4th and a half weeks of July

Monday  I skated at my old rink. They had only 45 minutes but it was more than enough. As I haven't skated from last Thursday I felt cautious. Usually on days like that I ease into skating with edges and alignment exercises, but now I pushed through. The next available ice I could find at reasonable distance is my dance lesson. I needed to practice for that. I alternated with MITF/ skating skills exercises and I worked a lot on the B XStrokes. I feel there is something I don't get... There was one run that was better, I felt the push (that I got corrections on the last lesson) was more successful. I think the Tenfox improves slightly each time. I've realized that I'm not sure if I'm successful in implementing the corrections (like longer/ straighter BProgressive, more curved and staying into the circle) BSwRoll, and so, on the next run I do something else. I'm not creating habits like this. I'll have to bring this up to the coach. I need more feedback.

Thursday I had the dance lesson. I initially planned to cancel it because I hadn't skated much but the coach offered to partner the TenFox. It sounded like she thought that for partnering I don't need to practice myself, it is a skill that we will practice and improve working at it together.  I started bravely but I stopped at the corner 3 turn. Then I turned it but I pulled away, then I turned it (late) but I pulled away at the stepped forward. Next pattern I pulled away at the end progressives, next on the Mohawk. But... we ended up completing 2 or 3 patterns. I was exhausted, the coach was excited for my progress, and yes, I realized there was progress. I stayed to practice a bit more and I took an unexpected fall, right on the side of my hip that was hurt before. Luckily I didn't hurt it again, I just ended with a big bruise ans spot pain.

 I skated again Monday, but I was late and I got ice for only half hour. I ran through everything, a bit cautiously. I felt I was in the phase where I had more enthusiasm than my body awareness of balance was at that point.

I couldn't find ice until the Thursday lesson, so I canceled the lesson, it felt like I was pushing my luck. I see the progress but I need to put more skating time. I see more ice available next week.

 

2nd week of July

As I already complained numerous times, the ice time in the summer is very limited.

At the close by rink there was ice Monday and Tuesday only early morning (6.30am), Wednesday at 6pm and Friday at 3pm. I have planned a dance lesson on Thursday at a further rink at 3 pm but I extra pressure to practice, otherwise I throw away money and more than that I get frustrated because I don't progress. I also don't want to get into the habit of canceling the lessons (I did it last week) because that may snowball into taking a longer break.

Monday, luckily I found ice at my old rink, only it was only 45 minutes. Better than nothing. I did a bit of everything, and I filmed myself. Firstly... the good news, I cannot see in the video that I scrape the 3-turns in the Tenfox, I can feel I scrape them but for testing by sending a video to be judged, I don't think it shows. I can see, though, that I am late. That is bad, and also bad is that I find my posture and extensions quite underwhelming. I also look not necessarily slow but slow in pushing, taking too much time. I need to ask for some feedback from my dance coach to be sure we have some strategy because I'm losing motivation and interest in these lessons. From what I saw in the videos I would ignore the skidding and concentrate in the timing of the 3 turn and start partnering...to keep me going. The rest of the session exercises went fine, I want to remember to not allow the Tenfox to take over my skating! I feel I have incorporated the instruction from the freestyle coach, I would like to see her again soon, only I don't know when...

Tuesday the ice available was too early and Wednesday too late, I have planned to go skating, but the work got the best of me, I was too tired.

Thursday, dance lesson at 3pm. I shared with the coach my thoughts about working to put the 3-turn on time and not worry about scraping it, and she agreed. She also agreed that I should improve the lines and posture. I asked her to be tougher with me. I also shared that I'm loosing motivation and I need more feedback and positive reinforcement. I think she felt better about positive reinforcement than the thought of being tougher :) The Tenfox felt better, the 3-turns were just a bit late, but I always had some kind of hesitation. We worked on arched back on the B SwRoll and not looking down (this made a lot of difference). We dropped it and we did a bit of Foxtrot as I still don't feel I place it correctly on ice. She emphasized to curve more and place the 4 beat edge centered over the red line, the 3-turn before the red dot, the B Progressive more curved, B CRoll stronger lean after the cross (like a ball running from the right shoulder to the left). Then we worked on the B Xstrokes. I think, overall, I got more out of the lesson compared with the previous one. Looking back, I think that my loss of motivation didn't "look" good on ice, and the coach, not knowing me, didn't know how to help me out of it, or even if I would want that. I stayed and skated some more after the lesson and I definitely gave my muscles a work out with higher extensions! 

There was ice available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I choose to take a break on Friday, I felt a bit tired after the lesson. Then, I didn't go on Saturday either, I got too caught up with house work. I went on Sunday, and surprisingly my muscles were sluggish. I must have worked them too hard on Thursday. I warmed up with the freestyle coach exercises, I continued with double 3-turns since I haven't done them in a while. Then I went to the Tenfox, first the Mo and 3-turns (and they were fine!) and then i did few rounds of the dance. The 3-turns were still slightly late and scraped, but less than before! I moved to the Foxtrot where my plan is to improve the entrance into the Mo, so I can get into it quicker and get some flow after it. I've realized during the last dance lesson that the problem is the BXrolls so I worked on those more. I did some twizzles, just one spin and called it a day because I started to have hesitations. 

Lesson with New Freestyle Coach

 My first love is ice dancing, but I cannot find a coach close by, I have a dance coach at 30-40 minute distance and my old coach at 1 to 1.5 hours distance.  It is pretty time consuming to go and see either of them.Anyway, dance instruction is pretty specific so a half hour lesson per week is needed. It would help to have more instruction towards other skills, in the past I used to ask my old coach to coach moves in the fields, jumps and spins, only for choreography I went to a different person. I was very happy to find a coach at the close by rink (this is 10 minutes away from my house), she is a freestyle coach, so she can help on all things not dance, so then, I keep my dance lesson as pure dancing.

