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.

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. 

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.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I write a post with this title at the beginning of each month... it is supposed to be a monthly review. I find it fitting that is has "adjustment" in the title, as that seams to be the main skating related effort I put in these days.

I'm happy to report that the covid cases dropped in my area. We are still under heavy restrictions waiting to see what will be the impact of the Thanksgiving travel and gatherings. So my home rink is still closed, but there are still rinks open for practice ice. Last month I went  skating twice  a week to the rink where I used to take private lessons. Last week I even added a lesson.

I'm putting as much effort as I can into MITF Pre-Juvenile test preparation. I'm trying to test this for more then a year, from last summer, when something went wrong with the registration, then I've hurt my hip, then the winter holiday season slowed me down, then covid happened, then I've got to get back the skills and confidence, then I had blade problems, now, the test sessions are scarce and they fill out the moment they are announced. I want to be ready to test, so when a test is announced I can register immediately.

Lately I've started each skating session with the "5 minutes warm up" for the test that I've described in my last post,  and the test. Then I've worked on the test on the skills I've felt I needed improvement (mostly the 3-turns). Then I did something else (spins, the slow new skills I'm learning), then I went back to the 3-turns. I'll keep up the good work for this test, I'll continue starting with it each skating session.

What I'll add, is the Nutcracker exibition program. I stopped working at it two weeks ago, as the rink that organizes it closed, but it seams it's happening!  The rink did close, but then they allowed private rentals, including private lessons. For the exhibition, the skaters will be staggered, in 10 minutes intervals. Each skater should come fully dressed, skates on, 20 minutes in advance her skating time, warm up for 10 minutes on the second rink, then move on the big rink, do her number (2 minutes), then leave. Each skater can have 2 people with her, and the coach. The event will be live streamed. It sounded a little weird at first, then, I thought that it's gonna actually be sweet, like a private moment for each skater and very immediate family or friends.

Going back to the program... I'm gonna do my old pre-bronze freestyle program, the only program I ever had, on Nutcracker music. I want to challenge myself and add a back spin at the end. My back spin is consistent at this point, but I do it on a line and with a slow entrance. I've had mixed results when I've tried it from steps, with a shorter and faster entrance. I also want to finish the spin with the free leg inside, so I can do a back pivot after, and I keep forgetting that. I'm used to the landing position exit. The rest of the program elements should be fine, but I haven't practice the program from when I tested it, so I hesitate at points, it takes me a second to remember what comes next. And I have other challenges... Firstly, the music it's a little longer, the rhythm it's a little faster, so I think I'll have to add some moves to fill the program. To complicate things, the music doesn't have strong sections, but it's kind of one tone, so it doesn't help me structure the program and look for points to check my timing. I'll have to try it many many times and see what I can fit in and what not. And... at the rink where I skate now, it is complicated to put music, I'll have to try earbuds... I'm planning to skate 4 session until the exhibition and I'll do my best.

I also want a new dress and if you remember, I sew them myself. I had a dream of a silver gray lace and mesh ethereal one, but besides the fact I won't have the time to make it as it's a bit complicated, I also think it may not be a good fit for the occasion. I've also wished for a very simple, like stark simple, white dress. I hope I can make that. If not, I'll use the old gold dress. 

The goal for this Nutcracker exhibition was to get joy and I'm determined to let it be a joyful process even if the choreography, the skating elements and the dress won't be perfect... 

The second part of this month should be mostly about moves. Plus, I'm gonna add it here as a goal, so I won't forget... I have to work on the loop jump consistently. I want eventually to be able to have Bronze Freestyle program and I need the loop jump for that.

Program: Solo Free Dance part 2

I was telling you that lesson may not be allowed anymore on the ice I'm registered for... and it happened. And my Solo Free dance program is not done yet. Of course I could eventually ask the choreographer to come to another rink, though it may be more expensive, plus time consuming.

One of my main goals for having this program choreographed, was to learn new things, things that are not covered in Moves in the Field or Pattern Dances, both real skating skills but also pretty little tricks. And I have to say that my expectations were exceed! As skating skills I've started learning twizzles and brackets.  I'll also get to improve things I kind of know but haven't work on... like American Waltz 3-turn and the Willow Waltz Mohawk but on the other side... As tricks, I've learned some tap toes (that I was scared off), "chaines" (like ballet) turns, change of edge with hand movement and the step sequence... that combines things I know in a new way.

My second goal was to have something to skate for my own enjoyment... and this was not achieved, at least yet. The choreographer was still working on the steps and elements (counting the beats) but we haven't gotten to put put them on music. Skating on my own music that brought me so much joy with the previous program, will be postponed...  But it's even more then that, I've tried just the first part of the program on music, and I just couldn't feel the music for the American Waltz 3-turn, I've always felt I finished it early. I firstly thought I'm off balance when I turn and I cannot hold it, but I can hold just fine when I'm not on music. Anyway, at some point I've listened carefully the music at the desk, reading the lyrics while trying to identify the beats and marking where the skating elements are, on the beats. Well, well, the lyrics don't follow the beat count... For Ice Dancing there is actually a rule requiring to skate to the beat, not the melody/ lyrics. While I'm sure I can grow into skating my song to the beat, I'm wondering if I'll enjoy it, the music, or it will be just a counting and "working".

My third goal was to eventually test this for Juvenile Solo Free Dance test, the first level of Solos Free Dances. I'm thinking that if I'll see I won't be able to enjoy the process of working on this program (on music) I'll let go of it, work on the new things I've learned, and choose other music for another program.

Anyhow here are parts of choreography:

Left Forward Swing Roll, tap toes, Right Forward Swing Roll, Left Forward American waltz 3-turn, Right Back Chasse, hold the edge and make it a Right Back Outside 3-turn. Left Forward Inside Edge and Right Forward inside Twizzle. The idea here was to have slow steps into the Twizzle... and they are not slow, or if I make them slow I feel hesitant and have small lobes. I think eventually I'll be able to enter into the Twizzle with speed, right?

The next sequence goes into the spiral. After I exit from the twizzle I do CW Forward crossover into a waltz Mowhak, next part didn't fit to the music, so for now I'm thinking continue that with backward chasse, then, there are two European Waltz 3 turns, there is time for more steps, and the pretty change of edge that I do too slowly to be a good entrance into the spiral... so probably all this will be reworked.

The step sequence on lobes:
- Left Forward Inside Bracket
- across the axis... cross behind Right Back Outside edge, cross in front and continue with a Left Back Inside 3-turn
- Right Forward Mowhok/ barrel, so 3 edges, the third one is  Right Back Inside
- across the axis... Left Forward bunny hop, Left Forward Inside 3-turn, Left Chaines
- Right Forward cross roll, Left Forward cross 3-turn
- I may need one more lobe here, as I may be running short and anyhow the music asks for something nice here...

Then few steps into the spin....

So, I'll keep working on the elements and also on sequences without music for now...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

If you remember, I wasn't happy with my skating 2 months ago. I had to prepay ice for a whole month and I bought 3 sessions per week, but the slots that I've paid for, haven't worked for me. Tuesdays sessions were after a hockey camp and the ice was terrible to the point of unsafe. Fridays were better. Saturdays I was tired after Fridays. After the first week, I ended up skating only once or twice per week. I also got disappointed that I couldn't stick with my plan.

