And the Skating Gods Smiled Today

Everyone that skates is familiar with the fickle skating Gods. You can do a kick ass camel one day and then fall over your toe rake the next for no good reason. Some days the Gods find favor with you and other days not so much. This is particularly true of adult skaters; stunts randomly come and go. For me this past month has been spent in Hades. I have had two colds, two lung infections and an ear infection. I haven't been able to spin since Christmas and it is now January 20th. At one point I couldn't even do more than one three turn in a row or I would get nauseous and the rink would start slowly spinning around with no help from me. After yet another bad skating day last Saturday I was starting to get depressed. By yesterday, skating withdrawal had set in in the worst way. I was craving being on the ice again. I was even looking forward to jumping again. Me! Looking forward to jumping! When did that ever happen before? I was getting desperate!

Today my penance must have been completed. The Gods finally smiled down upon me and restored my ability to spin. Really spin. At full speed, centered, for so many revolutions that I lost count. Yippee!! So I spent most of the hour doing scratch spins, camel spins and sit spins. I even pulled off an under-rotated camel sit with good form. I had a blast. I also did lots of spirals: forwards, backwards and change edge. My spread eagles have gotten rusty so those got several run throughs until I could do them perfectly again.

Don't get me wrong, I did spend a significant amount of time at the boards catching my breath. You can't spend a month off the ice and out of the gym without severe consequences but I am so happy that I can skate at full tilt again. I was on the ice for the full session instead of collapsing in the hockey box after 30 minutes. I'm still not up for a double session yet but I am on my way again. Back to the gym tomorrow. I'm meeting my trainer and we'll have to jigger my routine to make up for the lost month. Plyometrics are going to have to wait a bit longer. I have to get back into shape first before I start those. But the Gods like me again. I have returned from Hades. Now to get in enough practice to kick some butt at the Worcester Open.

The Decoder Ring

There is a string of codes used for skating elements. For high level skaters they have to submit a written version of their program to the contest chairs. These codes are the short hand used for this document. The document lets the judges know whether to expect a double or triple axle at a given moment in the program so that they can judge accordingly. I was reading "Ice Pact"'s blog and apparently these codes have made it into the Tweeting world. I don't Tweet so I didn't know this. However for those of you who do here is the decoder ring:

http://www.usfsa.org/Shell.asp?cat=10&id=283&sid=35247

Getting on my freak bus

I have been sick for most of the last month. I've had two colds which resulted in two lung infections and an ear infection. I'm done with my meds but still wake myself up with coughing fits. While I feel about 80% of normal I decided to get back on the ice. It isn't pretty. I have no strength, stamina and my balance is questionable. I last about 30 minutes total before being pooped and I can only do one maybe two short spins before I am too dizzy to continue at all. Now I am talking about competing in the Worcester Open in April and I need to drastically improve my Salchow to do it and I can't practice. Prior to the colds I was on the ice fours hours a week and in the gym weight lifting and doing cardio for another two hours a week. Currently I've managed three half hour on ice session doing mostly patch and edge work. At least I could do three turns this week. Last week even those were making me dizzy. Best I could do this week was a four rev spin. Anything longer than that sent the rink swirling around me. So I am on my freak bus. I want to skate and I'm going into withdrawal. I want to practice. I want to get back to weight lifting. I need to do cardio to get my lung capacity back. But mostly I want to spin. I love spinning. Patience. I need patience.

Sibling Rivalry

You hear about it all the time. My sister and I were no different. As kids we fought more often than we got along. My mother gave up trying to referee us and only stepped in when someone was in danger of getting injured. My sister and I also skated together. We were in the same club and skated on the same ice. This was back in the '70s so we did patch (figure 8s for you younguns out there) and freestyle together. We had the same coaches. My sister was the jumper. I don't know if she had no fear but at least she had less fear than me and as far as I remember she had a flip jump which I never mastered. Me, I was the spinner. I was scared of jumping but not spinning. I had a scratch spin, camel, layback, broken leg and a weird variation of an upright spin my mom had learned as a show skater. The only spin I didn't do well was a sit spin. I didn't have the quad strength to hold me up while keeping my leg straight out in front of me. My sister and I were always comparing notes. Can you do this? Have you tried that? I always thought we got along remarkably well on the ice. I guess compared to the knock down fights we had off ice (yes we used to get into physical fights as well as verbal ones) we got along famously on the ice.