So! The lesson! For the first freestyle lesson we decided with the new coach to show her what I usually do for warm up and exercises (excluding the dance) so she could build on them. As the lesson progressed we decided to keep a list with what I would like to revise on the following lesson, I'll put a star on those exercises*

- slalom forward and backward, play with the rhythm ( 2 slow, 4 quick)

- FI edges play with free leg and arms, free leg at ankle, front, and B crossed*1 love this, and arms over head palms up, connected, or low at the back

- BO edges, and many exercises going forward she said to keep the head calm, looking forward, she feels my extreme head turning is messing my alignment and stability. She went into a variation with the free leg going back, that is actually a swing roll, same note with the head.

- BI edges, she didn't "hear" the power, she showed me how to push just as I finished the previous edge, before shifting the weigh to the next foot. I couldn't really do it, but I understood, I'll work on it.*2

-  FI Twizzels:arms straight over the line, bring the back arm but stop at the middle (I crossed over), in a ballet position or straight forward grabbing fingers. Stay straight (I was forward). Keep free foot close.*3

- I asked for the power 3-turns  for the preliminary test, the 3s were fine, but I released the free foot to quickly, she wanted to hold it close and then to power push (the same weight shift like for the BI edge), she also wanted me to hold the under cross from the B xovers, longer, more stretched*4

- I tried the dropped 3-turn for Tenfox, she doesn't do dance but, she said that I rise too soon and  I don't have enough pressure into the ice. I think this is valid, I cannot wait to try working on them

- B xstrokes, she said to hold the B edge longer to settle into the position (I'm trying now to twist the upper body over the edge, not square) and we worked on that position, back shoulder more back, head forward, free leg over the circle*5

- I shared with hear that I don't always engage my core, and she suggested to stroke holding an elastic band slightly stretched, I loved that!

- I also asked for quick off ice exercise that would help the core engagement, and she suggested the plank (front and sides), because it engage core, shoulders, back, arms and even legs, and since I don't last long, it is really quick :)

- During the class, as I asked clarifications, she asked permission to film me so she can show exactly what to change. I love it so much, and I remember I used to film myself and it was helpful, I plan to do this again.

1st week of June

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway... the TenFox 3-turn. 

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

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

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

- I warmed up as I always do - fast

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

- Chasses and SwRolls - fast

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

- TenFox - fast

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

-TenFox - fast 

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

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

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

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

- Winding down 

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

TenFox update

I was working at the TenFox when the Covid interrupted, well everything. I had an intention to start working at it again at the end of last year, I had a private lesson towards it but I gave up as it became clear that I wont be able to see my coach regularly. I do work and test the pattern dances by partnering my coach, so without him... I now found a new coach, and the first lesson was promising. 

Here are the corrections:

- start at the red dot on the hockey circle, not at the edge. That helped a lot in filling the ice.

-intro dropped 3 turn. I worked on these at the end of last year. I could do them at a pace of 3 counts, so turning on 3. Whenever I was trying them in the TenFox, on a 2 count, I was scraping them. The correction from my old coach was to straighten up completely as I was turning, also to keep connected the skating shoulder with the free leg, I guess to help the free hip come around. More than that, I was interrupting the flow after the first stroke, I was rising and then twisting the shoulders, while the skating foot also stalled. I have to rise and twist at the same time, let the skating foot continue and bring the free hip around more. The 3s improved, but now they are slow again. I think the biggest reason is that my muscles are tired and sluggish so I'm not quick enough.  The new coach suggestion was to allow for a lower, shorter, extension into the stroke, so I can rise and turn quicker. And instead of rise, her cue is together (feet together), that helped straightening faster I guess!

- B progressive, quicker stroking. The coaches cue is push, push... 2nd lesson correction, stay low during all strokes.

- B SwR make it tighter, quicker. 2nd lesson correction for BSwR in general was to arch the back

- Step forward

- 4 count edge with knee bend, point the toe and maybe don't rise at the end completely, so I gain time to get into the 3turn, where I'm late :(

- B progressives towards back, along the hockey circle 

- Mo, don't swing the free leg, that brings the foot at the skating foot toe, after 1st edge bring the free for directly at instep (that would make me rise too). I'm excited to have the new image and cue of together  instead of rise, I guess just because it is new, it grabs my attention quicker. I figured while training that if I push the right shoulder back more, the hip seems to open and the free foot seem to go easier towards the instep

 

 !!! (June 6th) I think I finally figured out how to fix the timing of the 3-turn. I was rising at the end of the 4 count double bend. The new coach suggested to stay low, but you have to rise to push into the 3-turn. I watched some videos of the dance and it looks that both the rise in the middle of the 4 count, and at the end of 4 count are very quick, not a full beat, so the rise is AFTER the 4 count double bend edge, and it IS the push into the 3 turn. With this approach the 3-turn seems to be on time. I think I was adding almost 2 beats there... one to finish the 4 count lobe and one to push into the 3-turn. If this is figured out, fingers crossed, I still need to make everything a little quicker to match the required tempo. 

 

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

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

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

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

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

Private Lesson

For my private lesson I prepared a bunch of questions on things I felt I regressed, and also on things I wanted to work in the future on and didn't want to create bad habits.

