2nd week of May

This week I have skated 3 times but... not much...

Monday I was excited and I skated 40 minutes. I know from experience that when I pick up skating after a long break I should start with 30 minutes. But Monday skating felt quite good.

Wednesday I skated 30 minutes, I had to leave and go to an appointment but my muscles felt tired anyhow, it was ok.

Friday was the worst of these 3 days. I don't know if my muscles were still tired... probably yes, but I was tired because I haven't sleep well (thunderstorms). I was sluggish and not very focused.

I'm hoping for a lesson next week, but I don't feel I got my "skating legs" back. 

*Note to my future self: DO NOT take so long breaks anymore, you will regret it! Instead of skating, you will have to use 2 weeks to build muscles and you will hurt! You will also not be able to plan lessons and think at goals.

*Note to check with my coach... Today I suddenly scraped the European Waltz dropped 3s (they were fine for a while now). I think it is because my muscles, or the body, were tired and as I stroke the outside edge I leaned forward (not engaging the core and hips to stay on the back of the blade), so when I raised and twisted I didn't have more space to go forward on the blade ti turn cleanly... 

*Another question, towards what direction should I point the toe when skating backwards. Because I push with a pigeon toe, I don't seam to be quick enough to get a turned out foot.

 

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. 

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.

 

Breaking in new boots

I planned this post about breaking in the new boots as a diary, I wrote each day after I skated what I did and how the boots felt.

The new boots were heat molded on my foot in the boot shop. Then, the blades were installed using screws on the temporary, not round but oval, spaces in the blade frames, so you can move the blade to the left and right using that oval guidance.

The first feel, off ice, at home, was they were tight but very comfortable. Also I wasn't having any problem in bending the ankle. I wore them in the house, bend the knees and ankles, then I tighten the laces more and repeat several times... It all felt fantastic, except my surefeet insoles (that weren't put into the new boot in the store) were pocking in the soles of my feet. I thought as the boot is tight, there is not enough space for that insole, and I planned to put it in after the boot foam compressed a little. I removed them and put the manufacturer insole and it felt good, just some pressure under the heal.

The first day on ice, Saturday, when I stepped on ice... it felt that I was on rental skates. I felt absolutely no support. There are few things here.  It seems that that lovely comfy foam padding, needs time to compress, it doesn't mold by just heat molding and walking off ice... So when I was pressing into the boots I hadn't have immediate response. I pressed, but I've met no resistance, just soft foam... so I couldn't steer the blades. Secondly, the blades were not aligned properly. It is normal that even if they feel aligned off ice (they were aligned in the store), they need adjusting depending how they feel on ice.  Thirdly, the new boots are a hybrid, they have regularly tall front so they offer support for jumping (up to doubles), but they cut lower in the back, allowing for toe pointing for dance, so I need to adjust to that.  Anyway, I did mostly swizzles and stroking, some shy edges... I've also tried backward swizzles and I fell at the first one The very foamy tongue kept me more upright, so I needed to press way more, but also it felt that after the push, the tongue was bouncing back and pushing me, so I've had to maintain the pressure on it.  I've got off ice often to retie the boots. I've also took the boots off the foot to adjust a little the blade, unscrew a little the temporary screws and move them slightly left or right...  I was more off ice then on ice.

The second day on ice, Monday, the foam felt like it started to compress at points. I was able to tighten more, and had a lot more shoe lace left after I tied them. I also knew better what to expect... And I finally understood the rules of braking in the boots... slowly. Because if you force them, they'll form creases in the wrong places. Firstly, the boot needs to form on the foot, then, and only then, the ankle should be pressed more heavily. This second day I was able to stroke more freely, and do crossovers and chasses both forward and backward. I feel that these are doing a great job in softening the ankle foam. I've realized I have to much space in the toe area and it's gonna be impossible to tighten by hand in that area, so I stopped by the skate shop to have the boots heat molded again. I also mentioned to them that I feel some pain under the heel, like I have a bump. They didn't look at it, but said they can grind the bumps.

On the third day of skating, Tuesday,  I've realized that while the foam has compacted even more, I've  felt extra space in the boots. I've felt some space under the arch of the foot so I've put back in the insoles with arch support. Oh no... big pressure, something pocking in the sole of my foot, not only in heal and the arch, but in what seamed random spots. This day I would have been able to do a lot more on ice, I did a lot more, but just a little of everything because of the pain.  I also couldn't get on an outside edge of both feet, I know that I pronate on the right foot, and in the past I've had wedges inserted under the blade's frame, but the left foot was a mystery. So, I looked/felt inside of the boots and felt the sole uneven, I had a bump in the back of the arch of the foot, including on the outside side, that would explain why I couldn't get on outside edges! 

 I went again to the skate shop, that luckily is close by this new rink I'm skating on. The technician there, got weird... I mean this was another technician than the one I started working with. He said well, as I know you didn't choose what we first recommended (I'll come to this later), now you have too much space in your boot. We'll have to work with what we have.  He wanted firstly to try the foam insoles under the surefeet insoles. Maybe using both insoles it will both fill in the space and soften those bumps so I won't feel them and this better fit would also allow me to get on an outside edge.  I knew from adjusting the skiing boots, that that the top of the boot should maintain the round form, if you tighten too much, you'll collapse your arches, so at that point you have to fill in the space underneath so I was happy with their direction. I did try the boots in the shop for 1 minute and they definitely felt better. 

