Injuries...

I'm fine, but I want to acknowledge how quickly and easily an injury can happen.

I keep complaining about my left hip injury. It happened almost three years ago, when I took the smallest and lighter fall, but I pulled something. I haven't had experience with injuries, so I didn't allow myself time to rest and heal, I continued skating. Not only I made the initial injury worse (I felt sharp pain few times), but all my hip muscles started to hurt from overuse, as they tried to compensate and help the injured muscle. And it took over two years to kind of heal, and I'm still "feeling" it occasionally.

Few years before the hip problem, I had an injury to my left ankle, I've felt some pain after a ballet jump (I didn't properly transferred the weight over the foot I picked with). It seemed fine. I think I kept re injuring it with bad salcow and toe loop technique and also spinning on the toe pick. It was never very bad, but nagging, so at some point I decided to stop jumping and spinning and let it heal. And then is when I started ice dancing. I also did calf rises regularly to build strength into ankles. I'm very happy to report that it feels totally fine, but looking back I did "feel" it for around 2 years...

Tuesday I skated twice. I bought ice at my home rink for the whole month for Tuesday, Friday, Saturday. Afterwards, ice opened to the rink where I could take lessons with my coach, and he was available only Tuesday. So I decided to take a 45 minutes lesson every second week. So twice this month I skated first a lesson and then I went to my home rink and skated an hour more. Two weeks ago I was so shocked by how bad the ice was, I took it very very easy. This Tuesday, the ice was not much better, but better and I worked on Freestyle and small moves. Towards the end of the hour I fell on a back 3-turn... very light fall, but I felt immediately I pulled something at my right hip. It didn't feel to bad, but I was very worried having the bad experience with the left hip.

My next skating was Friday. I took it very very easy. I felt the hip bothering just twice, and not sharp pain. But surprise, my both ankles were hurting. Whaaaat? As I looked back to Tuesday, I've realized I've felt the skates loose while I skated the second time. I think the skates got more flexible from skating an hour before and I should have had tighten the laces more. But not too tight because I also had pain at my right ankle from that... tightening to much!

Saturday I felt better, but again I took it easy.

There are some sayings about pushing for skating progress: everybody falls while skating, if you don't fall you are not working/ trying hard enough...

There are also many "wise thoughts" about preventing/ minimizing falls and injuries:
- stop skating if you are tired,
- let an injury heal,
- strive for the correct technique... 

Mid month update

This week I skated just once. Part of the reason was that I was busy, but that came on top of the previous week bad skating experience.

I told you that from two weeks ago I started skating on my home rink, as they've finally opened. I had to buy a certain slot for a whole month and I've bought Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, as they were the only days they had some afternoon ice. They allow 20 skaters on ice, and I thought it's gonna be a little crowded for me to skate comfortably. And I was right, but... there was an even bigger problem... ice quality.... It was the second worse ice I ever saw indoor for both Tuesday and Friday. The ice was flooded, like quarter inch of water in some places and it was terribly chopped underneath. Both days a hockey camp went on just before the figure skating package ice. I couldn't do long edges for dances or moves, or figures... just Freestyle. Luckily, my last private lesson was all Freestyle. Another obstacle was that there were many "obstacles" on ice. Coaches are not allowed on ice, they teach from the hockey box, and their (beginner levels) students stay near the boards, near the coaches, basically blocking any use of ice in length. Then. Saturday the ice was reasonable but there were lots of very strong freestyle skaters (many of them adults that I've never seen before, yey to seeing more adults skaters!) and with 20 on ice,  the skating patterns intersected all the time. I've wasted lots of time setting the patterns for moves and the dances, took two falls, and I ended up giving up and working on Freestyle elements again. I also felt tired, as I skated the day before too.

Last week I was busy on Tuesday, and the thought of bad ice discouraged me to even try to get at the rink. I did go on Friday and the ice was actually great. Friday session is 1.5 hours and I knew I will not be able to make it skating Saturday so I took my time to re asses the alignment as I haven't skated for a week now. I don't know how on some day an hour passes and I cannot fit in everything I want to work on, even if I push. This Friday I didn't push, in fact i did the opposite, I took my time, and the hour passed and I went trough everything... 10 minute warm up and alignment exercises, 20 minutes moves, 20 minutes dances and 10 Freestyle. There weren't 20 skaters on ice and all the coaches were teaching on one side of the rink, so the other side was quite open to do moves and dance patterns. The last half hour I felt tired, so I worked on slower things (3-turns both for moves and dances, the Foxtrot Mohawk, then figures), then just did exercises involving breathing and stretching on ice.