- Left Inside Mohawk (the regular one, done in MITF or FS) Problem: I was changing the entry edge from I to O just before the turn; Correction: twist the upper body sideways to align over the circle, so the L shoulder back  (I used to stay more square and the left shoulder stayed back, outside the circle, pushing me to an O edge)

- The European Waltz 3turns Problem: I was delaying the turn (I guess to find the alignment) and then force the turn from the foot/ ankle. Correction: the regular 3 turn has 5 phases after the entry edge: Rise, Turn the upper body, Turn, Check, Re-bend, then exit edge exit. The European Waltz being quicker combines the first 3 phases, so you use the rise from the entry edge to get flow into turning the upper body over the circle; the back hip stays only slightly back (I used to leave it back, the correction felt like I had to engage it to bring it forward), engaged in opposition with the upper body twist and release at the point of turn. This release of the hip creates the turn. The check is with the shoulder down, arm up like being pulled backwards by somebody. Interestingly I was recently working after some youtube videos, at the regular 3 turns check, and they were saying press the palm down and back... I guess this does the same thing, shoulder down and upper body straight/ not forward. The strong check and balance allows to be able to not wide push. In order to push neatly, the skating foot moves out of the way, the new skating foot stays underneath

- The Foxtrot O ClMo Problem: I can do it but not at full speed, and it feels jumped. The correction: O entry edge by looking to the left, Rise and bring L foot toe to R foot heel (I think I was bringing the instep at the heel), Plie and twist the left foot (I guess the ball of the foot/ little toe to hold the outside edge) out of the way by maintaining the outside edge by staying on the little toe, this twist makes way for the right foot to step down underneath the body, and the left foot pushes from the plie.

- B  Cross Strokes Problem, not much flow. Solution: after the stroke the free leg opens to the side so it can come back (for the next stoke) directly behind the heel, plie and push, then the knees stay togheter to help the body weigh on the new O edge

- F Cross Strokes to improve, feel the force of the  push going into the skating knee

Dance lesson

This was my first skating lesson in almost a year, and before that I had only one lesson the previous year... Basically I stopped skating in an organized manner since before Covid. I attribute this mostly to the trouble I had finding the new boots, then I lost the motivation to keep the strict schedule that allowed me to skate 6 to 9, at some point, sessions a week. Whenever I was on ice after Covid, on and off, I tried to continue the instructions I had from before and maintained the skills. I decided I want to test the Ten Fox, mostly to motivate me towards something.

I'll add here all the technical corrections, so I can use them in training. The 30 minutes lessons, in general, use around 15 minutes for exercises that teach the technique and they are kind of like a warm up, and 15 minutes for the dance in training. I get corrections that I will work on until the next lesson, and so hopefully I improve and I get to test. On the not so perfectly in unison side, my coach  does not seem to be a fan of virtual testing. I want to keep this idea of testing to motivate me and I like virtual testing better.

F Stroking, my extension for the left leg is weak from when I had my hip injured. I'm trying to build it slowly. My coach's correction was to the posture, to lip more, shoulders back, upper chest projected forward

F and B Chasses and Progressives 

- I was wide stepping so we went on to revive the instruction I had few years ago. After finishing a lobe, I have to rise, rebend, maintained the upper body axis (stay over the feet), flip the pushing leg from an outside edge to an inside one and press into the ankle and push while opening the foot at 45 degrees. We used around 15 minutes for this. I remembered the instruction, but my body seemed to have forgotten to rebend.

- I was not holding the extension on the last step. I had the excuse that my muscles cannot do it, but my coach had the point to hold it to fill in the measure of the dance, even if the extension is not high. Not holding the extension in the past also contributed in me not "finishing" the lobes, I was changing the edge way too soon losing power too.

- Some instruction that didn't catch my attention until now was that the lobe is "finished" by the skating foot getting out of the way (by deepening the edge, almost like a hook) (and then flipping in the inside edge to push), so that the new skating foot has room straight underneath the body to be pushed straight ahead (perpendicular to the axis, so on a true edge)

- For Progressives concentrate more on the underpush, that gives half the power. Also leave space between feet before the underpush so I can push diagonally

Backward skating: shoulders more to the back and to balance push the ankles, the heels back too

B SwingRolls: swing just before the mid lobe, direct the swing toward the end of ice, lean inside the circle not outside

3 Turns:  twist upper body while rising and pull skating shoulder back,  rise completely, don't stick the butt out, the body is an axis. Also I discovered by trying to add flow to the dance, that deeper knee bend on the 3's entry edge gets me to rise quicker, I guess I have the flow to bring me up.

I figured out during practice that I have to already be facing the circle (the direction of turning) so I can twist the upper body quicker and decisively transfer the weight solidly over the skating foot in order to turn quicker.

The Ten Fox:

- on the B SwingRoll I should push straight back and I shouldn't rotate the shoulders so I can stay square with the partner

- "finishing" the lobe as described above, helped the step forward after the B SwingRoll and stepping on a true outside edge for the 3turn

- step forward with left arm forward

- the waltz 3: I need to rise completely, the body is an axis (not to bend forward and stick the butt out) so the feet can turn undisturbed

- the step forward after the B progressive: turn upper body as rising but keep knees together, rebend and open knees to step, step outside (wider) the circle to step on an outside edge

- stroke the underpush on the end pattern progressives 

- the outside Mo: right shoulder back (to be parallel to the partner), the back is back over the circle, at the point of turn rise completely (do not have upper body lean forward), place the free foot on pinky toe, draw the right heel towards forward-left, I figured out in practice that somehow it is a problem of where the weight is on my skating foot before the turn, I think I'm too forward with the upper body and on my blade.

 

Lesson

I haven't have lessons in couple of years now,  from when my boots trouble began. Now that I'm settling in/ with my boots, I thought a lesson would help. 

One of my goals was to see if some particular hesitations are because of technique or because of blade alignment. I asked my coach to tell me if he sees anything wrong with the blade, but it was unrealistic to expect him to look at all my body to give technique corrections and to look at the blade at the same time. He didn't tell me anything about the blade. I have though some technique corrections (body alignment) consistent with what I feel was wrong with my balance/alignment on the blade, so I may have I've got my answer. Correct the technique first!