Wednesday I didn't skate but I wore the boots in the house, and I've got the pain back after like 10 minutes, and became unbearable after another 5 minutes. I called the shop and they said they didn't have any appointment until after holidays. I told them, look yesterday I had the appointment to grind, you choose not to, barely even looked at the bump. I have 3 more prepaid, nonrefundable skating days, quite far from my house, but close to the boot shop. After the holidays it's gonna be extra hard for me to drive so far for them to keep adjusting... They said to stop buy in the morning and they'll do their best. I wore the boot more in the house to identify more precisely where exactly I hurt. On the left boot I had a big pain spot in the middle of the foot, not really the arch. On the left foot I hurt on the outside of the sole, just under my heel, this was a terrible pain as it was bone pain. There were also spots on both feet that seemed random, depending on how I stayed in the boot, where I pressed.

So Thursday, before skating, I stopped by the skating shop again I went at 10.30, my  ice was at 1.30... I stayed in the shop all that time. They really had to take me in between clients, and they were truly busy. First chance they had they look at the boots and listen to me. the, between customers, they grounded (meaning sanded by hand) for probably 15 minutes total. I was the most concerned with the bone pain in the right foot, as a bone bruise it's hard to heal, so I would think they would have worked 10 minutes on the right boot, and 5 minutes on the left one. And off I went, skating... Firstly, the great news. Using both insoles fills in the space in boots very nicely. I started to feel I have control so I've even tried backward 3-turns and brackets (that are the most difficult turns I can do) successfully. Then the good news, the pain that bothered me the most, on the right foot bone, was gone. The bad news is that it moved towards the middle of the foot like on the left foot... and the pain in the left foot... still there, a little better but not manageable. Also the outside edge were nowhere to be found. So I had to go back for them to do more grinding and also to add wedges to aligned the blade.  Unfortunately, the next appointment available was next Tuesday and I still had nonrefundable skating time Saturday.

Saturday the fifth day on ice, I almost didn't want to go, as I had no new adjustments. I mostly went to make a video of the outside edges not happening, to show to the skate shop technician. When I've got there, I decided to try an adjustment, to switch the insoles, put the hard one with the arch support in first and the soft on on top to hopefully soften the pressure. And it did... for a while, but when the pain came back, it came back fully... Until I've got the pain I could skate very nicely, the boots felt snug. I still couldn't get on the outside edge.

I had some time to think and talk to some skating friends between Saturday and Tuesday. At first I was hopeful because with 10 minutes of grinding that left foot bone pain was gone. But then I looked again at the inside of the boot and saw that the very back part of the sole had 4 screws, to probably secure the heel of the boot to the sole, and that part, with the screws, was lower. It felt like a lot, towards an eight of an inch. That would mean, of course that immediately after that lower region, there was a risen region, the bump... That's exactly what I've felt in the right sole. So, the logic would be, that a whole eight of an inch should be grounded from where the low part of the sole of the boot ended, to the front of the boot, inside the boot. I just didn't see how that grind could be kept uniform, to keep that anatomic shape of the sole, and how would be grounded at the front of the boot. One of my skating friends knew exactly what I was talking about, she said don't let them grind, that is gonna make it worse, have them try to build up the low part of the heel. Another friend was shocked that I wasn't fitted in the first place with the surefeet insoles in.

More bad news

As the title says, I've got more bad news. I'll save the suspense and say right away, they are little things, some fixed already. BUT they do add up on top of the frustration with the covid cases on the rise and the political tension, and I feel quite irritated. I thought some venting would do me good!

Firstly, the thing that irritated me the most... I almost missed to register for ice for the whole next month! My home rink is part of the park district facilities and the web page and all activities registration goes trough the city, a big city... Do I need to say more? The web page is old and the registration is awkward... Everything goes on sale at the same time and you have to be there right that second, so your activity won't sell out. But as soon as the registration starts there is a queue... I was "let in" after 3 minutes.  Before the registration starts you can put everything on the wish list, but when registering you have to take activity by activity and move it to the cart. And for each one you have to click the name of the participant, then go back to the wish list. The wish list doesn't delete the activity you just put in the cart, so you have to keep track carefully of that. To complicate things, the cart, doesn't show the activity name, just the code... so if you missed up anything there is no way to fix it. Now, for this registration, it was something more... some kind of a glitch, that happened to other people, so don't think I'm crazy... at least not yet, because they drive me crazy... So, after everything was in the cart, you have 15 minutes to pay. But I couldn't pay... I've got an error message that the last two activities are "incomplete" and given the option to edit them or delete them. Of course I tried to edit them... but I couldn't find anything else I had to click or fill. While doing this, probably for 30 seconds... all the activities in the cart went "incomplete". I suspected everything sold out... I had to leave home, I was late already. I left crying :( When I arrived where I had to go, I checked the activities on my cellphone and they weren't sold out. So I registered on my phone, I mean the pain I went thought to click all those activities and boxes on the little screen and keep track on what I've already put in the cart... But miraculously I registered for everything I wanted. Well, wait... sort off... I've registered for everything I wanted from what they have offered for registration. But they've missed the first week of November. They covered 4 weeks, from the second week of November to the first week of December. So, I'll have to go thought all of it again and register for the first week of November.

