Skating Dreams

For whatever weird reason I couldn't sleep last night although I was mighty tired. While I was lying there trying to go to sleep I kept thinking about skating. I did a run through of my program from the Stoneham show. I did my competition program. I did edges and figures. I choreographed a step sequence that had rockers, counters, back threes, loops, a lunge with a three turn in the middle of it and a half jump at the end. Every time I closed my eyes I saw myself on the ice skating. I was excited. I yearned to get back on the ice. I miss it so much.

Off Ice Lessons from USFSA

Hidden Training or How Noseeums Affect Your Performance
http://www.usfigureskating.org/content/HiddenTraining-SummerComp-08Jul16.pdf

Sports Psychology or Its All In Your Head
http://www.usfigureskating.org/Shell.asp?sid=20423
https://www.usfigureskating.org/Content/parentsarticles/Champion_Jan04.pdf

Nutrition or The Food Pyramid for Athletes
http://64.207.226.21:8215/content/Balance.pdf

Nutrition or Carbs & Protein for the Athlete
http://64.207.226.21:8215/content/Zoning%20In.pdf

Water (pay attention to this one: it is easy to get dehydrated at a rink)
http://64.207.226.21:8215/content/Water.pdf

Dieting or Loose the Fat & Keep the Muscle
http://64.207.226.21:8215/content/Lose%20Fat%20Keep%20Muscle.pdf

Nutrition on the Go (particularly important if you have food allergies and are traveling for a competition or test)
http://64.207.226.21:8215/content/Training%20Table%20in%20Backpack.pdf

Mr. Edge's advice for adult skaters
http://64.207.226.21:8215/content/MrEdge-AdultNeeds.pdf

Injury Prevention and Reconditioning
http://64.207.226.21:8215/Story.asp?id=40699

The USFSA web site is notoriously hard to navigate. I am constantly finding interesting things that other skaters have posted to their blogs that I've never found by rummaging around the site by myself. If you find anything interesting let me know. I probably haven't seen it yet.

Dance Lessons

I love watching the TV dance shows, Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. Apart from enjoying the dancing and costumes, I am also trolling for information that I can apply to figure skating. Can I modify that costume for a figure skating program? Can I do that dance step on ice without giving myself a concussion? Can I use that music for a program?

Last night Nigel Lythgoe was critiquing one of the dancers on SYTYCD and what he said resonated with me. I would like this to become my goal as a skater. Here is roughly what he said: you need to practice the dance steps until they are second nature to you but then you have to not think about them and dance from the heart. I want to be able to do this with my skating program. I want to be able to skate from the heart. I want the music to flow through me. I don't want to just go through the moves: jump1, spin1, step, step, jump2, spin2. I find this type of skating boring and I don't want to be boring. I want the joy of skating to flow through me while the steps are being done from muscle memory. One of the skaters I adore is John Curry. He took this idea of skating from the heart to new heights. I admire his skating the most. He can take simple edges and make them look brilliant. Skating should be joy. I am looking forward to returning to the ice.

Off Ice Reviews: Part 2

This was a great movie week. But be forewarned, only two items are skating related. Yes, I have run out of skating things to watch and read. However, I haven't logged onto Icenetwork yet. I'm a little scared that if I do my husband would never be able to pry me away from the computer.

Books

The only book worthy of mentioning is Ice Charades. I finished it and absolutely love it! I highly recommend it even for non skaters. It is a delightful story and I hope the author does finish a second book as she has been hinting at on her blog.

Movies

Cutting Edge 4: Fire and Ice
This is the only skating movie I watched this week. Unlike the last Cutting Edge movie this one is worth watching if you can either get it for free or I would even pay a $1 to rent it from the library. Same premise as the prior movies, partnerless girl figure skater gets paired up with ass boy skater. The twist this time is that he is a speed skater instead of a hockey skater. Unlike the last Cutting Edge movie I watched this time they have people that can act and the actors can skate. Both bonuses. There are some decent skating sequences but of course everything has been warped by Hollywood. The competitions are done in spotlights. The skaters have empty practice ice and do basic moves etc. Still fun to watch if you are bored out of your mind. It is available free on Hulu.com

Ever After
Sorry this was a PG week. This is a surprisingly good remake of Cinderella. There are some excellent well known actors in the cast including Drew Barrymore and Angelica Houston. Well worth paying money to see.

The Saint
While there are some really stupid directions in some of the scenes thank goodness it is limited to only the odd one here and there. Not sure why I like this movie. Maybe it is because Val Kilmer is an amazing character actor or maybe because the heroine is a girl scientist. I love the soundtrack. Chemical Brothers!! Free on Hulu.

