Ordered new skates!!!

I had an official fitting at a local rink today. I have decided on Jackson Competitors since it's a good freestyle skate and will hold up to my extra weight. The fitter agreed with me. I found out that my right foot is smaller than my left foot, but only slightly. And I told the fitter I have wide feet. She measured them, and looked at what was available in the Competitor and said "you do have wide feet! - I measure you at an 'E' and the widest it comes in is a 'D'". No wonder my husband calls me "duck feet." So, I bought size 6D. I can have it punched out if needed. She said if it is too wide in the heel, then we can add padding/insoles whatever is needed. I'm so excited!!! They should be here in a couple of weeks, depending on if they are already made or not.


As for skating in my current skates, I'm not going to jump in them, but I will practice MITF. I have been very hesitant about jumping in my skates because they don't offer enough support, and the toepicks are so small that they are useless. I can always go back to jumping. Lately my skates have been cramping my feet within 10 minutes on the ice. So, I think MITF is a good option - especially my FI3s, FO3s, and crossovers. I even printed the Pre-Bronze MITF patterns so that I can work on them.

One very cool thing to look forward to: November 16. The outdoor rink in downtown SLC opens! yay for outdoor skating!!

Wednesday Skate

Got back on the ice this past Wednesday. Very slow to warm up, and my boots definitely don't feel right. They are way too big! But I dealt with it. Worked a lot on edges at first to warm up, as well as some crossovers. Then some mohawks. These still feel the same. My 3-turns took a while to come back, and FO3s are SO much easier than FI3s (which need A LOT of work).

I then attempted some jumps. Waltz jumps are still resulting in being glued to the ice. I did observe some other skaters doing waltz jumps with good height and noticed they really bring that free leg up so they fly in the air. That's what I need to do! So I practiced quite a few bunny hops (evil, yes, but they help with swinging the leg through and getting height on jumps). I actually did a few really good bunny hops, except I think I bent my free leg too much. Oh well. I'm getting the concept of the "swing through and jump."

I then tried some half-flips. Not happening yet, but I did work a lot on jamming the toepick into the ice and jumping straight up (no rotation). This is to help gain height on the jump so I can make the half rotation. Doing this seemed to help out a lot. It may take a few more sessions until I'm up to attempting full jumps.

Spins: I did a couple of one foot spins, albeit very wimpy. But my balance is back! There is no way I can get a one foot spin yet from BXO's (which was taught in my lesson), but I'm getting there from a pivot. I've got to start somewhere, right?

So it was a semi-productive skate, and I didn't lose as much skill as I thought I would. Hopefully I'll make it to the rink this weekend.

Break's Over

Ok, so I was pregnant until I miscarried this weekend. It was a very devastating experience, but I'm doing much better now. So I'm returning to the ice this week - maybe Wednesday. I never looked at skates when I was out of town since I was in baby mode. So now I get to look around town and hope there are some good skate fitters around.

I've been thinking about my waltz jumps and and I seem to have a hard time actually jumping off the left foot. It seems like my foot is glued to the ice!!! Is this just a mental thing?? I think I may be holding back and thinking about the jump too much. Any suggestions on how to get past that mental block??

Taking a looooong break...

So I'm taking a much longer break than anticipated. I found out about a week and a half ago that I'm pregnant! According to an ultrasound done yesterday, I'm just barely 5 weeks.

I've been debating whether to skate or not (no jumps or spins or anything...just skating around), but I've already recognized balance changes and due to a slight complication I've decided to NOT skate. It was somewhat hard to come to that decision, but I can always come back to skating. In fact, my husband and I discussed this very topic. Skating will be my way of getting back into shape after the baby arrives, and we'll invest in new skates then too, since my feet may change.

I'll still read up on the blogs and post on skatingforums.com, and maybe post here occasionally too. Wish us luck in this new adventure!

Taking a Break

Friday's practice was blah... I keep hitting a mental block when trying jumps (waltz and half-flip) and it's like my feet are glued to the ice. I have the hardest time jumping. I did a few so-so waltz jumps and wimpy half-flips. Spins were unsuccessful and my balance is very off at this point. It seems to take me a long time to warm up on the ice and I'm beginning to get tired easily.