The second goal was to get corrections, not so much for the sake of improving immediately, but more to help me see where I'm at and where I could go. I need to set some goals, because lately I've felt I was skating aimlessly.

Corrections:

• Forward slalom- put the weigh back on the blade and actually push into the knees and draw to the boards
• Backward slalom- I was forward on my blade, shoulders back, that would put the weight where it should be, at the back of the foot ball
• F xovers on the line with FI extension- when pushing from the axis push perpendicularly away, to the boards
• B xovers with BO extension- I was scratchy and extension was tense and not high, push shoulder back! This as on the B slalom took me off the toe pick , but also helped the extension. I think this will help the B extension in many places. When trying to improve B extension myself I was pushing the hips forward (that was an old correction I've got)
• F and B power xovers in spiral pattern- for this I needed help in setting the pattern, and that is 2-3-5-7 per semicircle and that made sense on ice but as I am looking at the drawn diagram, there are actually just 11 and the instruction says there should be no more than 15 xovers total 
• FO 3s- on exit edge, body weight should be on the lower back  of skating leg side, I was allowing the shoulders to go ahead by pitching forward, basically not checking correctly and the 3s whipped
• B3s both O and I- on entry edge shoulders back over the circles, and on knees together on exit edge
• dance F progressives- push perpendicularly away from the axis, into the boards
• dance B progressives- same, also, don't hook after push and shoulders back
• TenFox - same, especially the 3 turn
• FO Brackets- shoulders over circles, not just arms, don't rebend before the turn (made me overturn), FOL don't drop shoulder
• FI edge that I complained I had problems with possible because of the blade... the lean doesn't come from the ankle and knee actually the foot should be aligned over the blade (even slightly towards outside), the FI edge needs only a slight lean from the body. And yeap, it makes sense, when I've leaned the boot, I've pulled the body too much towards inside and basically lost control and in order to balance I've ended up leaning my body towards outside

As I've expected this month seems that I'm able to skate just twice a week. That is not enough for the body to remember the alignment between sessions. But it also means that I can reset the body and start fresh. I'm exited to get back to work on these correction!

 

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

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

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

The plan for the month of May?

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

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

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

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

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 lesson after the break

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For now, all is well in my skating world.

Dropped 3-tuns, new corrections for Ice Dancing intermediate level

I've had few new (and old) corrections on yesterday private lesson.

Firstly, you know how I was saying in my last post, that I feel my skills for the Ten Fox are good enough for the level, and all I need is to put a little more power and pay attention to partnering? Actually, it seams that I scrape the 3-turn... badly. May coach showed me the tracing on ice (in the Ten Fox pattern) and it was soo bad. That would be a good reason to fail the test. When I do the dance on my own, I'm never able to find the tracing. When I do the 3-turns on their own, I can find the tracing and it looks correct more often then not. But in the dance, I do the 3-turn after steps harder then and outside stroke, plus I have more speed, so it is a more difficult set up. I have to fix this before thinking of testing.

Here is the post I wrote about the dropped 3-turns. I'll go over the mistakes I make often now, and what I should be doing correct them:
- good forward outside edge on the entry stroke. That would include a good push from underneath yourself, so re bend on the skating foot, but then flip it on the inside edge as you actually put the new foot down. This will make space for the new foot to be set on an outside edge. I am able to do this consistently, but I'm not doing it in the dance... the problem I think,  is rushing, getting overexcited or nervous, and actually stepping, not pushing from underneath.
 - maintain this outside edge, not flatten it. Well, firstly, if I don't set it on an outside edge to begin with, it's kind of impossible, at least for me, to fix it. But let's say I do that right. To maintain the edge I should keep on the back of the blade (and I often find myself forward, again probably from the bad push) and press into the ice keeping the knee out. Yes, I'm letting the knee fall in, then of course the edge will flatten. It's possible I do this even worse with the partner as I may worry I'll hit his knee with my knee. But even on my own, this is not a skill I do without really concentrating on it. Another reason I think I lean forward is that I know I have to get closer to my partner just before turning the 3-turn, so leaning forward does get my upper body closer. I have o get closer with all my body, including the lover body.
- rise over the skating hip, lifting the rib cage. I feel I'm not doing this good enough, but my coach says that what it's messing me up, is in fact that I re bend while still turning (rushing again), and that it is what takes me out of the alignment and making me lean outside the circle not inside as I should, and this is making me scrape.
- another mistake I make often, is allowing the left shoulder forward. I am conscientiously twisting my upper body, but the left shoulder block my, and I am not aware of it while doing it.
- of course I have to turn my head with the turn...
- the old mistake was that I was pushing back after the 3-turn while re bending. It seams I fixed that by re bending even sooner (joke on me), instead of after the 3-turn...

The second correction I've got it was about the back push, and that translates into all backward skating so I'm very excited about it. It will be one of my next posts.

Then we did partner Ten Fox again and again, and I still do all kind of mistakes. There is this expectation that the coach helps the student during the dances, including during the tests. But these things eventually need to be corrected. And I think I have enough corrections for a whole post, so again, I'll come back to it  in a new post soon.

