1st week of June

On Wednesday I'll have a business meeting North side.  That is where my boot fitter is and there is where my old coach is. I've decided to drive up and have a lesson on Tuesday and drop the boots, and pick them up when I get off my business meeting on Wednesday/

Monday. In preparation for my lesson with old coach, I practiced the double 3 turns. They were very rusty but got acceptable during the practice. The only negative was that I took a pretty heavy fall and my muscles tensed up and hurt. But luckily I haven't injured anything. 

Tuesday. The drive there was 1 hour 15 minutes, but back was an hour and a half... so, yeah, it not doable to see my old coach too often. As I work on dance with the new coach, I though to have this lesson toward moves in the field. I requested a full hour lesson. 

- The warmup was edges (correction: look where I'm going - I was flicking my head towards forward, and don't  twist, meaning stay square and encourage the edge by leaning). For the FI edges, tailbone under and more ankle bend. More ankle bend (push into the tongue of the boot, knees have to surpass the toes) I continued to hear during the whole lesson. On B edges more ankle bend and arched back, forming a Z.

- The coach wanted to start with simple 3-turns.  LFO3, surprisingly, the correction for the (the one that troubled me as I couldn't control the exit) was that I didn't turn it on the ball of the foot, I was towards the middle of the blade. I was also not completely aligned over the hip, the correction that worked was to lift the ribs over the hip. Then, a strong check is needed. RBI needed better alignment (lift over the hip and the free shoulder should pass the skating heel, so I should lean into the circle way more) and have the free leg thigh/ knee press into the skating leg. RBO same correction for the free shoulder. Also turn on the back of the blade, on the last 2 screws...

- For the double 3s is very important to check the 1st 3, use the top of the lobe carefully to change the upper body and extend the free foot (for the B 3s)

- Power 3s, after Mo, a push into B3 is acceptable, then the power comes from a lift like for a Loop jump. Strong check and repeat 

Wednesday, after I picked up the boots, I stopped by the rink on my way home. It was a bit of bad lack that the session I used to go to, was now an hour later. I decided to enter the session that was on right then, but I had just 15 minutes of skating. They had then, a 30 minutes break... so I didn't stay for the next session. With that little time I decided to not go through the 3-turns correction. I decided to work on the TenFox 3-turn. Yeap still scrapping...

Thursday. After 2 days away from home and work, I had so much to do. There were 2 skating sessions that day, morning at 9, and mid day 1.30. I decided to go to the 9 am one, because from my previous experience, when I get too much work to do I get caught up or exhausted  and I don't go skating anymore. While driving I though on how to organize the skating sessions and I couldn't really. My mind kept slipping back to work. So, I skated in default mode, and that took my again into the TenFox... mostly the 3-turn. I skated only TenFox related exercises and I skated hard so I felt tired after 35 minutes. Maybe it was ok for that day, as I had lots of work waiting. But,  this is exactly what I don't want to do... I want to balance each skating sessions (to work on more things) and the skating journey in general. My goal from this month, is to find ways to do that.

Anyway... the TenFox 3-turn. 

- I figured I was pressing towards the ball of the foot to accentuate the FO entry edge while rising, so at the point of the turn there was no more space to rock forward.  So I have to stay on the back of the blade. Probably a stronger core and posture, with the tailbone underneath, or hips forward, would help

- While twisting (and turning) I have to bring the hip forward (the free ribs and hip feel stacked over the skating side). And of course, the feet together (correction from my new coach). Then, I figured maybe I should think ate pigeon toe instead of feet together, that may bring the hip forward too.

Friday I went skating with the thought of finding balance in my skating. 

- I warmed up as I always do - fast

- I added some alignment awareness warm up exercises (like slower edges) - slow

- Chasses and SwRolls - fast

- Those seamed to help the entry into the TenFox 3-turn - slow

- TenFox - fast

- regular 3-turns with emphasis again, on alignment. I insisted on the LFO 3-turn and the circles (edges) F and B - slow

-TenFox - fast 

- exercise for TenFox of RFO double bend into the 3 turn. I think I finally figured out how to fix it. I was rising at the end of the 4 count double bend. The new coach suggested to stay low, but you have to rise to push into the 3-turn. I watched some videos of the dance and it looks that both the rise in the middle of the 4 count, and at the end of 4 count are very quick, not a full beat, so the rise is AFTER the 4 count double bend edge, and it IS the push into the 3 turn. With this approach the 3-turn seems to be on time. I think I was adding almost 2 beats there... one to finish the 4 count lobe and one to push into the 3-turn. If this is figured out, fingers crossed, I still need to make everything a little quicker to match the required tempo. 

