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.