Last month I bought ice only Mondays and Fridays and I added an occasional Tuesday lesson at another rink. Did I have one, or did I have 2 lessons? I don't even remember. It wasn't a productive month, being that I skated only twice a week, but as I knew I coudn't expect much, at least I didn't get frustrated.

I worked mostly on MITF, trying to get closer to test the Pre Juvenile ones. I think the only thing I miss is the confidence in 3-turns. I can do them fine few session in a row, and then I don't... On the last lesson, the coach corrected my alignment, and asked me to add more speed. The speed really makes them flow. And speed is confidence.

For Ice dancing I've ran my exercises, but I haven't had corrections from my coach in ages, I don't really work on them, I mostly observe the flow and the posture. I've tried to listed to Ten Fox music (that's the dance I work on now) in just one earbud, while doing these exercises, to at least work on timing. And that worked. Even the Ten Foxed kind of worked once or twice. But I felt it asked for more speed then I was comfortable to put on the quite crowded sessions. Plus dance at speed is the thing that gets me the most tired, so I've done more then nothing but not much.

I did Freestyle consistently, but again not much as I was afraid to not aggravate the last injury, the right hip. The jumps are fine, I'm just not making them bigger at this point. I saw in the last jump lesson that I can make them bigger, so I'm not gonna worry about that now. I've hesitated to work on the loop jump because it is on the right hip, but the few I've done haven't hurt, so maybe I could have worked more on those.  I've definitely felt pain on the back spin, so I've scratched that... Meanwhile, the scratch spin is finally comfortable (I was getting dizzy after the quarantine).

I did the Figures from the first test whenever I felt tired. The forward outside and inside circles look good, I'm working at the restart of the each circle, the marks of the push have to be on top of each other... they are getting closer... Then, on the waltz eight circles, the back push after the 3-turn and the forward stroke after the back edge need to start on the same exact spots. I'll have to ask my coach if you can mark with a marker those spots to be more visible. I don't even see those spots. You need to look down for those marks without getting out of alignment.

So, last month, while I haven't skated enough to improve anything, I think I skated enough and consistently enough to consolidate the old skills.

This month I bought ice for Mondays, Wednesdays (finally they had ice on Wednesdays), Fridays at my rink, to skate on my own, and I'll have each Tuesday a lesson at another rink. The adult only ice will start only from the second week, and I'm holding my breath to be the same that it used to be, safe... But it may be not. There may be too many newcomers and they may give it a different pace. I've heard a high level freestyler signed for this ice. This is not Freestyle ice, so nobody has priority, not the lessons, not the jumps, you don't have to spin in the middle or not use the lutz corner, the music has to be in a public skate style, nobody can run their program time after time... This is ice meant for adults with a wide variety of skills, to enjoy while feeling safe (from being ran down), and being respectful to each other. But will the new people know?

Another issue that may arise is hip pain. I have an old injury at the left hip and a new one at the right... While they feel mostly fine, I'm worried if I will be able to handle skating 3 days in a row (Monday, Tuesday with my coach and Wednesday). This week was I skated like that and I have to say I felt a little pain the hips, more like tiredness but.... I'm definitely gonna be watching out.

And just one more development. I saved another kitten! He is at the point when he starts eating on his own, so while there was a couple of nights that I woke up to feed him, he should be fine from now on, and soon on his way because I've already found a home for him!

I find my self, again, not sure how to plan next month. I was writing in the last post that I hope I'll be able to "train" for progress, but after how this first days of September went, I'm not so sure I can. The problem is, that if I make it my plan to train, and then I cannot stick to the plan, I get disappointed, discouraged... Also, if I approach the skating session pushing to train, while the ice is crowded, or there are several strong skaters on ice, the ice is bad, I'm tired or I feel pain, I cannot train, and I ask for injuries... I was looking before the pandemic at having a process oriented training instead of goal oriented (passing tests) training. I thought that setting my expectations to test on a certain date, and then seeing I wasn't, made me frustrated. But what I'm seeing now is that I actually cannot plan the "process".

So, for now, the plan is to "let it be". I'll add the song on the skating play list, maybe that'll help?

New thoughts about skating for progres versus enjoynment

I had a talk with my coach. Between other things we reviewed our work together. I first hired him just to partner me for tests for dances. But I liked his way of explaining, so I continued working on dances with him, then I added moves, then Freestyle, then figures. My goal was to progress and I was skating 7 to 9 sessions a week (4 on my own, 2 private lessons and one or 2 group lessons). I've got bursts of frustration when I couldn't train as I wanted because the ice was bad, it was too crowded, or I was tired, but I was generally satisfied.

Everything changed when hurt my left hip. I starting skating less to allow the hip to heal. But even when I skated I was holding back. I was hurting when I worked on extensions (and in dance everything has extensions), on 3-turns on that hip, etc. Then, I started saving stray cats and kittens, I had some orphaned kittens that needed to be feed by bottle including during the night, so I was tired for months. Looking back, it is clear that I couldn't progress in those conditions. I also couldn't enjoy skating while I was hurting, tired. And I also was having expectations about progress and not actually progressing, so I was getting frustreted... It is also clear that I couldn't see all these, then.

I was back on a good training pace before the quarantine, but then "that" (the quarantine) happened. Hopefully I can get back, from this week, on a good schedule and skating training (skating 3 times a week plus one lesson)... for progress....

But I also want to not forget the perspective I have now, about the time I couldn't "train" because I'm sure there will be times like that again. I want to be prepared to handle those kind of times better... The first challenge I see, is to be able to acknowledge when I cannot train. If it's short term I should just accept it, not push but hang in there don't give up on "training". If it's longer term, I should forget about progress for a while, anyway I saw that after 3 months of not being on ice, the skills were still there. So I should do something else, not the same exercises that I do for testing.

This summer, for example, I kind of knew... after quarantine... the available ice was all over the city, so I couldn't  create a well paced schedule, plus I knew I'm gonna be distracted by life.... I had the intention to have program choreographed to break from the "training" just that my choreograph was out of town. I think that would have worked. With my regular coach I shifted the attention from the pattern dances and moves (that I knew I couldn't train) to freestyle. Unfortunately my ankles hurt for 2 weeks and also my "good" hip hurt after a fall. So I've ended up doing exactly what I didn't want to do... the same old exercises for dance and moves, that I do for 2 years now, that I knew I couldn't improve (skating just once or twice a week on bad or crowded Freestyle ice). I'm soo happy I'll have a program choreographed! I think I'll also have to ask for new things from my regular coach when I'll know I cannot "train".

New hope and update on progress and goals

I've heard that my rink is gonna have back on the schedule the adult figure skaters only, noon ice, from the second week of September. Before the covid interruption, it used to be offered Monday, Wednesday, Friday on the big rink and Tuesday and Thursday on the studio rink, except during the summer. It was usually quite empty ice, and if crowded, we were all adults, looking out for each other. I usually skated Monday, Wednesday, Friday on the main rink on that session, on Mondays I also had a private lesson later in the day on Freestyle Package Ice and just before the lockdown I was also skating Thursdays on the studio rink, mainly figures. That was my ice... I really really hope it's gonna be back. I haven't seen it yet on the schedule.