My next irritation is that the ballet class I started to take two months ago at my rink, was moved to a later hour and another instructor. The time doesn't work for me, and I'm not eager to change the "style" of the class, as the new instructor is a yoga instructor not a ballet instructor. I grew found of my current instructor and our ballet classes, but I needed a couple a weeks to get accustom with her style. She hopes to maybe be able to offer some classes from January, in the weekends. To make it more sour, one of the ballet classes was canceled and a make up is offered on a time I cannot make, and probably they won't give me a refund (because of the city park district registration system I've just complained before).

The one thing that affected my skating the most is the blade sharpening. I've told you my regular sharpener moved away so I've trusted my coach to do them. I've dropped them on his porch and picked them up later. On the bag they were in it was a tag with my info and the blades info, the radius I had them sharpen on. So, after two weeks of not getting used with the sharpening, we figured he may have changed the radius... It seems my coach its not the snoopy kind, and he didn't look at the tag. He is such a trustworthy guy, both in character (not snoopy :))) and skating expertise. I take at least half the responsibility, because I haven't told him the radius...  I dropped them to him again, and he's gonna figure it out, I'm not worried. I hope that all this time I've spent skating on a different radius will help with my awareness of alignment... Because I had to be very cautious  of the alignment and where my weight is on the blade. The radius felt deeper than what I usually skate on, and that made me feel that the blades go wherever they wanted. The harder I pressed, the worse that feeling was, because they got more "into the ice". I'm curious to ask my coach what style of skating benefits of a deeper radius. 

I've fell a lot lately, because I couldn't control my blades. Some were quite big falls. I'll add to the bad news that I've put a hole in my new skating tights. I've caught the toe pick during one of the falls. The hole is quite high on the calf so I've got really scared of the possibility of how bad that fall could have been. But... luckily none of the falls hurt significantly. I wonder if that would qualify as good news? Well, surely is not bad news, and I'll take that!

So, that's all the bad news. Thanks for listening... I do feel better now!

Skating update: settling in

I'm settling into the new skating schedule!

I was complaining in my last post that I'm tired to the point of inefficient when not having a break  day after a skating day. I skate Monday, Wednesday on my own and  Tuesday I have my lesson at another rink. I wasn't seeing other option... I mean I need the lesson, I've tried in the summer to get a longer lesson every other week, and it didn't go that well. But if I'm tired after Monday I'm not efficient in the lesson on Tuesday. Well, this week, my energy during the lesson was better!  The worst was Wednesday, as it was the third consecutive day of skating and my muscles were really slow. And have I said yet that this noon ice is on hour and a half? I know... it's great... more ice... The problem is that being tired could lead to falls and injury. But again, this week I felt better, very tired after, but able to keep in control during skating.

Ice is available when it's available... and during the school year it is not available during the week-end. This noon adult only session is available only Monday, Wednesday, Friday. From Monday to Thursday there is a 1.45pm Freestyle session that I also like, in the sense that it is not crowded. Theoretically I could do Monday noon skate, Tuesday lesson at another rink, Wednesday break, Thursday FS practice ice, Friday noon skate. But, FS it's only an hour, and I'm used to that hour and a half for the adult skate. It's unbelievable how different it feels to go from an hour and a half to an hour... I have the feeling that I cannot fit everything, all the exercises, in and then I rush, I tense and that could lead  to falls... I'm very very happy I'm settling in!

The skating goes well too. I used to always start with the Moves, the logic was that that they are warm up exercises, but also that I prepare them for test, and you test them while having just a 5 minute warm up. Lately, the 3turns were quite a mess, and after I had 2 lessons just about them, and I haven't gotten any major correction, I've realized, I just lost my patience... I have to give them a break. So, the last 2 weeks I started with the other moves for warm up, then I moved into Ice dancing exercises and dance. And this week lesson was the Ten Fox, and I'm happy to report it didn't feel that bad. When I was working at it before the quarantine I was, again, so bored by it... I just couldn't gather myself to squeeze more out of me. It didn't inspire me... now, it seems a little fresher. At some point, after I was warmed up so in possession of a nice soft knee, well, two soft knees, I gave the 3-turns a chance, and...drum roll, they were there! So, before, when they didn't work, was it boredom, or I was high and locked in knees because I started with them? Probably both... Meanwhile Freestyle took a back seat. I cannot really jump when I'm tired. I do a waltz jump here and there, but I'm working at the forward spin change of position for the dance program, that's something. I also work on twizzles for the dance program, oh how slow they are... And when I feel really really tired, I do Figures.

One piece of bad news... it wouldn't be skating if there wouldn't be some difficulties... Now we have to keep with the mask on, all the time, even while skating... I did that for the first week I skated after the quarantine and it felt awful, but each time was a little better. And at that point, just back on ice after 3 months, I was skating very slow. When I go fast now, I have to stop a little to catch my breath, but with each session it's a little easier. It is what it is...

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.

Injuries...

I'm fine, but I want to acknowledge how quickly and easily an injury can happen.

I keep complaining about my left hip injury. It happened almost three years ago, when I took the smallest and lighter fall, but I pulled something. I haven't had experience with injuries, so I didn't allow myself time to rest and heal, I continued skating. Not only I made the initial injury worse (I felt sharp pain few times), but all my hip muscles started to hurt from overuse, as they tried to compensate and help the injured muscle. And it took over two years to kind of heal, and I'm still "feeling" it occasionally.