 -Twizzles - I didn't work on them in a while and they weren't stable - slow

- the B power 3-turns, but slow, working at the form 

-F  Stroking and Xstrokes - they were slow, a sign that I was tired

- Winding down 

This took 45 minutes, I was happy at the end. Of course I could have felt happy because I felt progress on TenFox. But maybe I made this progress because I tried a different approach. Also, a shout out to the alignment exercises, they seam to help and I can do them slow, when I'm tired. I should continue to incorporate them into most of the session. And I looks that I intuitively worked on some fast things, then some slow things.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I was skating hard and the Covid interrupted, well, everything. After Covid I had a hard time picking up skating again because of boots problems, I actually almost gave up.... Then,  I skated on and off. Whenever I picked up the skating again I had to go through a painful phase of building muscles. I also couldn't reach my coach because of heavy traffic during construction on expressway. I had no structure in my skating week or sessions, I've got demotivated, and got busy with other things.

But I figured out basically all of these! 

-The boots. I needed tighter, lower volume, boots and none of the four acclaimed boot fitters could not figure out a model to do that, including a custom boot, I bough in desperation on ebay, a half size too small and stretched the tip of one of the boots that felt too small. I have to keep stretching it weekly and it is not as tight as mi old boots, but it works! I still skate with temporary screws, I hope I can have the mounting finished this coming week.

-The building of the muscles. I am hyper mobile and so, my muscles get tired easier than regular people. I figured out after studying all kind of articles that I should not skate too hard when I'm building muscles. If I overwork the muscles, they get too damaged, I am in too much pain, and they need a long time to recover, like a full week, and they don't get the chance to build, and the following week I'm back to square one. Instead, I have to skate just to the point of feeling tired, then I can skate after 2 days, or even the next day and in couple of weeks I have some improvement!

- Coach. The expressway in my area is under construction and the traffic made it unrealistic for me to go to the rinks where my coach teaches, what it used to be a 35-40 minutes drive is now an hour and a half. I just found a coach at 20 minutes away, and my old coach was her coach back in the day, so there is some continuity there. I will still see my old coach whenever I can find the time, but now I can count on continuous instruction.

- Structure, motivation and goals. Having a coach gives some structure to my skating week and makes me skate harder as I have somebody to show my progress.

- Ice time. While floating around in between rinks, I ended up going more to a new rink that is very close to my house, just 10 minutes. It is the training rink (with two surfaces) of the big city hockey team. I tried it when it first opened, but they had unreliable schedule. Now, they figured it out better, and they have freestyle ice and public skate almost every day. 

My plan for the next months is, of course, to test the TenFox. 

BUT... my main goal is now: skating longevity, I want to build a balanced practice, a more uniform effort. When I used to skate hard in the past, before covid, I used to yo-yo in between feeling motivated to progress and test, and frustrated by any adverse condition, and even bored to stick to working on the same skills. So the bigger plan is to pay attention on the effort towards progress versus the enjoyment I get from skating day by day. 

 

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. 

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 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.

The boots situation

I'm remind you that I've had huge difficulty in choosing skating boots because my feet are skinny and flexible/hyper mobile so I need low volume boots. Riedell used to be a good fit but they'd raised the toe box, to me it feels that all the boot was raised and now their boots feel large, especially at toes but also at the ankles. Other difficulties are that I pronate on my right foot, maybe on my left too, more recently, and my left foot is half size longer than my right foot. After working with 3 different bootfitters and trying different models and brands, and a custom Riedell,  I bought in desperation half a size smaller Riedel boots online. The right boot fits quite well, the left was short, the toe still felt high, ankle felt better. So I've added felt insoles to take off some of the extra height, I'm wearing surefeet insoles to help the pronation and I had the left foot stretched at the big toe. I've also felt the need to move the left blade forward, against the bootfitters advice, but it works...  I'm at the point when  the right foot (the bad foot that pronates) feels better than in my old boots. The left foot still feels crooked in the boot, or on the blade, I'm not quite sure.

