Rachel Skates!

2003-10-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Ah, no time to update!

2003-09-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-09-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

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.

2003-09-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

I want to skate. It sucks being carless and homework-ridden! :(

2003-09-08T11:41:00.000-07:00

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 :)

2003-08-22T21:59:00.000-07:00

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!

2003-08-21T13:28:00.000-07:00

I've been really busy as of late, and haven't had a chance to update this. But I will! No worries.

2003-08-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

I felt really sluggish at practice yesterday, burned out after only like two hours on the ice anyway but I stuck it out until the end... it just reinforced my need to work out more, like I was saying earlier. Er... I'll call it my off-ice training :). So I went to the Y today and instead of my usual elliptical trainer routine for 35 minutes I decided to go on this similar machine that had a part for your arms as well (sorry about the poor explanation...). Usually I get pretty tired by the end of my workout but not unbearably so; I like to have a little energy left so I can do weights and stretch. For some reason this new machine, even though it was essentially the same as the one I usually use except for the arm part, made my workout extraordinarily harder! After about five minutes I was winded and had to turn the resistance down a few notches. It was so surprising. In the middle when the resistance was at its highest point I felt like I was either going to throw up or pass out but I worked through it and ended up with a really good workout. Left w/o doing weights but I think I'll use some of my free weights I have here at home. Anyway, that was my experience today.

About yesterday, I got some good things done. I find myself counting things a lot more lately, like "I'll work on forward edges back and forth on this line four times apiece, and then I'll do ten three turns on each foot." A lot of people probably don't like to practice that way but it works well for me. I was able to warm up more quickly and start on waltz jumps after only about twenty minutes. Worked on the half flip a bit, that one's better than it was on Monday, and I can add the entrance w/ the little push by my right foot to initiate the RFO three turn. Toe loop - worked on it, still far away, but the groundwork is there. I had Francis (one of the members of the family I met) show me some spread eagles and we worked on them by the boards and then I set off attempting those and Ina Bauers for a little while. When I was tired towards the end I did those for a long time because it stretched my legs out and didn't take a lot of energy. I have a pretty good turn out off-ice but I can't seem to get it as well on the ice so those moves are more curved than they should be, but it was fun to play around with arm positions and things. It would be nice to develop a really graceful Ina Bauer. Anyway, it was a good session, all things considered, and I noticed that my speed is improving a tiny bit every time I skate. I really don't want to be a slow skater.

2003-08-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

The big news of the week is that Tricia and I had a lesson on Monday and learned our half flip and single toe loop! I shouldn't really say "learned," but we learned to walk through it enough that we can turn them into real jumps on our own (somewhat). I like the half flip much better because (obviously) it's only a half revolution like the waltz jump and it has an outside rather than inside three turn entrance. Once I got the rhythm down on that one I could actually sort of hop through it rather than walk through but it still doesn't have any height or speed to speak of. The toe loop is a lot more daunting; I think I only manage to be in the air for about a half revolution - I think I have about a quarter turn on my toe pick before I leave the ice and then land about a quarter turn short. Half the time I can't manage a good inside three turn to enter it so I have to work on those some more. But still, we felt like such hot shots when we were done with our lesson. Jumps! Real ones! It's going to take me a looooong time to add enough speed and power to these to make them look adequate but still, very exciting. I think Joy knew we were aching to really jump. Other coaches probably would've waited and taught us more edge control and made sure our turns were perfect, but I'm fine with being taught a little before I'm ready. I have the groundwork for those two jumps so I can work on them a bit every session and also work on speed going into three turns, etc., so that in a few months I can really work hard on the jumps and feel secure with them, if that makes sense at all.

We also worked on crossovers some more (my back CCW ones are coming along verrry nicely and I'm happy because I always think of back crossovers as something that marks a true skater rather than someone who is just messing around and not taking it seriously). Worked on waltz jumps briefly - I don't rock forward on my blade enough before taking off. Reviewed the spin entrance (I can do it but I can't add it to a spin yet!) and all the turns we know. It was a good lesson and afterward we talked to Joy for a long time about different things - Theater on Ice, USFSA vs. ISI...

Anyway I'm skating tomorrow (I've been doing Monday, Wednesday, Friday and it works nicely) and hopefully I'll be able to continue working on what I learned yesterday. Just did some ground jumping and got tired out after only five minutes! I REALLY need to work on getting in better shape. I know I can, I just don't have the motivation to drive to the YMCA and blah blah blah but once I'm actually there and on the exercise machine (I usually do the elliptical trainer) with my Discman on I really work my buns off. It's just a matter of consistency! My two goals are building strength and increasing flexibility - both will not only make me happier with my body but also will improve my skating, I think.

Until next time...

2003-08-09T13:43:00.000-07:00

Ooops, I guess I haven't updated this in awhile! Life got in the way, as usual. I skated four times this past week, which is a lot for me. In the next couple months I'm hoping to go at least 2-3 times a week, but I'm a little bit anxious about figuring out when I can fit skating into my busy schedule this fall. If it means I have to drop a class, I will! Hah.

Wednesday was a nice practice. I spent three hours in Joy's skates and they feel good so I think I'm going to buy them. I worry that they're just good in contrast to my old boots, but the worst that could happen is I skate in them for a few months, they don't work out, and I sell them. Anyway, my waltz jumps are far better in the new skates because the boots offer a lot more support, I think. I was scared to try them at first because of the monster big toe picks but I managed not to fall on my face. I did have one funny fall though, when I tried to stretch into a spiral position on a whim, and lost my balance and just sort of slid to the ice. It didn't hurt at all and Tricia was right next to me and we had a good laugh. I think I spent more time socializing on Wednesday than I did skating but that's okay. I will miss the people I've met here, a lot. I'll come back and skate during Thanksgiving and Christmas break but after that I'm actually moving to Spokane permanently with sporadic trips back here to visit family. Let's hope the Spokane rink people are nice as well!

Yesterday, Friday, I was determined to tackle my nemeses: the LFI3 and the LFI mohawk. I warmed up with a couple outside three turns, then went back to two foot turns and again only paid attention to the foot doing the inside 3. Did a few by the boards. Then I set to work and did so many attempted LFI3s that I wanted to scream... did them continuously for more than a half hour. I threw in a couple RFI3s but those are about 10x better than the left side so I didn't spend too much time on them (they still pale in comparison to my outside 3s). I made a LOT of progress, but still, my LFI3 takes up the space of about twelve inches because I couldn't manage to do any w/ gliding in and out. Then I tackled the left mohawk, and didn't do as many of those but still made solid progress on that too. Right mohawk is nice. I even managed to do one from a few (slooow) forward crossovers. I think one of my biggest stumbling blocks is going to be skating with speed and power.

