come up with a time management that included sacrificing social life and not pursuing other things. What's happening right now, was unforeseeable...  Still, it is general wisdom that a person should strive to balance different aspects of life.

As I don't have skating to motivate me, I am not keeping up with the muscle conditioning. I was always slim by eating healthy and not sitting much, but before skating I was never what one would call active. It was hard and literally painful work to build up my muscles for skating, mostly through skating, but added lately strengthening exercises to help my skating. Now, I let those go... I am still doing some yoga, ballet, pilates in a relaxed, no pressure manner. Pre covid,myy ballet class was offered through the city park district and now it is moved online. The same instructor also offers online classes light yoga and pilates and ballet conditioning, so I take all of them, but honestly I do less then I would do in a live class.

I came back to my old (before skating) eating habits, light and fresh. Because I'm not active, I'm never hungry these days... And also I don't have to worry about the protein intake (as I'm almost vegan) to keep the muscle strong. Yes, it is clear, skating did make me alter my way of eating... Anyway, I've started to loose the weight I gained last month...

I feel that last month I was in standby, keeping myself ready to start skating at days notice. This month I actually fell I'm consciously letting go of skating so I make room for other things. It could be months until the skating rinks open, and even then, the schedule will be altered and I really cannot just stand and wait. And later, if I'll get now into other things, it's gonna be a fight again to take away time from these other things and put into skating. And even when circumstances will allow, and I would eventually decide to go back to skating as it was, it would be very very hard work. I fell very confused....

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I was telling you at the beginning of April that my plan for the month was to crawl trough it. I'm so happy that I haven't planned for more, because I would have been disappointed.

Now, firstly, not necessarily related to skating, but with life in general, I have so many thoughts... And I'm conflicted in choosing between suppressing them, and wishing and waiting for life to come back to "normal", or acknowledging the thoughts and using this time to re assess the "normal" and hope that the world will move forward, to something better, not backward, to "normal".

Then, on a more practical side and related to skating, I try to help my body stay healthy and in shape. But, I'm disappointed I've gained 5 pounds. Obviously I ate too much for the amount of exercise I've been doing. My exercising now consumes less calories then before, because I don' t do that much cardio. So I would have had to eat a little less then before. But, for the first few weeks, while adjusting with staying home and cooking more, I think I may have eaten more... I'm looking at what I eat now and I think I'm eating healthy, and I think is less then before the quarantine as calories. I think at this point my weight will be stable. Of course I would love to loose that extra weight I've already gained, but not by dieting... not now, when I need the strongest immune system I could have. So, I should increase the cardio exercises...

As for last month exercising, I definitely haven't figured it out. I did consistently some strength exercises, some light yoga exercises and mostly watching instead of following, some ballet. And, I've ran outdoor twice...

The strength exercises it seems I approached wrongly. I wasn't warming up before them, and I wasn't stretching and rolling after... I didn't think I was doing that much. A set of eight here and there... But, I cramped few times and my hip had some pain. I mean, from what? I wasn't doing anything strenuous... It was eye opening when I started to roll my hips, quads and IT band. Oh boy... As for the hip, besides of not rolling the big muscles and them probably pulling the hip muscles, I think I do sit more then in the past and that shortens and tightens the hip flexors.

With yoga, the light exercises are fine. For really getting into a more serious practice, the problem is that I cannot use a mat with the cats around, and any pose that I would need a grip for, like deep lunges, triangle, even down dog, I cannot do on the rug.

For both yoga and ballet, I just don't have enough space near the computer if I want to follow along. There are so many ballet and yoga lessons online, and as I was watching and trying to follow along, it just didn't click for me. I thought maybe they are over my level, or I was just not emotionally connected. But them my regular ballet professor offered a ballet class on Zoom and I definitely connected. After hitting the furniture on the smaller steps it became evident that I couldn't go for it...

That instructor also offered a stretch class (yoga and pilates inspired) and that hit the spot big time. I did take the time to move some things around and turn the monitor around before the class.

And outdoor running... Well it was a rainy and cold month and... I hate running anyway...

I'm trying to learn from all these in order to improve my life moving forward. And I'm not thinking just about this month. There are some ice rinks that posted the safety guidelines for when they'll open. There is gonna be masks, social distancing, limited number of skaters on ice, so limited availability of ice, maybe price increase. It may not be very accessible. And no partnering... so my ice dancing training for the test goes away. If I cannot be on ice at least 3 times a week, the whole training concept goes away. And this can take a while...

The plan for this month is to move more and it has to be outdoor because I cannot move more in the house. Also, do the strength exercise after warming up, and do the rolling. If at the middle of the month I'll see that the real skating and ballet won't be back any time soon, I'll have to rearrange some furniture so I can really get into ballet and yoga at home.

So instead of crawling as I did last month, I would like this month to start walking... Small steps...