I had the left foot stretch again because the bootfitter said that it may reverse and it helped... a little. I was feeling that the big toe had no room to stay straight and was so cramped towards middle that I cannot get on the inside edge because I couldn't put my weight solidly on the inside of the boot. I also felt my foot twisted inside the boot, the toe towards the right (towards outside) and the heel towards the left (towards inside). After the stretch I felt I had more room, the toe felt straight as alignment, but it was not straight in length, I get pain in the arch and nail, and it still felt twisted. 

Now the twist I solved! It was the insole... I bought new ones for the new boots, as from the old pair the right one was cut incorrectly at the arch. Now on the new pair the left insole looked wonky, it was cut straight not at the arch but on front towards inside, I compared with the old one... I put the old one in and Yey!!! No more twisting...

I've debated in my mind between going again to the bootfitter to stretch more, or going to a shoe maker and it just takes so much time and it is soo draining. I've decided to try to stretch it myself. I warmed the boot inside with the hair dryer, but when I put the boot on my foot it didn't feel warm anymore. I warmed the outside of the boot at the toe with the hairdryer and it felt a little playable. I still have unused height on the toe, so heating it I was able to transfer some of that height in lenght. I did this twice, just before I went skating and I have the feeling that that toe box lining stayed payable even when I've got to skate and it continued to mold. It definitely worked. I may have to do this again occasionally but for now it feels good.

The thing left is the actual blade alignment for this left boot. I have to reach that placement that helps the outside edges by moving the blade and adding shims at the inside side, but not as much that it doesn't allow me to do the inside edges. Part of this feel could be incorrect body alignment, so I'm still trying, I move my blade and observe. Obviously this affects my balance both physically and mentally. I cannot wait for the moment when I'll feel I'm done with trying and have the blade mounted permanently But I think I've solved some big issues and I am happy I haven't given up trying and this motivates me to trust my body and to keep adjusting while I have the feeling I can improve the alignment.

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.

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.

The third week of May

I'm reminding you that my skating intention/ plan is to skate 3 times a week, to focus on finalizing the blade alignment and to figure out goals and how to stay motivated.

Monday: Firstly the blade adjustment. I readjusted it before I got to the rink. The previous adjustment was to move it towards inside, and Friday, the time I skated I felt it was slightly too much, so I moved it towards outside, it felt too much... The good news is that the balance alignment should be in between these points. I will try a little more to try to get the in between spot. But I'm thinking I may need the boot punched a little more at the big toe. The reason I don't find that "middle" might be because that inside part of the foot doesn't have enough space to spread and the toe is pushed towards inside. Whatever it is, I can see that there is a solution but I'll have to stay on top of this. I also noted that I need to pay attention tie the laces tightly, if they are not tight enough at first try, it is difficult to get it right, I got them too thigh.

Skating went fairy well. I was trying not to exert myself and also to do something with a goal in mind, an that is Gold Moves. So I did edge presses, 3 turns, double 3 turns and brackets. I also filled in the time with some chasses, cross rolls, stroking, and some talking with my skating friends... I was quite tired after skating, I stretched a little when I got home and I was sore on Tuesday.

Wednesday: The alignment of the left blade felt better than the right one! Finally! I plan the next time to move the right blade a touch, maybe it moved a bit, maybe my boots got tighter and the balance is different, or maybe through comparison with the left one, I feel it can be better.

Skating went well. I approached the session like I would work for the Gold Moves. I warmed up the edges, the single 3 turns, the double 3 turns, then I put them on the pattern with the 3s completed but loss of flow, I warmed up the brackets, then I put them on the pattern, I had some hesitations and some tough downs but the foundation is there. Back circle eight went well. The crossovers I don't know how to put on the pattern, but I did work on crossovers. So that's that! I did some spins, work a little on twizzles (those are my biggest skating desire). Then I did some dance warm ups and a shy Tenfox. Oh and I took a fall, that means I'm trying things, or I was tired, or both... I think both... Thursday I was sore, and the left side (the one I fell on) was slightly hurting. It is nothing worrisome, but I should continue the good practice of wearing the gel hip pad on my left hip that was injured few years ago and still hurts occasionally.