I feel so comfortable on that adult ice. And I was often spooked going for lessons on regular ice. To my coach's visible disappointment, I often aborted patterns even if (in his view that I bet was right) I was in absolutely no danger of collision... When I was a beginner, I was more confused and uncomfortable then afraid, but after I hurt my hip, I was afraid. The little kids are not looking and the big kids are soo fast, so of course I'm afraid. But you know that my goal is to progress into an intermediate-ish level skater, not an adult skater... and I test standard not adult track. Well, that ice is "standard", the adult ice is comfortable because is slow...

After the initial excitement of having my comfortable ice back, I've realized that I'm not that uncomfortable anymore on the Freestyle package ice! Yeap, I've grown, I'm a big kid now. I'm sure this is a result of me progressing. Sometimes I feel I hold myself back by not being confident. After the quarantine, we've first come back on ice with maximum 10 skaters, then 15, now 20. It was a progression that made me forgot to think if I'm afraid. I just thought to acknowledge this new skill and confidence, as I'll soon go to my slow ice. While I feel happy and hopeful for the easier ice conditions, I think I can also be hopeful for progress!

My other goal (beside progress) is to find a way to, occasionally, break away from training and to skate for my my own enjoyment. I've set up in the past to train and test as kids do, and lately it backfired. I had to reduce the time I've spent on ice not because I've got bored but I think mostly because my hip injury. Then I've wondered if it's even realistic to expect my aging body to train as kids do. I also wondered about motivation... I feel that kids have their skating buddies, syncro teams, shows, competitions to motivate them and make them enjoy. I do have skating friends, but I feel that for the majority of them skating is a social thing, so I don't get the motivation. I also have adult skating friends that compete and I feel that is a good vehicle for both motivation and enjoyment. What I see them doing, is skating twice a week and that much time on ice allows them to maintain the skills they have and have one or two programs choreographed per season. But I want progress... and I don't skate enough to both progress and prepare for competitions. The only thing is that if I get unmotivated it's not good for progress. So, I'm having a program choreographed, for testing but mostly for myself!

I've had in plan for a while to have another Freestyle program choreographed, because I enjoyed working on the previous one so much. But before the covid I was working on moves and dance for testing so I didn't want to take time away from that. Now, my choreographer is out of the city. I've decided to ask somebody else, and she is a dance coach, so she can choreograph both dance and Freestyle, while my previous choreographer can do only Freestyle. So I've decided to have Solo Free Dance choreographed instead of the Freestyle. We'll start working on it from September, we couldn't find ice for now.

I'll mention just shortly that this month as I skate just twice a week, I know I cannot progress. But my skating goes better compared with the last month when the schedule, ice quality and a little injury worked against me. I'll try from next week to have weekly lessons and from next month I think I'll be able to skate on my own 3 times a week, and then I think I can settle into a training rhythm.

So I see lots of hope!

First week of the month update

From when I wrote the previous post, I skated Friday and Monday.

There were reasonable good skating days... I was complaining when I skated last month, how bad the ice was on Tuesdays and just a little better on Fridays, as on both days it was a hockey camp going on before. Still, on Fridays the ice was better then on Tuesdays. Maybe it was a different person cutting it. So, this Friday, the ice was as last month, not great, but not terrible. On Monday the ice was cut quite OK. Of course it has to be a "but"... It was so hot outside, that there were frozen drops on ice from water condensing from the ceiling, hundreds of drops... still it wasn't terrible.

There are 20 skaters allowed on ice, but there are never 20. I saw more like 15... I'm still annoyed by some skaters that take lessons and stay on a particular spot on ice near the boards, near their coaches, for the whole session. They block the use of the length of ice for MITF and Ice Dancing patterns. But, there were moments when the ice cleared... it was a waiting game but I was up for the game!

I mentioned that mid last month, I've had a fall that bothered my right hip. I was honestly overwhelmed by the possibility to have pain for 2 years, as I had when I injured my left hip. I also felt pain on both ankles... After I've fallen, I skipped a pre payed skating day, plus when I skated I took it easy. Also this month I skated just twice a week, so I had lots of time to rest and recover. And I think I'm fine.

Friday I started with moves as a warm up, no pressure. On the last lesson I had, I've had a meltdown on the forward to backward 3-turns. But I've got the correction that I wasn't lifting over the skating hip. I suspect I was cautious to use the hips as I felt the new pain, but also I was in a not good mood in general, I felt sluggish and I was not really getting mentally involved in skating. The 3-turns were definitely better, but as I started to get confident, I started to rush and I had few unbalances, so I moved along to Freestyle so I wouldn't risk a fall. I was very pleasantly surprised, for a change, that my spins finally felt comfortable (I was continuously dizzy from when I got back on ice after the quarantine). The Waltz and Salcow jumps felt great too. On the Half Lutz I started to not have to think about all the steps.  On the toe loop I'm not feeling I incorporate the corrections from my coach (to feel I jump from the skating leg, not the toe pick), same on the Half Flip (to jump higher) so I dropped working on them quickly. But I felt progress on the Loop! Then I did some dance exercises and dances, but truthfully I was already tired.

During the weekend I saw an USFSA communicate that due to Covid social distancing rules and  the impossibility to partnered at many rinks, USFSA will allow Pattern dances tested solo to count towards the standard partnered track (until the end of the year). That would be an option for my Ten Fox... On pattern dances I'm not really good at partnering. But I'm also not good at keeping up  with the music (read here about training the previous dance, the Willow Waltz), and when I skate with my coach he takes care of that. I'm also probably not as fast as the young skaters, and I test standard, not adult track, so I need to display the power and speed like the average young skater. Again, when I test partnering with my coach, he helps me keep up the speed. But as I have the option to test solo, I'm considering it... mostly because I know it would take me loads of lessons, meaning twice a week, to get comfortable enough partnering so I can test. So I loaded Ten Fox music in my new phone.

Monday I started with the moves as well. They felt really good, including the 3-turns. (My club announced a test session on September 22, fingers crossed I'll build the consistency and courage to test them) Then I went into dance exercises but on Ten Fox rhythm. I put just one earbud in and on low volume, to still hear what is going on around me. Well, that's fast! I'm not used with that...  Then I've made few attempts of the Ten Fox on music... nope, they were not on music. Of course I was disappointed, but all that got me quite tired so i moved on to figures so I could catch my breath. I did a little spinning and jumping without pushing. As I left the rink I've realized that I wasn't feeling actually disappointed. I was just eager to rest and go back and try again! That's gonna be Friday.

