Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month's skating was... hard. I guess the main reason is that my life is busy and it is hard to carve time for skating. It doesn't help that it is taking a long time to drive to the rink where I take the weekly lesson.  Also I am building muscles, and that hurts and it is tiring, so it makes my busy life harder. But... I can feel progress in skating! That is motivating to me, except my coach doesn't seam to think that I'm close to testing and that is demotivating.

I take a half hour lesson focused on ice dancing every week and I skate 3 and one week even 4 days to practice. I'm working mostly on the dance exercises and the Ten Fox. The exercises need patience to actually correct things. The dance got more precise, more flow, but it is slower than it should be. We haven't partnered yet with my coach, as I am still correcting things. 

When I get bored or impatient with the dance I go through the double 3turns and brackets and I can do them usually without stepping down though the flow is modest. Friday it was also a good day for spins, I finally gathered the courage to cross the free leg for the forward spin (I think the boot that was too short messed up my forward spin, the alignment on that side really, and just now I start to "feel" the alignment) and the back spin actually rotated (usually it stops after a couple of rotations because I don't balance correctly). The twizzles maybe start to improve, the CCW ones go consistently 2 revolutions, the CW ones I occasionally hit 2 revolutions but again, I "feel" the alignment is stronger.

Some acquired wisdom from these weeks

- listen to my body, when it is very tired, don't go skating let the body rest... maybe go back on the idea to be very careful in building the muscle progressively.

-  when I am a little tired work on less taxing stuff on muscles, with less knee  and less extension. And work on breathing and "finishing" the exercises, enjoy them

- whenever the ice is emptier, practice all kind of backward skating, the posture and rising on the left foot need work

- whenever the ice is very crowded, practice quicker skating, especially pushes

- don't sit and rest/ watch others, the muscles get cold and then I get more muscle pain

Plan for this month, keep going I guess and hope that the satisfaction is bigger than the effort.

The 4th and 5th weeks of October

I don't have to travel these weeks and I can find ice to skate each day Monday through Friday.

Monday I found ice only at my old rink. That session is only for adult figure skaters an that is usually comfortable. Only sometime there are a bunch of professional skaters training for a show. They are great to watch, like a private show, but they are also in the way of my own skating. I skated a little and I watched a little. In the afternoon my muscles were very tired, I've realized that taking those breaks allowed the muscles to cool own and tense up when I've started skating again. So I've learned an important lesson this day!

Tuesday I skated at the close by rink. It was pretty empty and I skated pretty well.

Wednesday I took the weekly lesson farther north. The lesson was great (I will add notes to the post about the recent dance lessons), the driving time was as usually, insane.

Thursday I practiced at the close by rink. The instruction I get in the lessons is starting to settle in!

Friday I woke up tired but not exhausted so I went skating again. This means I skated 5 days in a row! My muscles were tired Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday, my muscles were still hurting a bit but I skated well. I'm trying to push the length of time I'm skating and also the intensity, like more knee bend, more extension. Tuesday I skated because I had a lesson planed for Wednesday but my muscles were very tired and not so quick.

Wednesday I had my lesson but it was not that good since I was still tired and my body was slow. I had some successful adjustments to my alignment and to the waltz 3 turns, I will add them in the post about the dance lessons!

Thursday I took a break from skating... I felt irritated that I had to take the break but I felt good about it in the afternoon... 

The 3rd week of October

This week there is ice at the close by rink Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (the one negative is that it is at different time each day) and I could skate at my home rink Wednesday and Friday. So basically the whole week is covered! Analyzing the last 2 weeks it seems that I favor heavily the close by rink because I don't waste time driving, especially now that I added a weekly lesson that takes quite a lot of driving time. As the week started I've realized that while I didn't have to travel the work load was heavy.

Monday was Columbus day, I skated at the close by rink, my home rink was closed anyway. I expected to be crowded with kids and it was. To make it worse there was no ice monitor and the kids were playing catch and playing by throwing gloves on ice and using the beginners frames to play racing, and bump into each other. I skated around, used the center of the ice for some turns, edges an spins, and I left after half hour happy to be alive. At least I got my skating legs and balance back after the weekend. 