I also had a bit of a two foot spin breakthrough. I hadn't been able to do much spinning on the new blades, but on Wednesday I talked to Elizabeth (the daughter of what I refer to as the "skating family") about spins and of course I had to do one for her. I managed a rotation or two when I hadn't been able to even get started before. So I felt better about trying them yesterday. Did a few in the middle of the session, then I went back to them in the last ten minutes or so. I found that if I stood up really straight as I went into the spin, and kept my arms out in a curved ballet postition (instead of straight out like I had been doing) and sloowly brought them in, I could get about four fast rotations. Most of the time I stopped rotating because I got scared and botched it rather than actually losing momentum. While the spin is still very slow and shaky by anyone's definition, it was an improvement and it made me a lot less inept at spinning. I really want a one foot spin and then after that I can start working on a scratch spin and then after that I can start working on a back scratch and THEN I can start working on single jumps! I am so impatient :)

2003-08-04T20:47:00.000-07:00

I often post at the Goldenskate forums and in the "Lutz Corner", where skaters post, there's a weekly thread where people evaluate their lessons and practices in terms of good and bad, and so, to save space, I'm just going to copy and paste. My first private lesson was today! (A side note: I'd encourage any figure skaters, beginning or otherwise, to check out those forums - everyone is very encouraging and inspirational.)

Despite my frustrations earlier (grumble, grumble) I'm gonna see if I can retype what I wrote. My lesson actually ended up being a real private lesson because Tricia had to cancel at the last minute. Joy offered to just do 15 minutes so I could pay the same price I would've if Tricia had been there but I figured I might as well do the half hour. So we did! We covered so much stuff: brushed up on edges & crossovers, did mohawks and outside 3s, introduced inside 3s, looked at waltz jumps briefly, and then finally introduced how to enter a spin.

Bad: Inside 3s, bleh. For some reason I kept shifting my weight to my heel and then I would've toppled over backwards except that I did most of them holding Joy's hands. Left mohawk, still bleh. And I had made so much improvement on my outside 3s but when I was showing them I kept wanting to put my free foot down after I turned for some reason. So turns just weren't "on" today, even my two foot ones didn't have enough knee bend.

Good: Forward crossovers greatly improved. We really worked on emphasizing the two pushes, because I would push off and then just kinda do whatever to get my other foot back in front. Once I worked on pushing out rather than back, and really staying off my toepicks, my crossovers were so much smoother (if that makes sense). I didn't know they could improve so much! I was proud when we were working on waltz jumps because even though some things are harder for me, it's so impressive and ego boosting to be able to jump when someone says "Jump!" You know? We scheduled another one for next week. I think I'll do at least two more before I leave for college. It was nice to get a taste of a private lesson, because hopefully when I get to Spokane they'll have some adult group classes at my level (as opposed to the non-existant adult program here) but I'll still have private lessons as an option. As long as my student loans hold out :)

Also, after our lesson I asked Joy some more about her skates. I told her I was still unsure about buying them but I'd really like to if it works out. She said I was welcome to try them on anytime since she leaves them at the rink in the little "coach's room" or whatever. So I tried them again for about 45 minutes (did 25 the first time) and it was pretty good, actually. The boots were slightly heavier than I'm used to, but I didn't have any problems - didn't ever feel the urge to relace (as I often do w/ my current skates, they're at least a half size too big I think) and my feet felt fine after I put my regular shoes on (sometimes my instep gets sore bcs of lack of arch support or something). It was stiffer at the very top than I'm used to but after awhile I didn't notice. I started from the beginning (per Glacierskater's suggestion, I think) and did swizzles and one foot glides all the way up - the only things I didn't attempt seriously were waltz jumps (walked through a couple and realized I was shifting my weight too far forward when simulating the landing and I was too scared of catching the toepicks and falling to really jump) and my two foot spin (which I couldn't do much anyway). The only thing I couldn't do was stop! It was kinda funny. It took me a few weeks to learn to stop anyway so I didn't expect it right away. Once I got used to the edges (seemed to take more knee bend and lean, maybe, but once my body got it I was doing edges better than I ever had, no wobbling) I felt good and so I think I'll try them one more time and see how it goes and then probably buy them. I'll talk to Joy next week.

2003-08-02T21:32:00.000-07:00

At the rink yesterday, there were more people than usual and for some reason the music wasn't turned on. I found this combination pleasing, so I guess for me, visual distraction is okay, but auditory distraction is bad. Worked on a lot of different stuff. I was proud because I finally warmed up properly - stroking with arms and free leg extended, and I actually did crossovers at the ends/corners of the rink when I needed to. Before, I was scared to do crossovers after stroking from one end to the other, because I built up a lot more speed than I ever did practicing crossovers on a hockey circle. But it worked out well. Had a bad fall trying to do a left inside mohawk. I learned mohawks first, and I was scared of three turns, but it's switched now. My 3s are getting a lot nicer; I can nearly trace a half-circle with the turn at the highest point of it, without flailing my arms or my free leg too bad. But when I try to do mohawks, especially left ones, I either start to do a 3 before I put my other foot down, or I get my other foot down but I can't hold out the edges and end up going in a little circle. I practice these at the boards a lot.

There was a little girl there, maybe 8, in a turquoise skating dress who had the most beautiful Sasha Cohen-esque perfect split spiral. Wowee. I was so impressed. I've been stretching a LOT, pushing myself every night (I've stretched daily since last fall, but usually it's been to relax and get the tension of the day out rather than actually working on flexibility), but when I try to do a spiral my free leg is hip level at best. I can get into a decent camel position (off ice, that is) but not farther than that. I have always been very inflexible, even when I was younger, smaller, and a lot more physically active. My hamstrings and Achilles tendons are especially tight. I have no idea if I'll ever be able to do a sit spin; I can't do a real shoot-the-duck, even off the ice. But I suppose it'll get there if I work hard. I've been working on leg strength/balance. One thing I do is stand on one leg, then try to lower into a shoot-the-duck position and stand up again w/o using my other leg. I can't get very low, but again, it'll get there. I've noticed my leg muscles have gotten a lot bigger in the past two months!

I have my first lesson with Joy on Monday - Tricia's doing it with me, that way we can split the cost. Nice!