Both last Friday and this Monday I felt tired at the end of the skating session. Every single time I started to skate more in the past, I felt tired for a while, I needed to build up both power and stamina. And I did it trough skating... Starting with skating 3 times a week, and adding to it, until getting to (at some point) nine sessions (two were 45 minutes group classes, not intense, but still). Being that I skate only twice a week I feel I should (and I do have the time) to work out a little bit off ice. Few year ago, when my ankle was hurt, I used to do ankle exercises every day. Just before the quarantine I added to those some core exercises. I kept it simple and quick so I will do them daily, and I did. During the quarantine I kept adding to those, and it actually backfired. Firstly, the whole thing became too long so it became a chore. Secondly, I didn't have the knowledge to warm up before those strength exercise and to stretch after... so while my muscles were getting stronger, they were also cramping and I've felt stiffer. Luckily, during the quarantine, my ballet instructor offered zoom classes, one of them was yoga/pilates and that really hit the spot. That class is not offered anymore. So I feel that on the days I'm not skating I should use the old stepper for a warm up, do some strength exercises and some stretching, maybe alternating the group muscles in different days. That should help the skating.

Mid month update

This week I skated just once. Part of the reason was that I was busy, but that came on top of the previous week bad skating experience.

I told you that from two weeks ago I started skating on my home rink, as they've finally opened. I had to buy a certain slot for a whole month and I've bought Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, as they were the only days they had some afternoon ice. They allow 20 skaters on ice, and I thought it's gonna be a little crowded for me to skate comfortably. And I was right, but... there was an even bigger problem... ice quality.... It was the second worse ice I ever saw indoor for both Tuesday and Friday. The ice was flooded, like quarter inch of water in some places and it was terribly chopped underneath. Both days a hockey camp went on just before the figure skating package ice. I couldn't do long edges for dances or moves, or figures... just Freestyle. Luckily, my last private lesson was all Freestyle. Another obstacle was that there were many "obstacles" on ice. Coaches are not allowed on ice, they teach from the hockey box, and their (beginner levels) students stay near the boards, near the coaches, basically blocking any use of ice in length. Then. Saturday the ice was reasonable but there were lots of very strong freestyle skaters (many of them adults that I've never seen before, yey to seeing more adults skaters!) and with 20 on ice,  the skating patterns intersected all the time. I've wasted lots of time setting the patterns for moves and the dances, took two falls, and I ended up giving up and working on Freestyle elements again. I also felt tired, as I skated the day before too.

Last week I was busy on Tuesday, and the thought of bad ice discouraged me to even try to get at the rink. I did go on Friday and the ice was actually great. Friday session is 1.5 hours and I knew I will not be able to make it skating Saturday so I took my time to re asses the alignment as I haven't skated for a week now. I don't know how on some day an hour passes and I cannot fit in everything I want to work on, even if I push. This Friday I didn't push, in fact i did the opposite, I took my time, and the hour passed and I went trough everything... 10 minute warm up and alignment exercises, 20 minutes moves, 20 minutes dances and 10 Freestyle. There weren't 20 skaters on ice and all the coaches were teaching on one side of the rink, so the other side was quite open to do moves and dance patterns. The last half hour I felt tired, so I worked on slower things (3-turns both for moves and dances, the Foxtrot Mohawk, then figures), then just did exercises involving breathing and stretching on ice.

I was planning at the begging of the month to pay attention on how my skating goes so I can re ajust my goals, expectations for progress and enjoy more. And I feel I've got some data I can analyze.
- when I'm tired I don't enjoy skating and I don't think I'm effective in working for progress either...
- when is crowded I can do Freestyle, no whole patterns, only isolated elements from moves and dances, maybe even parts of dances or figures.
- when the ice is bad... Freestyle is the only thing I can expect to do.
- it seems I'm doing better for both working for progress and enjoyment if I start the session slower, working deliberately on alignment AND awareness of pressure into ice.

I had a little awareness of this, on a recent lesson, when my coach asked me to do one of the dances fast. I feel that in the past, when I was trying to go fast, I was rushing, not taking the time (or not being able) to do a good push...from underneath me and pressing into ice. That made me feel not stable, so afraid to go fast. I used to think that I don't like to go fast... well, I actually do... but I need to feel comfortable, align over a good edge and feeling that the ice hold me. Maybe that is the breakthrough I need to get from a beginner to an intermediate level... Getting a good push but quicker... and that would allow me to get faster while feeling comfortable. This is gonna be the first question to my coach on my lesson next week.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I've already described in detail how the skating went last month in my previous posts. Overall, I would say that I feel as comfortable on ice, as before the quarantine.

This week I still skated at the north side rink where I skated all last month. But starting this month, they allowed 15 skaters on ice instead of 10.

For the rest of this month, I have already bought ice at my home rink 3 times a week. That's gonna save me lots of time of sitting in traffic. They allow 20 skaters on ice plus coaches, and I know I'm gonna feel overwhelmed especially as last month I've got used with 10 skaters on ice. I fell lucky that I had this week the opportunity to skate with 15 people on ice to smooth a little the transition. 

And one new happy development, as more ice was added on the schedule to the north side rink, where my coach is teaching, in the sense that more skaters will be allowed on ice on the same time, I was able to get some ice there so I can still have lessons. I'll have a 45 minutes lesson every second week.

Plan and goals for this month?... I'm not sure. My big skating goal was always training for progress and lately I think more and more about skating for my own enjoyment.  I feel crowded skating sessions will not help "training" the moves for testing. And seeing my coach just every second week will not help "training" the Ten Fox for testing as for testing I need the dance partnered and from past experience, I forget the partnering part unless I'm seeing my coach, twice a week. I also don't think I can work on figures in crowded sessions. That only leaves on freestyle (jumps and spins)... as those are individual elements that don't take so much space on ice at my level. I also think I can work on specific turns, like dropped 3-turns and the Foxtrot mohawk for dance, and maybe learn new turns like brackets, double 3-turns for moves...

As for skating for my own enjoyment, I haven't figure it out yet. Las month in this "Mid month update" post, I was saying that I thought I would enjoy doing easier things, on what I wouldn't struggle. Coming back on ice after 3 months gave me the opportunity to see with fresh eye what I enjoy. And I actually enjoy everything, the difficult exercises too. A friend that is an accomplished  violin player, said that when she studied as a kid, she got extremely bored to keep  working and practice the same thing over and over. And then, a new instructor scheduled "playing" time in her practice, when she could play whatever she wanted, and not work at it, just enjoy. And this resonated with me. So I'm thinking now that is not what I do on ice, but the intention behind it, "work" or "play". This month, when the ice will be too crowded to work on things, I will have the opportunity to just "play" on ice.

My desire to skate for my own enjoyment came after losing that enjoyment and getting frustrated. I'm also looking back at the times when I've lost that enjoyment for skating in the past, before the quarantine. My coach thought it was  related with me getting frustrated that I wasn't progressing as fast as I expected. I didn't have any better explanation, and I'm sure there is some truth in that. So I was trying to make my progress goals more flexible and have a process oriented training instead of a goal oriented training. But... I'm starting to think that the frustration is actually more related with my body being tired or in pain... I mentioned in the "Mid month update" that I was hurting and frustrated, and then, at the End of month update" I was better and I really think what changed was how I felt physically. Two years ago I used to skate 6 days a week, two days twice, that's a lot, of course I was getting tired. Then I hurt my hip, and I had some kind of pain for almost a year. I will have to wait and see if the pain or feeling tired will prove to be the main source of my frustration.       