Tuesday it was almost empty, but there were 2 brothers around 5 years old, very good skaters, going fast in hockey style and not looking around. The noise that they were making amplified my fear of them hitting me. I got frustrated thinking I had a lesson the next day and I couldn't practice. I decided to cancel my lesson and just skate for fun. I ended up reviewing some the double 3s pattern and the bracket patterns

Wednesday, no lesson. I could have skated to the farther away rink, but I realized I felt tired, I didn't go.

Thursday I skated again at the close bye rink and the same brothers were there. There were other people skating and that worked for me, it seamed to slow down and quiet down a bit the boys. I've ran through everything I could remember, but I felt frustrated. 

Friday there was ice only at the further away rink and Fridays is usually more crowded and more traffic coming back. It was still the better skating day out of this week.

Few things I've noticed this week

- as soon as I want to "train", I  get frustrated (from various reasons). I will have to think about ways to control that, or to lower my expectations of training.

- I'm also thinking that my hope to skate Monday through Friday (in the middle, on Wednesday having just a half hour lesson so not too physically challenging) might not work because my body gets too tired and my schedule too busy. I'll give it few more weeks... if I don't catch up I'll have to choose 3 days to skate and the lesson, or a lesson only every second.

The 2nd week of October

This week I have no work getting in the way Monday through Friday! My home rink has ice Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the close by my house hockey rink Monday through Friday. 

Monday I skated at the close by rink, I was stiff after the too long break from skating (from last Wednesday) and I felt unmotivated. I skated just 45 minutes, but I skated with reasonable control. I'm thinking to have a lesson on Wednesday instead of Tuesday so I can still practice on Tuesday. Plus, the lesson is not very tiring and it is just 30 minutes, it may feel almost like a rest day, and maybe then I can skate Thursday and Friday... One can hope... but I can try and see how I feel.

Notable things to pay attention to. I forgot to stretch the left boot and it felt uncomfortable, I guess a day or two break from stretching if fine but this was from the previous Wednesday, so almost a week. As I researched more into muscle recovery, it caught my eye that the muscle rolling should be done immediately after working out, I bought a handheld stick and rolled the muscles immediately after skating and it felt good but later in the day I've hurt more than usually. Maybe it is a good thing, that the fascia is releasing? We'll see... 

Tuesday I skated again at the close by rink, it was quite empty and I was able to go through all the exercises I wanted. I did the dance ones and the Ten Fox and I also did the double 3s and the brackets, I don't want to regress there, eventually I want to test the Adult Gold moves. When I got to the rink I couldn't find my wallet. After agonizing and calling home to see if it is not there, and it wasn't, I went back to the car and found it there. This incident emphasized to me that I'm always rushing... and I made a mental note to slow down.

Wednesday, lesson! It took me 35 minutes to get there a little over an hour to get back. I tried to leave earlier, to "slow down" but I couldn't, argh. The lesson had lots of information that I remembered from the previous seasons lessons, but also some things that I needed reminding of, and some things that I may have heard before but haven't registered or understood. I took a fall, showing that I'm getting out of my comfort zone, and I work on improving. At the end, the coach said that I did good and that I corrected some stuff. I will add the technical notes to the previous post of the previous week dance lesson.

Thursday, I felt too tired to skate, the lesson was not so tiring, but the fall surely made my muscles tense.

Friday, I skated at the close by rink. This session was in the morning and I was worried that it will get me tired for the whole day.The alternative ice was at noon at the further away rink, and with the Friday traffic, it would have taken me the whole day anyway. It was a little  more crowded, I didn't feel I could go "out" with the dance exercises and I had to stop few times from trying the Ten Fox. But I got few rounds in, and I did some double 3s and brackets, and some other exercises. My muscles felt tired but I was able to find my balance quite quickly so I guess it may show some improvement...