2003-07-30T18:08:00.000-07:00

Skated yesterday, nothing incredibly notable except that I left after an hour and a half instead of staying the full two. I also took a break after an hour and sat upstairs for a little bit. I think I may be starting to put too much pressure on myself about skating. It's not that I get too uptight about accomplishing/progressing (except sometimes, if I get caught in comparing myself too much w/ others), but more like if I don't feel much like skating, I feel sort of guilty and then that puts me in a bad mood. Like today I was visiting a friend who lives near the rink, and I had my skates in my car and everything, but I just couldn't bring myself to practice. Too hot/tired/lazy/whatever. I have to think about this some more.

Notably, though, my three turns are improving. I can nearly trace the half-circle where the hockey goal goes with a three turn at the top of the circle. Usually I can get halfway, turn, and then I won't have enough balance or control to sustain the backwards glide, but it's getting there. I learned an important lesson though. I started out by practicing two-foot turns instead of immediately going onto one foot. I did these on the half-circle enough times that when I tried doing it on one foot, it was surprisingly more easy than the last time I'd tried it. That said, don't abandon the basic skills even when you think you've moved on! I'm also trying to add a bit more speed to the two foot turns in hopes that it will likewise improve my speed when I pratice threes.

At the rink yesterday were about 10 kids from a camp group, mostly between 8 and 11. One girl, as I was just stroking by, looked up at me and said, "You're a good skater!" I positively glowed. Later I was doing three turns and a different girl was going by and said, "Wow, that was good!" I remember when I saw other kids oohing and aaahing over a girl doing waltz jumps a few months ago and I wished I could gain their admiration as well. I guess I did! It felt great to get complimented, even by the untrained eye.

Also, I saw one older woman there who was doing some nice spins and footwork. I admired her style. She came over to me and said, "You need new skates." I know she was just trying to offer a word of advice, but I felt rather taken aback. I know I need new skates, but what if, for example, I didn't have the money to buy new skates? It just seemed a tad rude. It also makes me feel pressured - I DO have to buy new skates, and soon. I feel a bit embarrassed if my skates are that obviously old and cheap. But oh well, they work for me now. I won't stress out about it too much.

I scheduled a private lesson for Tricia and me with Joy on Monday. Woohoo!

2003-07-24T11:14:00.000-07:00

Basic Skills, Week 8, July 24th

Well, my first venture into the world of figure skating has come to an end. Bittersweet, really. I'm happy to never again have to share the ice with 60 careening 5 year olds having simultaneous lessons (well, probably). And I think I will thrive more in a private lesson atmosphere anyway. But it was a wonderful investment ($95 for eight weeks, if you must know) and I'm so happy I did it. Anyway, on to the lesson...

Joy didn't get to us until about 6:15 because she was busy with all her coordinating stuff, so I had a chance to warm up with a few things - crossovers, spins, and edges. I brought my mom along this time to show off my new moves, haha. It was funny to see her, the mother of someone in the adult class, sitting upstairs at the window with all the other skater moms. Joy came over and said it was review day, but she didn't have any of the cute little report cards that the kids got. She got out her little packet of cards that list what things to show us, I guess. I always thought these were the USFSA's Basic Eight skills but I discovered that it's actually the Adult Skills. I officially passed Adult Three. Joy had to show us a few things - progressives and chasses - in order to pass us. I enjoyed both, and they're both from dance, which makes me toy around with the possibility of taking ice dance lessons sometime. I like jumping and spinning, but I'm just not sure they'll be my strengths. Who knows... Anyway, I was most pleased with my back crossovers (CCW, at least) and two foot spin for this lesson. Jim talked to me about waltz jumps during our practice time and diagnosed my biggest weakness as keeping my head/eyes down. I think he's right - I have to fight this all the time. He told me to work on that, and also a different arm position to stabilize my landing (I can land on one foot, but I have to put the other foot down almost immediately), and not to force the rotation so much with my free leg. He said I was actually trying to overrotate it to which I replied, "Well, it's supposed to be an axel." The last one I did with him watching was the best I've ever done. It was nice.

Afterwards, I asked Joy about skates, because I need to buy new ones. She told me to try on some of her old ones that she's trying to sell. One pair fit pretty well (a full size smaller than my regular shoe size) and she told me to try skating in them for awhile. I did, and it felt very different - not bad, not really anything in particular, just different. I didn't dare try crossovers or anything. I was deathly afraid of the bigger toepicks, but I managed not to fall. I'm conflicted about whether to buy these skates or not. They're SP Teri brand, with nice Coronation Ace blades, and she's selling them for $150. Looking around online briefly, I'm guessing that the boots alone cost over $300 originally. They're customs, too, and that's sort of a downfall - I can't see myself buying boots custom fitted to someone else's foot. They seemed to have enough arch support for me though (I have very high arches). Plus, they're used - lots of nicks and scrapes in the boots. But I guess I might be able to do something about that if I do buy them. I'm undecided about this.

2003-07-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

This won't be a detailed account of my practice yesterday, July 17th, but I did want to mention that I made it to the rink three days in a row and decided not to try for a marathon and go this morning... mostly because yesterday was another "bleh" day in which Tricia and I shared the ice with a group of kids from Everett Parks and Rec who mostly used their hockey skate blades to scrape up enough ice to make snowballs with. By the time they left there were only a couple other people there but the ice was so cut up and Tricia and I were both lacking energy so we decided to call it a day. I worked on waltz jumps a bit. I think I'm still rotating mostly before I take off but it feels good at least. I worked on edges too, from what Joy taught us during our lesson. It feels really good to me, the intense concentration it takes to coordinate my body enough to hold each edge for 180 degrees. I'm trying hard not to develop any self-pity because Tricia's learning a lot faster than me - her spin and waltz jumps are very impressive already. I keep telling myself that I think I'm better suited to edge work anyway, and not to forget the fact that I am young and in good health and am progressing a lot faster than many adult beginners. But it's still a bit frustrating when someone picks up something so much quicker than you. Sort of a "What am I missing?" feeling.

If anyone wants a good in-depth read about skating, I recommend Culture on Ice by Ellyn Kestenbaum. I bought this a couple weeks ago and it's dense enough with information and insights that I'm still working through it. Very good, very interesting, and from the perspective of someone who knows what she's talking about rather than just a journalist looking for a big seller. Check it out.

2003-07-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

I had a good skate today, and I'm left feeling nice and motivated. I think I'm going back tomorrow - that's three days in a row! It's definitely become an addiction. Tricia and I went to practice at the afternoon session and got there around 2:30 (after I rushed from work, which I was unexpectedly called for this morning - grrr, they cut off an hour of my skate time!). Our skating family buddies were there today and we all said hi and such and then they hung out with us for nearly a half hour pumping us with information and such. They approached us before we really warmed up and then let the cat out of the bag that we'd been working on waltz jumps and so of course we were coerced into performing them after only a few laps of stroking. It wasn't pretty. Hah. We've learned a lot of new things from them - it's great.

