Forth week of June

Monday: I went to the hockey rink to the public skate session and it was crowded... there were 3 fast hockey players, few good figure skaters, few beginner figure skaters that were occupying the circles and few wobbly "public" skaters. My right heal and hip ware also hurting during the weekend, I couldn't figure out why. While skating, my right foot didn't feel quite right (up to now it was the left one). There is some roughness at the back of the boot, I hope it is not because of that, because I don't know how it can be fixed. It could be because I tightened the laces too much and I forced the arches down. It could be just that I'm getting older... We'll see... Anyway, skating was slow and interrupted. And as I checked the schedule, the hockey rink has public skate around noon all every day up to Friday, but freestyle just Friday. The other rink has also public skate, I'm wondering if it would be less crowded.

Tuesday: I was looking at the rings schedule for the week, and the hockey rink has freestyle session (that I prefer) only on Thursday and nothing on Friday. The 3rd rink has public skate on Friday but as it is further away and I don't know how crowded it gets I'm not very motivated to go there. So, on Tuesday, as my right foot was hurting less, and I didn't feel my muscles very tired, I thought let's skate, then take a break on Wednesday and skate on Thursday. This public session was less crowded than the one on Monday and I skated slightly better. The thing is I may undervalue myself... Up to now I was working at the double 3s and brackets on a line across the rink, staring from standing and probably on a smaller lobe than standard. Now I put them on the lenght of the rink on bigger lobes. It feels I'm doing worse than before, but I think I'm just making adjustments. Meanwhile, the dances go well.. I'm training the TenFox that is working throughout, European Waltz (the 3's are controlled, I need more flow) and the Foxtrot where first part goes at full speed and the part with the outside Mo is slower but I think it almost has flow out of it, which feels like an improvement from 2 years ago when I last work at it.

The boots... So, I pronate on the right foot and I have weaker hip on the left side from an old injury) so  I have trouble with the outside edges. The left boot feels fine now (I used to feel the blade is crocked and the heel felt "in" and I ended up having to move the front of the blade "out", the logic is that when the blade was more "in" at the front, it allowed the front of my foot to go "out" too easily, and that pushed the back of my foot towards "in"). I still consider stretching it in front to be able to push thru the whole sole of the foot. The right boot feels now like the left used to. It may also be that it feels worse now in comparison with the left one that finally feels better... but it is not worse than before? Anyway, I plan to play with it a little. 

 It was good that I skated Tuesday because Wednesday and Thursday I couldn't.

Friday, and the next week until Thursday, there was no ice available at the hockey rink. The further away rink has 1 hour public skate at noon on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and I decided to check it out. I was running a little late but I went. I caught a terrible traffic I suspect because of the holiday weekend and I got there at 12.35... I couldn't find parking because this facility also has an outdoor pool, so I lost few more minutes parking. I thought I'll go in to just check how crowded it is, but I did decide to skate... after I put the skates on, I had 15 minutes left. The win here is that now I'm familiar with this rink and I liked it, so I do have another option of where to go skating.

Third week of June

Monday: no mid day ice to any of the 3 rinks I use, they were either closed or had the schedule altered because of the holiday.

Tuesday: I went to the new rink, the hockey house, first time on the freestyle ice. It wasn't terribly crowded but there was a girl in a competition dress running her program over and over and I felt pressured to give her way as probably she will compete soon. Anyway, after a week off ice, I was happy to do my exercises at a slowish pace. 

Wednesday: there was ice available at noon at the 3rd rink, the one that's farther away, but work got in the way and I couldn't make it. Noon used to be my usual skating time, but lately I went to 1 or 2 pm at the hockey rink, so now 12  feels "early", especially because I would have to leave earlier as the drive takes longer. 

Thursday: I went again to the hokey rink from 2 to 3 pm on freestyle ice. This time was quite crowded, included one lady running the music and filming repeatedly for a virtual test and few adult skaters skating on the hokey circles. Still, I figured that this being a freestyle session, everybody would know the look of moves in the field done on lobes on the lengths of the rink, and I was right. At this point I'm again trying to ignore how the boots feel, because I think they are quite right and concentrate on technique. I'm doing the exercises from adult gold MITF, juvenile MITF (some moves are the same), some spins upright forward (where I'm just becoming comfortable to cross the free leg) and back spin (on what I'm getting just few revolutions), twizzles (that is my "most wanted" element so I plan to work at it consistently), some dance exercises and the Tenfox. It was the first skating day in a while, when I felt content!