Overall, it wasn't a bad skating week, but it felt labored and rushed. The fact that I'm observing carefully the schedule, the muscles, the progress, etc, surely adds some pressure but I also think it helps planning.

The 1st week of October

The possible skating schedule this week, was: Monday: home rink or hockey rink that is very close from my home, Wednesday: home rink, Thursday: hockey rink, Friday to Sunday either no ice, either I cannot skate because of work. So I think I can supplement with a lesson on Tuesday but that will get me to skating 4 days in a row. I hope I can manage that physically and also I hope I will not get myself too stressed because of the skating. The idea is for skating to help my life, not stress it.  

Monday I skated at the close by hockey rink. It was not very crowded this time, but with the desire to take a lesson on Tuesday I choosed to not push too much so I will not be tired the next day. I did mostly dance related drills and did the Ten Fox few times, unfortunately without music. I see some skaters connecting their music but being public skate and there were few hockey skaters on ice I though pattern dance may not be pleasant to them. I also see skaters with earbuds, I think I am gonna try those on a very low volume next time so I can still hear what is happening around me.

Tuesday, lesson! Read about it here.  It took me 35 minutes to get there and 2 hours back (because I made a stop just off expressway). Next time I'll drive straight home to see exactly how long it takes. Loosing so much time driving back takes a big chunk of my working day, I don't know if I can do it every week... This particular day was a pretty busy work day too, so maybe other days will be better, hopefully...

Wednesday I skated at my home rink and I've applied the corrections from the lesson. It felt satisfying to feel immediate improvement by applying just few corrections. I pushed quite hard, I was worried if I would be able to skate the next day.

Thursday, yeap I was too tired to even consider it would worth it to go skating.

Friday I had a work meeting Northside that was finishing at the edge of maybe me making it back to skate if the driving would be  expected1 hour. I dressed in layers, with leggings underneath and brought the skates with me. Only the drive back was... 2hours, yeap it was Friday, maybe on a different weekday would have been better. So, no skating...

No ice Saturday and Sunday.

I was pretty disappointed on Friday realizing I skated just 2 sessions and a half hour lesson. Like this, I am not gonna improve and the lessons would be a waste of driving time and money. I need at least one more skating day. 

Next 2 weeks though, I think I can count on skating Monday through Friday.

Dance lessons

This was my first skating lesson in almost a year, and before that I had only one lesson the previous year... Basically I stopped skating in an organized manner since before Covid. I attribute this mostly to the trouble I had finding the new boots, then I lost the motivation to keep the strict schedule that allowed me to skate 6 to 9, at some point, sessions a week. Whenever I was on ice after Covid, on and off, I tried to continue the instructions I had from before and maintained the skills. I decided I want to test the Ten Fox, mostly to motivate me towards something.

After I wrote about the first lesson I realized it makes sense to add here all the technical corrections from the following lessons, so I can use them in training. The 30 minutes lessons, in general, use around 15 minutes for exercises that teach the technique and they are kind of like a warm up, and 15 minutes for the dance in training. I get corrections that I will work on until the next lesson, and so hopefully I improve and I get to test. On the not so perfectly in unison side, my coach  does not seem to be a fan of virtual testing. I want to keep this idea of testing to motivate me and I like virtual testing better.

F Stroking, my extension for the left leg is weak from when I had my hip injured. I'm trying to build it slowly. My coache's correction was to the posture, to lip more, shoulders back, upper chest projected forward

F and B Chasses and Progressives 

- I was wide stepping so we went on to revive the instruction I had few years ago. After finishing a lobe, I have to rise, rebend, maintained the upper body axis (stay over the feet), flip the pushing leg from an outside edge to an inside one and press into the ankle and push while opening the foot at 45 degrees. We used around 15 minutes for this. I remembered the instruction, but my body seemed to have forgotten to rebend.

- I was not holding the extension on the last step. I had the excuse that my muscles cannot do it, but my coach had the point to hold it to fill in the measure of the dance, even if the extension is not high. Not holding the extension in the past also contributed in me not "finishing" the lobes, I was changing the edge way too soon losing power too.

