Spinnnin and Stuff

Well, first of all, Robin landed her double axel beautifully and numerous times today. It was really awesome to watch it happen and she was so excited. I hope that this shows her that when she works harder she has better results and will encourage her to work more.

I'm finally settling into my skates. I still need to learn how to lace them so that they are tight enough to support me but loose enough that they don't hurt like holyhannahbanana. It's a balane i'm still struggling to find, so I'm working on it. I di dhowever manage to start spinning again today. It's still going to take some work to overcome the bad habits I developed in my other skates, but it's improving.

There is this new adult skater that's starting to skate here regularly and um...I don't like him. He skates really really fast and hogs the ice and I just really don't like it. There's a definite "attitude" about him and i don't like it...not at all. He makes me uncomfortable on the ice and there's just something i can't put my finger on.

But it was another day back at the rink, and it did feel good to skate. :)

Skate woes fixed!

So, my new skates were still giving me issues but the "Skate guy" here at the rink finally fixed them for me today. He "punched" out the toe area of my right skate and adjusted the blade so I can get over on an outside edge. This should greatly help me get my spins back under control and help me from falling over on that inside edge on my right foot.

My lesson was pretty much a disaster. They all have been lately. I hope that once I get my skates all settled and my feet stop aching that everything will go more smoothly. I don't know if it will happen or not, but I'm really hoping., I'm starting to get to that "very frustrated with my skating" point and I don't want to be there.

Sam and Erin both test today. I hope they do well. Kensie also tests today...she's testing her senior moves again. I really hope she passes!

Robin almost got it...

She's almost got her double axel AND her triple salchow. She's so close. She's landed the double axel a couple of times...and it's been clean...she just has to get it consistent. I'm a little shocked she's gotten it because she doesn't seem to want it very much.

I was really glad to see Jill back at the rink this morning, but her mother...egads this woman! She was just so angry about the fact that a whole 50 minutes has been cut from the freestyle schedule on Saturdays to accomodate a Synchro team. Well...no one is here at 5:30 am...why not just get up earlier? Good grief. If i can drag my bottom out of bed, so can anyone else.

I'm really tired today and not quite feeling well...i can't put my finger on it, but i just don't feel quite right. I'll of course still skate during the afternoon session, but i'm tired...so tired. I can't wait until a sleep in day. Can not wait.

Inferior

When i'm on the ice with these kids i can't help but feel inferior. Long gone are the days when I could haul my 200 pound ass up off the ice and actually land an axel or a double salchow. Long gone are the days when I could skate at full speed for an hour and not get winded or tired.

I struggle. I mean I really struggle. I look at pictures and videos of myself skating and the struggle is so obvious. I look scared, I barely leave the ice when I jump, and my spins are a disaster of mis-balance and poor edge control. I'm slow...so slow and even when I feel like i'm going fast, i'm really going about half a mile an hour. It's so frustrating.

It's probably why I like skating by myself so much. When I'm here alone, there's no one watching me fail. I can be the skater I am in my mind instead of the one I am in actuality. The skater in my mind has beautiful deep edges, solid jumps, and beautiful spins. The skater I am in actuality is shaky, nervous, and really...just sad.

It's better with synchro because I dont' feel like I'm the worst skater on the team. I'm nowhere near the best skater, but I keep up and know what I'm doing for the most part. But when I'm out on the ice practicing my Moves in the Field or my Freestyle, I'm just...slow, old, fat, and akward. It gets really old feeling this way. Really old.

Robin doesn't fly...

So, Robin is working on her double axel. She has been working on it very very seriously for a few weeks and it just isn't improving. She's not consistent in her take off and she falls every single time she attempts the jump. It's frustrating to watch her because in the back of my mind, I know that if she were more committed to skating and tried harder, she'd land it. She just really doesn't care. I wonder at this point if her continuing to skate is even a good idea. If she doesn't want to be here, i'm not sure she should be. Maybe a month or two as a "normal kid" would cure her and she'd be back and skating harder than ever.

Another rink rat that i'm growing more used to seeing is Tim. He used to only skate on saturday mornings at this rink and apparently during the week skated elsewhere, but now that school has started Tim is here morning and afternoon. He's 11 and the best skater at this rink bar none. This kid WILL be an olympian, i"m quite sure of it and i'm looking forward to the day when I can say "i knew him when....".

Roxy's mom fixed my skating dress for me today-- the one that i had made myself. It's much better now, but i fear the skirt is going to be too short and look bad, but oh well. It's not like i'll be skating in it all that much. I'm grateful for the help, as I had made a complete mess of the hem.

The new skates are still hurting, but I'm going to take them upstairs tonight and get them punched out a bit. I'm still having trouble with the pressure on the outside of my arches, but I think that's just because my arches are so high that the skate is hitting me in an odd way. I keep going out for half an hour at a time to try to make the skates feel better.

I've decided I'm really upset about not getting to test on Sunday. I'm ready to test these moves and be able to move on, and now i feel like i'm stuck here for another 2 months. I'm not happy about it. I'm ready to pass bronze and move on to silver...soon.

Sharpening and such

So, today I learned how to sharpen rental skates. It's pretty mindlessly easy, but it's important that they all get sharpened before the start of Learn to Skate in September. I did 10 pair today. Janice is a bit overly excited about the fact that she's learned how to do this and has taught someone else. Of course, Janice is overly excited about just about everything, so I guess I shouldn't be suprised.

The new skates hurt my feet...of course they hurt my feet.  I'm hoping that will get better over time as my feet get used to them, but for now...OW. I'm pretty unhappy with the aching in my arches specifically...but at least they don't hurt my toes anymore...there's just a lot of pressure in an odd spot on my arches. I've removed the factory insoles which has helped considerably, but now i'm unsure of what to do about the arches. I'm hoping it kind of fixes itself or that I get health insurance soon so I can just go to a podiatrist.

I had another lesson with Chloe today! She's such a joy to spend time with!

In fun rink news, school has started so all of the rink-rats have new schedules. I miss my usual kiddos that are here in the mornings.

New Skates :(

So...I got new skates. They are Riedell 355's and I have my old Wilson Coronation Comet blades on them. They aren't the best skates in the world, but they are certainly a lot better than what I was skating in as far as the fit and the comfort level.

Tonight I met with the skate guy and he adjusted the blades for me, they are still not quite right, but they are definitely better than before. I'm feeling alot better about things when I don't have the searing awful pain in my foot, but there's the new pain of breaking in skates to deal with.

I guess the most amusing fun was that i skated for an hour with synchro in the new boots. Um ouch. But, synchro practice went really well. I totally nailed my back lunge and am getting stronger with the rest of the program. I'm slightly disappointed that we are going to have to be an Open Adult team instead of a Master's team and i'm REALLY disappointed that one of the skaters that gave me the most of a headache last season will be skating with us. I sincerely dislike being yelled at by pre-teens. It just doesn't seem right for a 12 year old to be bossing around adults on an adult team. 

I do love the program we're doing though...i really like the music and the choreography thusfar.