Last Post

This is going to be my last post to this blog for a while. Whatever bugs have invaded my body have taken up residence. So I won't be skating or even exercising for many weeks to come. Wish me luck. Hopefully I'll be back.

First Exercise in 3 1/2 Months

I climbed in the pool today with my old water PT sheet of exercises today. This is the first real exercise session I've done since getting sick in May other than very brief walks around the block. I got the water exercises from a series of PT classes I took many years ago after getting severly deconditioned after my diagnosis of osteoarthritis of the spine. Compared to what I used to do back in May these exercises should be a walk in the park but considering I haven't even been able to do that of late I was dubious of what was going to happen.

I decided just to do one set of 5 reps of each exercise just to start off. Well many body parts creaked, groaned and outright complained but I got through it with only a slight stiff neck. Not too bad. I'm completely beat as if it were Wednesday at adult skate week and I had been on the ice for three days straight already. I'm off to take a nap. We'll see if I am functional tomorrow. If I don't crash too badly I'm going to try and do either water PT or yoga on days that I'm not traveling to a doctor's appointment. Baby steps. Baby steps.

Dashed Hopes?

It has been a bad week. I finally decided that I am going to have to withdraw from adult skate camp in Lake Placid this year. I was probably kidding myself but I was honestly hoping that I would be well enough to skate in the August event but there is no hope of that. I put my doctors note and my request for refund in the mail to ORDA today. I so look forward to this event each year. I learn so much when I go and I have so much fun there. I love skating in LP. I love skating with other adults. I love taking lessons from high level coaches. It is terrific so it is a big blow to me to have to withdraw.

Now here is the kicker. Even if I had been recovered enough from my viral illness to go I managed to twist my ankle so badly I am now on crutches. Yes, in my ambition to clean the swimming pool I stepped in a rabbit hole in my yard and heard all sorts of popping noises that should not eminate from a joint. Then as the pain tore through me there were a string of explatives that shouldn't eminate from a lady's throat. I guess I'm no lady. That evening I ended up at the ER where I got xrays, a splint, crutches and some prescription pain meds. I am now hobbling around the house even more limited that I was last week. I am SO bored! I am also loosing hope that I will ever be able to take to the ice again.

Then I went to the ortho doc. My doc wants me to see him since I abuse my feet more that the average person due to skating. His assistant gave me some new footwear. It is to keep my ankle imobilized while the ligaments heal. I keep wondering if I can attach a blade to the bottom of it so I can go skating in it. I would love to get some bling to decorate it with. It is a very boring black. I am hopeful though. I have a good prognosis and the lady I saw today is an ex-figure skater so she gets what I am about. She has chosen an "aggresive" treatment for me so that I will be able to take to the ice once again. I have to stay in my new boot for roughly three weeks; she re-evaluates me and then I eventually have PT to loosen the foot back up after it is healed. I am very happy with this prognosis. Between this and my acupuncturist change in my treatments for the viral illness I am hopefull again. Maybe I can beat this. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope to go bling shopping tomorrow.

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.