- Some instruction that didn't catch my attention until now was that the lobe is "finished" by the skating foot getting out of the way (by deepening the edge, almost like a hook) (and then flipping in the inside edge to push), so that the new skating foot has room straight underneath the body to be pushed straight ahead (perpendicular to the axis, so on a true edge)

- For Progressives concentrate more on the underpush, that gives half the power. Also leave space between feet before the underpush so I can push diagonally

Backward skating: shoulders more to the back and to balance push the ankles, the heels back too

B SwingRolls: swing just before the mid lobe, direct the swing toward the end of ice, lean inside the circle not outside

3 Turns:  twist upper body while rising and pull skating shoulder back,  rise completely, don't stick the butt out, the body is an axis. Also I discovered by trying to add flow to the dance, that deeper knee bend on the 3's entry edge gets me to rise quicker, I guess I have the flow to bring me up.

The Ten Fox:

- on the B SwingRoll I should push straight back and I shouldn't rotate the shoulders so I can stay square with the partner

- "finishing" the lobe as described above, helped the step forward after the B SwingRoll and stepping on a true outside edge for the 3turn

- step forward with left arm forward

- the waltz 3: I need to rise completely, the body is an axis (not to bend forward and stick the butt out) so the feet can turn undisturbed

- the step forward after the B progressive: turn upper body as rising but keep knees together, rebend and open knees to step, step outside (wider) the circle to step on an outside edge

- stroke the underpush on the end pattern progressives 

- the outside Mo: right shoulder back (to be parallel to the partner), the back is back over the circle, at the point of turn rise completely (do not have upper body lean forward), place the free foot on pinky toe, draw the right heel towards forward-left

 

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month, after skating 2 times in the first week,  I had to take a break from skating 2 weeks because of work. I pick it back the fourth week, I skated 3 times but just 40 minutes to an hour in order to build stamina. I don't know... it is frustrating, but I choose to be grateful that I am able to skate at all.

This month I will have again some traveling for work, that will not allow me to skate some Fridays, I don't usually find ice in the weekend and that restricts my skating week to Monday through Thursday. My home rink offers Monday, Wednesday and Friday, but with Friday gone... I'm looking at the hockey rink that is very close to me and offers public skate, their schedule the crowd on ice are unpredictable. What I did, I contacted my coach and ask for his schedule, he has availability every day of the week, so I can supplement my skating with a lesson Tuesday, Thursday (when there is no ice at my home rink), or even Tuesday, if I get to skate at the hockey rink. I'm thinking I work hard and travel when needed, I deserve, I need in fact, to make time for my skating. Skating is a work out, and an emotional joy.

I will decide each weekend the schedule for the following week. 

As for my plan from last month to find way to stay connected with skating even when I skate less, it is a work in progress. I try to do some light  and quick exercising everyday, like ankle strengthening, some core work  and some arms work. Then I do some skating specific moves like stroking extension and spirals extensions. I don't put pressure on me on the quantity, I just do something to hopefully create a habit. I updated my skating music playlist on my phone. I'm also watching some skating on youtube. I look for exercises adequate for my level. An I also watch some elite skater's new program as the competitive season started. I think it works to some extent.

I hope my lessons are gonna help with both my skating technique and also with motivation.

I'm gonna use this blog as a planning tool and journal.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month I skated 2, 3 and even 4 times per week, so not bad. As I've finally settled into my boots, I have convenient access to ice, and I figured out that I can build my muscle and stamina if I skate consistently, I think I'm ready to consider some skating goals.

I still have few challenges, firstly, I'm pretty busy with work, like really busy, I cannot skate as much as I theoretically could. Secondly, my coach is not teaching at the closer rinks I skate at, and with how busy I am, I cannot even think at driving to where he teaches. 

I tentatively would like to test the Ten Fox until the end of the year. But for this month, I'm making my goal to figure out how to stay connected with skating when I cannot skate 3 times per week. Like this week, Monday was Labor day and the rinks were closed, and the previous Friday I couldn't skate, so Tuesday skating was cautious and I felt disconnected mentally and emotionally. I haven't got frustrated, as I understood what was happening and why, but it is hard to keep motivated like this.