Mid month updates

To balance the joy of skating... I'm hurting, I feel tired and some frustration is sneaking in. I did say I wanted to balance my skating life, just two posts ago... right? Well, it's not what I've meant...

This week, on Monday, it was the first time skating after the quarantine break, when I allowed myself to not hold back at all... and I don't know... ... Firstly, some of my hip muscles were more tired then on the previous weeks, hopefully they are building up not getting hurt again. Then, my whole body was feeling tired and hurting. I went through this tiredness before, as I was building muscles and stamina, and if I remember well it took weeks to months to feel strong, I hope this time is gonna be easier.

On Wednesday I had my lesson. We corrected the Ten Fox, the dropped 3-turns, and I wanted to learn the theoretical technique on the  backward cross rolls and the backward outside edges from the European Waltz. I felt it was a productive lesson, but it was my least energetic day on ice since I've been back on ice, so not a happy skating day. I haven't said it before, because I didn't want to jinx it, BUT... when I first got back on ice with a refreshed awareness on alignment, my dropped 3-turns worked like a charm! And now, they are not :(

That brings me back to the goals I've set at the beginning of the month: to keep the alignment awareness and to work off ice on my core strength. I've done the core exercises, and got sore muscles after, proof that they've got weeker. But it seams to me that the alignment awareness is not as strong... The first step in fixing things is identifying what is wrong with them. Some reasons I can think of: body feeling tired and hurting, less mental engagement, rushing, feeling less excited to "feel" the ice, probably because I was tired and hurting.

As for the frustration... On Ten Fox, the coach gave me 3 corrections. I was unable to do what he suggested on the 3-turn as my mind took over and gave me extra stuff. I was disappointed, but my coach pointed out that the 3-turn was better, and I corrected the other 2 things he asked for. Then, he asked me for speed/ power and instructed me to just go for it and not think about mistakes. He was happy with what I put out there, I was unhappy about the mistakes!

I don't think there is another way to learn then to have something explained, then corrected until you do it. And there are so many corrections in skating... This brings me again to the goal I was working on just before the quarantine break, of having my skating training (learning), process oriented, not goal oriented (that led me to feeling frustrated a lot). And I feel I'm trying...

And still, I feel I need something more to balance the effort of learning. When I first got on ice after the 3 months break, I was soo into what I (me, me, me...) was feeling. I'm trying to remember what I was feeling. And I remember I felt that I didn't care if somebody is watching or how do I look, I've just stepped back on ice after 3 month, I was allowing myself to " re learn" without judgment.   But I also remember I actually felt "pretty" (like not awkward). And that may be because I was doing easy things that I was comfortable with. And this may be what I'm yearning for... to have some time on ice when I don't learn/ train, to be there, on ice, feeling "pretty". I used to think of this as a goal of skating for my own enjoyment. So I'm planing to look for exercises that are comfortable enough so I can enjoy skating trough them, and also try to not "work" when doing some harder exercises, just go trough them...This may add joy to the training process and give some confirmation of progress.

About my progress... After the break I was lucky I skated the first three times at a rink with uncrowded sessions, we were just 4, 6 and  2 skaters on ice. Where I skate now, we are 10 skaters on ice and in the Monday session all skaters were high level and fast. I felt intimidated, but way less, then I was felling lets say a year before, and I felt I've held my own way. That's the biggest proof of the progress I've made!

First lesson after the break

I've got to skate on my own four times before I've had a lesson. As I told you in the previous post, some things felt better then before the 3 months break. Not the speed and power, but the balance and alignment. I was very eager to see my coach to get feedback on if I truly improved my alignment and how bad is my power, speed and extension...

I decided to use this first lesson for the MITF exercises from the Pre-Juvenile test. I will mention that at this rink, coaches are not allowed on ice, they teach from the hockey box, or by the doors, I was skeptic on how this will work. Only 10 skaters total are allowed on ice, all students.

1. Forward and backward crossovers on lobes holding the inside edge. For forward I was reminded to start the inside edge perpendicularly away from the axis, so I'll get to set a good inside edge.On the backward ones, while I understood theoretically, I've never truly felt that I've done well the weight transfer for the inner edge. And now I did, it needed a wider step then I used to do so the weight could go solidly on that side while being on an inside edge. Before, I either steeped on an outside edge, or to correct that I wasn't transferring all the weight to that side, so to force the edge I was twisting the upper body too much. My coach also hasn't mentioned anything about power, I know that The moment to work on it will come in the future, but it confirms to me that it is not appalling.

2. Forward outside to backward inside 3-turns. The first two I was in my head as I knew the coach was watching... and I haven't rotated the upper body enough, but I self corrected, and they all when well. I've got the correction to extend less, as it makes me lean forward with the upper body.

3. Forward inside to backward outside 3-turns. The only correction was on my best of these 3-s... On the left forward inside, on the exit edge I was holding the free leg to much to the back, making the edge too deep., so I have to hold the free leg more to the side... no problem. Everything else fine! I asked.... ok how slow are they, because that was an issue in the past when I was getting them ready for test. He said, well, they are slow, but you are not a freestyle, the judges shouldn't mind.

4. Power pulls, forward great. Backward, I never truly got them, but again, I feel I understood now a little better. I knew I was using the upper body too much and I also was leaning forward. Now, as my coach demonstrated in the hockey box, I saw more clearly the hips movement. He also said it should feel like a hop. I did a little better, still leaning forward. I'm thinking next time when I'm on ice to try to hold the free foot bent near the skating foot. It may be that I extend too much and that makes me lean forward.

5. Back circle eight. Outside is really good. Inside, it slows down after 2/3rds, to the point that if I don't get a very good push, I'm always worried if I'll make it all the way around. I've got the same corrections that I've always got: that I'm leaning outside of the circle as I move the upper body and bring the foot in after the half circle, and that I'm opening the free hip.

6. I haven't got a chance to do the 5 step mohawk, but that was generally good before.

So I'm filing all the moves in my head as on the right track! If I would have my coach available once a week, I think I would be tempted to work at them to test them. But, I'll see my coach only twice more. I misunderstood that he said he'll be at that particular rink for the entire summer, and I've bought ice only for June. Now, of course July and August ice is sold out. Hopefully as more rinks open we'll find ice that works for both of us and I can add more lessons.

Anyhow, coming back to testing, I definitely don't want to get caught up again in working at my skating so hard (for progress or for passing tests) that I lose the joy, so I'm welcoming the fact that I don't even have the possibility to test soon, to hopefully figure up a skating rhythm that will suit me better than the one I had before.

I'm also happy to report that I've skated now 6 times, and I'm mostly pain free! While skating, I'm not holding the extensions for now, I hope until I get to really get to work on dances to build the muscles needed. I also started this new skating journey by taking it easy, by holding back on bending the knees too much, so I'll give the quads a chance to strengthen. I'm adding more  knee bend on each skating session. After skating, I fell my left thigh and hip tighten,  so I stretch after immediately and I roll when I get home.

