Back To Work

I took a week off. Not on purpose, but I was just too tired to run around the city and outer boroughs to get to the rink. So I gave myself permission to sit back, go to the theatre (bad) and a movies (good). If this was a blog about theatre, I'd go into detail about how disappointed I was in the revival of a musical I saw recently. But it isn't. And no one is going to blame me for their ticket sales going through the cellar floor. (No, it didn't win Best Revival of a Musical).

Skating on Saturday was a joy. I got up extra early because the MTA still insists on screwing with my subway line. Actually the MTA is just screwing with everyone's subway line by eliminating trains in crowded areas, combining service but only in certain areas. It's a mess. I have an idea as to how to fix it, but again, this isn't a blog about fixing the financial woes of the city. (FYI: if you make over 300k annually and you work for the city, you could do with a small pay cut.)

Back to skating. The session was a bit more crowded than I expected at 9:00am on a Saturday. There were kids there as well as adults. More kids than adults. But I saw several of the skaters from the Wednesday night session and it was great to see them. I've noticed how much progress they've made since the beginning of the season in October. They've all gotten quite good and are much more observant. Adult skaters have a very bad habit of being in their own little world. We concentrate much harder than kids and as a result, lots of us don't notice the person in the air two feet in front of us. I, on the other hand, notice the people ten feet in front of me and stop for them. Or I should say, I'm trying very hard NOT to notice the people ten feet in front of me and stop for them. I'd say I have a 52% success rate.

I had located three videos of the Silver MIF test on the internet and watched them over and over. I don't know who you are, but thank you for the idea of doing a three turn and back crossovers to keep the momentum going from forward to backward in the crossrolls and the edge pumps (at least I think that's what they're called). I never would have thought of that. Of course, it's not my favorite three turn, but since they are all on the test, it gives me the opportunity to practice that turn over and over again. I find it amazing that my three turns have gotten so rusty. Lack of use, I suppose.

So I tried the crossovers and had enough speed to get almost to the very end of the pattern. I need to bend my knees more and not lean forward on the back crossrolls. It causes me to ride my toepick instead of the edge. And whoever that skater was, her crossrolls were wonderful. You could hear the "rip" on the backward ones too. I've never heard the rip on the back rolls. Wow. Something to work towards, along with riding the edge until my bum is facing the opposite side of the rink. Hard to describe, but...

Have you ever noticed that most lefty skaters do an elaborate series of three turns into a loop jump? I noticed that recently because as a lefty, I too do a series of three turns into a loop jump. And I hate it. It's easy to get into the position from inside three turns, but it's also easy to mess up the three turns and subsequently the jump. Well on Saturday, I graduated to the big girl entrance: crossovers. Just one crossover. I'm getting good height on the jump, just have to remember to land. However, I have been told: if I try 5 and they don't work, I must go back to the inside three and leave the crossover alone for that session. I agreed.

Should have gone to the rink this morning, but 4:30 is just soooo early... Can't wait for the rink to start their Monday evening session. That might get me to get up early on Monday morning so I can skate two sessions in one day.

I need more coffee.