I was planning at the begging of the month to pay attention on how my skating goes so I can re ajust my goals, expectations for progress and enjoy more. And I feel I've got some data I can analyze.
- when I'm tired I don't enjoy skating and I don't think I'm effective in working for progress either...
- when is crowded I can do Freestyle, no whole patterns, only isolated elements from moves and dances, maybe even parts of dances or figures.
- when the ice is bad... Freestyle is the only thing I can expect to do.
- it seems I'm doing better for both working for progress and enjoyment if I start the session slower, working deliberately on alignment AND awareness of pressure into ice.

I had a little awareness of this, on a recent lesson, when my coach asked me to do one of the dances fast. I feel that in the past, when I was trying to go fast, I was rushing, not taking the time (or not being able) to do a good push...from underneath me and pressing into ice. That made me feel not stable, so afraid to go fast. I used to think that I don't like to go fast... well, I actually do... but I need to feel comfortable, align over a good edge and feeling that the ice hold me. Maybe that is the breakthrough I need to get from a beginner to an intermediate level... Getting a good push but quicker... and that would allow me to get faster while feeling comfortable. This is gonna be the first question to my coach on my lesson next week.

Skating technique: Jumps and spins review

In my lesson this week I asked my coach to go over and correct all my jumps and spins. I was telling you that I'm gonna skate at a new rink (my home rink just opened) and as I expected to be crowded, I wanted to have something that I could work on spots of ice, not the whole ice. And I was right... on my first day at the new rink I wasn't able to work on the whole ice. I was wrong on the reason why... it wasn't that crowded, it's just that the ice was terrible, the second worst indoor ice I ever saw, worse then most outdoor ice. The ice was flooded and it didn't dry until the end of the session. And before the freestyle session there was a 4 hour long hockey camp, so the ice underneath the water was terrible, just terrible. It stopped every single edge I tried to put in... and the dances exercises. Luckily I was prepared to work on jumps and spins that I just reviews with my coach.

Forward scratch spin. This is still the one thing that hasn't fully come back after the break. But it's not a technique thing... it's the dizziness. Because I don't feel comfortable, I'm cautious, I don't go into it with enough speed. I've got no correction on the actual technique.
Back spin. This got better after the break...surprise! I think I'm holding the posture better and it is not fast enough to make me dizzy so I have no hesitations. But the last few sessions it got worse. I've got the correction that I have to hold the free leg back until I turn the 3-turn for the spin entrance, and that fixed it.
Waltz jump. I've showed my coach three tiny waltz jumps in a row. Nothing really bad, but he wanted them bigger. Well, I want them bigger too... The correction was to let my free foot really go in that h-position, and also really push from that foot that's on ice.
Salcow. It was again... tiny. I have the timing right, that's great news, as it took me a while to get it. The first correction was to bring the free leg around, not in a straight line. I was ending up with the knees together, but bringing the leg around, allows the free leg knee to go across, towards the left side of the body; this was the second correction. The third correction was to allow this free leg knee to go higher, I am stopping it. I couldn't do it for now, but that's what practice is for.
Loop. The time was running and my coach knew I wanted to get to the Loop and Half Lutz, so we've skipped the Toe Loop. So I was able to do the loop few years ago, but then, as I haven't practice Freestyle at all, I've lost it. The first correction was that after I've got into the air, I was letting my upper body to go to far to the left, basically taking me out of the circle, stopping the rotation. I have to quiet the upper body and keep it square (actually more to the right side of my body, but it feels square to me). I've had that problem with my back spin, so I understood immediately, and I was able to apply it. but I think I'll need some time for it to become body memory. And that it's OK, because the second correction was that I don't have the power in my leg to push properly into the jump, or at least I don't bring it out. So that will need some time to develop too. My coach said that I should try to jump up the stairs step on one foot.
Half Flip. I was asked to do this more as an introduction to the half lutz. But I've got the correction that I don't really let it go up. I was asked to mentally stay in the air, not think about coming back on ice. The physical tip was to feel my upper chest going up not forward.I also remember from the past the tip to bend the skating leg more before the picking action.
Half Lutz. I've learned this in group classes, a million years ago, probably I wasn't doing it correctly and anyhow I forgot everything I may have known about it. So, my coach asked my to start from back crossovers going clockwise and from that back outside edge do the half flip. OOps, nope. He showed me, yes, he is allowed on ice now. And yes, I could see he was doing something with the free leg. He hold it in front while maintaining the outside edge until the upper body was set in the opposite position than the crossovers, left hand forward, right hand back. Then the free leg went back (skating leg got straighter), and while the skating knee, the  right foot got to pick the ice (the foot goes right back and it is not turned out). I had few bad tried and few better tries. That was all we covered in the lesson, but then, on my own, I've realized that as I put the right arm back I looked towards right (so back), while I was trying to jump toward left. As I tried to look straight forward, I was able to jump. So I think I've understood the motion, I'll have to do it until it becomes body memory.
Update 7/ 21/20202
Toe Loop. I asked for this in my next lesson. My entrance into the jump is from a RF inside 3-turn. That should be quite straight and it should end with the right shoulder and hand back. That should be hold back until the actual jump. The pick should be straight back with the left foot, the right foot is gliding back, on an outside edge toward the right of the left foot. I will have to double check on this, because sometimes my coach gives me a correction that is an over correction so I can correct something... but as I understand now, you shouldn't feel you jump from the left toe pick but from the right leg... The right knee hits the h-position in the air and after straitening the knee, the foot does like an inside 3-turn in the air...I kind of visualize it...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I've already described in detail how the skating went last month in my previous posts. Overall, I would say that I feel as comfortable on ice, as before the quarantine.