For now, all is well in my skating world.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last week I skated Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I've already wrote about Monday, "the first time on ice after 3 months". Wednesday I followed the same plan to take it easy and work on alignment an balance and it went way easier the Monday, though I still felt little of balance moments going backwards. Friday I kind of felt very good.

Firstly, I was surprised by the intensity of the joy I've got from being on ice. I felt blissful, nirvanic, I don't think there is such a word, but it should be...

Now on the technique side, some aspects of my skating regressed for sure and I'm haven't even tried to add power, speed, extension and knee bend, though on Friday I haven't hold back as the days before.

But interestingly some aspects of my skating improved? I'm wondering if it was because I was very focused as I skated and I took it slowly and methodically, or because I worked during quarantine on posture awareness through ballet ( I found the upper body lift that some instructors call for) and on core strength trough pilates, but I felt better alignment, body lean and I felt that my hips and shoulders are leveled, not dropped.  It took me by surprise on Monday and I tried to think about it, and control it on Wednesday. Then, I haven't thought about this body alignment awareness on Friday until after the skating session was over, and it's not that it was gone, but it wasn't as strong. I  sooo don't want to loose it! So, I'm making this one of my goals going forward: to channel this posture awareness and engagement during the first minutes of each skating session.

Then I'm thinking I should be sure that I have the muscle strength to engage. Unfortunately I've never enjoyed working out, and even if during this 3 month quarantine I've done  regularly the 3 weekly zoom classes my ballet instructor was offering, it doesn't seem I've developed a habit.Yeap, I've done... none this last week. So I'll add to the goals list to develop and maintain core strength and posture awareness  trough off ice exercising, and it shouldn't even take away from the skating time.

This brings back the thought that I consider to balance my life, by not giving skating as much time and priority as before the quarantine. I have this suspicion, but it could be wishful thinking, that I would be happier overall and the skating progress wouldn't suffer much. What I would lose because of less training on ice I may gain trough other activities that lift my spirit and prepare my body, including maybe more dance classes. Looking back, before the quarantine, I think I skated without joy at least half the time, maybe I even got to the point of burn out. Maybe skating less, or at least with less intensity will work better.  At least I should give this a try, and see where is taking me. If it's gonna affect my skating progress in a big way I'll either have to accept that, or push skating more again.

Ironically, for now, as ice time is limited, I have absolutely no choice but to schedule my life around ice time, or I wouldn't get to skate at all...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month I recovered from a flu and so I couldn't skate as much as I wanted. I skated 3 times a week. The last two weeks I added Thursday to the schedule and I added an half hour lesson to the one I take on Mondays. But... both these last two weeks I didn't skate on Friday. Something came up and it would have been a stretch to get to the skating rink.

Freestyle: I've done zero jumps and spins. As I was still congested after the flu, I was too out of breath to jump and not finding the balance for the spins. I'm feel excited to get to work on them again.

Figures: I've introduced figures in my training. Read about my reasons and the first lesson from two weeks ago, here. It seams I'm settling in practicing them around 20 minutes on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the very beginning of the sessions when the ice is clean.

MITF: The big change here is that I'm doing the backward 3-turn holding the free foot out, before I was bringing the free foot at the ankle when I turned and extended it after. I worked on them in isolation in cluster of two: forward 3-turns into backward 3 turns. I'm planing to start putting them on the pattern now, so 3 sets of two on the length of the rink. I think the rest of the moves I'm doing, those from the Pre-Juvenile, test are strong. I plan to start doing all these exercises with awareness on presentation, with entry steps and exit steps as I would do them when testing. I also plan to start working at the 5 minutes warm up, that's what I would have before the test. I don't want to do this as soon as I step on ice, as I remember it used to unsettle the whole skating session in the past. It made my rush and push too hard and then I felt tired.

Ice Dancing: it's definitely improving. The proof is that I finally got to partner the Ten Fox with my coach, on music. It could still use a little more work so I haven't registered to test. The 3-turns are stronger, but they are different in different days, I have bad days when I cannot really make them good, meaning they are still not reliable. Partnering is better. I added speed at the end pattern and that made me scared of the outside Mohawk, but it is happening now. I should start working on a 5 minutes warm up for dance, as soon as I step on ice, then do the dance so i would really mimic the test session.

Training process: Not being ready to test the Ten Fox got me disappointed and made me wonder if my goal of testing standard is appropriate, or I'm setting myself for failure. Then, I was questioning the training process. You can read my thought on process oriented training versus goal oriented training in the previous post. I feel that lately all I had in my mind was testing the Ten Fox and I've lost sight of the process. But I'm realizing I've never really figured out a training process... So, that's my goal now! Plus, of course, I want to test the Ten Fox...

Progress... slow progress

I haven't really worked at my skating skills and for progress, since the beginning of the summer. The reasons were the lingering pain after the small hip injury, getting upset and put off by the politicking in the skating world, to what it was added the inconvenient summer ice schedule. As a result of all that, I've got both unmotivated and out of my skating rhythm. I've tried to get them back in the fall and I just couldn't find a way. So I've decided to skate for my own enjoyment, which I have lost when I was working too hard, for progress, and I wrote about it here. Ideally would be, of course, to work for progress and enjoy the process, but I couldn't find a way to do that just yet.

I wrote here, over a year ago, about progressing from a skating Beginner level to a High Beginner level. I though at that point I was at a High Beginner level, and I think I was right. I was wondering then and I'm still wondering, how to push into an Intermediate level (a beginner Intermediate level). I think I'm at the threshold. I need just a final push to get over it. And I think working towards finally testing the Pre-Juvenile MITF and the Ten Fox will finally get me there. So I'm trying to pump myself up to work for testing. And I'm shooting for testing in mid January. There are few test sessions in mid December that that's after the week and week end I'll be busy with the Nutcracker on ice, so I expect I'll be too tired. Testing  though, is just a symbol of passing a threshold. What I'm wondering is what skills should be acquired for a skater to be (look like) an Intermediate level skater.

I'm so grateful to my coach that he asks and listens about me feeling stuck and unmotivated, not confident even, and trys to help. Lately, instead of going trough the MITF exercises and the Ten Fox, he actually went for skills developing exercises. I mentioned them here and here.

So, just to review what I need to work on with awareness:
- posture and looking up,
- alignment over edges,
- pressure into ice
- touching the boots before pushing (so no wide stepping)
- bending into the ankles at pushes
- pushing perpendicularly away from the axis
- holding the whole body engaged (I think of it at tense, but is more like core engaged, upper body lifted, keep the tension after the push to have straight knee and pointed toe for the free leg.
- speed

I feel quite solid on forward skating. On backward skating I still don't find the balancing point quickly, I feel the push on the left outside edge is "empty". I immediately loose the good posture after the push and I'm not always on the edge. Theoretically I know I have to work on all the things I mentioned, and allow them to became body memory. So I plan to do lots and lots of backward stroking, chasses, progressives both on a circle and on alternating lobes, swing rolls. And of course, the turns (the dropped 3-turns from Ice Dancing and the forward to backward 3-turns from the moves) will get better when the back edges will be better.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month went like this: the two weeks in the middle were great, the first and last week of the month not so much. The problem with these two not so good weeks was that th rink a different schedule, so I've got to skate less and I also lost my rhythm.

