Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mid month update

I had a nightmare last night. We were going back ice skating, there was pre registration to get on the ice and a waiting line outdoor. I could see that the skaters getting of ice were excited and that built the excitement for me to get on ice already! And then, as I entered the building, the rink wasn't familiar. It was redesign in terraces, different levels of ice surfaces. BUT they were very very small... the one on the bottom was the length of a tennis court but narrower, and the upper terraces were really more like balconies. I just couldn't believe that other skaters were content about it. I woke up from the dream right then, so I don't know if I actually tried skating or I just left. In real life I would have left for sure...

As time is passing without skating I have this growing worry that skating won't be the same, for me... I put in the past quite an effort into it. I had to come up with a time management that included sacrificing social life and not pursuing other things. What's happening right now, was unforeseeable...  Still, it is general wisdom that a person should strive to balance different aspects of life.

As I don't have skating to motivate me, I am not keeping up with the muscle conditioning. I was always slim by eating healthy and not sitting much, but before skating I was never what one would call active. It was hard and literally painful work to build up my muscles for skating, mostly through skating, but added lately strengthening exercises to help my skating. Now, I let those go... I am still doing some yoga, ballet, pilates in a relaxed, no pressure manner. Pre covid,myy ballet class was offered through the city park district and now it is moved online. The same instructor also offers online classes light yoga and pilates and ballet conditioning, so I take all of them, but honestly I do less then I would do in a live class.

I came back to my old (before skating) eating habits, light and fresh. Because I'm not active, I'm never hungry these days... And also I don't have to worry about the protein intake (as I'm almost vegan) to keep the muscle strong. Yes, it is clear, skating did make me alter my way of eating... Anyway, I've started to loose the weight I gained last month...

I feel that last month I was in standby, keeping myself ready to start skating at days notice. This month I actually fell I'm consciously letting go of skating so I make room for other things. It could be months until the skating rinks open, and even then, the schedule will be altered and I really cannot just stand and wait. And later, if I'll get now into other things, it's gonna be a fight again to take away time from these other things and put into skating. And even when circumstances will allow, and I would eventually decide to go back to skating as it was, it would be very very hard work. I fell very confused....

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

I wrote a post in the summer about my other passions, besides skating. One of them is helping alley cats. My skating plan for last month got derailed by 3 orphaned kittens, 3 weeks old, needing assistance. That is bottle feeding every 3-4 hours, including during the night. They are doing fine!

The skating wasn't much  for first 2 weeks of the last month, when I've got the kittens, I was just too tired. Then, as they started to sleep trough the night, I've followed the skating plan from last month to build up my skating (muscles, balance and stamina). And it didn't go to well... I was slow, stiff and nothing I've tried to do worked. But then, finally, this week I've got my soft knees back... I'm not daring to hope that it will be just smooth sailing from now on, but at least I know I can still get better, because, honestly, I was kind of giving up hope.

I've started my sessions with a short warm up. Then I did Freestyle not moves, as I used to do. I did two to five jumps of each, trying to maintain and gain more confidence on the Waltz Jump and Salcow, improving the Toe Loop that I can do but it is hesitant, and trying to get the Loop back. I didn't work with my coach on them, there is just not enough time. Then I did few spins of each (scratch, back and some idea of a sit). Next were the Moves, but as I said I couldn't get myself to put power into them. I've also became impatient with the 3-turns. Then, I've run dance exercise and the Ten Fox. The one little piece of bad news is that I "feel" my hip, meaning I had some pain that I hope is just building the muscles not the old injury acting up.

On the week my skating didn't go well I didn't get to see my regular coach and I've asked another coach for a lesson towards learning to "skate for my own enjoyment". I wrote about that idea last month and during the summer. I didn't get into competing, there are no adults at my level that I know and compete. The only way to motivate myself was trough following progress and testing. When that doesn't go well I get frustrated. Anyhow I always wanted the artistic part of the skating, the self expression and emotional involvement. And I'm soo relieved that the new coach understood what I wanted and had a plan. We did simple exercises involving the whole body and the "soul". That's exactly what I wanted. I wrote about my desire to involve my soul in a post in the summer, but I didn't mention it to my new coach. I was quite surprised he went there, and pleased. I'll continue working with him but not on a consistent way.

Before thinking of what to do next month I have to accept that I still have to restrict my skating schedule to 3 times a week to allow the hip to have rest days. I also have to accept that I HAVE TO DO the off ice strengthening exercises consistently.

Even when I was skating 6 sessions a week I felt I needed to prioritize whatever I wanted to push for improvement and test. I cannot decide now, with only 3 skating sessions per week, if I should push something (moves, dance or Freestyle) or continue on working all of them expecting slow(er) progress. My desire and what logically made sense to me always, was to work on everything. My coach also supports this. But, in the past I've just felt that I've did better on focusing on something specific. That of course could change, so maybe I should give a try to balancing working on Moves, Freestyle and Ice Dancing. Interestingly when I was telling my coach that I was puzzled how two weeks ago I couldn't make myself skate well even if I was rested and not hurting, he mentioned somehow, I don't remember the exact words, that I was maybe "too eager". Working on everything would mean giving up on the idea of testing the moves at the end of this month. I am so "eager" to test them!  I felt almost ready to test them before hurting my hip (that was a  year and a half ago). Then I felt really ready to test them at the beginning of the summer, when I've registered to test and found out two days before the test day that I couldn't because of some scheduling error.


