1st week of July

Guess what... I haven't skated Monday and Tuesday... as I was saying in the previous post, I lost my motivation as I don't feel I have a plan, I ended up exactly where I didn't want to be...working almost exclusively at the Tenfox 3-turn, getting bored if not frustrated... There is not gonna be ice Friday and Saturday, so this week looks like I'm gonna skate Wednesday, Thursday (public session) and maybe Sunday... I canceled my dance lesson for Thursday, I felt with so little skating I have noting to show.  Plus, at the time I have this new lessons at south rink, there is traffic... 45 minutes instead of regular 20... I remind you that I'm taking lessons with this new dance coach because I cannot drive an hour and a half (because of construction on expressway)  instead of 30-40 minutes regular traffic to see my old coach...

But, good news, I found a coach (freestyle not dance) at the rink that is close by me! A while ago when I was looking for coaches, I was talking with somebody from this rink, I've found out that a coach I knew from the previous rink, occasionally teaches here. I really like her lines and style, she could be the coach I was looking for to help skate for my own enjoyment... I called her and I felt she understood where I'm at (working hard for progress and losing motivation when that progress doesn't happen, and getting stuck with the same old exercises). I immediately planned for a lesson, for the next day! I specifically asked for her to give me new exercises and moves and to correct my posture, core and extension, to make me feel "pretty"

Wednesday I had a freestyle lesson, well more like skating skills... I haven't put any expectation into it, as I haven't skated since Saturday, and the new coach didn't know my skating level at all. We decided to show her what I usually do, excluding the dance stuff, and she would correct and build on it. Well, I was very happy! I will write a separate post about this, but I've got new exercise or variations involving, edges, B xstrokes, 3 turns, weight shift from BI push, Twizzles. I couldn't wait to go back skating.

Thursday there was a public session, it was reasonably crowded at first, I could skate the exercises (incorporating the lesson suggestions) using the whole length of the rink. I then went into Tenfox, 3-turn still scraped :( Then it got crowded, so I worked on smaller ice spots, on Twizzles, spins, 3-turns, brackets, 3-turns again. Then the ice got cleared but it was choppy. Knowing I won't skate until Sunday, but more probably Monday, so I'll have time to recover, I decided to go for muscle tiring exercises, those that require deep knee bend, like xovers, chasees, progressives. And then I did cool off exercises on 2 feet and deep knee bend to have stability, so I could add arms and breathing. It was a good day! The new exercises from the new freestyle coach invigorated my stale approach on them... exactly what I thought I needed for motivation and enjoyment.

I checked the ice schedule for the next week and I see Monday 6.30am (definitely not for me), Tuesday 7am (maybe?) and Wednesday 6pm (I don't know, I will probably be tired). I should have the dance lesson Thursday at 3pm, so I need some skating to prepare.

I don't usually skate on weekends, but, with the awareness of the lack of ice for next week, I decided to go skating on Sunday, . It was crowded but it was a freestyle session so at least it had some rules. The intention was mostly towards the TenFox that went just like before, so scraped and late 3-turn. But I had the new exercises from the new freestyle coach that I was able to figure out and develop. So I was happy about that!

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The first two weeks of last month were unfocused. The fist reason was that my work schedule was full, the moon was also full and I am usually restless during that, so I was tired and unfocused to begin with. Then, I added to it... as I had a meeting Northside (where is hard to get because of construction traffic) so I decided to take a have a lesson with my old coach (that coaches only Northside). I also decided to finally mount the blades on my boots with permanent screws and sharpen the blades, that is Northside too. Those were two days lost driving. The ice schedule also changed, I cannot find ice every day, and on some days the available time doesn't work for me. And so, all these took my focus away from my Tenfox more than I would have wanted. I sooo want to test it... But in those circumstances I couldn't concentrate on it, so really, I'm not ready yet.

The 3rd week of the months I talked myself into approaching skating with a positive attitude and I did better. 

The 4th week, I was busy with work again and I lost my positive approach, again... I felt pretty disappointed, and... doubtful about my skating ability. 