Few years before the hip problem, I had an injury to my left ankle, I've felt some pain after a ballet jump (I didn't properly transferred the weight over the foot I picked with). It seemed fine. I think I kept re injuring it with bad salcow and toe loop technique and also spinning on the toe pick. It was never very bad, but nagging, so at some point I decided to stop jumping and spinning and let it heal. And then is when I started ice dancing. I also did calf rises regularly to build strength into ankles. I'm very happy to report that it feels totally fine, but looking back I did "feel" it for around 2 years...

Tuesday I skated twice. I bought ice at my home rink for the whole month for Tuesday, Friday, Saturday. Afterwards, ice opened to the rink where I could take lessons with my coach, and he was available only Tuesday. So I decided to take a 45 minutes lesson every second week. So twice this month I skated first a lesson and then I went to my home rink and skated an hour more. Two weeks ago I was so shocked by how bad the ice was, I took it very very easy. This Tuesday, the ice was not much better, but better and I worked on Freestyle and small moves. Towards the end of the hour I fell on a back 3-turn... very light fall, but I felt immediately I pulled something at my right hip. It didn't feel to bad, but I was very worried having the bad experience with the left hip.

My next skating was Friday. I took it very very easy. I felt the hip bothering just twice, and not sharp pain. But surprise, my both ankles were hurting. Whaaaat? As I looked back to Tuesday, I've realized I've felt the skates loose while I skated the second time. I think the skates got more flexible from skating an hour before and I should have had tighten the laces more. But not too tight because I also had pain at my right ankle from that... tightening to much!

Saturday I felt better, but again I took it easy.

There are some sayings about pushing for skating progress: everybody falls while skating, if you don't fall you are not working/ trying hard enough...

There are also many "wise thoughts" about preventing/ minimizing falls and injuries:
- stop skating if you are tired,
- let an injury heal,
- strive for the correct technique... 

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!

Stretching with cats and mid month update

As the last blog was about feeling "overstretched" mentally because of me being involved in too many activities, well the cats mostly... it's just fitting to tell you what just happened while stretching with the cats.

Because my hip bothered me for a long while, I'm trying to care for it as much as I can. I'm really bad at doing strengthening exercises systematically. I do them now and then, plus I take once a week ballet. But, I do stretch each time after skating and I feel it makes a big difference. I stretch the quads, calves, IT band and mostly the hips, trough twists, so the tense muscles will relax. At home I roll. So it's no stretching with the cats, it's rolling with the cats. I have this big foam tube and I roll on it. Then I have different size balls and other "torturing devices" to help me get into the smaller muscles and press them to relax. The one I use the most is a tennis ball. But you know how cats and balls are a natural match. So I really have to hide mine, otherwise I never find them when I need them. The cats have their own ball-toys. Well, as I was rolling on the tennis ball on the rug, my phone rang and I've got up to get it. I went back to sit on the rug and roll, while talking, only that my tennis ball was nowhere to be found. It took them like 5 second to steal it from me... So that's how stretching with cats goes... always...

I'll continue with the cats, just shortly, as this is a skating blog... I'm working in setting a blog about alley cats, I hope that will help me put my thoughts together, so I can help them more. I'm still fiddling with both the design and the concept of the blog, because I want it to be more then a diary. I'll share the blog title as soon as I feel I've it right.

Now, the skating... I think it was good at the beginning of the month, then I've got frustrated by not making the progress I wanted on the dance 3-turns and I pushed too hard both physically and mentally. As a result my hip started to hurt and I've got my mind stuck in a negative state. So last week I tried to reset, skate without a purpose, or even not skate if I didn't feel like I really wanted to. I keep trying to get a balance between training for progress while enjoying the process, and I'm not finding it. I found that taking breaks form training helps a little. I feel mentally better now, but let's see how it's gonna translate on ice.

The dropped 3-turn definitely got better, I would even dare to say good, when I do them slowly. When I go faster into them I still skid, but not as badly as before. I was complaining to my coach about maybe feeling scared when having more speed and he asked if I felt is the velocity that scares me or the quickness. Good question... I wasn't differentiating between the two, and I thought is the velocity, but now I find it's actually the quickness. And it's not even fear, it's more that I'm not quick enough to find the right alignment over the hip when I go faster. So, as my coach says, I need to drill it, for that alignment (that I have when moving slower, because I have the time to think about it) to became muscle memory. I also feel confused about the timing of it, I'm so busy aligning I'm waiting to feel that alignment and there is just no way I can also think about putting it on a count. Back to work then...

Overstretched, not physically

I wanted to say overextended, but couldn't help myself to play the words game, and use something actually connected with skating...

I have many things going on and I'm processing few unexpected things that happened.  I wrote in the summer a post about my other passions. I love arts, and I paint. While I'm not making a living out of it, I am a selling artist and I do want to maintain my skills. Plus, have I mentioned I love art? So I do love and want to paint. When I started skating seriously I reorganized my weekly schedule allowing time to still create and go out to shows and expositions.

But then the stray and feral cats came my way... I love animals. These are sweet, innocents souls that are in a bad situation. How can I not help? Slowly but surely this took away more and more time, money and while I love helping them, there is a lot of pain that I feel handling them everyday. I'm feeding 12 colonies and take in kittens and friendly cats and find places for them. I've tried very hard all last year to organize this endeavor. I won't go into it, it's a too long of a story. I'll say that I feel I gathered some knowledge to, maybe, be able to organize the cat rescue this coming year... And I'm overwhelmed by the amount of work I know lies ahead.