I couldn't skate Wednesday and I will not be able to skate Friday, that will leave this week with just 2 days of skating so I bet, next week I will feel again disconnected. The third week of September I will be traveling for work so I skate less and also I will disconnect. 

So I want to find short activities like watching videos and off ice drills not only as exercises but skating specific exercises to keep me motivated when not skating and to help me connect with skating quicker when I finally get on ice...

The 4th week of August

The rink belonging to the city  hockey team, that is 7 minutes away from me, opened this week. They do not have consistent public skate so I have to check each week on what they have. This week they had Monday through Thursday at 11.30. I was eager to check it out to see how crowded it is, if it is too crowded I can always go to my home rink that is 20 minutes away and offers at noon Monday, Wednesday, Fridays adult skaters only.

Monday there were around 10 skaters on ice but there was a mixed crowd, some beginner figure skaters, some good figure skaters, some kids, some beginner public skaters and some hockey skaters. I started cautiously, but I ended up doing all I wanted to do. I was able to put my music as there was no music from the rink, and on a waltz song I did the willow waltz. During the whole session I concentrated on soft knees, it seems that stiff knees make me tense my muscle, overworking them and then I have muscle pain. I stopped skating at 50 minutes.

Tuesday I woke up excited about skating and not much tired, I went skating again. I was thinking for a while that I need a goal and I decided to go through the adult gold moves at every skating sessions. I can do everything but the double 3s and brackets are very slow, it remains to be seen how quickly I can develop them. This skating session I've put my music again and as a waltz came, I did the Ten Fox, since I've done the Willow Waltz the previous day. I can do the TenFox with reasonable flow and control! And I'm thinking to make it a goal to test it this year, there are 4 months left after all. Without goals I just "skate around". 

Wednesday I was moderately tired and I had a crazy work load so I took a day off skating.

Thursday I started the day again with intense work (intense, so I can get done what needs to be done and go skating). I was able to go just at 12 instead of 11.30. As I got there, the ice was empty. Too bad I wasn't there on time, because it filled with few families with kids, some kids were using those frames to hold themselves steady, other kids were playing around. I skated half hour, went through the gold moves and the Ten Fox. It was better than nothing and I had to get back to work anyhow.

Friday it was again an unusual crazy work day. I felt tired mentally mostly because of that, but after skating, I've realized my muscles were tired too. I skated at the home rink, it was a further drive, it was quite crowded. 

So this week it was mostly the work that got in the way of skating. I cannot complain about the boots anymore, thank you skating gods! My muscles are still building but skating shorter sessions seems to be working better. 

The 3rd week of August

This week I was able to skate Monday, Wednesday and Friday at my old rink.

Monday, I was stiff after a long weekend travel that including the previous Friday. I skated just 45 minutes and did my basic exercises, I felt quite meh until I remembered that I haven't skated from the previous Wednesday, then I cut myself some slack and I felt better. The lovely thing is that these noon sessions are for adult figure skaters only, and the feel is relaxed and supportive.

Wednesday I stepped on ice trying to not have expectations. I felt pretty good, I started to feel my knee rise. These sessions are an hour and a half but I felt tired at 50 minutes and I've took a second to think on what I've done. I did lots of exercises, all the move from the adult gold test and the dance exercises. I was excited so normal I would have skated more, but I stopped to be sure I won't overwork my muscles. I did good! I felt tired in the afternoon, but not extremely tired the next day and Friday I was brand new.

Friday was a pretty lovely skating day, my knees was soft and I felt I had enough control to put some exercises and later some dances on music.

Mid month update

 I'm on a mission to build back my skating.

I'm doing mostly observing and planning, as the  rinks are still on the summer schedule, so not that much ice variable, plus last week I had a to work, so I couldn't skate consistently. And this, consistency, is what I need and try to plan.