Then I thought back and I can see I have a solid foundation of skating skills, what I feel is missing is an holistic approach.  I had to think of  positive things that happened  and practice gratefulness.

- While  being in the Northside of the city,  I finalized my boot mounting (and had a sharpening), that is a huge accomplishment after 2 years of skating with temporary mounted screws. 

- I reminded myself that my goal for last month was to balance my skating effort and enjoyment. So having options besides working on the Tenfox is part of that goal

- Maybe most importantly, I didn't stop skating. In the past, during busy times and feeling distracted, I would have taken a break (and then I would have had to go through the terror of building muscles again). Now, because I had committed to the dance lesson, I kept skating, even if not focused enough.

- I know I can do it, well the dropped 3 turns for TenFox, I had them in control in the past, they will come back!  

The plan for this month?  

-Firstly, don't give up, don't interrupt skating... especially because I have difficult work schedule ahead.

- Then, continue the plan from the last month in looking for a balanced approach to skating that includes working towards testing the TenFox, maybe working towards testing the Juvenile Skating Skills or adult gold, but also enjoying. The only thing I feel I concluded last month, is to not get stuck on the TenFox 3-turn and the TenFox, it was becoming a chore... 

- TenFox, at this point the only setback is that I scrape and I'm not quick enough on the 3 turn (it is improved!).  I feet it is good enough to start working at partnering. I did mention that to my coach that I would like to start partnering 2 lessons ago, I will have to ask again what is the hold up...

- I also feel I should start exercises for specific muscles, I work the ankles when I feel weakness, but I should work the core, back, arms and even legs to supplement the skating...

 

2nd week of June: thoughts on rest and balancing my skating

I knew I’ll have a meeting on Monday so I decided to skate on Sunday. I never skate in the weekend because usually there is no ice, if there is, it is very crowded. Plus I formed the rhythm of skating during the week and resting in the weekend.

The minute I decided to skate on Sunday, I felt unhappy.  As I tried to acknowledge my thoughts and feelings,  I have found many... What set my negativity off, is that while looking for ice for Sunday, I had to face the fact that the ice schedule is gonna change for the summer, I'm gonna have fewer options for ice time and the ice is gonna be crowded. Then, I've realized that I am actually tired. I am physically tired from skating ( 5 times last week) but I'm also more tired because  most of my free time goes into skating, I have less time to rest. I was then thinking again about goals, and, if I want to improve, I do need lessons and practice, so I do need to put in all these time, planning and work. I think, this will get better as I will find more clarity in how to balance the skating.

As for this particular Sunday, I found it difficult to decide what to work on, and it felt like I just didn't want to work on Sunday. So I decided to have a skating day for my own pleasure. That lifted the pressure and the unhappy feeling. At the rink, I started slowly and concentrate on feeling my breath, my posture and my extensions. I took the time to finish the exercises with a pose.  I ended up actual working at lots of things!

So, note to myself, do occasionally slow down and smell the roses! I guess, this is, in fact, part of a balanced approached to skating...

Monday, no skating because of a business meeting. But... I have to acknowledge that I was very tired the whole day, unusually so, and it made me wonder if I may be skating too much?

Tuesday I was very busy and I still felt tired. Then I’ve realized there is a full moon coming, I never rest well when there is a full moon. In this circumstance, I’ve decided to not go skating, be gentle towards my body and schedule.

Wednesday. Tuesday night there was this huge beautiful strawberry moon, so of course I woke up at 5 and couldn't fall back asleep. I was even more tired than the previous days. In the past I would have definitely not gone skating. But I have planned a lesson on Thursday, so I felt I had to go. This is one of the benefits of having planned lessons, they make you commit. I didn't stay that long but I was pretty happy on how the Tenfox worked. I was careful ti alternate the work on the Tenfox with slower exercise.

Thursday, I had a dance lesson with my new coach. I woke up rested but I worked so hard to catch up on work, I felt distracted before leaving for skating. Then, I had traffic, it took me 40 minutes instead of 20-30. Then, this session was a Freeskate one, a bit busier that I'm used to. Anyway, these are my excuses for not doing well. The 3s in Tenfox were skidding all the time, every single time! I left very, very disappointed.