Friday: it was raining, I was a little tired and if you remember, last Monday for these exact reasons I didn't go skating. Now, I went... On ice I was very tired, from both the weather and the muscle being tired from the previous days. It made me feel off balance. Also distracting were 2 former males national competitors throwing around doubles and triples. Their skating with speed, their landing of double and triple jumpsand occasional falls were noisy and while they weren't skating really close to the rest of us, it felt unnerving. One of them was there both Monday and Wednesday. Monday there were other former elite skaters but older so a little slower but skating together as they knew each other and so, taking a lot of space on ice. This noon ice is for  adult figure skater but it is public ice meant to be safe for the adult skaters. It is not meant for training seriously. I know in the past the figure skater director intervened in situations like this and redirected the strong skaters to practice ice sessions. I hope she will do it again.

Skating didn't go as well as Wednesday or Monday for all above reasons. The boots felt better? though I'm not really sure. Oh well... 

The victory this week is that I skated 3 times!

The second week of May

The plan was to skate 3 times per week... My home rink has adults only sessions Monday, Wednesday, Friday at noon. I like those as they feel safe, they are not very crowded, the skaters are familiar and I like how these sessions are spread evenly during the week.

Monday... no skating. The "reason" was that it was raining... (and I felt a little tired). I'm telling you, I have to get my skating groove back!

Wednesday... skating!!! But oh boy, it wasn't pleasant. The plan was to skate easy so I will find my balance and not get sore muscles, and that supported my priority of working on the blade alignment, as I have to get off ice to adjust the blade. 

At this point the right boot feels aligned, I can do all edges and turns without feeling pulled. My pronation makes makes the FO edge difficult to sustained but I don't feel it can be helped from the blade more than it is now. On the left boot I still feel a positive difference while playing with the blade, so it is just a matter of striking the right balance.

Based of what I felt last on ice, that my heel was collapsing towards inside, and I had no more space to move the blade, I added shims under the heel. On ice I did swizzles, slalom, edge presses and the heel felt better, the front felt that collapsed towards inside. I moved the blade toward inside, but now the back inside edge was pulling me towards outside. So I moved the blade back a little towards outside and added shims to the front too. It felt better I did more edge presses 3 turns, brackets, crossovers, chasses, some spins. I felt I needed the front a little back again towards inside. I was tempted to keep skating and adjust after I get off ice but as I was skating "easy" anyway, I took the time to make this 3rd or was it 4th adjustment. These adjustments take at least 5 minutes, I would think towards 10 minutes... so after this last adjustment the skating session was close to ending so I didn't get to do much skating, but the first "feel" was positive.  

Friday... skating. I had a work meeting that I suspected  it will run long, but I told myself that I will go skating even for just half an hour. And it was only half hour... It didn't feel productive from skating or adjusting the blade point of view, but it is a victory in commitment.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I haven't posted an update from the beginning of March. The plan was to take a balanced approach to skating in both scheduling, goals/ expectations and even the actual skating effort. Also, I've still haven't finalized the blade adjustment, in the sense that it felt better, but I have hoped it could get even better, so the blades mount had only on temporarily screws so I would able to move the blade/add shims myself.  The first week of March I couldn't skate at all (work related), and the I've slowly deflated and skated on and off, mostly off.

The month of April... no skating! (including this first week of May). The first 2 weeks of April I had crazy work projects, then, as I was very tired, I've got a little cold. Plus one of my cats went through teeth surgery. What I find interesting is that, while I would have been able to skate at least once a week, I've chosen not to... Yes, I was tired and a little sick, but I also reasoned that skating just once a week my muscles are going to hurt. And looking back, I was also unmotivated because I didn't have a clear skating plan and the fact that I'm still not comfortable with the blade alignment.

The plan for the month of May?

The priority is to finish with the blade alignment. If you remember I had a bootfitter on the ice with me for an hour and he basically agreed with everything I was feeling. Then he moved the left blade forward, over the edge of the tip of the boot's sole, as I wasn't feeling stable on the rocker. Now I just have to figure out the balance between inside/outside edge, as I did on the right boot. I pronate (on both right and left sides), so it's not gonna be perfect. My "technique" is to move the blade towards inside, this helping to get on the outside edge, until the inside edge starts to suffer. Of course both the front of the blade and the heel have to be figured out, and they also have to "feel"straight. Then, if I still cannot go hold the outside edge, I add shims.  It is annoying because on ice, instead of skating, I have to run specific exercises that show the balance, then go out of the ice, take the boot off and adjust... then back on ice... 

The alignment on the right boot feels as good as it's gonna get. On the left I was feeling that my heel needs to be a little more "in", I was collapsing towards inside. It wasn't terrible, so I thought let's mostly skate, build muscles and have the alignment in the back of my mind. But it seems that it is holding me back mentally as I perceive it that I "cannot" skate, I'm just building muscles/ exercising. 