I worked on a nice variety of stuff during practice but also did a lot of stroking. Tricia's two foot spin is amazingly fast and she can get probably more than ten rotations. If you saw her just doing that, you'd think she's much better than she is. It's very impressive and I'm jealous. I worked on that a bit and find significant progress if I really focus on putting weight on the ball of my left foot and bending slightly. Mostly I worked on outside edges with crossrolls which was very hard for me, but I felt a little improvement. It's funny - I always get tired and sweaty after a good skating practice, but doing these, I was working so hard that my body felt shaky afterwards. Of course that could mean that I'm using too much force rather than letting myself glide on the ice but it actually felt pretty good. I also worked on crossovers, forward and back except that CW back crossovers still really suck. Anyway, Tricia and I took a break to get a bite to eat and then it was back for our lesson.

Basic Skills, Week 7, July 16th

Tricia and I noticed that the Pro Shop was open so we went in and FINALLY bought guards and soakers. It's been way too long that we're stuck putting our skates on a foot a way from the boards and not being able to go up and buy a soda from the machine (we have cheated on this, even though the "rubber floors" don't look very good for our blades). I took the less mature route and got hot pink guards and purple soakers (haha) and Tricia got green for both. We were quite excited about our purchases.

Our lesson today was actually really great. We worked on pretty challenging stuff. First we did some crossovers in a figure eight to get warmed up, and I actually hadn't done that before, so that was nice. It's always a little precarious doing any moves like this during lesson time because the other Basic Skills classes are big and spread out and you always risk taking out a four year old. Then we worked on mohawk turns. I'm decent at doing one starting on my right inside edge, but starting on the left is horrid. Anyway, then Joy showed us a little pattern that made mohawks a lot more difficult for me - just (starting w/ left foot) stroke, stroke, stroke, step, mohawk (right foot to left foot), step with right foot and glide on a back outside edge. Probably a very simple manuever for good skaters but it was challenging for us, in a good way. I felt really great when I was able to do this decently, even better than the waltz jump feeling. Speaking of which, then Joy asked us to see if we could tack a waltz jump onto it since we were already on the back outside edge. We only had to try it once and I was able to squeak it out, kinda. Then we just did edgework, both inside and outside. We kind of did half circles on one of the lines, which was sort of like the crossroll pattern I learned earlier. I'm going to have to look up this turn and see if that's what we did. Lastly, we worked on our spin a little bit and Tricia was very impressive but I at least could do something because Joy had never seen us spin before. She helped me a bit with my arms and that combined with focusing on my weight more helped a lot. She also showed us how to exit a spin gracefully.

Tricia is leaving on vacation and so she won't be able to make our last Basic Skills class next week. Joy asked us if we were signing up for the next series, so we got to tell her we were leaving for college in the fall, and that was a wonderful time to ask if she did private lessons, because we'd like to take a few before we leave. She said yes, she'd definitely like to, and said she charges $25 a half hour, and we could split the cost if she taught us both at the same time. This seemed good to me, not that much more than what we're paying for Basic Skills. I have no idea how it compares to other coaches, but it'll only be a few lessons anyway. Then it's off to Spokane for me, to find a new coach and get used to a new rink. And I need to buy new skates too! I'm stuck with these hand-me-downs from my mom, which were never used and so are in good condition but they still are really old and don't look nearly as snazzy as most of the ones I see. It was a great skate today, and Tricia and I are going back tomorrow, so happy skating everyone!

2003-07-15T16:13:00.000-07:00

Long weekend in Spokane, July 11-14

I went to Spokane (eastern Washington state - where Skate America was last year! I wasn't as rabid a skating fan a few years age as I am now, otherwise I would've tried to go) this weekend to visit family and such; I'll be going to college there in the fall. My mom and I headed to the rink when I got into town to watch the competition being held on Friday and Saturday, the Jo Williams Memorial Cup. We got there in time to see the short programs of some of the novice and intermediate girls (oops, I mean ladies). It was exciting to be there, in the competition atmosphere. It was a fairly small competition. I think every skater was from a club in either Washington or Idaho. But it was still fun, entertaining, and inspiring. I saw British Steve and another coach from Seattle, a French guy who teaches one of the Basic Skills classes at the same time as I'm there. I didn't say hi because I don't know either of them that well, but it was interesting.

After awhile I got tired of seeing so many preteen or early teen girls in colorful dresses, many of whom could jump but not present themselves very well on the ice. And even so, nearly every one fell. The gem of the day was when an 18 year old guy skated his novice short program; he was the only male competitor in that level. He was doing mostly doubles I think, but he seemed to be a very powerful skater and very strong. He wore a simple black tshirt and black pants, which was a nice rest for my eyes after a string of girls with bright costumes. I discovered he did pairs with the winner of the intermediate ladies' short program and I made a note to watch them the next day when the tested for novice.

The next day I dragged my cousin to the rink and we watched a lot of the juvenile girls which I got tired of after awhile. The novice pairs test turned out to be the highlight of the day. They were wearing red and blue outfits and they were surprisingly good, performing a lot of impressive moves. I'm going to have to check on the test requirements for novice pairs but as I remember it, they performed a couple throw jumps (singles I think), one single twist, a few lifts, one or two pair spins, and a few side by side jumps and spins. I was amazed by their unison, because I hate when I'm watching skating on TV and the unison isn't that great, and I know that flaws like that are more apparent in person, so to see these two live with great unison must be really good! I hope they passed - I'm sure they did. This was a real crowd-pleasing program, everyone seemed to love it. When the guy did his long program, he fell once or twice and singled a lot of his jumps, and my cousin was dismayed at his "that sucked" (but still light-hearted) attitude about it. He did have pretty good expression, and I was excited to finally see some straight line footwork. Since he skates not far from where I'll be living, I hope to follow his skating in the future, but he did just graduate (like me) and I have no idea where he'll be next year.