Friday. I went skating, it was very crowded, I mostly worked on the Tenfox 3s that didn't go much better than Thursday.

This week was rough, I was excessively tired following the very busy previous week. I kept the skating schedule and the lesson, and that is a win in itself. I got disappointed in the Tenfox 3 turns but I have to remember that progress is not linear, I was tired, or I was too much into my head... Otherwise skating felt in fact good! I think this is the perfect reminder that I have to skate for my own enjoyment and continue in organizing the skating weeks and months so they feel balanced between work for progress and enjoyment.

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. 

 

3rd week of May - New Dance Coach

I expect to be tired and hurting when I start skating after a break, but last week I was more tired than I expected. Through past experience I’ve realized is better to skate shorter sessions so I don't get the muscles so tired that they would need a week to recover. I skated short sessions, and still... tired.

And this Monday I was still tired, both as overall feeling and the muscles felt sluggish.

Wednesday I’ve met a Friend and skated together, I did bursts of skating harder and then breaks for social skating. I felt OK, but not strong. 

Thursday I’ve took a dance lesson! I found a new dance coach! My old coach is an hour and a half away, the new one, 20 minutes. I will work wit the new coach towards testing the TenFox. During the lesson I skated quite hard (speed and knee bend) to show her the dance. I was careful to pace myself, take some breaks. My tiredness level was OK, better than my very diminished expectation from the previous week experience. The lesson was also OK, I tried to not put much expectations being that I like my old coach so much, plus the new coach is a lady so it will be probably more difficult to partner. But she used to skate with my old coach so there is some similarity in their style so some continuity.

Friday I was out of the house for a meeting that finished when the ice was available, so I went and skated again. I was very tired but excited to try some corrections I’ve got. I feel I can correct most things, the hardest to correct is the quickness needed. I feel pretty balanced, I think, at this point, what holds me back is the muscles strength. That will come. 

I feel excited to push the dance. It is nice to feel excited after so long of feeling hopeless and frustrated. But, for next week I will have to be careful to be patient and not work too hard, to let my muscles recover.

 

 

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

 After not skating at all in April, I skated now once per week for the last 2 weeks. Interestingly the balance and skills felt pretty good (or could have been a comparison with my low expectations). The building back the muscles will be a problem... again. I think it would be way easier if I would skate at least 2 times per week, and/or I would do some off ice leg workout when I take a break from skating.

The next weeks I'm gonna (hopefully) skate 3 times per week. Besides the physical pain from building the muscles working at the old things feels "grinding" to me, there is a disappointment that the things don't improve, and after a break from skating they actually regress and there is lack of excitement.

Breaks are gonna inevitably happen again, so I'm trying to build some wisdom in dealing with the breaks. I think the problem is more mental than physical and it is a loss of motivation, a disconnect from skating. And talking about breaks happening again... the summer ice is starting in 2 weeks so very little ice is gonna be  available (and because the kids are on vacation and have camps).

 I hope I won't "fall" into a break again, but it doesn't look that during the summer I can build  a full skating practice for progress. Progress motivates me.Testing motivates me, because even if I have to grind on those skills, I have a goal. And learning new things motivates me because that is exciting in the moment. 

Testing the Tenfox is not in the stars until I find a way to take weekly lessons, the skills I believe are there, but because I test while partnering with my coach and I need consistent time partnering to get comfortable. 

The next Skating Skills (former Moves in the Field) that I could test are the Standard Bronze (former Juvenile) or the Adult Gold and most of the skills in these tests are the same. I haven't have instruction on them in forever, I guess I can have a lesson in that, but with unpredictable skating time I'm not sure I can see progress and testing may be not close by.

 For learning new things I definitely need another coach, my old coach is into "grinding" the fundamentals (ice dance and everything else), and he is great at it. But he is also more than an hour driving distance away from me. So it would be great to find a coach at the rink that is close to me. A new coach would be a whole new adventure, could be good or not...

These are some thought on some possible scenarios. 

I don't feel I can plan much, I think I should have a lesson towards moves with my old coach and try and find a new coach at the close by rink.