Corrections Jan 2020
- I worked on these for half hour on the next two sessions I was on ice. I went trough all the corrections, and I found the one mistake that ruined it even when everything else was right. This is the LFO 3-turn, so I have to twist the upper body towards the left. Well, I do, but I'm also pushing the left shoulder forward, so I'm blocking the twisting...
- Then on my next lesson, the coach said that even if I'm twisting toward the left, I'm still not aligned over the left hip, I should think of pushing the left hip forward (until now he was saying butt in)
- I was saying that holding the 3-turn entry edge on an outside edge was a problem mostly in the solo pattern dance. I realized that I wasn't finishing the previous lobe correctly, I wasn't twisting while rising towards the inside of the next circle, as I was explaining here. I should finish the previous lobe with the right hand forward and left shoulder back, ready for the 3-turm. I finish sometimes square and sometimes with the left hand forwards, that also means the left shoulder forward and that is a problem even when I do the 3-turn on its own, setting it like this in the pattern is doubling the same mistake!
- But I'm able to correct these, so I need to practice them enough to became body memory. And the dance was already better.... 

And here is a video with my dropped 3-turns done in a circle, both directions

Update from end of January: 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...

Corrections 2023:

- twist the upper body while rising (I was stroking, rising then twisting) and bring the free hip along, don't leave it back. And I figured the stroke-rise and twist is a continuous move. I also figured that with a deeper knee bend in the stroking I have more flow/ inertia into the rise and twist

- let the foot turn  (don't stop it) and don't turn it yourself. I was stroking, stalling and then force the foot to turn, as I can see in the 1st 3 in the video

- Note from my own observation to check with my coach... Today I suddenly scraped the 3s (they were fine for a while now), and I think it is because my muscles were tired and as I stroke the outside edge I leaned forward, so when I raised and twisted I didn't have more space to go forward on the blade ti turn cleanly...

Progress... slow progress

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

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

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

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

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

Skating technique: Intermediary skating skills (power, press, alignment, lean)

I usually have my private lessons on Monday and I get to skate before the lesson, so I'm warmed up already. I cannot skate next Monday so I asked for an extra lesson this week. It was on the first hour of the "Freestyle practice ice" so i had to start with a warm up with my coach watching and obviously helping and correcting.

After slalom forward and backward I did the forward outside edge presses. First the forward outside. My coach said that the hip is sticking out. That is the hip inside the circle. I am supposed to lean into the circle, with the shoulders parallel with the ice, but the rest of the body being a straight line. Like here. I tried and tried again and we ended at the boards looking into the glass and modeling my body to achieve the hip in, so the straight body line, the lean into the circle. This lean should be achieved on all edges forward, backward, outside, inside and it is always the same visual of not having the hip inside the circle sticking out. Another way I was asked to not stick the hip out was to feel, to make a hollow, that somehow doesn't work for me. I was even allowed to look down, at the hip... blasphemy! I've learned that the hip that is mentioned in the skating instruction is lower then I thought of it. That may make a difference in trying to align it. One other words I remember I've red about this hip in, were to push with the hip from inside the circle into the hip from the outside of the circle. Whaaat? No, actually that made sense when I've tried it, that's why I'm mentioning it here. To add to that is to make a hollow under arm of the arm towards the inside of the circle. That is to help the lean but I suspect also to not drop that shoulder. And also, on all the edges the upper body should be align over the circle.

After this anatomy (or contortion) lesson, I did the crossovers to inner edges from the PreJuvenile MITF test as my next warm up. My coach said to press into the ankle, so ice, the inside edge on both forward and backward. Not to just glide there. Use each step energy into the next step. We've run this 3 times. But it seams the coach was happy seeing that I was able to incorporate some of these corrections (that I've heard many times before), so he decided to continue with all this concept of power in skating. I mentioned the concept of power in skating many times, like here. The first step in building power in your skating is the correct push, (from underneath you, and pressing into the ice, that I described before (forward and backward)

So  we've continued with the rest of the MITF test exercises. Next were the power pulls. There, the biggest correction today was on the backward ones to align the upper body over the circle (the edge) so on the back outside edges pull the opposite shoulder back to lead with it, and on the back inside edges, the same side shoulder. Obviously on the power pulls you press into the ice. The 3-turns had less corrections then usual! But the focus was the same, the same alignment over the circle and lean into the circle. And then it was mentioned probably the biggest component of power on ice, the speed. I have to put more speed into the 3Turns. But generally, speed goes hand in hand with feeling confident in the edges, lean, alignment, press into the ice. You cannot have speed without having the others, and I think when all these "others" work, the speed increases automatically.

Back circle 8, you've guessed, we've insisted on the exact same points... On the inside ones I'm leaning out of the circle as I bring the foot in at the top of the lobe,  then I'm twisting too much facing inside the circle  (that would be not align over the circle) and that's slows me down. I worked at this alignment over the circle when skating backwards mostly trough backward edge presses, that I'm realizing I've never described, but I will soon...

I'm very happy with this lesson. It made me feel that I'm on track to getting the power.

Training rhythm

I'm trying to get (back) into a training rhythm. I've put "back" in parenthesis because while I was always looking for a training rhythm, looking back, I see that I've rarely gotten it. I feel I'm doing better from both  progress and  motivation points of view when I have the same routine, so a rhythm.

And last week, I've got it. On both Monday and Wednesday I've warmed up with different exercises then the ones I have in my MITF test, then, when I've got to do those I spent more time, and actually work on them. Then I did spins (scratch and back and whatever I remembered from sit spin) and jumps (bunny hop, waltz jump, salcow and tried to recall the toe loop and loop). Then I did the exercises for the Ice Dancing and the Ten-Fox. Everything I did was calm and settled into ice. There was no rushing.