Anyway, going to the competition was a good experience. I really wanted to go skating that Sunday, but discovered that the hours they have posted on their website are different during the summer and there was no public session. Then we had to leave too early on Monday to be able to skate beforehand. Oh well. One cool thing that happened was that my aunt is now thinking about putting two of my younger cousins in skating lessons next year, inspired by me! The boy (15) and the girl (11) are both homeschooled and probably could catch up with me fast enough that we might be able to get some lessons together. Then I'd have a little familiarity at the rink and also a ride back to campus. I'm not looking forward to riding the bus to go skating next year :)

Practice, July 15th

I went to the morning session today. I think I need to start increasing my practice time, because almost a week passed between my last two practices and I could definitely tell the difference between stepping onto the ice after five days compared to one day. I felt much less sure of myself. If I do start skating more, I'll probably cut down my posts to once or twice a week, as I don't really need to record every practice session in so much detail, right? But anyway, today I felt kinda bleh about my practice and left early, skating about an hour and a half instead of the usual two at the morning session. I'm not really sure what it was about today, but the main problem is that I kept kind of skidding or slipping off of my edges. I'm not sure if it was actually my blades (they weren't sharpened all that long ago, so I don't think they're dull yet) or something about the consistency of the ice, but I couldn't get a good grip on it, and consequently I was kind of shaky about practicing certain things.

I worked on stroking, and then three turns, but couldn't really carve out a good place to work on crossovers. It was a tad crowded for me; I think I've been spoiled by low attendance at the afternoon sessions. Eventually I claimed a circle and worked on forward crossovers on both sides. That was my only real success of the day. I'm feeling a lot more confident about those, even building up a bit more speed than before. (I say I can do all these things - crossovers, three turns, etc. - and I can but I feel like I do them verrrry slowwwly.) I tried backwards ones, and I feel good about my back CCW ones but going clockwise is almost impossible for me. I tried working on outside edges like I did last week, but that was very hard, a lot harder than it seemed like a week ago. I am a bit scared of getting any depth to the edges but still, I felt like I was fighting the inside edge the whole time and didn't seem to be curving at all. Oh well. I didn't make that much progress today. I know every session can't be exhilirating, but it was kind of depressing to go from doing waltz jumps and two foot spins last week to going back to struggling with one foot glides this time. Everything has its ups and downs, I suppose. Tomorrow is my seventh week in Basic Skills, and hopefully that will boost my confidence a bit.

2003-07-10T21:08:00.000-07:00

I want to use this blog for some of my random skating tidbits as well as logging my personal progress, so here's something: I just read this article on Swiss skater Stephane Lambiel, who I first saw at Europeans this year and was really fascinated with him. ABC even showed his short program at Worlds (I think), which is rare because they usually don't give coverage to lesser known skaters. I hope to see more of him in the future.

2003-07-10T20:52:00.000-07:00

How appropriate that I'm multitasking with this and reading the news on the USFSA website :). I'm reading about an adult skating camp - in particular, a power skating class taught by John Zimmerman and Peter Tchernyshev caught my eye. I need to go to this camp! Hah. This will be a combo post, as I skated a total of six and a half hours over Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Wow! I can now say that I'm definitely hooked on skating.

Practice, Tuesday July 8th proved to be almost a mini-lesson. I was disappointed on Monday because they weren't finished resurfacing the ice which was only supposed to take place over the weekend. But Tuesday morning I picked Tricia up and we headed to the rink for the morning session. I had to go directly from skating to work, which was interesting. Tricia and I saw Joy as we were going in and waved, as did another skater coming in who knew her. "Yay!" Joy cried out. "People are coming to practice!"

The ice felt a bit weird since it had been re-done, but it was okay. I warmed up a bit and then helped Tricia with some of the turns we worked on last time when she wasn't there. I'm apparently not a very good teacher, haha. We worked on crossovers for a little while and then Joy came over. "I'm bored," she said. "Do you guys need help with anything?" We were a bit surprised because she proceeded to basically give us a lesson for free. We worked on back crossovers and she told us about weight transferring and such but then she said, "I think you guys are ready to learn the waltz jump," to which I replied, "I think so too!" First she demonstrated the bunny hop, which I couldn't do too well. We had to get too close to our toe picks or something - I was scared of doing a belly flop on the ice! Once we moved on to the actual waltz jump, I did better. We did them from a standing position first, and I thought I wouldn't be able to do it at all (that fear again), but I did okay while holding her hand. Then we did it w/o her, and I actually could land it! She had us do backwards CCW pumping on the circle (not crossovers yet), step forward onto our left , and then jump. My first attempts at this were not too bad. I think I'm doing most of my rotating before I take off and after I land, but the feeling of leaving the ice, even for just a teeny fraction of a second, is so awesome. I really feel like I've accomplished something.

Tricia and I practiced our little jump for most of the rest of the session. We were super excited about it. I worked on turns some more, and crossovers, and Tricia worked on our little two-foot spin we learned from the skating family. Speaking of them - I decided to go practice the next day before my lesson and I knew I'd see my new friends.

Learning a teeny little jump gave me enough of a high to get through two days of work without feeling tired or complain-y at all. It was great!

Practice, Wednesday July 9th

I got to the rink around 2, for the practice session that ended at 4:30. As I put my skates on (down by the boards, since I don't have guards yet - it seems like the "real" skaters put theirs on upstairs) I joined a little conversation with a skater mom (although her daughter was a teenager, probably my age) and an older hockey player, about how the mother and her daughter travelled from Kingston over on the peninsula to get to the rink in Lynnwood - that meant a ferry ride (Seattle area). I was impressed with their dedication. The mother asked me, "Are you a figure skater?" I got to nod! Although I added that I'd only been at it for a couple months. Her daughter, Emily, came out and introduced herself. I added them to the list of nice people I've met at the rink. I also talked to a woman who'd been off the ice for seven years after taking lessons as a kid and teenager. She looked great to me! Said hi again to the family we met a couple weeks ago. Talked to Francis and discovered I've found someone who can talk skating as much as I can - that's so rare! Hah. No one in my group of friends (with Tricia being the exception, but even she gets tired of me) likes to listen to me babble about the latest competition I saw or Brian Joubert's jumping technique or whatever. Anyway, that was cool. Worked on a lot of stuff today, tried some inside threes and promptly fell hard. Oh well.

After two and a half hours of skating, I changed into my shoes and went to Barnes and Noble to pass the hour or so till my lesson.

Week Six of Basic Skills, July 9th

I met Tricia at the rink and we wondered who our coach would be this time, since Joy left on vacation. We both hoped for Steve, the British Basic Skills director who joked around with us on the first day, but he wasn't in skating clothes so we were out of luck. We ended up with Jim, the one who's talked to me before and throws a lot of babble about physics at you without really doing anything. Sort of bothersome, so I wasn't looking forward to his instruction. He was originally supposed to teach our class, but he didn't show up for the first one and that's why Joy took it over. He missed another one, too, for the two girls that he's teaching. Hmmm.

