The Swing of Things

I think I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. Last night, I was a bit nervous at the lesson and was really struggling with my left-over-right backward crossovers - I didn't even really have the courage to lift my foot to glide, let alone cross. It did get better as the lesson went on but they were still very tentative by the end.

But today, I went to the morning Beta and Gamma classes and I felt a lot more comfortable and relaxed doing them. They are far from perfect, of course, because I'm still scraping my toe pick a little bit and leaning forward on my toes instead of back on my heels but the coach said that I was much better this morning because there was less tension all over and I was actually sitting properly and bending my knees. I learned how to do mohawks this morning with the other coach which were not too bad for a first go. I can now do two-foot-turns at a faster speed and my three turns are getting much better, especially RFO - I have started to do RFI and LFI 3-turns now which I thought would be harder but they are actually easier, especially the right.

I think that if I keep going to lessons on the Tuesday morning as well as the previous night, I will start getting my confidence back and that will be a big relief for me. Still a bit of pain in my feet though from the skates but it is getting better day by day and I'm tripping over the toe-picks less! Always nice not to face-plant all the time. I wore socks today; now THAT was a big mistake!

I really like the Tuesday crew - really nice coaches, lovely older skaters who are there simply because they love it, clean swept ice and it's nice to skate in the morning, when you're not tired from the day! I wish the Monday class was the same.

And best news of all: I think I might have someone who might like to buy my other ones! Hopefully they fit her (cross fingers!).

New skates, new people...

I finally went back to lessons for the first time in nearly two terms now and I am so happy. It was like visiting an old friend, but with a whole group of new people and none of the old faces I got to know. It was actually weird to have a group lesson that was bigger than just two or three of us. There were about eight in the beginner group alone, and about twelve of us in the middle class. Edgy and I are actually the most advanced of all of them - the coach really needed to run his advanced class for just us!

Whilst there were some things that were a bit difficult to master with the new skates, I was surprised at how I just slotted back in. Things that used to be a challenge for me, such as left-over-right crossovers and two-foot three-turns, weren't as hard as I thought they were going to be after such a long break. I struggled a bit with my backward crossovers due to never having really mastered them pre-new skates, and I will need to build back up to my left and right outside three turns (I think it's more confidence than anything else) but I already feel better with the new skates. I feel like I can do much more without worrying about how the skate fits (or doesn't fit) my feet or have it wobble around under me or the laces break or the blades catch on the ice because they haven't been sharpened since 1976!

I did however, manage a spectacular stack today, 10 minutes into the lesson! I bought Jackson Competitor skates and because they are entry-level competitive skates designed for single jumps, the toe pick is really big and I found myself tripping over them a lot (and discovered how much I inadvertently use my toe to push and how much I lean forward instead of back on the blade when skating backwards etc). Anyway, I was passing a slowcoach while doing forward crossover drills and I suddenly found myself falling forward but instead of going on my knees, I landed on my upper right thigh and then instantly, on my chest and winded myself! But I actually bounced back quite quickly for a change, despite knowing I'm going to have a big bruise on my thigh. With that said, I have since developed a VERY sore ankle which is swelling up bigger and bigger as we speak. It is really weird because it didn't hurt at all prior to getting out of the car at band practice afterwards and it is now KILLING ME! I don't know whether I hurt it in the fall or I have bruised it in some other way (or it is a stress bruise/fracture from the firm skate against my ankle for 90minutes) but I can hardly put weight on it at all - a bit of a stress for me given that I have only just started back at skating after such a long and upsetting wait and we have marching at State championships coming up!

In any case, bung ankle or nothing, I feel really happy to be skating again - it really does fit me like a glove. It's like coming home.

Skating quote of the day: I started skating and I kind of liked it because I could run circles around the guys that wouldn't pick me to play baseball - Scott Hamilton

Finally!

I have not been skating for over a term now because of a total skate debacle! I received my skates in the mail (albeit, a lot longer to mail than I had paid for. Grrrr!) but when I tried them on, they were wrong. The measuring chart was SO OFF that I would have had to cut a toe off to fit them. The length seemed right but the width was very narrow. I was so upset.

So I emailed the company straight away (Discount Skatewear - NEVER use them!) to ask for a return authorisation. I never received a reply. I tried ringing them to no avail (and since they were overseas, this was difficult). So I was unable to return them! And insultingly, they sent me spam three days in a row. As you can imagine, I was really pissed off!

So now, I was stuck with a very expensive pair of skates that I couldn't use. So I put down a $100 deposit with the pro-shop and committed to paying another ridiculous amount to replace them. I put the useless skates on Ebay but they didn't sell; advertised them in the paper - they didn't sell. So I still have them. My next option is to try everybody I can to see if anybody fits them and they can have them. Or sell them to Cash Converters for a pittance! So angry with that company - what a disgusting lack of customer service!

In any case, I finally picked up my new skates yesterday thanks to Edgy (they SEEM okay now - hopefully they mould to my feet like the pro-shop owner said they would and they will be fine). So finally I can skate again but I shudder to think what I'm now going to have to re-learn. But I am looking forward to the lesson next week! Finally!

New babies!

I have just ordered my new skates and they were shipped today! I can hardly contain my excitement. Haven't been to skating in two weeks because of illness and because I can't handle the hire skates anymore. Can't wait to go to the lesson in skates that actually glide! :) **happy dance!**

Enough is enough

This week, I had MAJOR skate issues. Firstly, I asked Edgy to get my skates for me so I could rush to the ladies' room. Apparently, when he asked for my skates, he got the broken ones AGAIN. (Backstory: there is a pair that has a broken lace loop so are completely useless. I have asked them several times to put them aside and either get them fixed or chuck them out as they can't be used but they keep ending up back on the rack). So he got them changed.....to two right skates! I was wondering why it felt funny to skate in them! I was getting pain in my left foot. No wonder. Because it wasn't a left skate.

So I took them back again and got the left skate, with a lace about 15m long and with three weak points in it. So as I tightened the laces, they snapped three times! So I had to tie them all together. It is now 25 minutes into the lesson. I was too worried the lace would break again so I didn't do it up tightly enough and so consequently spent the remainder of the lesson skating in loose skates. In the end, I got frustrated and gave up.

I HAVE TO GET MY OWN SKATES. I HAVE TO. Otherwise I am going to quit!

A Brand New Year

First lesson back this week and already, our regular coach is not there. However, I really enjoyed the lesson this week. The young girl replacing our coach for three weeks is extremely helpful and spent a considerable amount of time refining our current skills which I think we all needed (including the class above ours). I felt as if we were all given individual attention and I need that more than ever.

I finally have learned (sort of) how to do a LFO three-turn and keep my leg extended - I even managed to maintain an edge and movement after turning which was good. I've managed to do quite a few where I haven't had to put my free foot down which is great because it means I'm getting more confidence to stay on the one foot. I did, however, have a fall that aggravated an existing pain in my butt (literally). Just before Christmas, I went skating for my birthday and my sister and I were stuffing around on the ice (doing linked arm pair spins!) and we fell. I landed on my coccyx and whilst it didn't really show at the time, a few weeks later I could hardly move. So this week, landing in the same place wasn't the greatest thing!

But oh well, I'm getting more resilient these days and bounce back a lot quicker after a fall. That's gotta be a more positive start to the year, eh?