I was contacted recently by a family acquaintance, business guy, that has a cousin, a lawyer experienced in non profits and fund raising. He wanted the three of us to start a non profit and split the money... I didn't know how to finish the conversation quickly enough. I tried not to think about it but I woke up at 5 am and couldn't go back to sleep. I talked in the morning with a good friend that is involved in business and she wasn't shocked. That also shocked me... She said that it's a known fact that non profits are run inefficiently or worse, inappropriately. She made the good point that at least I wouldn't had to worry about the nonprofit doing something illegal as one of the partners wound had been a lawyer. Then I talked with a friend that was involved occasionally with  animals help organizations. And she had the same angry reaction I had. She said that non profits like that, sooner or later are sniffed out but  the damage that they do is huge, as more and more people that would want to help with donations, don't know whom to trust and end up not helping anymore or giving to big non profits. And the bigger the non profits, the more inefficient they become. So, I want to start a new blog (about the alley cats) and start raising awareness, educating about options, and hopefully raise some funds too. I enjoy writing this blog about skating. Writing about alley cats I suspect it's gonna be painful.

The biggest help one can do for the feral cat population is TNR (Trap Neuter Release). That's the only thing that will curve the problem. And there are people that do only that. They don't even try to feed. They don't try to adopt the friendly ones. I still have to figure out how to best TNR myself. The animal care organizations have discounts, but they also have rules (each different), some of them making it impossible for me to follow.

A very good thing  happened last year, I was able to finally figure out, after months of dancing back and forth, the adoption process of one of the biggest organization that helps cats in the area. They take in friendly stray cats. They took from me and got adopted 7 cats at the end of the last year and 4 this month. Half of them were living with me for a while, and while I've tried to never think at them as my cats, I'm missing them badly. I'm very happy but it also feels like I'm grieving...

The last four cats that got adopted were living in room that was once my art studio. So now I've got to clean it, and theoretically  be able to paint again. Guess what, I've got sad looking back at these last two years I haven't painted. Then I've got sadder realizing that, realistically I still won't have time to paint in the coming future.

In regards with the cats, another big frustration and disappointment was actually seeing how inefficient the animal care organizations are.

Now, my skating... It's mostly good, really. I've just had a little setback as my hip started to hurt again after few months of being pain free. But I feel better already. I overworked my hip with the dance 3-turn. I have to fix the 3-turn before testing the Ten Fox. But I think I've got so worked out about it because I was distracted by all this other things. I've learned again and again, that my skating activity is more efficient and pleasant, when I get into a rhythm. Pushing too hard and allowing myself to get frustrated, gets me out of the rhythm and actually does more harm then good. And it also takes from my enjoyment, and then affects my motivation.

Intermediate Backward Skating and Backward Swing Rolls

I've worked on the Swing Rolls (both forward and backward) very little since I've hurt my hip (a year and a half ago), because I feel that when I hold the extensions I put more strain on the hip muscles. But I need the Backward Swing Roll in the Ten Fox, so I have to work at it a little.

I've wrote a post about the Backward Swing Rolls not long ago, here, but I feel I've got enough corrections for an update:
- Push straight back, find a good edge with a good, high extension of the free foot forward.
- After the push, the free leg ending a little away from skating knee (free foot is 6 inches away from the edge's tracing)
- Level shoulders, don't drop the free hip back, pointing the free foot's toes forward, helps keeping the free hep forward.
- Rise over skating shoulder, draw free foot towards the skating foot.
- Don't swing too late, swing at middle and quickly
- Press into the ice, straighten the skating leg and push the hips forward
- Free shoulder very back over skating hip
- Feel the weight over skating side 
- Free leg very back, don't let the hip open

I've written here about how I plan to work more on my backward skating and I'm doing it... Every single day I'm on ice, I do these (boring and frustrating) backward exercises as much as my patience allows me. Some days it is not much, but some days I've stuck with them for half hour. My coach's wisdom (all coaches' wisdom) is that after you've understood how to do something correctly (and that can take a while), do it a thousand times (yes this can take a long, long time), so it becomes body memory. To bring my backward skating to an intermediate level I feel I need to look and feel more confident and that implies finding my balance quickly, good erect posture, high extension on the free leg forward, no wide stepping, comfortable speed.

Backward stroking concentrating on:
- going slowly
- look up and straight posture
- re bending before pushing (my coach asked me to actually stay few seconds in the bend position). If I rush, I bend forward as I push back, then I loose the press into the ice as I straighten and I don't have a strong push.
- holding the core engaged. I think I'm overdoing this, I feel tense and I think I look tense, but generally it seems it helps me to overcompensate for a while and then pull back to a more balanced approach so after the push the whole body moves like a block, doesn't twist
- not allowing the pushing foot hip to go back after the push, pointing the toes forward help too
- not allowing the upper body to twist after the push, hold it square
- press into ice as I rise (on the front of the arch foot, or just back of the ball of the foot)
- bring the free foot in tense, as I would have an obstacle in it's way, like the arms of a scissor
- feel the boots touching
- re bend
I think my biggest problem is the rise while pressing into the ice and holding the balance and posture... and that will affect the re bend so the push, so, everything....