First we worked on stroking. I was a bit disappointed, but I guess that can always be improved. Then he told us some more undecipherable stuff about the physics of three turns. It wasn't until we started working on crossovers and spins that I began to appreciate his teaching technique. (He seems to have a chip on his shoulder - "None of the other coaches here believe me" is one of his mantras, as is "It's so simple!" Also I hate when people tell me, "Don't try so hard!" Bah.) He demonstrated the two foot spin and told us to concentrate our weight over the ball of our left foot and try to pick up the ball of our right foot a teeny bit. He also told us where to keep our eyes (I'm used to spotting while turning, from the little dance I've had) and our arms, until we get more advanced and can bring our arms in or up. Then he taught us a crossover pattern to do both forward and backwards, sorta like: step-crossover-step, switch sides, step-crossover step. That way we can practice the crossover motion on both sides while moving in a straight line, generally. I've neglected my CW crossovers not only because it's my weaker side but also because it's hard to carve out a little area to go the opposite direction of everyone else. Jim also told us to say the words of the pattern in our head as we go, to build muscle memory I guess. He told us to think of the first step as "fall," because that will help us with transferring our weight from one foot to the other. He still is a lot of talk and very little action, but he talked well over our half hour time, and I was appreciative of some of his tips.

Tricia and I decided to stay for the public skate, and we worked on different things - me, with crossovers and turns, Tricia, with waltz jumps and spins. It's funny how our abilities are developing in separate areas. I knew Tricia would pick things up a bit faster than me, since she's very athletic, and I'm not so much. Her waltz jump is already pretty much fully rotated and beginning to get some spring off the ice. And she can spin for 6 or 7 rotations and bring her arms into her sides. BUT I can do three turns and mohawks (kinda), and she's not so good at those. I wonder if our strengths will stay in these same areas (jumps and spins for her, footwork for me) as we progress. Interesting to see.

After so much skating I was exhausted and needed a hot shower when I got home. This weekend I'm going to Spokane to visit family (and hopefully the campus of Gonzaga University, which I will be attending next year), and I'm going to attend a little competition! The Jo Williams Memorial Cup is at the rink I will be skating at beginning in the fall. I'm very excited to see the rink and especially the adult skaters - there are only a few, and their spot on the schedule is only for about 45 minutes, but it still will be interesting to check out. I wonder if any from Seattle Skating Club will be there. Hey, I might see some of my new buddies. Then I'll probably drag my cousin skating at the rink in Spokane on Sunday. I'm hopeful that the rink service will be as good, if not superior, and the people will be equally friendly. My time at Lynnwood Ice Center will be pretty short, but I'm already sad to anticipate leaving it.

2003-07-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this while eating cold Thai food and afterwards I'll be on my way to the rink. It's a week overdue, but here's a sum-up of last week's lesson:

Week Five of Basic Skills, July 2nd

I was going crazy on the way to the rink today because one of the main roads I use to get there was closed due to a brush fire. I had to take a really roundabout way and it took me an hour and five minutes from work, but I was out on the ice by 6:10 to meet Joy for our lesson. Tricia couldn't make it to this one, long story.

First Joy took Mary Jean (the other adult who's already had one series of Basic Skills - I think I'm almost caught up with her now) and I to the boards and showed us a mohawk turn. This felt a little weird to me, but instead of having problems with balance and being too timid like I am with the three turn, I just couldn't get my feet to do the right thing with the mohawk. Joy held our hands for a few, and then we did them on our own. I kept turning my takeoff foot all the way around before I put my free foot down - I guess those three turns last week became a habit quickly! After the mohawk, we worked on three turns. I found that it IS easier to do it on my right, I just needed to do it a few times first. The last thing of the lesson was backwards crossovers, and I think I did make a wee bit of progress in this area. I just need to work on transferring my weight and such. After my lesson this other adult coach Jim approached me and blabbed at me for five minutes about the physics of figure skating. Bleh. I didn't know what he was talking about most of the time, so it didn't help much.

I decided to stay for the Wednesday night "Cheap Skate" (admission is $4.50 instead of $6.50) and didn't pay - oh well. It seems like I should be able to attend this as a practice session, but it's not specifically included in the price of Basic Skills. If someone asks me to pay, I will, but I don't feel too bad about ripping the rink off a few bucks since in the short time I've been skating I've already wasted a lot of effort and gas driving to the rink only to find that the session was cancelled.

Anyway, I had the best skate of my life during that session! It was great. Not too crowded, but I had to pay a bit of extra attention and that proved helpful. I practiced three turns all over the place, back crossovers (only CCW thus far; the other direction brings me to a halt), and then I was feeling pretty good so I worked on stroking with pretty arm postitions (learned in dance), my "two foot spin" which is two revolutions at best but feels great, and I even tried some spirals. Boy do I need to work on flexibility. I had two falls - one in the middle of a three turn when I was going too slow and trying to force it (that one hurt - landed on my wrists) and one while trying to spin (which was pretty funny because I was right at center ice and it happened really fast).

Gotta run, hopefully tonight I will write about my wonderful session yesterday with a free lesson and a JUMP, and my lesson tonight.

2003-07-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

Hello dahlings: I've been a bit busy as of late, but soon, soon, I will update with news of last week's lesson, tomorrow's lesson, and my first attempts at a jump!

2003-07-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

So, the month of June in review:

I was a little apprehensive about the first half of Basic Skills, thinking I wouldn't learn many new things. But I did! Here are the "moves" I've learned in my first month of skating: forward and backward swizzles, forward and backward swizzle pumps on a circle, one foot glides, "two foot three turns" (I still don't know what these really are) in place and moving, forward crossovers on both sides, backward stroking, and (as of yesterday) LFO three turns. I'm pretty proud of myself for taking these lessons, because it's something I've wanted to do since I was seven years old. One month down, the rest of my life to go!

In other news, I'm working on making a "real" website on Tripod so I can link all the various internet projects I have going on, this included. And sometime soon I'll clean this up so you can actually see where to email me and such.

2003-06-30T19:55:00.000-07:00

I skated this morning for two hours by myself. As I pulled into the parking lot, I saw a big County Parks & Rec bus and said aloud, "Nooooooo!" Because I knew that meant 30+ elementary school kids who'd never skated before, taking over what I now think of as MY ice time (hah, I'm really not THAT snooty about it). But they only stayed on the ice for about an hour and they went on and off the ice a lot, so it wasn't so bad. I just wish someone would've told them to go counterclockwise rather than zigzagging precariously across the surface. Other than that group, it was only me and another girl who I've been seeing since winter. Back then, she pretty much just practiced backward crossovers around and around in a circle, but she's tall and thin and looked very elegant even doing the most elementary things. Now she has a nice waltz jump and a pretty spiral, and it's neat to see how she's improved. I overheard some of the camp kids as I walked in, awestruck: "Oooh... she's so pretty!" I wanted that to be me out there that they were admiring.