I didn't get to skate the rest of the week, I think I relaxed because I saw that the next week, between the hockey and the 3rd rink, there are more skating sessions options for me to get to.

Second week of June

Oops, I did it again.. I skated just once this week...

As the kids summer vacation started,  the "adults figure skaters only" ice at my home rink is not offered anymore, I can only go on freestyle ice and that is sparse too. At the new rink I've heard that the public skate, where I was going for the last 2 weeks, gets busy while kids are on vacation. It is also not at consistent times on the day, and actually this week I see it offered just one day. They also have freestyle but the timing is as inconsistent as the public skate. I will have to decide every day where I to go.

Monday, I was busy with work. 

Tuesday, it rained cats and dogs and I didn't feel like going skating. But I've stuck to my plan to do my best to skate 3 times a week. I went to the new rink for public skate. It was busy but not unmanageable and I was happy that the music was not country as the last weeks :) I was stiff from not skating 4 days, but I picked up where I left of. The last modification on the blade felt quite good. I've decided that I definitely want the left boot punched at front a little because I feel a little cramped in there and I don't feel I press into my sole as efficiently as on the other foot.

Wednesday I felt my muscles were tired, anyway I don't usually skate 2 days in a row, my muscles get too tired and I it ends up messing the following skating days, so I decided to not go skating.

Thursday, I've tried really hard, but I couldn't drop the work during the available skating hours.

Friday, Saturday I've found ice only early morning, I wasn't mentally ready to go, but, I'm considering it an option moving forward.

Sunday, I've researched more rinks' schedules and I may have found one! My home rink and the hockey team rink are in the city, they are at 15 minutes drive without traffic, up to 30 with traffic, the advantage is that I can run errands in my way to or from the rinks. I went occasionally for lessons at rinks on north suburbs at 30 minutes drive on expressway without traffic, to 45 minutes with regular traffic. BUT, there is big repairs done on the expressway so I get 40 minutes towards the rink AND between 1 hour and 1 hour and a half coming back... that is just not doable for my life. But, I found Monday, Wednesday, Friday noon public skate at a west suburb at 30 minutes driving both way, hopefully it will work!

First week of June

Monday. I went to the new rink, the hockey house, and... I'm quite happy. We were only 4 skaters on ice, I was able to go through all my patterns and exercises without any interference. There are some inconveniences... It starts at 11am so I have 1 hour less time for work in the morning compared to when going to the 12pm session from the other rink. Also they had country music that I never listen to, I could go as far and say that I dislike it, but the rhythm is actually mostly waltzy, and that I like, so as long as I ignore the lyrics it's not tragic. In time I probably could use the earbuds and listen to my own music, though I don't think they are very good at noise canceling. For now I rather don't wear them for safety reasons too. The blade alignment... not perfect but not bad... I did get tired, I left 10 minutes early, but I did lots of skating. The protein powder I bough to help with muscle recovery it's nauseatingly sweet and gave me a little stomach pain, so much for a quick vegan protein fix. I'm thinking to try and mix it with oats and fruits.

Tuesday: I was thinking for a while now that I would like a lesson so I can get my coach's opinion on blade alignment. He will be able to see if some of my difficulties are actually technique/ body alignment problems and not blade alignment problems. The only thing is that I want to be in reasonable shape (not very tired, and not very hesitant) so I can show him full MITF exercises so he has enough to make an opinion. I know I cannot skate on Friday, so I thought let's try and skate on Tuesday, and if it goes well enough, have break on Wednesday and maybe set a lesson for Thursday. I went again o the new rink and while it wasn't crowded, there were 3 adults that took over specific patches of ice, like circles or lines, and a child, pretty good figure skater, that was going fast and not watching. I was not able to run my exercises on the full length of the rink, then mid session, I've got tired. Overall it wasn't a bad skating day, it just not left me confident enough to set a lesson. The boots felt pretty good, the left one feels not straight in whatever way I move the blade and that makes me think again that the boot may be too short, even if I'm not hurting, I may not be able to push into the blade effectively test, and I may have to punch it again.

Thursday: I did go skating and the one thing to report is that I am not feeling so tired anymore.