 

 

 

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The second part of the last month I worked hard into getting at the rink 3 times per week. It is hard to make time for it, but it seems the biggest problem is that my muscle hurt and I feel pretty tired for the first two weeks when I skate 3 times per week. The thing that I discovered during the last skating "come back" is that I build strength faster if I take it easier and stop skating when I feel tired. Then, I'm not hurting so badly and I can come back and skate in 2 days.

So I took it easy and slowly built while working on the easier and by now more boring exercises. And then I worked on the newer things that I had instruction on the last lesson (basically the European 3turns and the Foxtrot). 

I think that having some shinny new things to work on, helps my motivation. I used to take weekly lessons and now I don't have the time for it (my coach is an hour driving distance, worse with traffic). I plan on another lesson, it looks it is a full month from the previous one, and I think that while I cannot really build new elements, I get some corrections so I don't build or continue training with bad form.

I also feel that the lessons help me mentally by having a commitment. It is forcing me to train more consistently, the boring stuff. And I also  get excited for the lesson to maybe ask for some little new thing.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Well, last moth I've got to skate only twice per week and no lessons... It was mostly because of my work scheduled, but I've also lost motivation and purpose.

It didn't look to me that I'll be able to test skating so little. For testing partnered dances, I do need at least a weekly lesson and 3 more sessions to practice. So it seemed pointless to work so hard if I do not test. More than that, if I don't test the Ten Fox, I don't want to keep working at it, it is not my favorite dance. So I didn't know what to do with my time on ice, I didn't have a back up plan...

Looking back, I think I could have squeeze a third skating day at least on two weeks, those could have been lessons. My lesson are just half hours, and I could have added a half hour a skating on my own before those, so instead of skating 5 hours and a half, I would have skated 3 hours.That would have been better than 2 hours that I skated...

December is gonna be even busier and I'll find less ice. My plan is to skate as much as I can and try to figure out other things I could work on with my coach.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

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

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

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

Some acquired wisdom from these weeks

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

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

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

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

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

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

Mid month update

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

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

I'm trying to plan:

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

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

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

- I sharpened my blades

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

Summer skating, planning for the fall - the muscle conitioning

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Summer skating, planning for the fall - the rinks situation

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mid year update - the boots situation

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

Last month I was hoping to get into a skating rhythm as the ice availability increased. While I've skated 3 times per week, one week 4 times, I don't feel I've gotten a rhythm. I like to skate Monday, Wednesday, Friday and I couldn't do that. I was also not able to make a skating session plan of what exercises to work on. The challenges from the skating side are the same, ice availability including quality and how crowded it is, boots not being ideal, loosing muscle conditioning as soon as I don't skate for a week, then muscle soreness, difficultly in getting enough plant protein. I feel all these are improving... some more than others. I think I'll get into details into separate posts, it is too much to write. One thing I will say, because I complained in the last post about the ice, the ice did get better!

The new challenge seems to be that my "life" schedule gets in the way of skating regularly both as which days in the week I can go skating and what kind of energy and mindset I have when I skate. And my schedule for the next few months is very uneven, this month for example I'm traveling for 3 weekends so no skating those 3 Fridays. I think the next step is to accept all these and find ways to skate "around" them. I used to try to find ways to be more "flexible" that was basically telling myself to adjust to whatever conditions I get, and it helped up to a point. I think instead of a skating rhythm that I don't seem to be able to get often, and flexibility that helps to keep skating doesn't help to move forward, I need now to look for some continuity in what I do when on ice.

Writing all these I'm realizing I'm actually looking again for progress, that means I feel it's possible!

The plan for this month is to keep going!

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

The plan for last month was to get back into skating and to develop awareness of positive and negative factors affecting my skating so I can plan better for the future. More specifically, I planned to skate 3 times a week, work continuously on the blade alignment, pay attention to building muscles, stamina, add more protein to my diet (plant base protein, as I'm almost vegan), and work on finding goals and motivation.