Ten Things I Hate About You
Another movie I'm not sure why I like. Yes, it is a teen flick but it is actually good. This is quite possibly because the Bard had something to do with it. It is a modern day Taming of the Shrew. It also has Heath Ledger in it before he became insanely famous. There is good acting and I love the over protective dad. Again another great sound track. Free on Hulu

Outsourced
Never heard of this one before and also never heard of any of the actors in it. However I really liked this little find. It is the story of a city guy that gets sent to India to train his replacements when his department gets outsourced. The movie is about culture shock and culture clash and is also very sweet. I found it on Netflix.

Up
Hey, I have a soft spot for kids movies. They are often very good and sure beats slasher movies. This one came recommended by a good friend. This is definitely worth seeing. The scout reminds me of one of my husband's friends and yes the guy talks just as much as the kid in the movie. I also love the dogs in this. I still like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs better (which I saw when I could still go out to the cinemas) but this one is up there on the list (pun intended).

Julie & Julia
I really enjoyed this one. It is about cooking and blogging, two things close to my heart. I also didn't know much about Julia Child and this is a great way to get to know her life story. Meryl Streep is a genius in this movie. Actually it is filled with very fine acting. I love Julie's meltdowns when her cooking goes awry. Wish I could do that sometimes.

TV

North and South
Found this one on Netflix. It is a BBC production much along the lines of Little Dorit which is another fine miniseries that I highly recommend. This is another show I enjoyed immensely. Fine acting. Class wars. Good plot. Happy ending. Yeah.

Ten Things I Hate About You
What the hey. Found it on Hulu so I figured I'd give it a whirl. Heinous acting in the first couple of episodes but once the actors settled in it wasn't bad. Of course ABC canceled the show as they have had a tendency to cancel anything that is remotely worth watching. Don't go out of your way to watch this one but if you're bored it is something fun to kill time with. One of the things that makes this worth watching is that guy that played the dad in the movie reprises his role in the TV series and I love his character.

SpongeBob Squarepants
Love it. Love it. Love it. This show always makes me laugh.

Blogs

BlogHer
This is my find of the week. It is a website devoted to blogging. Men submit things as well but the majority of the participants are women. It is a fun site to visit because you never know what you will find there.

My Own Personal Saint

Notice the skates on her feet!

Thanks to another blogger, Sk8r Boi, I have discovered my own patron saint, St. Lidwina. She broke her rib skating on the ice and never recovered. Some say it was MS others say it was gangrene. In either case many miracles occurred at her bedside and she became a Saint after her death in 1433. She is now the patron saint of ice skaters and the chronically ill. Since I am both she is my new hero. Here is some more information on her

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidwina


According to some customs today is her day. Since I don't believe in coincidences what is this telling me?

You Can't Always Get What You Want

or Lessons Learned from the North Shore Open Competition

I had to withdraw from this competition after months of practicing my program. I was proud of it. I love my music and I love the costume I am making for it. Of course, everything got put on hold when I got ill. Every time I skated I felt like I got the flu the next day. Life does tend to throw us curve balls.

Of course, I went to the competition anyway. My friend was skating in the adult silver group along with another woman I practice with regularly but don't know well. I set up an area in the stands with blankets and snacks so me, my coach, my very pregnant skating friend and my competing friend could all hang out together. It was great seeing everyone again. We caught up on all sorts of news and club gossip. Then the adults took to the ice.

The first group to compete was the prebronze freestyle which is the section I had to withdraw from. I felt that if I could have skated I would have had a chance at gold. I had one judge rank me first place in the last competition I was in and I got a bronze medal at my very first competition. I know I'm not supposed to want to get a medal, particularly a gold one, but I felt like I had a shot and was bummed that I wouldn't be able to go for it.

The first two competitors took the ice and they skated very well. The were both strong skaters who had poise and presentation even if their jumps and spins weren't spectacular. Then the last competitor took the ice. She was the youngest and this was only her second competition. She wasn't very strong and her arms were all over the place. I figured that she would come in last and I would have done well if I had been able to skate.

Later I found out that she got first place. What? Why? I started emailing my coach but we couldn't really have this conversation via email. Between my faulty memory and us talking through the competition itself I couldn't put my finger on why this seemingly weak skater had won.

After a bit of poking around on Facebook (one of the hazards of social networking) and finding the video of her skate on YouTube I figured it out. She basically sandbagged the competition. This is the practice of not taking tests that you are qualified to take in order to compete at a lower level so that you will win against less advanced skaters. While this is legal it is questionable ethically. I have no idea why she did this: nerves? coach? personal? But the day after the competition she passed her bronze freestyle test. So now I am FURIOUS!! This is SO not fair!! You see this happening with the younger skaters but the adults usually have more integrity than this. Now I not only have to compete with kids half my age but I have to compete with this girl that has no trouble sandbagging a competition. ARGH!! This sport is hard enough as it is without having to deal with these issues. This 20 something kid has all of her single jumps, a backspin and back three turns. Of course she won a gold medal she was competing with older adults that can barely do a sit spin and have maybe two or three full revolution jumps tops. She did a flip jump in a prebronze competition!! WTF!?!