Almost vegan: cauliflower soup

I remind you that I'm trying to "up" my plant base protein intake (as I am almost vegan), and keep track of the more successful recipes.

This is a variation of the "healthy soup". I love, looove cauliflower! I wanted to be able to taste it, so I took out from the healthy soup what I thought will compete with the cauliflower delicate taste, and that was the cabbage, parsnip, tomatoes and buckwheat. 

I started with  sauteing onion, carrots, celery with salt, pepper and turmeric. I added one head of cauliflower, one sweet potato, chickpeas. At the end I added fresh dill. 

It was per my family, the best soup they had in a very long while!

Ingredients: onion, carrot, celery, cauliflower, sweet potato, chickpeas (as protein), and fresh dill

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The plan, last month, was to get back into skating after two months off. I was also looking at the reasons I didn't skate. Most were valid scheduling issues, but some, were lack of motivation because the blade was still not in the permanent aliment position so I couldn't skate fully, I was trying to take it easy/ I didn't have any goals. So I set as priority to work on the blade alignment, to skate 3 times per week and to observe my reasons for motivation/ frustration in skating.

I think there is progress in the boot fitting and blade alignment. I figured I had to tighten the boot to the point of cramping, only then I had control and the changes in blade positioning didn't feel so important. The good news is that the boots will continue to mold on my feet, so eventually I will cramp less. The bad news is that during the last visit at the bootfiter, he nicked the corner of the sole on the heel, so I'm not sure if that will collapse, or if it is already collapsed, and I think I'll have to address this now, before continuing the work on alignment. I am exhausted from working with the bootfiters, I know they are doing their best, I know my feet are not perfect... it's just wearing me out. But, as I said, there was progress, so I have to keep pushing this until eventually gets done. The less I push, the longer it will take.

I expected that the muscle conditioning (and pain) is going to be a problem, but it is honestly more unpleasant than my expectations. The lesson here, is to do my best and not take so long breaks from skating, and if I really cannot go, do some squats and lunges. I don't work out beside skating (and ballet that I also stopped doing) but I think I can make myself do 10 squats and 10 lunges.

Food was also a problem, I need more protein to help the muscle growth, and as I am almost vegan I need to get creative with recipes (and I'm starting a category of posts about food with focus on plant based protein). I also ordered some protein powder, maybe that is gonna be an easy fix or at least help a little.

Rinks... the sessions I use to skate on Monday, Wednesday, Friday at noon for adult figure skaters only, used to be very quiet, but it is suddenly heavily populated by former high level competitors. They do watch out for the rest of us, but for me it is still very distracting. I still struggle mentally because I hurt my hip (is it now 4 years ago?) because a fast skater came close to me and I got spooked and I fell. Also I cannot keep straight my patters, or my thoughts, to be honest. I went and checked up the next closest rink to me, it is the rink of the local hockey team, they usually (not consistently) have an 11am public sessions. I didn't have time to skate but as it looked quite empty, I bought 10 passes (another parenthesis here, to complain that this rink is more expensive than my home rink). I feel that after I'll have the blade set, I'll be more adaptable and I could maybe go to my home rink, for now, I need quiet sessions. And that is gonna be a challenge, as the kids' summer vacation starts, there is less ice available because the rinks offer skating camps.

Motivation...is related with all these difficulties I've mentioned and the fact that I get frustrated. Few months ago I was trying to take a balanced approach to skating in order to hopefully avoid frustration. In my mind that was "take it easy" approach, but that ended with me not skating at all. I still think I should try and avoid frustration, that goes against motivation. I'll try and take the yoga approach and observe the difficulties without judgment, and keep going gently not pushing hard. Of course, specific goals would help, like to test the adult Gold MITF, but it is difficult to work  seriously at this while I'm still playing with the blade alignment, that changes my balance each time.

I also asked few of the skaters that skated as kids and keep going what it's their motivation to keep coming back, because I know we all have the same difficulties (work, family, scheduling, finances, aging body, traveling). One said, well, I'm unhappy if I don't skate, yeap... it is true for me too. But few said that music helps a lot, especially in those moments that skating doesn't go really well. So I'm revisiting my skating music playlist and I've ordered some wireless earbuds. I tried to avoid using them because that can be a safety issue, but I see the majority of the skaters on my regular session are using the, so I'll give it a try.