This week I still skated at the north side rink where I skated all last month. But starting this month, they allowed 15 skaters on ice instead of 10.

For the rest of this month, I have already bought ice at my home rink 3 times a week. That's gonna save me lots of time of sitting in traffic. They allow 20 skaters on ice plus coaches, and I know I'm gonna feel overwhelmed especially as last month I've got used with 10 skaters on ice. I fell lucky that I had this week the opportunity to skate with 15 people on ice to smooth a little the transition. 

And one new happy development, as more ice was added on the schedule to the north side rink, where my coach is teaching, in the sense that more skaters will be allowed on ice on the same time, I was able to get some ice there so I can still have lessons. I'll have a 45 minutes lesson every second week.

Plan and goals for this month?... I'm not sure. My big skating goal was always training for progress and lately I think more and more about skating for my own enjoyment.  I feel crowded skating sessions will not help "training" the moves for testing. And seeing my coach just every second week will not help "training" the Ten Fox for testing as for testing I need the dance partnered and from past experience, I forget the partnering part unless I'm seeing my coach, twice a week. I also don't think I can work on figures in crowded sessions. That only leaves on freestyle (jumps and spins)... as those are individual elements that don't take so much space on ice at my level. I also think I can work on specific turns, like dropped 3-turns and the Foxtrot mohawk for dance, and maybe learn new turns like brackets, double 3-turns for moves...

As for skating for my own enjoyment, I haven't figure it out yet. Las month in this "Mid month update" post, I was saying that I thought I would enjoy doing easier things, on what I wouldn't struggle. Coming back on ice after 3 months gave me the opportunity to see with fresh eye what I enjoy. And I actually enjoy everything, the difficult exercises too. A friend that is an accomplished  violin player, said that when she studied as a kid, she got extremely bored to keep  working and practice the same thing over and over. And then, a new instructor scheduled "playing" time in her practice, when she could play whatever she wanted, and not work at it, just enjoy. And this resonated with me. So I'm thinking now that is not what I do on ice, but the intention behind it, "work" or "play". This month, when the ice will be too crowded to work on things, I will have the opportunity to just "play" on ice.

My desire to skate for my own enjoyment came after losing that enjoyment and getting frustrated. I'm also looking back at the times when I've lost that enjoyment for skating in the past, before the quarantine. My coach thought it was  related with me getting frustrated that I wasn't progressing as fast as I expected. I didn't have any better explanation, and I'm sure there is some truth in that. So I was trying to make my progress goals more flexible and have a process oriented training instead of a goal oriented training. But... I'm starting to think that the frustration is actually more related with my body being tired or in pain... I mentioned in the "Mid month update" that I was hurting and frustrated, and then, at the End of month update" I was better and I really think what changed was how I felt physically. Two years ago I used to skate 6 days a week, two days twice, that's a lot, of course I was getting tired. Then I hurt my hip, and I had some kind of pain for almost a year. I will have to wait and see if the pain or feeling tired will prove to be the main source of my frustration.