Drumroll please.... today was THREE TURN DAY!!! WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!! Back in February when I decided I wanted to take lessons, I spent a little bit of time every time I went trying the elusive three turn. I thought if I could just unlock the secret of that, everything else would come pouring out. Well, I'm not so sure now about that part, but today I successfully taught myself a pretty nice LFO three turn. Don't know why that one works so much better than the others (I tried every kind). I set out to just practice my little two foot turns that Joy said will get us ready for three turns. Then I started wondering why we were doing those pretty much on the flats of our blades, so I just sort of started leaning into it more. And once I felt solid with those, I started lifting one foot off the ice every so slightly when going into and out of the turn... and then more and more... and finally I was able to really pick my right foot up and cleanly turn on my left foot. I was so overjoyed at this and I kept grinning and I'm sure I looked pretty silly but this is the first "long term" goal I've achieved while taking basic skills (which are now half over). I kept on looking at the little "3s" on the ice and smiling.

2003-06-25T22:27:00.000-07:00

Week Four, June 25th

*A little disclaimer - I can't figure out how to backdate these entries so they all show up on the date and time when I post them, which is often later than I write them. Once I figure this out, the archives will actually be accurate. I think I can do this with Blogger, but it'll take awhile to figure out.*

Today is Tricia's 18th birthday. We left her house at 1:30 or so, planning to go to the rink and skate the full public session until 4:30, then get some food and come back for our lesson. I was looking forward to a long day of skating and hoping to get really good at the stuff we learned last week and really impress Joy. That didn't quite happen but it was still a great day nonetheless.

I noticed some of the same few people I've been seeing at the rink lately and pointed them out to Tricia; she immediately guessed that they were a family which for some reason I hadn't realized. Tricia and I were trying to do back crossovers in one of the corners and I was holding her hands while she was going backwards, and the dad skated by and said, "Oh, are you partners now?" We laughed, and that opened us up to conversation a bit. Eventually the other three drifted over, and he introduced his kids, and they promptly started to teach us stuff we couldn't even come close to doing. "Can't do a waltz jump? Or a one-foot spin? Oh, come on!" It was great to finally make some "skating friends"! I know I will have to leave this rink once I'm off to college in September, but hopefully the rink in Spokane will have nice people as well, and I will still get to come back and skate during breaks and such, at least for this year. Anyway, they practically gave us a mini-lesson, and after their advice, Tricia and I were both attempting two-foot spins, back crossovers, and waltz jumps (with the assistance of the boards, of course) - things that have not been covered by our instructor.

We skated the whole time, two and a half hours, and then took a little break before our real lesson. We ended up getting there a bit late - oops! We worked on forward crossovers first, and I am pleased to report that these are coming along nicely for me, in both directions. They're still not pretty, but they're not as clunky as they were before. Joy was happy, and could tell we practiced. Then we did some more backward stroking, and she showed us how to pick our foot up at the end of each half-swizzle, to get us ready for crossovers. This was HARD for me. Pfft, who needs to go backwards anyway? I much preferred practicing the "two-foot three turns" or whatever they are. I worked on those for the rest of the time and ended up being able to do two in a row. Fun. After Joy left, we worked on our little "spins," which for some reason we're being secretive about because we didn't learn them from Joy. Tricia can get five or six revolutions, but I slow to a stop after about one and a half. Still, it is fun to do, because it is one of the few things that we can do that we can also see building upon into something spectacular, if that makes sense.

It's hard to believe our Basic Skills classes are halfway over. Right now, my legs are sore and I'm exhaused, and I FEEL GREAT!

2003-06-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

Week Three, June 18th

Nothing superb stands out about this lesson, but that doesn't mean it wasn't great overall! Looking forward to Wednesday nights is beginning to be the thing that gets me through the weeks. I worked until 5 today so I had to drive straight to the rink. It took me 50 minutes. Stupid traffic! Tricia's still recuperating from her sinus surgery, so her mom drove her and she left about 10 minutes after our lesson was over.

Today we worked on crossovers again, and I finally was able to get the proper stance and do them (somewhat) gracefully. Then we worked on backward stroking, which I couldn't get at all at first but by the end I had mastered it. I figured out the secret to get me through the learning process before my muscle memory kicks in, and that's to constantly talk (silently!) to myself, like "Okay, weight over left leg, right leg - relax!" Once I learn things a bit better I think I'll stop this. Next week we're working on three turns for real I hope (we're doing them on two feet, kinda? I guess) and back crossovers if all goes well.

My calves, ankles, and feet are killing me today. I think I'm relying on my lower legs too much for things when I really should be using the muscles of my whole body. So, not the most eventful class + practice; I didn't have any particularly nasty falls I can tell about. I'm progressing, I think!

2003-06-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Week Two, June 11th

I skated for a total of almost three hours today, and boy am I sore. It feels good though - except for my right elbow and my bum, reminders of my beginners' clumsiness. Oh well!

I got off work at one and headed over to Lynnwood, getting a quick lunch at Wendy's (I'll start my diet tomorrow). I got to the rink at with over two hours left in the public session.

Anyway, I picked up my new SHARP skates and practiced for about an hour and a half. I definitely needed the time to get used to the feeling, and it was great! I could actually go faster than I wanted to, and could really feel my edges. I practiced stroking, mostly, and one foot glides, trying to force myself to balance my weight over my foot. Eventually I got bored and started trying to jump, swinging my free foot in front of me from my position in a one foot glide. Didn't ever leave the ice for more than a fraction of a second. I guess that will eventually turn into a bunny hop? Then I started playing around with my edges, which was a lot more scary with sharp skates that actually had edges! I could do a one foot glide inside edge and almost complete a circle, and though I am scared to death of outside edges, I did manage to balance on the forward outside edge on both feet for a few seconds apiece. Woohoo! And I'm even getting my snowplow stop back a little bit, except it's a lot easier to do with dull skates :)

(Oh, and don't tell, but during my practice, I fell on a forward swizzle. Hard. A little girl stopped to make sure I was okay. I'm thinking of maybe wearing some form of compression shorts that bikers wear, to take a little impact off the falls, except in this particular case I had a lot of natural padding on the body part on which I fell. Haha.)

