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.