It seams I don't have a plan for this month. Work a little at everything and enjoy!

Skating for enjoyment versus progress

I'm still not skating much. The summer schedule is not convenient, the ice condition varies wildly, I've got disappointed in some people involved in organizing my rink club, and I meet some of these people on a regular basis, I didn't get to test and I don't have a plan on what to work on... They are all valid excuses, but at points I wonder if they are just excuses, because I know, last year I would have found a way to skate. I also spend a lot of time doing trial judging and studying for it, that still counts as skating, right? Or does it?

I've always found skating is missing something. Or, I'm missing something in skating. I'm actually paying attention on this for a long time now. And I think that that "something" is somehow related with enjoyment. Ideally, it would be to enjoy every second on ice, and when I work on skills, to enjoy the process. I've wrote, when a first started the blog, a post about recreational skating versus training, and I said it there, training is hard. Looking back, whenever I pushed hard for progress, I didn't really enjoyed myself, the only satisfaction was the actual progress, not the process. On the other hand, I know for sure I still want a higher level of skills. That would allow me to move less careful, so more freely. I feel that that would give me more enjoyment.

There are just two ways I see people enjoying skating. One is doing competitions, so training for that moments when they present their program and that bring them joy. And when I worked for my Pre-Bronze freestyle program I enjoyed the process a lot. I'm thinking to start working on a new program, even if I don't have the elements (jumps and spins) I need for it.

The other way I see people enjoying skating is skating for themselves, and they don't seem to train or push. I used to feel like that before I started to skate with progress as a goal. I used to enjoy the gliding, the cold air on my face, the quietness of the mind. The problem is that I don't know how to get back to that at this point, plus, now I think I want even  more. For me, enjoyment is connected with self expression... with meaning and soul.

At least I start to see a kind of a plan. For now and immediate future it doesn't seem that I'll be able to skate much without putting extra effort in scheduling. The one good thing that comes out of skating less is that my hip feels really good. But whenever I'm on ice I should have in mind enjoyment. And, even if I'm not ready now, and don't even skate enough for it, I should somehow get to the point when I push for progress again...

My other passions

When I started writing the blog I knew I eventually would want to share my other activities beside skating. I think most of the people look at these kind of activities as hobbies. I look at them more like passions.

Taken chronologically, from when I was a child I loved nature and animals, and to this day I'm passionate about green living and animal welfare. Then, in my teens my big love was fashion and I've learn to saw and later studied fashion design in parallel with my "real" studies. As I matured I discovered art. I love music (classical and pop), I love dance (ballet and all the others forms) and I love the decorative fine art (painting, sculpture, glass art, ceramics). My biggest love may be the snow and skiing. And you know I love skating...

Of course there is not enough time to emerge myself in all I mentioned. I find that at different points some activities take over. For the last 2 years skating was my main priority. And I literally arranged my weekly schedule around the ice rink schedule.

I'm helping the ally cats for a while now (probably 10 years). I've inherited from a neighbor that moved away a colony registered with the city. A nonprofit foundation organizes these colonies care, they help with the food and offer assistance for TNR (trap, neuter, return). This would eventually curb the number of feral cats and also would make the existing ones less aggressive. Last summer I've encounter two lost kittens (3, 4 weeks old) that I've brought in and bottle fed every 3 hours at first. It wasn't easy. Even harder was to see that the kittens cared by their mothers disappeared one by one.So this year, when I've seen a pregnant cat, I tried to take her in. Some of my friends adopted some kittens :) One friend help with some medical bills. One friend started to do what I'm doing. The nonprofit non kill shelter takes the kittens after they've reach 2 months and puts them for adoption. It is sooo hard to let them go, but I know it is the only way to have space to help others.

I mentioned last week that I've went to an outdoor concert and some art exhibition. In the summer I like the outdoor concerts a lot. A lot of the classical music was inspired by nature, and to me makes sense to be listened in the nature. This year, I really don't have the time to go that much. With work, errands and skating I'm away from home too much. The kittens need lot's of time...

I still occasionally sew, mostly for myself, but I've just made  a skating skirt for a friend that used to borrow mine for tests. Now she is moving away so she needs her own. I've also made a new (shorter) skirt for my moves test, the one that I didn't get to test.

The one think that I didn't get to do in 2 years now, is paint. I paint in watercolors and I am a selling artist. But as everything, it takes a lot of time for learning the technique, figuring out materials, finding inspiration. Plus that one room that I used as my studio is now some of the cats room.

I cannot do it all, but I love it all!