MITF: The skating that I did, went almost entirely towards the moves and the coach agreed that I am ready to test, well, unless I have a bad day. So I'm registered to test at the end of this month.

And talking about bad days, this last week I really didn't skate too well. I'm trying to find explanations on why, so I don't get discouraged... Firstly, mid month the coach didn't ask about more power so I thought I'll take the opportunity to work on perfecting things, mainly the alignment. Then, I was tired. I think the combination of the two (not purposely pushing so letting go of some speed, but then pushing even less than I thought I was, because I was tired), made my skating hesitant. Also, maybe I'm getting a little bored with these moves. I had few runs that went really well so in my mind, I think I've got them. But I have to still stick with them for a full month for the test.

Just 2 posts ago I talked about power in figure skating. And this last week was such an awareness. My coach's approach for progress in skating is to work on precision and then to work on speed. Of course with more speed you lose from the precision, so then you need to start working on it again, and so forth. That doesn't mean to totally let go of the speed... I think this last week I made the mistake of letting go of too much from the speed. But the edges are hold better at speed. I'm very curious to check this theory this week.

One thing worth mentioning, is that my coach made me work on the 5 minutes warm up that I'll do on the test day. The elements in the test are around 10 minutes, so there is no time to time to do all of them and there is no time to warm-up. My first tries were around 7 minutes, so I needed to cut a lot. Now I've got it down to 5 minutes but I still play with the order I do them. My coach said to consider that on the test day the other skaters probably will follow the test order so it may be better to do the same. So on the test day I'll have to warm up of ice. Then, on ice, I'll have to use some of the elements as a warm up, in the sense that I shouldn't try to do them well but just get used with the ice. The power crossovers are one like that, but I do just one line, first half forward, second half backward. I do the next line edge presses, 2 outside forward, 2-4 backward outside, the rest of the space backward inside.  These allow me to work on my alignment. I need them... Then I do the 3 turns, but just one of each. If I have problems with one of them I have time to do it again. Next would be the power pulls, back circle 8 and 5 step mowhak.

Ice Dancing: I did occasionally some warm up lines of chasses, progressives, swing rolls and the Ten Fox (the last of the Bronze dances I have to test) so I don't totally forget it. Some days it actually went good. Some days... you know... not. What I found myself drown to, were the dropped 3-turn for the European Waltz that I'll start working on after I finish with this Ten Fox. The Pre-Silver dances are way more interesting. Harder too, of course. But if my interest is high I work harder too.

Freestyle: I let it go again... I did some spins (forward and backward) and a Waltz Jump here and there. And I've run my program just once.

As for the plan for the next month, I do have to keep the moves a priority. The ice schedule will change middle of the month, and as the kids will be on vacation there is no way to know which sessions will be crowded and which not. So, I cannot count on that ice, I'll have to be really for the test by the middle of the month. 

The concept of Power in Figure Skating

I test both MITF and Ice Dancing at the standard requirements, as kids test them. My goal was to get to skate likeas the kids do. I didn't know the name for "it", I just knew that adult skaters looked shy and kids were going for "it". This "it" is called power.

As I said in the previous posts,  I tested Preliminary MITF  first on June 2017, and got a "retry" and I tried again and passed on October 2017. The only reason given for the retry was "lack of power" on 2 elements. There are adult versions of the tests with slightly different elements and requirements. The biggest difference is the power expected. So were the standard test requires "power", the adult test requires "flow".

I've tried very hard to figure out what "power" means. Ballet dancers famously require lots of power to be able to do what they do, but then, they have to look gracious, like it's actually easy. In skating,  while learning the power concept, the instructions are to be aggressive, attack, push, sell it, pretend to be (overly) confident. When preparing to take again MITF test that I didn't pass, I was telling my coach that I literally don't understand the concept.

It just happened that I was just talking with a skating friend and she was saying that the skating culture sometimes develops aggressive personalities. And I've recently been bothered by few episodes of aggressive behavior on ice. And I'm wondering if it's partly because of the words used to ask for power. I'm still trying to figure out what power means, and I don't think is aggressiveness.

They may not be the best words to describe it,  but I think power in skating is controlled speed (holding the extensions and tension in the body and the speed will all increase while one progresses in skills). And I think it comes from 2  different places.  
The first one is technique, that gives the control:
- alignment over edges. Knowing the points of balance going forward (back of your foot arch) and backward (front part of your foot arch). And how to lean to maintain the edges.
- posture and core engagement
- pressures into ice. Not once I heard about pressing into ice ore bend your ankles as a beginner. I heard bend your knees. You actually use the knee as a piston to push into the ice and the ankle to grab and hold that pressure.
- edges: correct lean of the body and speed that maintain the edges
- tension in the whole body helped by holding the extensions and pointing the toes
 -my coach's advice on how to work on things to progress is to approach it from 2 sides and go back and forth between them
1. work on technique at comfortable speed
2. do the same elements with more speed over your comfort level

The second one is speed (exuberant speed - the love for skating) I feel seeing power in skating is like seeing a wild horse running. I definitely don't see them being aggressive.

On the other hand sports are competitions and one needs to be aggressive or assertive to compete, but that's another story. Maybe the teaching to compete should be separated from the teaching of skating technique.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month I skated more (from 4 sessions to 5 and a half per week) and had 2 private lessons per week with my dance coach as I was registered to test the Willow Waltz and I wanted to be prepared.
As you may know from the previous post, I passed the Willow Waltz test, testing standard track no less. Passing tests is very good for motivation and confirming that I do progress. As much as I love skating, learning it is very hard work and not always enjoyable. There is often lots of frustration.

Ice Dancing: Bedsides working on the specific steps for the Willow Waltz I feel I got to a new level of power in my stroking. That's the biggest difference between adult testing and standard testing, the power. Having more power makes you look (and feel) more stable, so better. I'm very happy I was able to do the Willow Waltz solo on music and keep the count, as I was struggling with that before. Read about it here.
MITF: Taking 2 lesson per week we had time each lesson to review an element from the Pre-Juvenile test that I'm working on. While being complimented on the better display of power, it seams that I dropped the standard in the quality. I had corrections on each and every one of them, on things that I used to do just fine. The good news is that I can incorporate the corrections immediately.
Freestyle: I had just one private lesson with my new Freestyle coach and I asked to work on jumps. I definitely like how I react to his instructions. More then that, because he works with adults a lot, I feel he identified some specific problems that adults have and other coaches, that work manly with kids, just don't think about.