The plan is to hopefully progress with the blade alignment, and to skate as I used to skate, for progress, at least 3 times per week, to start with, though, realistically I cannot expect much progress even skating 3 times per week. But I don't think the "balanced" approach to skating worked for me. I am motivated if I have goals and work towards certain skating skills or tests. 

My last goals (3 years ago, before covid and the boots troubles) were Adult Gold Moves and Standard Tenfox. I think I should start working on this and maybe have a lesson to map out the Gold Moves.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Let's review last month. 

I was finally able to work on the blades alignment. It feels waaaay better! In the past I always felt my right foot more unstable, but on these new boots, the left foot balance was terrible, it ended up I was right to request the blade to be moved forward, you can read all about the alignment here. Now the left foot feels good, the right just OK. I still want to try some things so I'm still on temporary mount  (screws) for now.

And how did the actual skating go last month? Not bad... I was able to skate consistently twice a week. At the beginning of the month I was focused more on feeling the blade and building muscles, the last 2 weeks I decided to concentrate on reviewing skating skills. 

I made a list with what I though to be doable exercises. It included my warm up, edges and the moves in the field up to what I tested, so nothing too challenging. I am trying to hold back for three reasons. Firstly, I am still not 100% aligned and safe on these boots, secondly I am eager, after 2 years of skating cautiously on my old boots, to go fast and that goes against the first point, so against safety. The third point is, I am still building muscles and stamina, I do feel out of breath when I skate faster.  

I'll keep the same plan for this month. I was reviewing my blog and I've realized it took me exactly 2 years to find new boots. My skating feels like a comeback. I have to accept it is challenging, also my available time for skating is not the same as before. In the past my goal was training for progress, now I am committed to approach skating in a more balanced way. I feel I have to go methodically and slowish for a while, to build my balance, muscle, stamina. And I think it is a sensible, safe, challenging enough and rewarding enough plan, all things considering.

Adding to the balanced approach is the fact that I won't skate at all the fist week of March. I've decided I wanted to watch Shyncro Nationals, and I have to watch live as there is no replay and it runs at the same time as my own skating slot would be.

Adjusting the blade

So I finally bit the bullet and hired a bootfiter to adjust the blade. He is not located at a rink, but comes to the rink for an hour for a fee of $90.

On my old, collapsed boots, after I rebuilt them I adjusted the blade myself. I tried on these new boots, only I felt the temporary screws that allow adjustments had to be moved. 

Here comes an extremely long story...  My right foot is size 5, the left is 5.5. I've chosen to buy boots size 5 because I figured trough trying different boots, plus the custom that felt too big, that Riedell changed the toe box on the current models and I've felt that added a 1/4 size. Also the size 5.5 I tried felt too large in volume. This size 5 fells just a tiny long for my right foot, and a tiny small for my left foot, and that was stretched out. The volume feels a little bit larger at the ankle than my old boots. I have hypermobile ligaments, that means I need a small volume boots, otherwise I don't feel supported. To add to the difficulty, I pronate, on both feet, more on my right foot.

The blade on both my boots felt unsupported under the inside of the heels, the left foot more. The left foot felt also too forward on the blade and also crooked between the front of the blade and back.

I've met the bootfitter, I asked if I should tell him what I think or to let him come to it himself. He said to tell him, and then he will observe himself. We started with the right foot, and he asked me to glide forward on it while balancing on the sweet spot on the blade that is at the back side of the foot's arch. I was slowly sliding towards left, so falling towards inside. He played with the placement of the boot several times. He also added a wedge inside the boots, under my insole, and outside the boots, between the blade and the boot. I was doing some exercises after all these adjustments, going straight forward, sustained long outside edge (like in dance), the outside forward entry in bracket and power pulls. We came to exactly what I was feeling and that was to move the back of the blade towards inside, by moving the screws. He drilled a hole a little more from the previous hole, so the screw can catch and not collapse into the old hole. We came into something that held the elusive outside edge... I hope everything else is balanced too, we were running out of time I haven't got the chance to try turns, but power pulls weren't perfectly stable.