On Thursday, I've had my weekly lesson with my main coach. My plan is to push the moves for testing but I was very hungry for some jumps and spins help. I was hoping to do both but we've got stuck on the Freestyle. On the scratch spin I'm on the right track. All I need at this point is more confidence and that will translate into more power into it. As I didn't work last month on the back spin, I want to get it back were it was first (consistent confident entrance from the inside 3-turn, crossed feet but no proper exit, and not holding the left leg out while centering, I sneak it in quickly) and then ask for more help from the coach. The sit spin got ripped apart. I was taught to enter a little lower in it and then do a C shape with my upper body. My coach wants a normal entrance and then a diagonal (like "chopping wood") movement of the free leg and he wants the back straight! I've barely gotten the sit spin when I stopped doing Freestyle few years ago. And I didn't do it since... How can I have muscle memory of it? I wouldn't have minded if it would have been the correct version. It's gonna take me a while to undo that. The good news is that I figured how to put 2 pads on the left hip and it covered every single bit of what touches the ice when I let myself fall from a sit spin. I don't won't to re injure the left hip... I felt I was doing some progress on the Salchow while working on my program but I was afraid to push it to much and make it unstable for the test. Now, that that passed, I want to continue on it. I still have to make myself wait after the 3-turn but I do it. What I learn now is to bring the free foot around not with the knees together but, as the coach put it, like I would hit a soccer ball. I'm starting to get it... And surprise! that is used in the Toe Loop. I'm used to pick a little laterally for the toe loop, a little cheated :( and that actually hurts my ankle. I don't hurt if I do pick straight back, as I should. For now I've done just the 3-turn, check and pick. My coach taught me to "draw back" on the Half Flip. I probably could very well do it on the Toe Loop but I'll wait for his supervision. The Loop used to be my favorite jump. I couldn't really get it completely rotated lately. My coach said the I'm not staying on the right side after I jump. I think this instruction gonna be enough help to keep my Freestyle time occupied for the next few weeks. I need on the next lessons to get hard into the moves and dance...

And on Friday, my beautiful rhythm started to disintegrate. My legs were tired and as much excited as I was to jump after the new instruction from a day before, I couldn't. Same for the sit spin... I started with the moves, but I didn't really got into them as I was looking ahead to jump and spin. I worked on the Scratch Spin and Back spin, a little on jumps. Then I started the Ice Dancing exercise, but the legs really didn't listen.

Then, during the weekend, I sharpen my blades. I love my sharpener, he is very consistent. I also had the first class of ballet after 2 weeks break. I expected to be tired but I was almost as tired as I was after the very first ballet class.

And here I was on ice again, on Monday. The soreness from ballet was not a problem. The blades were. My sharpener used to smooth the edges after he sharpened them. Not this time... So I spent all day just scrapping around the ice to blunt them a little. The jumps were the best thing. Spins were non existent. Edges for moves and dance were very slow and I had to be cautious to turn really at the correct points. That's what I should do anyhow, but now I was doing this while stressed not to fall... The blades are gonna be fine probably by the next session, but will my rhythm come back as soon as that?

I was saying this before. Progress in figure skating is very slow and the work very hard. It is also hard to keep motivated to keep going. That's why I test, I did the program, I do the ice show. And that's why I look for this training rhythm... to "just do it" as Nike add goes.

Coach's critiques

I saw recently a post in a skating group on facebook of somebody that felt that the Coach critiquing every little thing with no encouragement made her feel like a failure as a skater and everything that she was doing was ugly and bad and she almost wanted to quit. There were answers ranging from saying to fire the coach, to advising that some time personalities of the coaches and students don't match, to pointing out that that's what we pay the coaches for: to critique us...

I started learning skating in group lessons of 4 to 8 people. There wasn't time for much individual critique. There wasn't much time for much instruction either. When I started private lessons I was craving and got instruction, lots of it! And then came the corrections, lots of them... Let's see how many corrections I can come up for the Forward Stroking. 1.Posture, 2.Shoulders back 3. Chin up, 4.Look over the glass boards, 5. Press into ice 6.Bend the knees 7. Bend more... 8.Free leg goes laterally after stroking 8. Extend the free leg higher 9.Hold the extension 10. Free leg straight, don't bend the knee 11. Free foot pointed 12. Free foot turned out 13.Free leg is to lateral now, a little back 14.Don't lean the upper body forward when you stroke 15.Re bend with the weight on the skating hip 16.Feet in V before a new stroke 17.Keep knees separated before the new stroke 18. NOOO, don't collapse on the knew skating leg before the push 19.Soft arms 20.Look up (I know I said it before but I hear this a lot). My coach could add to these, I'm sure. Now, I don't think I heard all of them at once, but 15 of them wouldn't be unusual. And that's just for a 2 min exercise. There are 28 more minutes in the lesson.... After the lesson I write down all the corrections I remember, and I don't remember all of them. I'm panicking... Then next day I'm on ice I try to incorporate the corrections I remember, then I go and read the notes and work on more corrections. Damn! there are too many.

I honestly had moments when I felt exactly as the facebook skater. I was brave for maybe a month after I started with my private coach and then I told him that I cannot handle so much instruction and corrections. He said, "Oh, no! I don't expect you, or anybody, to work on (or to remember) all the corrections at a time. The reason I give so many corrections is because different people pick up different things to correct and get stuck on different things. Just choose few of them, 3 maybe, and correct those, then I'll give you the rest of them again, and... add to them. Aha!

A few weeks ago, I did mention it at the time, my coach said that I hit some milestones to my forward chasses in alternating lobes. Not easy, beginner stuff, but more towards intermediate, like lean and correct change of lobes direction. And immediately he said in a devilish, satisfied that he can pick on something, voice "but your free knee is bent". Thoughts were running trough my mind: "No my knee is straight, I corrected that a year ago".  I had to work hard not to burst into crying. Actually it wasn't like that at all, but that's what it felt like :) In reality, he was very excited about my progress and said in a neutral voice that my knee is bent... He didn't even say straighten your knee, it was obvious that I can and I will. Me wanting to cry, that's real. After few minutes of gathering myself, I thought to ask why I don't do the things I CAN do? He said that when I concentrate in doing a specific correction I let go on the things that are not yet body memory. It seems that it takes an even longer time than I thought for some skill to become body memory...