When we were kids I never recognized the competitive streak that runs deep through my sister. It is only now as an adult that I see it once in a while. In a step aerobics class where I had more platforms under me than she did or during discussions on figure skating (she has never returned to the ice like I did). I am discovering that whenever we get into a technical discussion on figure skating she argues with me thinking that she is right. I even ended up going on to the Internet to look something up to prove that she was wrong. I am beginning to think that I might have to stay away from these discussions to keep peace during family gatherings. Yet she doesn't understand my passionate return to training for figure skating. I think my Mom, who instilled the love of the sport in me from the start, is also a bit shocked at the depth of my commitment to the sport and perhaps thinks I should be committed. I was quizzed about this during my last visit. Apparently neither of them knew that I have always Loved (yes, capital L loved) skating. Even when I was a kid I loved it. I just knew I wasn't great at it. I watched my friends progress faster than me and my sister always did better higher jumps so when my self esteem was at an all time low I quit the sport although I truly enjoyed it. Now that I am adult I understand that I won't be in the Olympics but I also understand that I don't have to be. Just being on the ice doing anything is fine with me. I don't care if it takes me years to get a back spin and I will be truly shocked if I ever do a flip jump. But I am going to keep skating as long as I enjoy it. I am going to compete now that there are competitions for us low level skaters (there weren't any when I was a kid) and I am going to pass as many tests as I can. I am happy when I am on the ice and that counts for everything. I just need to refrain from getting in technical discussions with my sister to maintain the peace when I am off the ice. ;-)

Spin lessons in Lake Placid

Over Christmas, I got to skate up in Lake Placid which is always a pleasure. This time I was surprised at how few people there were on the ice. Apparently this is normal. There are not a lot of skaters that are seriously training up there. I don't know why since ice is cheap and there are some great coaches up there. I guess they aren't high level enough to attract the serious skaters. It is a great place for intermediate level people though. Anyway, I got three days on the ice and a spin lesson. I got to show off my camel sit for my Mom which thrilled me to pieces. I learned a few extra tricks for the back spin but the most important exercises I learned for the camel and back spin were straight line work. For the back spin you start going backward in the loop take off position with the arms in an L as if you were going into a backspin. Now as you travel in a dead straight line you pull your arms and free leg into the back spin position and hold it. Think this is easy? Try it. I found I would tip my shoulder just slightly and I was off on a curve. It took me numerousl trys to stay traveling in a straight line. Then we tried the same thing for the camel. Do a back spiral in a straight line. I still can't do this one and I've been trying for weeks. Weird thing is I have been doing forward spirals for two years now and have no trouble traveling the length of the rink on either foot in a straight line but backwards? No way. Not happening. This proved to me how tipped over I was in the spin. No wonder it doesn't work most of the time. I'm getting into some wierd contorted postion. I'll get it eventually but it is going to take a lot more practice.

shut up, Shut Up, SHUT UP!!

Like duh! I've known about sports psychology for decades. I just never considered that it would ever EVER apply to me. Why would I need to know any of this? I have never considered myself an athlete even though I have spent many many hours in the pool, gym, weight room and ice rink. Now that I am seriously into figure skating and potentially facing my first season as a competitor I am recognizing that I am going to have to take a dive into the psychology end of this sport.