I've been skating very regularly since June - about 3 times a week plus lessons. It's time for a bit of a break. I'm going on vacation this week to destress. I may be experiencing some life changes, however...which could temporarily keep me off the ice. So I'll be off the ice for at least a week, if not longer. Breaks can be a good thing. When I do return, things will be much better. :)

First Private Lesson, First Jump EVER

Ok, first private lesson...about 45minutes long. And boy did we cover a lot!!! I hope I can remember everything. And I know this is long, but this is also doubling as my skating notebook for the time being, so I'm describing things in great detail...

Change of edge: Outside to Inside, Inside to Outside. It took me a little while, but I finally got the concept. When on a LFO edge, the arms are open and the R leg is in the back. Then swing the R leg quickly to the front, then to the back. When the R leg is in the front, change arms so that the R arm is more in front, and the L arm is towards the back, and lean into the LFI edge. It is reveresed for RFO-RFI, with the left leg swinging to the front. This is a great thigh workout!!!

FO3s: These looked good...no work needed.

FI3s: These are not very different from FO3s, though I'm losing most all momentum with the turn.

One foot spin entry from BXOs: Ok, so I pretty much don't even know how to do a one foot spin, but I'm learning the entry. Do a couple of CW BXO's and hold the crossed foot position. Rotate the upper body to the outside of the circle. Then bring the free leg (Left) around and step forward onto a LFO edge, making a very small circle (think LFO3), BENDING THE KNEE. Keeping the arms aligned with the legs as if they were connected by a string, bring the R arm and leg around the the front, thus creating a spin. Yeahh........I'm having troubles with the step forward part and the whole spin thing. But I know what I need to work on.

Waltz Jump: First jump ever! I pretty much already knew the steps for this, but never attempted it. From a RBO edge keeping the arms open, step forward onto a LFO edge with arms behind and jump off the L toe, bringing arms in. Do a half-rotation in the air, landing on a RBO edge with arms open and L leg behind. After stepping through it in the lesson, I attempted this multiple times and had a couple of decent ones - though only a millimeter off the ice!!!! I get the concept...now to just practice. I find if I don't jump right away after stepping forward, I lose most of the momentum for the jump. No more hesitating!!!

Half-Flip: Holy cow. Two jumps in one lesson. Not successful at all, but I know the steps. We practiced this from a LFO3, bringing in the right leg back (leg straight) and jamming that toepick into the ice. Jumping off the R foot, do a half revolution in the air (arms in tight) and land on the R foot going forwards with arms open. The landing foot is the same as the picking foot. It's messy and puny and two-footed, but something I can definitely work on - on and off the ice.

So my jumping is wimpy...lack of strength??? Fear of cracking my ankle??? Boots weight too much??? hmmm...maybe it's lack of knee bend.

I feel challenged, and kept laughing at how terrible I was doing. I knew I looked horrible, but I felt great!!! My coach made sure I could at least fumble through the steps. There's no way things are going to be perfect in a lesson anyway, and this gives me tons to work on. Some things still seem impossible (one foot spin) but I will just chip away at it.

Coach agreed with me about getting new skates. No more recreational skates!!! She recommends boots with more support and better blades too. Good thing I worked extra hours this week!!!

My Husband, the coach: Part 2

My husband came to see me skate on Friday - the first time since July. He was very impressed by how much I've improved. He remembered that a few months ago I didn't have any edges, and couldn't do my two-foot spin. There I was on friday showing him BXO's, 3-turns, mohawks, and all my edges. Plus, he commented that I seem much more confident on the ice now. Here is a pic of a spiral I did (which I held for a LOOOONG time as he took the picture) my skating leg is slightly bent, but look - It's hip height!!!!

He helped me with a couple of things. Good thing he's a physics genius! I was struggling with FO3s a bit, but I was skating slow. He told me to speed things up. Speed scares me at times because the faster I go, the harder I fall!! Well, I picked up the pace, and had greater succes with the FO3s. Speed is a good thing.

He also noticed that my right foot does not look right in the skates. I drew a primitive pic to show what he was talking about. HAHA..I'm no artist. But the dotted line shows my foot alignment in respect to the boot/blade alignment.

I pronate and I already have insoles to help with that, but my whole foot is not aligned with the blade. The blade itslef is aligned with the boot, but since my foot turns out, my weight is not distributed correctly over the blade. Thank goodness for blade alignments - but that will come with new skates. These skates are cheapies and I don't think there's any way to correct the alignment. We are going to Denver next week and I'm stopping at a skate shop for some advice and maybe some new skates!!! Yipee!

Bought an annual skating pass (only $80!) so now I can skate as much as I please. First official private lesson with my first official coach is tomorrow!