Love Sunday freestyles

Today for some reason my home rink had freestyle from noon-1:30 pm. They normally don't, so maybe a hockey game got cancelled or something. I just saw the announcement on the website when I was going to suck it up and go to public skate. Anyway, it was a decent session.

Bronze MIF: Forward perimeter stroking - The pattern calls for 3 sets on one side of the arena, but right now I can only do four. Have to get the lobes bigger and also hold the inside edge part longer, plus make it curvier.

Bronze MIF: alternating backward crossovers - this still feels weird to me because I have to remember that the outer leg (that has the hip sticking out to the side), should have its skating foot on an inside edge, same as the other foot.

Waltz 8: little blah today, the left side was blah but the right side was good. I can usually do them decently on both sides. Maybe it's because we didn't do these at all last week.

Forward 3 turn pattern (Pre-bronze MIF:) I'm trying to get these not too "toe-y" but it's hard. Also trying to get the lobes of the 3 turns bigger because that was what I got marked down on my pre-bronze test. I will have to talk to my coach and have her confirm how big the lobes have to be for each turn. Maybe I'll have to do it using a line again to make sure there is enough curvature. It's hard to balance curvature/edge quality while maintaining sufficient speed though (especially for adult skaters).

I didn't jump at all last week since our whole lesson focused on Moves. So I figured I should do some jumps:

Loop: I only did one. Or attempted one. Still not happening >:( I will have to work on this on Tuesday if I do go skate.

Salchow: Going into this with more speed, still trying to get more oomph and height but they have vastly improved to what they were before. I even did some toe loops afterwards to make it a jump combination.

Toe Loops: Did them with the salchow or standalone by the line. They felt ok to me and I was careful to drawback so it doesn't become a toe waltz.

Waltz jump: I can do these in my sleep. I forgot to do two or three in a row but the single ones felt good. I need to kick my leg through more though.

1/2 Flip: for some reason I didn't think to do these today but I should so I don't forget since they are on the pre-bronze freestyle test.

Spins:

1 foot spin: These were alright. I'm still trying to get my foot to the front more so that I can cross it over easier and make them to a scratch spin. Let me tell you it took me forever just to get into this stage. When I started, and for the longest time, I couldn't even get around once and just end up doing a three turn. Now I can do 4-6 revs, even more if it's a good day. I don't know why this was such a struggle for me but jumps seem to come easier.

2 foot spin: Ugghhh I hate them. These are so awkward now after doing 1 foot ones for so long. I did one and it was wonky so I didn't attempt another one, lol.

Spirals: These were ok, legs are above my hip but of course on the floor I can get them way higher. It's a different story to focus on lifting and keeping the leg up WHILE gliding on the ice of course as opposed to just holding the position on the floor. I will have to keep working on my splits and building up my glutes and quad strengths (this is where the Spartacus work out comes in).

Y Spiral: My favorite "party trick" :) I am proud of being able to do these because not all freestyle kids even at a higher level than me think of trying to learn them.


Today I also shared the ice with a few high level skaters. One guy is either junior or senior level (by now) and he also teaches at our rink. One girl is a senior lady who has competed in sectionals and is always the star of our ice shows (deservingly so). She is lovely to watch and sometimes I just pause to watch her, lol. There was also a bronze adult skater in his 60's (good news for me, this means I have TONS of years ahead to enjoy this lovely sport!) who told me he can't pass silver moves (hmmm hope that doesn't happen to me lol) but was inspiring to watch coz he was working on the axel and double salchow. If I can even get past the darn loop Ill be SUPER happy.

There was another adult skater who came in for the last half hour. Good thing this was after the senior lady and the higher level boys were gone otherwise she might have gotten run over. She looks to be probably in the early stages of freestyle 1, probably just started the level. She was working on teeny waltz jumps from (very slow, tentative backward crossovers). That was me oh, maybe 3 years ago. But she wouldn't have moved out of the way fast enough had she been there while the senior lady was practicing her program. Anyway watching this other adult made me appreciate how far I've come in my own skating. I have built up speed going into my jumps and more power. I am not sure when I'll be retaking the test again, but to be working on MIF and freestyle with the intent to test has improved my own quality of skating tremendously. Since I have no desire to compete at this point, thinking of the tests gives me a goal and also got rid of a lot of my bad habits that I didn't know I've developed over the years: toe pushing, not enough knee bend, lack of power, stiff shoulders, etc.

