Rachel Skates!
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Sunday, September 21, 2003
I have a mountain of homework and studying to do on this Sunday, so I will be brief. I FINALLY went skating on Friday for a 90 minute public session with my cousin Teresa (who also attends GU, but is not a skater). We walked in and I saw a bunch of skaters on the ice in what appeared to be a freestyle session... so we walked around to the skate rental place and I realized that they were having the public session on the newly resurfaced Rink 2. It's smaller, darker, and colder, so I spent a lot of the time looking longingly over at the freestyle skaters. Someday that will be me!
Anyway, it was sooo nice to get back on the ice, and I didn't feel as rusty as I thought I would after two weeks off. I did have a nice fall right in the beginning when Teresa asked me to show her something cool and I tried to do a waltz jump before I was warmed up. I think I just held the the RBO edge for too long and sort of hesitated and then went splat out across the ice. Hah. It was fun to show off for someone who doesn't know much about skating, because she was awed by things like my choppy back crossovers. It's great to get compliments from fellow skaters, but most of the time those are from people who are a lot better than me, and it's a different feeling.
In terms of progress, I think I'm at a plateau for now and I have to accept that until I get a regular skating schedule and a coach, I probably will stay where I am, skill-wise. My two foot spin is better than it was when I left, and I don't know why. I wonder if the ice quality affects it? Teresa counted six revolutions on one which is really good for me. I was feeling so good about spinning, in fact, that I decided to try a bit at a one foot spin. So my first attempt was pretty good (kind of a hesitant, one millimeter space between my blade and the ice) and then on my next try I managed to pick up my right foot fairly high, got a revolution or so, and then something went wrong and I found myself flailing and making a nice nose dive. I landed kind of in the shape of one of those dead body chalk outlines. Haha. Somehow I managed to get a pretty bad cut on my arm... one of the little ice roads must've had a sharp edge. It was kind of a funny fall.
So I didn't skate three days in a row like I thought I might be able to, but I got a good skate in. I guess this semester I need to focus on getting college off to a good start, getting in better shape, etc. Maybe next semester I can make a better schedule that will let me have more time to skate. And once October comes, the rink at Riverfront Park opens, and it will give me a lot more options (rather than just the weekends which is what I'm doomed to at Eagles).
Oh, and I got an A- on my skating speech! Later I will post my notes for that.
Tuesday, September 16, 2003
In the past three weeks, I've only skated twice. It's driving me crazy! I think until the new year (when the next semester starts and I can mess w/ my schedule a little bit more in order to get good skate time in), I probably will only be able to skate once or twice a week. Of course this REALLY bothers me because I want to just go, go, go with skating but I also have to be realistic. I just really miss the ice. Who knew I would get so addicted after just a few months? This weekend my mom is coming to visit me and I'm hoping to skate three days in a row (Fri-Sun) since I will have someone to drive me around!
In other skating-related news:
- I'm in an introductory speech class and our first speech is a demonstration speech, like "How to _____." I'm doing "How to Enjoy Ice Skating," because I've heard enough people say they "can't" skate or they don't like it, and we have so many opportunities for skating as students in Spokane, so I figure people can use a few tips! It's only a three minute speech. I give it tomorrow.
- Spokane is one of the three bidding cities for the 2007 Nationals. I'm excited about this because I will be just entering my last semester of college here in Spokane.
- Speaking of Nationals, in 2005 they're in Portland, and I plan to apply to be a volunteer. That would be very cool.
And some non-skating but related news:
My ballet class is pretty cool. I can see how it will help my skating as we do a lot of strength-building exercises as well as the normal graceful stuff. I have a purple leotard and a cute little skirt and I really wish I could be gliding across the ice with it on - the floor feels so restrictive! It's also making me more familiar with music and choreography. When I did musical theatre, I would get "in the zone" of being able to to dance routines, count stuff out, etc., but that seems to disappear quickly. I really enjoy the music we use. There's this one particular piece that would be great to skate to and every time we do exercises to it I start imagining a program. I should ask what it is. It sounds Russian.
Friday, September 12, 2003
Monday, September 08, 2003
Wow, it's been awhile again! I'm getting settled into college life and so haven't had a lot of time to update, much less skate. I'm hoping as I get used to my routine here I'll find some regular skating times. However, I am starting my job tomorrow (secretary work in the English department), so that'll be another time constraint, but it can be done! I'm determined now.