Okay rant over, onto the lesson part of this blog entry: you can't always get what you want. Unlike tests, competitions are a one shot deal. There are no do overs if you trip and fall. Even if it is over a sequin a prior skater left on the ice. You can't do the competition over a month later because you didn't feel good that day. At best it is a crap shoot. It is not just a matter of one's skating ability. It is a matter of nerves; if your body can skate that day; if you are in pain that day; if you trip over your toe rake; the judges; the other skaters (I have also had to skate against men in the same flight as myself: my coach claims my bronze medal is really a silver since the gold medal winner was a guy so it didn't count). You never know what is going to happen. I skated perfectly at Colonial and got bronze and skated poorly at Worcester and one of the judges put me first. You just don't know. As the experts say you have to go into the competition with a goal in mind that doesn't involve earning hardware. I think my main lesson from this competition season is that the hardware awards are somewhat random. All you can do is prepare the best you can and then hope for a good skating day for the day of the actual competition. Sometimes the skating gods will smile down on you and other days they take a colossal dump on you. You have to learn to take it all in stride. To not let it rattle you. To get back up and do it all over again the next day, month, year. All in all I am pretty happy with my first competitive season. I won my medals honestly and I achieved my goals of getting over my nerves and skating my best under pressure. Well, the nerve thing still needs some work but I am doing much better than when I started. After all it is all about progress. Getting hardware is nice but it shouldn't be the be all and end all of skating. I'll just have to wait until next year to get my gold medal :-)

Butterflys and Bees

Copied from http://museum.gov.ns.ca/imagesns/html/30820.html

Before I was a skater I was a Mom, wife, gardener, optical communications specialist (I play with lasers), etc. Now I am sick. I finally decoded my diagnosis. After doing lots of blood tests and even chest x-rays my doctor said I had 'viral syndrome'. I figured it was a bucket diagnosis meaning he had no clue what was wrong with me so go home and be sick for a while. After doing some reading on the Internet it turns out he left out a few crucial words and a hell of a lot of explanation. What I have is "post viral fatigue syndrome" which is a subset of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Apparently when someone has a viral infection like I did over Mother's Day it can often led to PVFS. This means that I basically can't do anything and most of all can't tolerate any sort of aerobic exercise. This would explain the flu like symptoms the day after I went skating which happened not once, not twice but three times! Okay I've taken the hint no skating for a while. I have to rest. My body needs to heal.

An odd subset of this are the ideas coming out of the alternate healing community. That this is mostly a woman's disease; that it comes of doing things for others; that it comes from not taking care of oneself; that it comes of putting all others before self. Hence the 'cure' is resting, doing things for oneself, taking care of oneself. While I'm not totally sold on everything they are saying it did get me thinking.

What have I done lately for fun?
What do I for fun?
Does everything have to become work?
Does everything have to be perfect?
Can I put myself first?
Do I always have to use my spare time cleaning the house?
Do I really have to take on the role of breadwinner while my husband's business tanks?
Do I have to be breadwinner and housekeeper at the same time?
Can they even coexist? Particularly when I throw athlete into the mix?
Should I have a career or a job? Are they mutually exclusive?

So I sat in the backyard this morning. Contemplating all things me. What I was supposed to be doing was watching the bees and clouds meander by and instead I find myself thinking that I should: pick some weeds, put my tomato plants in, go take a shower, get dressed, start skating figures as soon as I can get back on the ice, brush off the patio furniture, fix the broken wheel on the planter, move the bricks in the walkway, etc, etc, etc.... I really suck at this relaxing thing.

So in between the list of shoulds I managed to watch a Red Admiral butterfly. I saw the honey bees which I knew would be busy in the catmint I moved from the front of the house years ago when it got to big for its original spot. I saw a dragonfly the size of my hand and ones the size of my pinkie. All of them were enjoying the flowers I had put in years ago when I was a gardener and skating hadn't become my obsession yet. I felt the sun warming my skin and finally didn't feel cold. I felt the breeze tousle my hair and make the seed heads on the grass sway. I heard the birds sing and the chipmunk squealing from somewhere in the hostas. The breeze picked up and my wind chimes started to do a random walk through the Gregorian scale. Then one pipe was hit and the note sustained reminding me of the Buddhists call to prayer. The call to meditate on the healing powers of nature. And the world finally fell away.