Currently in my training I am on the cusp of relearning the stunts I used to do as a kid and learning brand new things I have never tried before. I am currently and always have been afraid to fall. The ramifications of a serious fall as an adult are much more far reaching. As a kid I would inconvenience my parents (mostly only my mother) and end up doing my school work at the house for a while and maybe get to go to school with a cast on. As an adult I would scare my husband silly, halt all cooking and grocery shopping in the house, suspend taxi service for the kid and make a mess out of my work career. With this in mind I have taken up a sport that for every 1000 hours on the ice there is a serious injury (not necessarily from a fall). I have seen these injuries occur which is probably the basis of my fear. I have taken up a sport that is very very hard; you are trying to do stunts from the single edge of a blade while keeping most of your body rock still and in perfect alignment. It requires great balance, core strength, concentration and skill. This is probably why I like it so much. It is HARD! However, while relearning old stunts I do get frustrated but I know in my heart of hearts that I can do this. I've done it before and with enough practice I'll be able to do it again. But now I am crossing over into new territory, doing stunts that I have never done before. Can I really do this? My coach thinks so and I think she needs a reality check. In my mind's eye I see myself doing a belly flop on the ice. I am finding that when I start a learning a new stunt such as a back spin (I never learned these properly as a kid) I go through several weeks of mental anguish. Every time I start the entrance to the spin the little guy in my head starts a rant that goes something like this "We are going to DIE! Or at least fall on our ass. It is going to hurt. A lot! Did I mention we are going to die? You look like an ass." No matter how much I plead and yell he doesn't shut up. Now what this guy does is stop me from having any rational thoughts go on in my head at the same time such as "Bring you arm forward. Snap the free foot around to the front. Bend the skating knee." or all the directions that I need to follow in order to actually perform the spin. So what happens? The guy in my head wins; I look like an ass and come damn close to falling down if not cleaning the ice with my butt. So far I haven't actually died so he has been wrong on that count multiple times but it still doesn't shut him up. I have to go through this for 2-3 weeks every time I start something new; Salchows, Toe Loops, Back Spins, etc. Once the guy figures out that I'm not going to die every time I attempt one of these stunts I can start hearing the instructions. This is when I switch over to actually learning the element and improving on it. I have decided that it is absolutely no use having a coaching session while the guy is screaming in my head. I literally can't take instruction while he is yelling at me. Once he has quieted down it is another matter entirely and I can start fixing things.

I have also had face offs with him during test sessions. Luckily I did several years in Toastmasters and have managed to quiet him down to a dull roar. He can no longer tell me that I will make a total ass out of myself. He knows it won't happen. I do however need to keep him from talking prior to my taking the ice. I have to jump around, pace, stretch, do stuff so he can't take over my head. I need it empty so I can hear the instructions. As long as I can hear the instructions I know I'll be fine. So far I have passed thee tests on the first try with no reskates.

I find that tests aren't so bad since it is only the judges, my coach and me that are in the arena. No biggie for me. I am used to being judged (evaluated) in Toastmasters. I can handle it no problem. Now I am about to launch into a whole new area, competition. Skating to music in front of lots of people. Ugh! How am i going to shut him up this time? I'm not sure. I have to think about this for a while. In the meantime I'm off to the library to start researching sport psychology or "How Not to Choke During a Competition!" Wish me luck and if you see the little guy from my head running around stomp on him for me. Thanks!

Just another practice session

I can't believe that I haven't written for over a month but then again I didn't have much to write about until last week. I have been trying to learn new things so that I can pass my bronze freestyle test. This includes several stunts that I still can't do such as back three turns, a backspin, a good toe loop and a good Salchow. While I had a breakthrough last month with the Salchow while in Lake Placid, until last week I just kept practicing and not progressing very much with any of my new maneuvers. I seem to just keep making the same mistakes over and over and not getting anywhere. This is really frustrating with the back threes since I know I could do them when I was a kid but my body has retained absolutely no memory of them. The backspin is another story. I never learned these as a kid so it is all new to me. I just keep reminding myself how long it took me to get a good front spin and figure that the backspin will take just as long if not longer since I never did them before. Therefore, I am a bit more patient with that one.