I'm trying to plan:

- my life and work schedule so it will match the rinks schedule starting in mid August (skating will be at 11.30am  at the close rink an 12 Mo,W, Fr at my home rink, that means I should start getting ready at 11am, and expect to get back home to work at 1.30 to 2.30)

- some exercising. I'm prioritizing exercises for ankle strength, as I felt a little pain on ice, and leg exercises on my non skating days, to keep building the muscles. Of course some core an upper body work would totally not hurt, but I have to start somewhere...

- I'm watching skating videos an making lists on exercises I could o on ice. I want to have options for days when the rink is busy or I feel off. When I encountered days like that in the past an I haven't got a plan and exercise options, I felt I was inefficient, as I got frustrated and I've just pushed the old exercises, that weren't working in that context.

- I sharpened my blades

- The one disappointing thing I observed is that, as soon as I started to plan, I started to push, and I started to feel pressured. I've lost the fun a bit. I've also skated longer sessions an that gave me pain muscle. I have to learn this threshold of  when to stop skating (this is the plan), as without muscle pain I go back skating with more excitement an more control.

Summer skating, planning for the fall - the muscle conitioning

When I started skating in April, after a few months break, I've felt out of shape on both muscle conditioning and stamina.  But I skated casually and short sessions, so it was not much of an issue.

In the past years, when I wanted to progress, I skated  5 to even 9 sessions per week, and I was struggling badly with muscle pain. I've read and applied all about nutrition, protein intake, hydration, warming up, dressing up warmly, getting the muscles tired with a certain number of repetitions, proper rest days, epson salt soaking, rolling, massaging, stretching... nothing really made a difference. I would rather not go back to that. I treasure the no (much) pain skating! I'm also starting to think that the pain was a big factor against motivation and enjoyment.

At the beginning of the summer, I expected the rinks schedules to be unpredictable and I didn't think I will skate regularly. I thought it would not be worth it to go through muscle pain, only to lose the muscle because I'll probably  not skate the next week. So I've held back on the skating exercises that are more tiring and I've left the rink early if I felt tired. I ended up skating pretty regularly, and I am surprised that I did got stronger without going through much pain and it didn't take that long either! I tried in the past unsuccessfully to plan a slow comeback by taking it easy. I emphasis, unsuccessfully! I think somehow I haven't succeeded in taking it easy, but I couldn't pin point why.

I'm paying now a lot of attention on how my body feels after skating. And these days I'm skating "easy", not working my muscles, so I shouldn't get tired and hurting. What I've realized is that I've hurt significantly more after I skated at the rink I don't like. That rink is not particularly crowded but the skater skate more randomly. That makes me go more cautiously, slower, on shallower edges, so I use less knee bend/ rise, I'm stiffening my muscles to feel in control. I guess that is one thing that makes me tired, skating with stiff knees, tensing the muscles. I do that also when I'm tired from skating longer sessions, and that is why when I skated shorter sessions I didn't get pain.

My eyes caught up an article about muscles conditioning for people with hypermobility syndrome. I do have that and I've researched in the past without finding much. This article says that for us the muscles work harder and so the recovery takes longer (and so we feel more pain too). We should exercise with less intensity than regular people, if we work the muscles too hard we will need way more recovery time, we will have too much pain, so we will not be able to work out again as early as regular people. So working out as hard as regular people is counterproductive to us. A better solution is too work out at lower intensity more often. Oh my!!!! that is exactly what I feel works for me. 

I am relieved that I seemed to make significant progress on my skating challenges: the boots, the rinks schedule and distance, understanding my muscle conditioning . 

It remains to be seen how I can balance the skating schedule with my life schedule and the "taking it easy" approach so I can build my muscles slowly with hopefully some skating progress.

 

Summer skating, planning for the fall - the rinks situation

As the rinks summer schedule is all over the place, I haven't even tried to make a plan for my skating. The idea was to go as much as I could and stabilize my muscle and my skating ability. Also I wanted to observe the rinks to hopefully be able to make a plan for the fall.