Making plans for next month there are two main things I consider:

Firstly, I would like to balance the Ice Dancing, MITF and Freestyle. I always say this and it never feels I'm doing it. Both MITF and Ice Dancing need fairly empty sessions and last month I was always prioritizing dance over moves. That means I worked on dance at the beginning of the sessions when the ice is emptier. And Ice Dancing tires my quads sometimes so badly that I don't feel like jumping.
MITF: I'll have to work on both slow on the corrections (to became body memory), and fast to improve the power. And as I worked on them for a long time (from before I was hurt, in fact I was close to being ready to test them), I'm not very excited about them. It's sounds to me that I'll actually have to prioritize these somehow.
Freestyle: I think I would be more motivated to work on Freestyle elements if they would be part of a program. I'll have to ask my new coach clearly about the timeline for choreographing it. Up to now I was disappointed as I kept expecting to get the program and instead I've got lessons. He gave me very good instruction but I wasn't ready/ didn't have time, to work on elements on Freestyle because I was concentrating on Ice Dancing.  So we'll have to talk and align our efforts.
Ice Dancing: I'll start working on the Ten fox that I let go these last 2 months and doesn't have too much flow right now. The only really sticky thing about it is the outside Mohawk. I never felt that I've really really got it. But I'm doing it and it may be good enough for this level... So we'll see how that goes.

The second thing I have on my mind is the quad muscles pain. As the hip was ok, I've been skating 5 days in a row, one of the days, Monday, twice. I was curious if I'll have the muscle building pain, as I was getting it last year when I was skating like this. Last year it passed after maybe a month, but that month was very hard. I felt exhausted, I needed more food and more sleep. The last week of last year and first week of this year I'll skate just twice weekly, because of the ice schedule. So I think I'll have no choice but to build slowly on that, and go again with 4 skating days a week, and in the past that meant Tuesday and the weekend off. From the second week on January I'm registered to beginner adult ballet and ballet conditioning. The ballet conditioning is on Friday just before skating and I hope is gonna be focused on core strength (to replace the pilates class) or balanced, but definitely not on leg strength as I don't need it and I may not skate well after a leg focused workout. The ballet is on Saturday morning and my only hope is that it's gonna meet at lest some of my expectations (work and awareness on posture, alignment and port de bras)...

It's customary to make new year resolutions and set goals but I don't really do that.  And planning skating for a whole year doesn't seam realistic. Especially after how it went last year (the tiny hip injury that didn't heal completely for more then 6 months). When I started private lessons in mid 2016 my goal was progress.Two years ago I was able to push very hard and I felt I'm going the right way. Last year I basically skated half the time compared to 2 years ago. But looking back, I progressed more than I expected. Not in the areas that I was planning (power and speed) but starting to put together the skills that I had and working on expression (mostly arms). I also feel I enjoyed skating somehow more then when I was pushing very hard. Learning from all these, my plan for the new year is to be flexible and to make the best out of my time on ice!

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I usually skate Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That's 4 sessions a week, while last year I was skating 7, 8 sessions a week. I would have the time to skate more, but I felt it was best to let the hip injury heal. At the beginning of the month the rink was closed for renovation, then there was just public ice on Veterans day and around Thanksgiving. So I was skating even less and that translates in less progress...

Ice Dancing: I had 3 private lessons (my private lesson is on Thursday and I lost 2 lessons because of the ice schedule). We worked exclusively at the Willow Waltz as I want to test it. And we decided to register for the December 23rd test session. That is an hour session that goes after the Ice Dancing group lessons 2 months classes to allow the students to test what they've learnt. It covers just up to bronze dances. I love these sessions as they are less pressure then the 3 hours long sessions. So, I was ready to test this dance in March (and I didn't test because I've got injured), and I was confident about it. Where did that confidence go? My coach says that my skills are improved, and I agree. I think that protecting the hip I lost the tension in my body that makes somebody look sure of themselves... I'll have to find it quickly...

MITF: I didn't work on these with my coach in months. Again, these Pre-Juvenile MITF were close to be ready for testing in March, when I couldn't work on power because of my injury. I occasionally ask him to see one move if I have questions. At some point I lost my backward circle eight so he helped me adjust the weight on my hip and I got it back.The power crossovers with inner edge he likes. On the power pulls I do well, except the the back ones on the hurt hip. But they are coming along. The 5 step Mohawk was always good. All it's left is the forward to backward 3-turn... And I do them fine! Except when I try to put a little speed in them. I think again it's about not tensing my body enough. I tried to have my coach look at them and I did way worse then I do on my own. He couldn't really correct anything because I was not doing them. Usually he corrects the timing as i was turning before reaching the middle of the lobe. The he always finds some weight over the hip adjustment. The only thing I could take away was to look up. I look down after the turn. I think the thing I need is that confidence back.... because honestly, I CAN do them.

Freestyle: This month I had 2 lessons with my new Freestyle coach. I described the Freestyle lessons here. Last lesson was about going faster and going bigger. When I hired him I thought I was going to like him, and I do like him even more than I expected. And here comes the BUT. I like all he is teaching me and I respond well to his instructions. And I agree I need eventually to know all these. BUT, I hired him to do a program for me, 2 moths ago. I want my program! I know I'm being childish, but am I? The program should be a Pre-Bronze one for testing, not competition. So it doesn't need more difficult skills than I already have. He brought up again the back power 3-turn, that are next level MITF. And while I can do them, I kind of don't want to work at them. I didn't do Freestyle in 2 years and I don't have allocated time in my week for it. I have to make room, so to take away time from dance and moves where I already feel I have less time than I want (like 8 sessions a week,  before injury). Now to be honest, each day on ice, I do have "I don't know what to work on" moments. So why wouldn't I work on the back power 3-turn. I'm definitely being childish, trowing a tantrum instead of working on things as an adult.

Last thing I'll mention is my hip pain. It is mostly good. I did hurt after jumping a whole session, but it went away during the long Thanksgiving weekend. I'm giving Thanks for that! Then I've fallen again on that side but I was wearing the gel hip pad, and while the fall hurt a little, I think it didn't add anything to the previous injury. Thanks for that too... Something new, I took a pilates class that is offered just after the ice time on Friday. It was my first time talking pilates and while I expected a good core workout (and sore muscles), I was surprised of how much it made me work the hip muscles too, so I may continue taking it. A physical therapist was also taking the class and she joined the conversation I was having with the instructor comparing yoga and pilates . They both consider that pilates is more beneficial as a core and hip strengthening and stabilizing exercise while cautioned me about the risk of injury if yoga is not done properly.

The plan for next month, if I feel no hip pain, is to skate Monday trough Friday and have 2 private lessons with my old coach, one Monday after my regular skate and one Thursday. That would give me more instruction for the dance I plan to test, plus would bring me to 5 and a half sessions of skating per week. BUT, if I feel any pain I plan to be on the cautious side and cut back on skating. As I'm registered to test the Willow Waltz I'll have to prioritize to work on it. The problem is that I need fairly empty ice to be able to put in the whole pattern and keep the beat. Usually the beginning of the sessions are emptier, so I'll have to work at the dance first.  The big disadvantage of this is that Ice Dancing makes my muscles tired because of the continuous bending and rising of the knee. That definitely affects my jumping negatively. But if I'm able to skate 5 1/2 sessions per week I'll have time to start incorporating some Freestyle in my training. I might not take any freestyle lessons, to keep the skating budget under control, or I'll go crazy and spend, thinking of it as a holiday gift...