As almost an hour had passed, he said let's look at the left. And through same "judgment"  he agreed that I needed the heel of the blade moved in by moving the screw, only there was not enough space. It could be mounted more towards the edge using the permanent screws... only we weren't sure exactly how much the blade towards inside. That is what the temporary screws are for, adjusting. To complicate the matter, the sole of this left boot is fabricated slightly smaller than the right, plus that boot was stretched forward, I felt I was forward on the blade... so we came to the "crazy" solution, that he never tried before, to mount the blade sticking out on the front of the boot. That will give space in the back for the blade to be moved "in" and also will put me more "back" on the blade, as I was feeling off balance, too forward.  In order to do this, he needed to take the boots to his shop, plug in the holes, let them dry and the mount the blade catching half of this plugged old hole, half on untouched sole.

I picked the boots up the next day and went skating. I again didn't have time to go through every edge and turn, but... Big relief that the left blade seems to be in the right spot, I may still have to play with adjustment but there is true hope. The right boot was hurting a little, I think because there are so many insoles in, it lifted my foot. It also felt crocked?

Well, I woke up next night with intense foot, ankle and knee pain. I knew immediately that the culprit must be the wedge inside the boot... and yes it was. This was not a simple wedge,  it continued with an arch that it seems interfered with my regular insoles arch. The next day I hurt all day, thankfully the second day it calmed down. 

So at this point, hopefully I have the screws in the right spot so I can continue with the blade adjustment.

My boots: Riedell Bronze Star

Here is the story of the boots. I used to wear Riedell, some intermediate level boots, size 5.5. They worked and served me well for 15 years. A small problem was that my right foot is 1/2 size smaller so that boot had an extra insole to fill in the extra volume. The other problem with my feet is that I'm in general hypermobile, so flexible. That makes my feet squeeze in for example narrow shoes and for the skiing boots the term "small volume" was used. I also pronate, so my feet go "in", I am wearing arch support that helps to some degree but I still need a custom blade alignment and wedges to adjust the angle of the blade. All of these issues have no impact to my day to day shoes and life. But for skating I need something snug, because I press and move the feet in the boots.

When I needed new boots, is it 2 years now?, I found out that Riedell, that was known to have a narrow last (this is like a production mold) changed the design of the toe box for all their models, by making them higher. The idea was probably to allow that extra volume so the toe could be stretched to accommodate wider toes. I've came to the conclusion that Riedell also changed the back of the foot, the heel cup, design, it enlarged and elongated it. I've tried 3 pairs of boots, some I was able to return, some not, and I've also had and unsuccessful custom boot made. They all felt too large, it was too much volume for me, and I didn't feel secure in the boots. I've tried other brands, of course, but they felt even bigger.

In a desperate attempt to keep skating I ordered on ebay some Riedell boots half a size smaller that my previous ones, so size 5. This fits my right foot with in fact a little extra space, and it is slightly short in lenght on  my left foot. I bought the first model from the higher level, stiffer boots line. That is because I've realized the lacing starts lower on these higher level boots so I could tighten more from that high toe box. I also added a felt insole in both boots that helps to fill in the space, and I'm feeling at like 80% from my old boots fit. I kept hoping that after wearing them more, they will close more on my toes and ankle, but up to now I still feel them slightly larger than my old boots. There is nothing more I can do to help these boots in volume. 

At this point I need help in aligning my blade, because I've tried myself to align in the space the temporary screws allowed me to play with. I have the feeling I need new holes, only I've better be sure, because you cannot keep putting holes into the sole of the boots. And I'm not sure... I'm wondering if the lack of security I feel is not actually from the extra volume at the ankle. At this point I think I have no other choice than to try...

Only there is one more thing... I needed to stretch forward the left boot, to accommodate the longer foot. And now a feel that the blade would need to be moved forward, only my boot fitter said it is not possible.

I looked back at older posts, I was writing in August that I needed to align my blades. The problem is I'm not sure how.

Breaking in the Bronze Stars week 3 and 4

The last 2 weeks, I was able to skate just 3 days, I lately skated on Monday and Fridays, and 2 weeks ago Friday, I couldn't make it. But last week I took Monday off from work and I went to my old rink for an 1.5 hour session. Those sessions are so great, I can run all the drills I want and still have some time to spare, like talking to skating friends, or in this case, playing with the blade placement.

The progress I can report is that I've replaced the half insoles placed underneath my surefeet insoles, meant to fill in the toe box that is too high and I suspected made me cramp, with full size insoles. Cramping stopped and this change also improved my balance! My backward skating felt quite good!