Backward Chasses on a circle:
- posture (straight, almost back, with the shoulders rolled back)
- pushing the heals back (to the direction of traveling) to balance the shoulders rolled back
- touching the boots
- pressing into ice and pushing from the ankles. For the chasse you push just from the foot outside of the circle you are creating, the foot that is towards the inside just lifts of the ice and goes back on it. The pushing foot is always on an inside edge, and the foot that does the chasse is on an outside edge. It is a good exercise to train this push from the pushing leg that is on an inside edge to the other leg that is on the outside edge. That includes holding the boots pressed together so you can place the foot towards the inside of the circle on an outside edge.
This is a good exercise to teach your body to push from an Backward Outside Edge to an Backward Outside Edge as you have to do to change the lobes on Backward Chasses on alternating lobes exercise that I described here. And the secret is that as you rise to finish one lobe on the BO edge, you flip that foot on an inside edge just before pushing on the other foot BO. Holding the boots together while flipping the pushing foot on the inside edge, puts the other boot in the perfect position to be placed on the outside edge on ice. Again I think I'm not always balanced as I rise, and that makes re bending hesitant so I rush and I put the free foot down. That inevitably is a wide step and an inside edge. It's gonna be a long road to do this correctly.

Mid month update

Many updates to the plan for this month...

One of the kittens I took in, didn't make it. I'm terribly sad. I'm not gonna go into details. I'll say that I did the best I could, but I wish I could have done more.

The skating goes reasonably well. I still skate only 3 times per week and I work equally on everything, as planned, so as I said, I don't expect much progress.  I still start with a little Freestyle. Then I do the moves  without thinking  to make them ready to test. My private lessons, as always when I don't ask for something else, went towards Ice Dancing. My coach is primary an Ice Dancing coach so that's were he goes. But I have no complains, I actually felt progress in Ice Dancing! We've started to partner the Ten Fox!

I've registered to a Freestyle group class, starting next week. It is Freestyle 4 on USFSA not ISI that I was doing until now. It works on the same things the Loop Jump, Sit Spin and Back Spirals. So I'll get help on those, and also it will add an extra skating session per week but an easy one, because in the group classes there is some lost time and the class is just 45 minutes to start with. But that is not even the reason I registered to it.

The reason is that that rink (not my home rink), has an annual production of the Nutcracker in December, and I wanted to be in it. The requirement is to be registered in their group classes. I'm very excited about it, because I love ballet in general, I also love winter and "that time of the year". But it's a big time commitment. I plan to enjoy every second of it! That is a new thing for me, skating for my own enjoyment, that I first mentioned here. And because I lost my regular private lesson this week, due to Columbus day scheduling, I also planed a lesson with the new coach that works with me towards skating for my own enjoyment. I mentioned my first lesson with him in the plan for this month.

There is more... That is Figures. That is the old style tracings that were done in the past including in competitions. They are not popular anymore but they are the foundation for the skating edges. A friend told me she is doing them at a certain rink and it would be easier to keep using that time slot if more people would join in. It is too far away from me and not fitting my schedule, but it made me think that the Figures are easy on the body so I can add skating time to my 3 days of skating I do now, without being afraid I hurt my hip...  I asked my coach about figures and he teaches them. He also said that there is no way he can teach all (Ice Dancing, Moves, some Freestyle and Figures) with one lesson per week so I would have to add one more.


Feels like a lot, but I think I will be able to enjoy it all for this next two months (until the show), IF I don't expect and push for progress.

Mid month update

Starting with this week, my rink's schedule goes back to the regular schedule. I'll be able to skate  at a convenient time, three, four times a week.

I feel quite confused about my skating. There were recently few obstacles: the hip pain and some ugly politics in the skating organizations around me. And then, there is the old question: why do I skate, what do I want from skating? The easy out answer is that I enjoy it, and I have the time. BUT... it takes quite a lot of time, in fact all my free time. And I still want to progress in my skating skills so I cannot really reduce the skating time. But then again, the hard work towards progress leads often to frustration and loss of motivation and enjoyment.

Going skating today, I see no other way then to pick up where I left off: preparing to test the Pre-Jubvenile MITF and the Ten Fox pattern dance. I plan to ease up into skating, don't push too hard. I'm foremost afraid about the muscle pain and the hip pain... those would cut from the enjoyment and frustrate me immediately. So I need to warm up before skating, but also I will need to work consistently on my hip muscles. I did few sessions but I haven't kept up, but I really, really have to...

After I'll settle into a skating schedule I plan to look into the idea of skating for my personal enjoyment. This will take time away from the progress, but I feel it would balance my skating life.

Then, there is the question of displaying my skating (shows or competitions). I was planning to do a small competition (would have been my first one) in the summer, and I haven't. I still theoretically want to try out this idea of showing a program. I think there is joy in it, there is a time, a deadline that motivates, and there is music and dressing up. The idea of a new program it's very exciting to me. But this will also take away from the time that I need to work for progress.

The good thing is that I feel excited about going skating just writing about it!

My rink ice show and Stars on Ice show

I participated this year again in the "teen and adult" group number at my ice rink. After 4 weeks of 1 hour learning choreography, we had an 3 hours technical rehearsal last Tuesday  and a 4 hours dress rehearsal on Thursday when all groups also took professional pictures. The preparation up to the rehearsals is soo draining but then, the actual show is fun.