I did manage to skate on Saturday during a public session. It was weird being on different ice, took awhile to get used to. Once I did I had a pretty good skate. My waltz jumps felt really big (for me), and my spin is slowly getting better every time. Not a lot of improvement on speed or rotation but more like working on overall technique I guess. I did a few waltz/toes but felt sloppy so I stopped. I'm getting better at connecting moves - not stopping and starting so much as I go to practice different elements. I think that's good.
I do feel like I've kind of hit a plateau... but I need to remember that my perspective will change because right now I think of my skating in terms of months, like accomplishments for the month of August. I need to find a coach! But that's another topic for a different day.
In other news, I'm taking a ballet class that is totally kicking my butt. I think it will help with skating as well as overall strength and flexibility. And musicality as well. I just wish my teacher taught the Russian method :)
Friday, August 22, 2003
I haven't had much time for updates lately, but I'll try to fill in the spaces now. So this is a week in review of sorts:
Last Friday I went to the morning session and worked diligently but left a little early because I was tired and bored. There weren't very many people; for the last 15 minutes or so it was just me and two other people (a coach and a hockey guy), and they basically stayed on one side and I stayed on the other. I just wasn't "into it" that day so as a penance for leaving early (hah, can you tell I'm Catholic?) I made myself do 40 three turns (10 each of RFI, LFI, RFO, LFO), 20 inside mohawks (10 on each side), and 10 toe loops... or rather, attempts at toe loops, since I still feel like there's a lot of little nuances to that jump that I haven't mastered yet.
Then Monday was the last lesson I would have with Tricia, unless we meet in Spokane and do a few, but I imagine our skating will progress down different paths. Joy worked with us on a few things. I asked her to show us backward edges on the line, which I found considerably more difficult than forward edges. At first I was really bad at doing forward outside edges, and hardly could stay on the edge at all, but I managed to get beter. Now I'm the same way w/ backward outside edges: the curves I make are reeaaally big. I can do backward inside edges, but I have trouble with the push off, so I can't really do them consecutively. I asked for spinning help, which Tricia didn't need as much as me. Joy fixed my arms, because I was entering the spin with my arms straight out but then curving my right arm in front of me to start spinning. She said to keep my arms straight out (so I look like a T) and use my legs to start the spin, then once I feel stable, curve my arms in front of me (the old "holding a beach ball" pose). Once I combined that w/ focusing weight on the ball of my left foot, it felt a lot smoother and better. Still, though, I can't seem to get more than four rotations at maximum. Frustrating! Then Joy showed us a couple jump combinations. We did waltz jumps and then put our toe pick down as if picking into a toe loop, then did the real thing. The first time I tried it, I did the best toe loop I've ever done. It was funny. I guess my waltz jump is more secure than my RFI3! She also suggested a different entry into the toe loop - a LFO3, then putting our right foot down to be on a RBO edge, then jumping. That worked a lot better for me than the RFI3 entrance, and she said some people do it that way. Anyway, it was a good lesson, but Tricia and I were both tired again (I went straight to my lesson from an overnight babysitting job in which I got very little sleep!) and stopped after another hour, knowing that our skating was getting sloppy which leads to falls and other stuff. We celebrated our last skate before college with a Wendy's Frosty :).
On Wednesday I went by myself and told myself it would be a leisurely "quality rather than quantity" practice. It worked out pretty well. I did a LOT of work on edges - managed to almost go down the line w/ backward edges but I'm still not getting the push between each one so I sort of have to swizzle into each half-circle. I dunno. Worked on turns as well. It's great to think how just a couple weeks ago I couldn't do a LFI3 (or a mohawk on the left side, for that matter) w/o falling or scaring myself, and now, although they're still very very small, I can at least do them. It was an hour before I even tried a waltz jump, and I didn't do many of those. Didn't do toe loops or spins at all. I worked a little bit on spread eagles and Ina Bauers. I still can't translate my decent off-ice turnout to an on-ice one but still, I feel graceful even though I go around in circles. I experimented with some pretty arm positions. The session was pretty crowded and I felt like I kept getting in the way of people during their lessons but it was okay.
Today, Friday, I didn't skate, and I don't think I'm gonna get a chance to until Monday. Maybe I'll skate on Tuesday as well, and definitely Wednesday, and then I'm off to Spokane!
Thursday, August 21, 2003