I've made no progress with the blade alignment. I feel I need the blade more "in" but it is already "in". But, as I said, I feel comfortable going backwards, so the adjustment I need is for going forward, so on the back of the blade?

Meanwhile I feel I'm still breaking in the boots so all this time is not wasted.

Breaking in the Bronze Stars week 2

The rink where I usually skate during my lunch breaks is closed up to Labor day to remake the ice.  There is another rink close bye but it is focused heavily on hockey. I did try to go there once and the hockey players were late to get off ice for 15 minutes. Then it should have been 15 minutes zamboni time, so 30 minutes... well that's all the time I have to skate. 

But desperate times... I found ice at 3pm Monday and Friday, and I actually was able to go both days.

I continued with the approach from last week to just skate and enjoy. While the boots break in, I need to figure out if I need to punch out my left boot and figure out where I want the blade moved. I was doing stroking, edges, edge presses, circles, chasses, swing rolls, cross rolls, crossovers, 3 turns, all forward and backward.

I had the exact same feel as last week. Before going back to the bootfitter to adjust the blade and to eventually punch out the left toe, I have first to figure out why I'm cramping... on both feet. The left boot I know it is slightly shorter, but the right boot fits. The bootfitter added half insoles in the front of the boot to compensate for the high toe box that is the new design of Riedell.  I'm more and more sure I cramp because of those. I also feel my balance off, when going backward, and I feel my shins muscles working too hard when I skate forward. I tried to take them out but then the boots feel too large. I want to try full lenght insoles, but I couldn't find in stores, even on Amazon they have almost 2 weeks delivery time.

But, besides cramping and the blade not being perfectly aligned and of course the high to box, I feel I'm in the best boot scenario I was in the last two years. 

                  

No ice!

 Well... I knew, but as I haven't skating regularly, I forgot. The rink where I usually skate, is closing for a whole month to remake the ice. This rink is 12 minute away from my work, so I can fit half of hour of skating in my lunch break. There is no other similar option...

I am very busy at work, it is very difficult to take time off. I also have this weekend and next two weekends scheduled already... 

I don't know how, but I'll have to find some time to go skating so I figure out the punching and where I need the blade moved.

Breaking in the Bronze Stars week 1

Wednesday: 

On the fist steps on ice I was very aware that the left boot is shorter, but it wasn't hurting, so I tried to ignore it. The blade is definitely not aligned well, I cannot get quickly on an outside edge on the left foot. The good news is that the right foot (the bad foot in the past) gets on the outside edge quite well. The high toe box is annoying in the sense that after each push the tongue has space to lower and hit my toes. It is annoying but not hurting. I will see only later if this extra space will affect the back turns. Overall I skated just around 15 minutes, I spent some time readjusting the blade

Thursday:

I knew from the day before that I cannot move the blade more towards where I feel I need it, without moving the screws, and that I won't do myself. So, in preparation to my next trip to the bootfitter, I basically have to decide if I needed punching out the left toe. So I decided to skate freely, push into the ankles to break in the boots, and forget the alignment for now. I just wanted to see if the left big toe is gonna hurt. The takeout from this session is how much I missed skating! Even with the blades not aligned I could go fast and have some control. At the end of the session my feet were cramping, so I may need punching after all, but on both boots? The right boot I feel fits well.  I'll figure it out next week!

Riedel Bronze Star fitting appoinment

 OK! Bootfitting appointment. The fist thing I did, I showed the bootfitter the right boot of the custom Riedell that they say it is a size 5, size by side with this new Riedell Bronze star size 5. Guess what? The custom boot is visible bigger, both lenght and volume. We discussed shortly what to do with the custom boots but didn't want to waste time. They will have to be returned but do I want the money back or do I want other boots? The bootfitter said to maybe see how the new ones work.

He agreed that there is a good change these Bronze Stars will work. They were heated and they molded after my foot beautifully! Even when still worm, so soft, I felt supported. It is so clear now, through comparison, how the custom ones didn't support me at the arch, they were too big...

Going back to the Bronze Stars. Do I need punching out of the toe for my bigger foot? I'm not sure... I feel the toe touching but I don't hurt. I do feel my toes rising in the toe box... The botfitter added some padding under the toes and mounted the blades. I had just few minutes on ice as a hockey session was starting. I'm quite sure the blade will need adjustment, but I wasn't sure by how much. I will have to come back soon after I decide if I need punching, then we can adjust the blade too.