We had a show on Friday evening, Saturday evening and one Sunday afternoon. This year we were a group of 15 with levels ranging from Beta to FS4. The adult group coach joins the number each year for a quick trick. This years there were 2 instructors on ice with us going full speed and in full performance mode. It was confusing and at points scary. I didn't enjoy it much. Saturday one of the beginners (teenager) fell badly close to the end of the number and didn't get up and didn't exit with us. She came in the locker room wailing after 5 minutes and she continued wailing for other 10 until her mom came and calm her down. It seems she fell on the sit bone. It was very painful to watch her crying. I blame it on her being choreographed over her skating level. I already had planned and told the group on Friday that I had to miss the Sunday performance.

What I didn't tell them is that I was going see the Stars on Ice show! So let me tell you about everybody.

My biggest surprise was to see Meryl Davis having tons of fun. When she was competing she was always serious. She and Charlie White were lovely as usually.

The Shibs were also in the show and I'm happy to report that they had serious Twizzles in both programs. This tells me that they keep working at them to be ready to come back competing. I'm very happy about that. I love all skates but of course i do have favorites. And from ice dancers they are one of my favorites.

Madison Hubble and her partner were also there and they look strong and fit as ever.

being spoiled with so many ice dancers I was worried that I wouldn't find the Freestyle skaters so interesting and "good" skaters. But it's fantastic how good all the freestyle skaters skating skills looked even side by side with the ice dancers.

From Ladies Ashley Wagner was her flirty self. Bradie Tennel looked like she is working hard in looking more polish. She performed her expo and her long competitive program, Romeo and Juliet. And Mirai Nagasu was my favorite for her choice of music and interpretation of her programs.

Jason Brown also performed of his competitive program and looked damn good. Jeremy Abbot rounded up the group with lovely, artistic, delicate and introvert programs.

That put me in such a good mood and I couldn't wait to skate again myself!

Skating "off" days

This week I skated Monday through Friday. I was saying in my previous post that last month I skated very little. Plus I had a fall and I still have a little pain so I tried to not work that muscle too hard. Good news, it's getting better quicker now that I didn't skate and let it rest.

Anyway, last week on Monday, I started slowly and carefully, I didn't try to work on anything, or even review anything, but feel the ice and my body. I ended up reviewing all the Pre-Juvenile MITF, the Ice Dancing warm-up. Tuesday I had my first lesson with my new choreographer but I had half hour to myself  and I went trough all the moves and dance exercises again. It went well. I don't usually skate on Tuesdays because I figured a while ago that I sometimes get tired by Thursday when I actually want to be fresh for my weekly lesson. But half of this Tuesday was just learning choreography, I didn't feel I was working much. Wednesday was one of those good days. I think all the moves would have passed the test. I also got to the actual dance, the Ten Fox and finally got a good pattern and speed into it. Thursday was my usual lesson, and I was a little "of". I didn't feel tired. Friday I felt very tired, the muscles were both hurting and slow, and my energy low. So I figured that I must have been tired on Thursday too...

So, I'm trying to analyze my skating days in the sense of when my body and mind is at theirs best and I can push, and when they are "off" and I shouldn't push. Looking back, I think I injured myself in "off" days. So I really want to be able to identify them and last week, on Thursday I wasn't able to.

Clear reason for "off" days is if my muscles are tired. I find it interesting that I don't always realize my muscles are tired. They are not sore, but I feel heavier, slower... These are always "off" days

The next reasons are also clear but some days I can make it work trough them better then other days. these reasons are if I'm tired, I haven't slept well or enough or I'm sick.Then, if I'm distracted or frustrated from the life outside the rink or the rink,  so I'm not concentrating enough.  These kind of days I have to take it easy and let it go where it goes. These days could became either average, "off", and sometimes they became "good" days.

Another situation is if I didn't skate few days  and I'm not tired, my mind is there, my muscles are rested.  I still have to take it easy, to take the time to review the basic skills (edges) before pushing. These kind of first time on ice days, are never good "pushing days". They are average but I can push them into "off" days easily...

The week skating schedule affects all this, and if the schedule is consistent I can get to where I can plan a little. I don't skate Saturday and Sunday, as there is no convenient ice. Then Monday has to be a slow, feel the ice, review the basics kind of day. If I have few good skating weeks, then I can handle skating on Tuesdays too... otherwise, it's better to skip it. Wednesdays are usually good days. My lessons on Thursday are either slow teaching moments so then Friday I'm not tired, or push for progress moments and then on Friday I'm excited.

It's sounds doable. I just have to listen to my body and take it easy when I'm tired. Otherwise it seams I get into a vicious circle and I get even more tired so I end up having more "off" days. And risk falls and injury...

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I start each "skating month" with reviewing the previous one and then planning the current one.

I didn't do much skating last month. On the first week the rink schedule was inconvenient, then I was taking it easy because I had some pain from a fall in December. Then I fell again :( and decided to rest for few days to see if I don't come back to regular form faster. And then we had the polar vortex! The rink was closed 2 days.