The only things that have marginally improved is my sit spin which is finally becoming somewhat consistent (meaning I can usually pull a decent one off during most practice session unless I'm having an unusually bad day) and I'm doing better at actually jumping during the Salchow. Not to be confused with a good jump; jumping for me is that I actually manage to get air time between the take off and landing rather then stepping through the jump. This frustrates my coach to no end. As soon as she tries to "fix" my jump by giving me instructions it rapidly deteriorates back to the no air time variety. I was petrified of jumping when I was a kid and that was when I weighed about 1/3 of what I do now and was much closer to the ice so the falls weren't as much of a disaster as they are now. Falls seem to be infinitely more painful now that I am an adult. Even though I have more padding this also means I have more mass and further to fall. Being an engineer I also understand that this means that there is much more force to dissipate through my body when I actually do hit the ice. I have enough aches and pains as it is without adding nasty falls to the list of injuries. My fear of falling has intensified now that I am an adult. It often makes me question my sanity of taking up figure skating as a sport. I guess we can't always choose what we fall in love with. This sheer utter terror of falling has been detrimental to my jump practice. I have gone slow. Really slow. For a long time I would only jump when I was on weekend ice so if I broke something my friends and my coach would be there to help me. Now at least I can jump Salchows and Waltz jumps where ever and when ever I want. They just aren't pretty but at least I am practicing them each time I get on the ice. I guess this should be considered a major accomplishment on my part.

So a month goes by, my backspins still grind to a halt after the entrance three turn, I double foot my back three turns and I still can't do a "good" Salchow. I haven't even gotten to the toe loop yet. So what changed? Why am I writing? I had a good lesson last week. I had two small triumphs. My coach had me do a long, LONG, three turn practice. First she fixed my forward threes since I tend to pitch forward on push off. That was a simple weight transfer problem. I had my weight even between both feet before launch but it turns out that my weight needs to be all on my push off foot and then quickly transferred to my skating foot. This keeps my upper body still. Woohoo. Forward three fixed. Now I just have to practice a lot so I get some body memory for them. Then we started on the back threes. This was much harder. My free leg was all over the place. I can't seem to lock my knees together to keep the free leg still during the turn. The big reveal happened when I accidentally saw my reflection in the glass of the hockey barrier and noticed that I stuck my hip out horribly coming out of the apex of the turn. I had no idea I was doing this. Once I paid attention to keeping my upper body position then the turn was infinitely easier. I still two footed it after the turn but it was much closer to happening than my klutzy prior attempts. As soon as we switched to the other side I managed a good one on the first try! Huzzah!!

A half hour had gone by already. We moved on to spins. I did two scratch spins with no problem. They weren't centered as much as I like but she was happy with them. I tried a couple of camels which didn't go as well. It was a bad camel day for me and these spins are not even close to being consistent yet. She had a minor correction for me but that didn't fix the spin I still fell off my inside edge since I wasn't balanced over my blade. I did a sit spin for her which was great. She said it looked good and she had no corrections other than working on getting lower on the supporting leg. This is a high compliment from her. Then she had me try something new. A camel sit combination. I had never ever done one of these before even as a kid. She had to teach me how to transition from the camel position with my leg sticking out behind me to the sit position with the leg in front while keeping my balance and keeping the rotations going. The key is going slowly. I went into a marginal camel spin which I knew I couldn't hold for long so after two revolutions I started the transition to the sit. It went flawlessly! I was so excited that I only managed two revolutions in the sit before I bounced up, stuck my toe pick in the ice to stop the spin and wave my arms wildly in the air. She was amused. I skated over to the boards all excited and she just looked at me and said that I need three revolutions in each position. "I know but I DID IT!!!" The Zamboni chased us off the ice. I was so excited that all day at random I would turn to my husband and say "I did a camel sit today!" Now I just need to get some more practice in so I can perfect things.