 I'm generally more comfortable skating on "adult only" ice, that is offered at noon time during the fall through spring, and I can make it work into my schedule. Without a skating plan, without stamina and without clarity on what to work on, plus with the intention to plan for the fall, I tried to stick with "adult" ice, but that is more rare in the summer.

I use the 3 rinks that I used previously. My old home rink offers in the summer for adults, only 45 minutes on Mondays, besides the inconvenience of driving more that I would want, for only 45 minutes of skating, I felt I'm back "home". I went on some Wednesdays and Fridays to the new rink I've used during the last year and it become clear I don't like it there. The skaters here skate more randomly and the ice is way colder, so harder to control. Then, I've come back to a rink that is very close to my home (5 to 10 min) but it is the home rink of the city's hockey team and their schedule for public or Freestyle ice is wildly inconsistent. Besides the schedule I used to like going there last year, I gave up on that rink last summer when it become crowded. This summer it was manageable, though they didn't have a lot of ice available. To conclude, I skated enough during these summer months and I can see that in the fall I can use my old home rink and this hockey rink close to home. 

Also good news, the boots are finally feeling better as I stretch the left boot regularly. I have more control on the left foot (I work on awareness and pressure on both feet, comparing them), but I still would like them tighter.

The muscle conditioning goes very slowly, partially because I don't have a regular skating/ work out schedule. I don't feel I have more energy, time and will to put into it. I have to be patient to develop the strength slowly.

My skating skills are all over the place. I think I'm getting more sure on edges and I get more flow and speed, but I feel I need some goals, a plan on what to work on each week and a coach' s supervision. So, the next step is to find some coaching, as I don't think, at least for now, that I want to drive north to see my old coach.

Mid year update - the boots situation

 So... At the end of the last year I came to the resented conclusion that I won't "push" skating anymore. The boots were not working and I was out of ideas on what else to try, my coach was out of reach coaching at rinks too far away from me, my time was limited because of work, and overall I felt that the time and energy  I was putting into skating was draining instead of uplifting or at least help as exercise. I was hopping I could redirect the time and effort I've put into skating into something else, some other exercising and some other hobbies.

The extra time I've had, didn't really go into other exercising, but I continued to do some yoga. I was looking into ballet but my former class series was not offered anymore, I couldn't find anything else interesting. As for other hobbies, I picked up painting again. Overall I felt I was resting more.

I skated for the first time this year in April. And... how I've missed it!

I had work to do near my old skating rink and I took the skates with me. In April and May I've got to skate two, three time per week. I didn't have a plan on how many days to skate, or what to work on, I just skated as one would skate on public ice, catching up with old skating friends, getting to know skaters that were newer.

I was very happily surprised that I've got some clarity in the boots situation. As I was using the skating specific muscles that were relaxed after this long break, I've realized that my left calf was chronically tight. The left boot is slightly too small, it was professionally stretched but it reversed. I occasionally stretched it myself by warming it up with a hair dryer and wear it in the house, but I didn't worry too much since I wasn't hurting. It seems though that my toes were crunched and that affected the calf. For sure it also affected the edge quality as I wasn't pressing uniformly into the ice. So, at the suggestion of a skating friend, I've bought a boot stretcher and now I always stretch my boots between skating days. This have made a huge difference in how I felt skating!

I skated mostly at my old home rink. If you remember I gave up on skating there because while usually would take my around 15 minutes to get there and up to half hour to come back, because the construction on the expressway, the drive time doubled. The traffic was lately better and I had work to do around the rink anyway. Skating there I've realized that I don't like the "feel" of the new rink I skated on last year. That may have been another reason I slowly gave up on skating. 

So, I think I'm ready to work on bringing skating back into my life. Having the few moths break ended up being exactly what I needed. The lesson going forward is to be more trusting of how I feel (my body, my energy) and adjust the schedule as I need.

Starting June, the rinks schedules change as  they offer camps for the kids. I won't even bother trying to plan and commit to a skating schedule. But I plan to use the summer to gather information so I can hopefully have a plan for fall.