It was not easy, the first 2 weeks I had to push myself to go skating, there were also moments of doubts that I could get myself to skate regularly and enjoy it. But by the 3rd week I started to feel less tired, the boots felt better and better. I also found one more rink I cold eventually skate at, and with more sessions available, there are more chances to do skate 3 times a week, so less pressure. I kind of did it! I feel I've finally got where I was planning to get 6 months ago, after I've got the new boots (well 2 years ago if I make it about boots, because it was 2 years and 4 pair of bots that I've went through). Anyway, analyzing all the points from my post last month...

- Equipment (boots and blades) is a big issue, I think it is the biggest deciding factor in keeping skating. The boots are still not as tight as my previous ones (because of the new high toe box design of Riedell), I feel hesitant when I change the lobes/edges quickly. The harder I tie them, the better, but I've got feet pain.The blade alignment is not worse than I had 2 years ago, the issue is the same, I pronate on my right foot so I would need corrective insoles, only I have hyper mobility and the corrective insoles gave me  plantar fasciatis. I am stuck with commercial insoles and wedges between the blade and the boots. I may try again some extra wedge in my right boost, the left felt fine for few sessions in a row.

- Rinks: My home rink and the hockey team rink are in the city, they are at 15 minutes drive without traffic, up to 30 with traffic, the advantage is that I can run errands in my way to or from the rinks. I went occasionally for lessons at rinks on north suburbs at 30 minutes without traffic, to 45 minutes with regular traffic, drive on expressway. BUT, there is big repairs done on the expressway so I get 40 minutes towards the rink AND between 1 hour and 1 hour and a half coming back... that is just not doable for my life. My home rink doesn't have ice that fits my schedule in the summer, and before the summer, it was very crowded anyway. The hockey rink has a different schedule and level of crowdiness every day, plus days without ice.  But, I found Monday, Wednesday, Friday noon public skate, not crowded for the 2 sessions I went to, at a west suburb at 30 minutes driving both way, hopefully it will work! 

- Food, the attention to add more protein, I think had a bigger impact than I realized. The half portion of vegan protein shake that I succeed in drinking after skating (it is too sweet for my taste o drink more of it) definitely helps. Keeping track of the more successful recipes with added plant base protein, was also a good idea, because I have plenty of less successful, so less enjoyable ones. 

- The muscles felt better as I skated more regularly. I also went to a weekend gentle yoga class, that felt more like restorative yoga, and it felt great, I hope to keep it in my schedule. I'm trying to add some arms and core exercises at home, with mixed success.

 - Motivation. As I expected, when I started enjoying skating, I wanted to go... I didn't have to push myself. The only thing I figured out that helps with motivation, is consistency, or it is actually the other way around, lack of consistency hurts motivation. For now, I just wanted to get back into a rhythm, and consistency is the key, but if I'll work again for progress I know I will get frustrated  so I need too keep looking for things that help.

For the next month I plan to keep an eye on all these. Ideally I would take a lesson, maybe start to really work towards future tests... I thought that if this month will go as the last 2 weeks of last month I will be happy enough. This week I skated Monday and it was fine, Thursday a complete disaster (I was stiff and distracted, and the public session at the hockey rink was crazy busy), then it was better but not good on Friday. So  think it is a wise plan to take it as it comes...

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.

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.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

 Now that I have boots! and my regular Monday to Friday noon/ lunch break ice starts this week, I feel antsy to look ahead. Well, the boots still need adjustments and this week the rink is closed on Monday for Labor day and I cannot skate on Friday so this week is a tease, but for the rest of the month the prognosis for the skating conditions looks good.

I think this month I want to gently and realistically asses where I'm at and where could I go. 

After 2 years without proper boots, firstly, I'm 2 years older, getting close to the big 50. I think I'll have to accept that my physical abilities will slowly decline, and has declined already. Also, I fell my schedule has changed, I had to shift the focus that I had on skating into other activities. I suspect, it will be difficult to commit to skating the same amount of time I committed before. And there is that desire to progress... but is it realistic to expect progress? And if I wouldn't expect much progress, will I find motivation to put hard work in? If not, I will have to set my expectations on skating for pleasure.

My goals for this month are to finalize the boots adjustments, to work my muscles, and to watch my schedule to see how much time I can allocate to skating.