Some random things different coaches said, related with critiquing...
- well, sometimes you have to take it with a sense of humor (the temporary failure in doing something, and the repeated corrections/ nitpicking)
- the hardest part in a coach's job is to trick the student into doing something she doesn't want to do

To draw some kind of a conclusion, nobody likes to be criticized, it's important to think at these coach's critiques as corrections or constructive criticism. Also, the coach cannot know how you feel if you don't say. So the student should say if she/ he is overwhelmed, or needs encouragement. I've got into the habit of asking my coach if I improved a certain skill. I ask specifically about something. For example, it seems that I grossly misjudge my speed and flow (power) improvement. As I test at standard level I need to show power. I'm always on the hunt of that, especially because it's against my personality. It seems that I improve steadily, and I don't realize because I'm comfortable and in control skating with this increased speed.

I also do agree that not all personalities work together. I believe that sometimes, despite everybody's best intentions and effort a relationship doesn't work. On the other side of too much criticism, I would mention that I had a coach that was so nice that I didn't feel she was drawing out of me all I could give.

Monthly skating review: progress and goals adjustment

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

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

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

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

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

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

How can an adult skater progress over a Beginner level and Figure Skating Levels

My previous post was about the progress of a beginner skater, more exactly, from a low-beginner beginner to an high-beginner. Then, I was thinking how could an high-beginner, which I feel I am, progress to an Intermediate level.

Firstly, I'll tell you what I think the figure skating levels are. I read in different places slightly different views on levels... I have written before about the testing process. MITF and Freestyle go hand in hand as passing  MITF is a prerequisite to testing the same level in Freestyle. Freestyle also includes pair skating. USFSA (United States Figure Skating Association) has 8 standard levels for testing and I'll add the scores required to pass. This is what kids test. Then, I'll add the adult  equivalent, and the ISI (Ice Skating Institute) levels.  Then  I'll add what I think of each level in terms of beginner- intermediate- advanced- expert...

0. Intro to Skating (no test) Basic Skills and ISI Alpha trough Gamma...
1. Pre-Preliminary (pass/fail) equivalent with Adult Pre-Bronze, ISI FS1 and 2 is an Low-Beginner
2. Preliminary (2.5 out of 6max) equivalent with Adult Bronze and ISI FS3 is a  Beginner
3. Pre-Juvenile (2.7 out of 6) equivalent with Adult Silver and ISI 4 is an High-Beginer
4. Juvenile (3 out of 6)  equivalent with Adult Gold and ISI FS4 is a Beginner-Intermediate
5. Intermediate (3.2 out of 6)  is an Intermediate
6. Novice (3.5 out of 6) is a Intermediate-Advanced
7. Junior (4 out of 6) is an Advanced Skater
8. Senior (4.5 out of 6) is an Expert Skater
What we see on TV on competitions I would say are 2 or 3 levels up, their skills marks would be 4.8 to 5.9 out of 6 as nobody is perfect :)

Each test concentrates on 5, 6 skills but a skater at that specific level knows many more skills. The test judges in fact the quality of how the skills are performed. For example you have to do an outside forward 3-turn in different combinations in each of the first 5 MITF tests. But you have to do it better and better...

I'm working on the Pre-Juvenile MITF so Level 3.  In Freestyle I'm all over the place. I know the elements but I don't think I do them well enough.

So to get to an Intermediate level as an adult is a quite big accomplishment, so big that USFSA calls is worthy of the "gold medal". I think Gold level in MITF is within reach. In Freestyle this level includes the axel... I don't know about that. The risk of hurting may be too big to even try to learn it.

Ice Dancing traditionally is done in pairs and has testing on the pattern dances and I'll match them with the free dances done in competition at the same level. I'll start the counting from 2 because that's what I thing would be the equivalent with the MITF and Freestyle levels. It can be done solo too, on the same levels.

1. Basic Ice dancing Skills: Forward Progressives, Chasses and Swing Rolls - Low-Beginner
2. Preliminary pattern dances (Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango, Rhythm Blues) (pass/fail) - Beginner
3. Pre-Bronze pattern dances (Swing Dance, Cha Cha, Fiesta Tango) (2.5 out of 6) - High-Beginner
4. Bronze pattern dances (Hickory Hoedown, Willow Waltz, Ten fox) (2.7 out of 6) and Juvenile free dance - Beginner-Intermediate
5. Pre-Silver pattern dances (Fourteen Step, European Waltz, Foxtrot) (3 out of 6) and Intermediate free dance - Intermediate
6. Silver pattern dances (Silver Tango, Rocker Foxtrot, American Waltz) (3.5 out of 6) and Novice free dance - Intermediate Advanced
7. Pre-Gold pattern dances (Starlight Waltz, Passo Double, Killian, Blues) (4 out of 6) and Junior free dance - Advanced
8. Gold pattern dances (4.5 out of 6) and Senior free dance - Expert
On TV we see International pattern dances (4.8 out of 6)

In Ice Dancing I'm working on Bronze or 4th level, so over my abilities from MITF. I do feel that I struggled in Ice Dancing because not only I had to acquire the skating skills but them present them in a pretty and very exact package while holding the beat of the music and getting into the character of the music. The kids and teens at my rink seam to learn the other way around: Freestyle first, MITF then to match their Freestyle level and be able to test and Ice Dancing later, as a refinement of their skills that they already have. I think this is a more natural path... Dare I say that Freestyle is more exciting? So it sounds to me that I'm thinking I should concentrate more on Freestyle.