No skating today

Got a text from my coach at 5:35 AM this morning (25 minutes before I was to wake up for my weekly lesson). She was up all night coughing and this morning came down with a a terrible sore throat. Needless to say, she wasn't going to come in because she didn't want me to get sick. Also because it would be no fun to stand on the ice for an hour in such a condition. I told her it was ok and I'll go see her next week. I COULD still have gone up as usual and did a practice without her, but I opted to sleep in :T BADDDDD I know. But I really do like having her around because we just started working on Bronze Moves last week, and I am still getting the hang of the alternating backward crossovers pattern.

I was gonna go to public skate tomorrow afternoon to make up for my lack of ice time. However when I checked my rink's website to confirm times, I saw that there was open freestyle tomorrow from noon - 1:30, so I'll attend that instead.

Gym routine

Today was a typical work day for me. I went to work out at lunchtime. I was doing the Spartacus workout (not to be confused with the "300 workout") with a co-worker buddy of mine. But he has transferred to another state office within our company two weeks ago, so I no longer have a workout buddy. And we know we need some peer motivation to kick it up a notch every once in awhile. So when my friend left, I didn't do the workout on my own. Plus since I was taking my pre-bronze Moves test last week, I didn't want to risk injury or soreness last week (and let me tell you, the Spartacus gets me SORE) for my test. Hence I took it easy on the gym last week and did the usual 20 min cardio/weight machines/stretching routine.

But today I bit the bullet and did the workout, except for the pushup ones and the ones that require you to hold the pushup positions. I also only do them with 6 pound weights (the lightest ones available in our gym). When I am in a hurry I only do 15 reps twice on each exercise, which speeds it up a bit. The directions call for you to do the reps in perfect form so maybe speed doesn't always equal good form. I do still feel soreness afterward though so I know my muscles worked.

The best part of working out is stretching afterward. I like to work on my splits. My left side split is still pretty sad looking :( but the right one is good. On a good day I can even go all the way down, I guess it depends if I am warmed up enough. I am not yet too flexible where I can do them off the bat without warming up, so don't expect split moves on the dance floor :) However more consistently they are about an inch off the ground and with more effort, I can get all the way down but then I can only hold it there for a quick count of 10. Ha ha.

Tomorrow depending how sore I am (quads are starting to feel tight) I might just take it easy tomorrow and do my regular routine or maybe just the first 3 or 4 exercises of the Spartacus.

Skating club/USFS membership dues due :P

In order to compete in USFS (United States Figure Skating) events (which I'm not interested in) and take tests for the different levels (which I am interested in), one must be part of a skating club and/or be a member of the USFSA. I belong to such a skating club which incidentally isn't based in my home rink. However, my two coaches belong to this club and they know the people that conduct the test sessions they have, so I figured I would join this one. Anyway, our yearly membership fees of $70 which includes USFS membership are due soon...umm I think actually the deadline has already passed because the membership year runs from 7/1 of the year. I already got the form in the mail but I haven't mailed it in.

Since I am not planning to test again until September (I recently didn't pass my very first test...pre-bronze Moves in the Field test---that will make for another post sometime), it doesn't make a difference whether I send in the check now or next month. However I'll be losing out on a few issues of SKATING magazine (official magazine of the USFSA) but I can live without that. There's no penalty for sending your renewal late neither.

Hello there :)

I am a twenty something female living in the western suburbs of Chicago. I am married with no kids and an adopted stray black cat. This is a blog to chronicle my daily life, from the ups and downs to the mundane and the interesting. I like to read, dance, go out with friends, shop and skate. I have been figure skating recreationally for five years now (not counting the on and off times I took lessons as a youngster). I hope to teach Learn to Skate classes someday. Right now I work downtown in a typical 40 hour corporate job. It's not my cup of tea but it is alright. The pay is decent and the benefits are good. I am still trying to figure out what to do and until then I will not be picky.