Ice Dancing: I'm working on the Ten Fox. We tweaked the pattern, mostly the 3-turns placement. The outside mohawk is fine! As I still work on the pattern and I was protecting the hurt muscle, I haven't got yet to go full power and speed and I'm not on time yet. Also I didn't partnered yet. I feel the coach pushes on each lesson for a better backward skating, Higher extension, pointed toes, re bend before the new push, less time on transitions between lobes, and of course the posture.
I asked start to work on the European Waltz,  which is 3-turn after 3-turn because I wanted to work on something that will require patience, not power. My problem is that I don't re bend when stepping from backward to forward. That is both after the back edge, before the 3 turn, and in between the 3-turns on the end pattern. I can do it at slow speed, and I also train it off ice. So it's gonna take a lot of repetitions done correctly, at slow speed first, to get it in the muscle memory.

MITF: As much as I don't want to accept it, the truth is, I cannot make them better if I cannot put power into them. And if I have any kind of pain, I can't... both physically and mentally. So, they are right there, almost ready to test, from a year ago, jut not quite there.

Freestyle: I've had just one lesson, on the first week of the month. We reviewed things that we've done before and I made it clear I wanted the Pre-Bronze program so i can test it. And then my coach got sick and then he had to travel. So I hired somebody else. And he got straight into the program! My goals from doing programs is to learn new elements and how to link the elements I have. And I actually want to work with many coaches/ choreographers because I feel they all have different styles. The first coach, let's call him coach A, I worked with, was specialized in adults. The coach I hired now, coach B, is a quite experienced choreographer and performer, still settling in my city, so still approachable as price. He has such a beautiful style with lots of upper body movement! I first tensed up, thinking I won't be able to do much of what he showed me, but he broke down everything and he said that whatever I won't get comfortable doing in few weeks we'll change. So I take it as an opportunity to learn new elements, even if they are not gonna get used.

Off Ice: I did 3 weeks of ballet now. Overall I love it, but it is as tedious as the skating, if not even more. My goal here is mostly to improve my posture, upper body  movement (as I tense and rise the shoulders) and learn some arm movement. But my mind gets lost in between remembering the exercises, actually doing them correctly, so for now I keep forgetting about my posture..

I think this month I have to be patient to consolidate what I have in dance and moves and I think the progress that I crave and push for, will happen on it's own. And I have now the Freestyle program and the ballet to keep things interesting.

Soft tisue injuries

I'm learning a lot about injuries, the hard way... Yeap, I fell again. I didn't skate last Monday as kids were out of school and on those days it gets too crowded. So I skated Tuesday, and it was almost empty sessions and I got excited and I went for it, rushed the damn 3-turns pattern for Pre-Juvenile MITF test and fell on an forward inside 3-turn, not even a backward one! I don't skate on Saturday and Sunday and I always feel the need to take it easy on Monday, to work on basics (edges, posture, pleasure into ice and just then increase the speed). I'm so angry at myself for not doing this on Tuesday, after 3 consecutive days of not skating.

It is always emphasized by coaches that you have to learn how to fall. And I was always complimented that I fall "properly". Well, not anymore, but only on the left side, the side I hurt last year! I fall nice and easy on the healthy side, I instinctively bend the knees to lower and roll on my side as I fall. And on the bad side I tense up and fall like a log!

It was in March of the last year when I strain the tendon connecting the abductor muscle to the hip for a tiny but a little twisted fall. It was hurting only in a certain spot, on certain positions and only on ice... So I haven't taken it seriously. Bad idea, because that caused the muscles around the hip to compensate and get strained themselves. I was feeling better in few long months. Then I fell heavily in the summer, then in the fall, in December and now. All these falls were not strains, just muscle (glutes) bruises and maybe bone bruise. And each fall took less time to stop bothering me.

So, what I've learn!

Soft tissue injuries are:
- sprains: stretching or tearing of a ligament
- strains: stretching or tearing of a tendon or muscle
- bruising (contusion): the crush of underlying muscle fibers and connective tissue from a fall or hard contact
- tendonitis: inflammation of the tendons from overuse

For the mild injuries the symptoms are paint, inflammation with or without swelling, weakness of the muscle. More serious injuries have to be seen by a doctor.

The treatment starts with REST! If there is pain and inflammations, surely there is muscle weakness to, and you have to rest for 24,48 hours. Also apply ICE to reduce the inflammation and anti inflammatory medication (ibuprofen, arnica cream on the spot)... There is the famous advice to RICE (Rest, Ice, Compress and Elevate).  As the pain and inflammation subsides, it is safe to go back to light activity. But the hurt area needs to be PROTECTED from immediate re injury (padding and safe activities) and STRENGTHEN (with specific exercises, maybe physical therapy)as it was weekend by the injury. I've also learned that you shouldn't initially roll or massage a bruised muscle. You have to let the muscle fiber connections restore.

I'll add to these soft tissue injuries muscle soreness after working out. There is pain and inflammation, right? So I feel the muscle don't function optimally and we should take it easier until they heal. I had sore muscles for months... It ended up that I had knots in my IT band. Those need to be massaged out. Also helping with muscle soreness is hydration, warming up prior and stretching after the work out and rolling.

I'm a pro now, right? After the last Tuesday fall I rested, iced, I didn't skate and rested some more (luckily there was lot's of skating on TV to watch), did glutes exercises and then skated twice very lightly. Then I rested again as the rink closed for the big Midwest polar vortex freeze... I'll see when I'll go back to regular activity for sure, but for now I feel great and I think this is the right way to approach injuries. I may be back to regular activity after 10 days instead of struggling for months.

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!