The problem is that I don't think I skate enough to be able to push for progress all Freestyle, MITF and Ice Dancing. So the obvious answer is to increase the skating time AND the number of lessons... Now I'm skating 3 times a week and i take one lesson and everything goes mostly towards Ice Dancing. And that's because I was injured... I would have to go back to skating 4 sessions plus 2 lessons... My coach recommends 2 hours of practice for each half hour lesson.
I found this Canadian skating club guidelines to training time. It seams that for my level they recommend even more lessons then that, sounds like 4 half hour lessons and 2 hours of practice. AND they recommend lots of off ice training... And here is another guideline to how much time you need to practice to pass different levels.

Yeap, skating takes lots of time and money and I feel discouraged now.

How can an adult skater progress over a Beginner level and Warm up for beginners

There are many different categories of adult skaters. Each journey is somehow unique. Still, I would put in a special category the adults that skated as kids. They have a big advantage over skaters that started as adults in their comfort on ice and their ability lo learn skills...They do have their own specific challenges, like not being able to do everything they did as kids, and I'm sure many more that I'm not aware of. Then, there are the very young adults skaters. International competitions for adult skaters accept skaters over 28 years old. In USA the age is 21. These skaters that start in their 20s have a quick progress.

I want to talk more about skaters that start when they are older then 30 because that's me and that's what I know about. I started casually at 35 and approached it more seriously after 40. I heard when I started skating that adults stop progressing at the forward one foot spin or Freestyle 2 level. I almost did...

Beginner adults usually start with adult group lessons. And almost each time on ice we learn something new and we are amazed. We pass the basic skills in one, two years. And then is Freestyle, where everything slows down. We get bored, frustrated, unmotivated and we look at ourselves and we think that we don't look like much of a skater. Plus we see kids at our level that look better and we lose hope that we, as adults, can get there. I occasionally made up a missed group lesson in a kids group lesson, and they were different. In the adult class we were doing everything from standing still. In the kids class they were moving around. I also saw the same difference in private lessons. At least at my rink adults are treated like they could break and they are not asked to move. Adults are not allowed in the group MITF group class, but i was allowed in once as it wasn't full. It was an eye opener... there it was were kids learned to move around. Kids also run after each other, playing, adults don't really play... This difference in speed was also visible in competitions. Same level kids were way faster, even if they had worse posture, lesser extension and toe pointing. So adults were actually looking better, though the kids were making up for it by owning an enjoying the performance.

The point I'm trying to make is that, to transition from a beginner level one needs to start moving. In time, the speed you are comfortable skating with will increase, and that speed will help in making the edges more stable so it will give more control to everything. This increasing in speed will give a skater more power. The second thing that would help this transition is the awareness on how to keep your weight over your hips and feet, when your are skating edges on one foot. If you look at older posts, there are lots about edges. That's because I think skating it's all about edges. So you need to put some speed and depth into those basic edges.  I would say that you are not a beginner-beginner anymore if you are able to do the forward circle eight well. Use what I described as edge presses to transition from a beginner to an intermediate skater. And I would say you are not an advanced-beginner anymore (as I think I am) if you can do the backward circle eight well. That's something I'm thinking and I use as milestones to motivate myself :) And just for the record I can do the backward circle eight reasonable well! The edge that's holding me back is the LBI (left backward inside). I can do it well enough at low speed, but I hesitate when I go faster because I need a little longer to find the balance on that edge. And that affects all the skating skills that include that edge as for example the LBI 3turn...

 So really is not the forward one foot spin... Working on the spin for 5- 15 minutes each time you are on ice it's gonna make it happen, but it takes a long time. I was working at it for an hour each time I was on ice, and I don't think it made it come sooner. I just wanted to pass the level and that was the only element that wasn't passing... But I could have used that time better.

I have some suggestions on how to start moving. Firstly, each time when you step on ice do few lines of warm up. I see that all the advanced skaters do this. The meaning is to both warm up the muscles but also ease into feeling the ice and using the edges. Advanced skaters do for example forward and backward power crossovers, edge rolls, edge crosses, and all kinds of fast turns on the length of the ice. Read about my warm up here. For a beginner warm up I would suggest to do:
- forward/backward swizzles where you should concentrate to find where the weight should fall on your blade (back of your foot arch for forward skating, and front of your arch for backward skating). Also you can work on looking up, posture and balance, maybe hand movements.
- forward stroking, read about it here
- edges, trying to make them both more stable and faster. Do them forward and only if comfortable backward. But do work on the backward edges later maybe at the end of the rink... you need them stable and fast for the 3 turns and Mohawks.
- forward slalom where you should try to get into the ice.

The second thing I would suggest is to consider working consistently on MITF maybe with the goal of testing them. That will give your training structure and motivation. The first test asks for stroking, edges, spirals, crossovers and outside 3 turn, all at basic, beginner level. If you plan to compete in USFSA competitions you need these MITF tests and Freestyle tests anyway. MITF covers moves in both directions, covers lots of turns (3-turns, mohowks) and asks for power and speed.

The third suggestion is to put together a program and run it often. I don't have one yet but I think it would make me move with a different rhythm and maybe in a more personal way.

Having a program goes hand in hand with hiring a private coach lessons if you didn't already, because they do the choreography. A private coach I think would suggest what I just did before and would also push you to get it done. On the other hand a private coach will ask about your goals and customize the instructions towards reaching that goal. I feel that as a beginner I didn't really understand the possibilities.

The only other thing I would add is that skating twice a week is enough for when you are a  beginner-beginner. Over that level, I heard many skaters saying that skating twice a week maintains what skills you have. But if you want to learn new skills and to progress, you need more time on ice. To push from a beginner to an intermediate level I think you should skate 3 to 6 sessions per week. The more you skate, the more you'll progress!