I got tired at around 4 and left, spending my "break" at Barnes and Noble, about 5 minutes away. I headed back for my lesson at 6. Tricia is having surgery on her sinuses, and couldn't be at the lesson this week, so I had Joy all to myself. Kinda. She has Mary Jean at the same time as us, who took a Basic Skills session during the winter I think, and is working on different stuff, and this week she worked with another guy, Jim, who is older and very slow but is working on a toe loop (I think). It made me feel a little shortchanged, or something, because she had to keep going between all three of us and we really only worked on one thing. After I showed her everything we did last week, and practiced swizzle pumps on a circle for what seemed like forever, Joy showed me how to do crossovers. Now, I thought I already knew how to do forward crossovers - back in February I taught myself how to do them around the hockey circles and now could go charging into them at a high speed with an extreme lean into the circle. But, of course, my stance was all wrong. Joy told me to do a few pumps, then cross over and hold my legs in that position. Once I tried to do that, all of my skill flew out the window. Knee bend = almost non-existent. Arm position = far from natural. I'm a little unsure of what the edges are supposed to be like, exactly, and when I finally marked out a little corner of the rink to myself to practice, I couldn't really do them. I fell hard again, on my side kinda, but only Jim saw and he's quiet and standoffish enough that I didn't feel embarrassed at all.

Perhaps I'll post more later about getting approached by Jim #2, who was supposed to be my coach, and my skating plans for next year.

2003-06-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

Week One of Basic Skills, June 4th

I met Tricia at her house and picked her up. We'd both had a very stressful week, lots of chaos, with only two days until graduation. We weren't very talkative on the way over but once we got there and verified our registration, we both began to get very excited. Steve greeted us with a "Hi girls!" in his wonderful accent and we went down to the rink to put on our skates. We got a yellow card, signifying that we were in the adult class.

The area outside the ice was packed with kids, and the only adults we could see were coaches. Eventually we found the coach with our color card, and she told us to wait for a bit to see if any more adults would come. Then she told us to follow her over to the far end of the rink. It became apparent that Tricia and I were the only ones, so our coach introduced herself as Joy and told us that she didn't tell everyone this, but she was 46 and had been skating since she was 30. She could do jumps and spins, not very well, she said, but proficiently. And she told us it was great that we were starting now, since we were old enough to want to do it on our own and young enough to be able to progress quickly.

She asked us to skate around a little bit so she could see "where we were at." When we got back, she exclaimed, "Yay! People who can actually move!" I imagine it must be difficult to teach certain adults who want to cling to the edge the whole time. Joy explained how to fall, but didn't make us actually do it, and then explained basic stroking and told us to practice it a bit. It was funny - I've been trying to imitate the stroking technique of the experience skaters for years, but once I knew where to put my arms and how to bend my knees, I felt ten times better.

During this time, Joy went back and forth between the two of us and two other adult women at different levels of skating. She explained that she wasn't normally the teacher of adult Basic Skills, she's usually the the coordinator, but she had to fill in this time. So she didn't know who would be teaching us next week. She moved on to show us one and two foot glides, forward and backward swizzles, a snowplow stop, these turns in place that I don't have a name for - just standing and rising up on the balls of your feet to face the other way, one foot swizzles on a circle, and a crab walk thing to prepare us for crossovers. I felt great about all of these things. I was initially worried about it being too basic, but I realized that there's so much I still must learn and want to learn.

Joy noticed that I was skidding around a bit and once our half-hour lesson was done, we went over to the side and she looked at my blades. Puzzled, she said there didn't seem to be any edges at all. We went upstairs and found Steve, who sat me down in a chair and pulled my foot up high to his discerning eyes. "Yep," he said, "I could see it from far away." Apparently the blade was still "factory cut" or something and desperately needed to be sharpened. I explained that the skates used to be my mom's; someone gave them to her for a gift probably ten years ago but she never used them, so I took them over. Embarrassed, I admitted that I'd skated on these no-edge skates more than ten times. Steve took me to the pro shop to leave my skates to be sharpened (which I am a bit nervous about, having heard horror stories about botched sharpenings, but mine really can't get any worse) and then got me some rental skates for the half-hour practice session.

And boy did I notice the difference! Immediately I felt less resistance and more flow as I stroked across the ice. But when I got to the other end where Tricia was practicing, I realized that all the skills I had learned were now much more difficult to perform. The snowplow stop was completely gone, and I couldn't keep my balance on backward swizzles. I was kind of bummed, knowing that skating would be a bit more difficult for awhile with my new, adequate blades, but also excited because now I would have "real" skates and real lessons and a real coach - Joy stopped by when we were practicing to tell us that she'd be our coach for all eight weeks. Since she had to do all her coordinating stuff, we wouldn't actually start our lesson until 6:10, giving us a chance to warm up a little bit. All in all, this first lesson was a wonderful start to what I hope will be a lifetime endeavor.

2003-06-12T19:40:00.000-07:00

Prologue:

On Wednesday, May 28th, I headed to the ice rink in Lynnwood to do a little skating with my friend Julie in celebration of our last day of high school. Both of us have our own skates and an appreciation for the sport, but neither of us can really do anything. I'd been skating recreationally all winter and desperately wanted to take lessons, but between school, work, and extracurriculars, it was nearly impossible. At the rink that day I saw a few of the usuals who I always envy, and again reminded myself that I may one day be in the middle practicing my spins with them. I set myself up to wait until next fall, once I am enrolled in college in Spokane, and take a basic skills class there.

On the way out, I looked at the bulliten board to check for anything interesting and saw the same old flier for Basic Skills that I'd taken home so many times. Except - this time there was a series scheduled from May 28 - July 16! I almost couldn't believe it, since for the whole year the classes have only been scheduled until the beginning of May. I took the flier out to my car and called my mom, explaining that there was a Basic Skills class starting that day in just a few hours and should I just be spontaneous and sign up and do it? I decided that I had to. Then I called Tricia to see if there was any way she could do it with me, since we're "skating buddies": we go to the rink together every so often, watch all the events (well, I watch every single one and fill her in), and we'd gone to Champions on Ice less than a week before. She convinced her parents and said she'd meet me there at 5:45.

Well, of course nothing ever goes as smoothly as that. We discovered that they had double booked the ice and had to push the first class to next week. We hung around for a little bit and talked to Steve, the Basic Skills director. Later I looked him up and discovered he'd been British Junior National Champion and a few other titles, and he's great. Tricia and I both like him a lot. He teased us a bit for losing his pen and said he'd put us with the five year olds if we didn't watch out. It made us both feel good to realize that the people we would meet in this endeavor would be friendly and supportive of our efforts. Although I was disappointed that I couldn't start that day, I knew that I was set up to start in a world I've always wanted to enter.