Confidence

A funny thing happened today at the rink. As you may know, I am only skating one day a week: Sunday. And that's the day I'm also the Ice Monitor. That also means not a lot of ice time during the sessions, but some. After performing my ice monitoring duties, I hit the ice. Today, as I was about to step into a waltz jump, it hit me. I have no confidence in my skating any longer. While riding that left back outside edge, I managed to talk myself out of doing the jump: "You're going to re-injure your not yet healed hamstring." "You're going to fall anyway." And my personal favorite, a quote from Carrie, that old horror movie from the 1970s: "They're all going to laugh at you." (Mrs. White, Carrie's mother played by Piper Laurie utters that line.) It made sense to me. Between my boot issues and my lack of confidence, no wonder I am unable to perform the simplest of tasks. More cardboard under the ball of my foot should prevent me from feeling like I'm pitched forward. I'm off to find some confidence. Where is the Wizard of Oz when you need him?

Morning Does Not Become Electra (look it up)

After watching Skate America, I read various posts about how depressed Gracie Gold had been/is currently. I'm hoping by the time I finish this post that she'll be feeling better because, as a person who has been diagnosed with chronic depression, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. I'm not really a fan of Gracie Gold; I just prefer Ashley Wagner and that could just be because she's a lefty and Gracie isn't. That being said, I was saddened that people stated that she looked fat(?? Are you kidding me??) or tired with bags under her eyes (could have been a wrong make-up choice). She's a young woman who is dealing with disappointment; leave her alone. I am dealing with my own demons lately. I had such great hopes during the summer; I skated more than I had in years. Then I injured my hamstring. What I though was a re-injury of my hamstring is probably sciatica. It's such a joy to be over 40. The pain is constant. Add that to my chronic back pain and my reoccurring cough and I'm beginning to think those AARP commercials are for me. Anyway, I may have lost some of my joy for the sport. I don't feel as though I'm improving. That could be due to the lack of ice time. Hey rink owners, a few late afternoon freestyle sessions at various rinks wouldn't hurt. Seriously. During a recent conversation with another adult skater, we both bemoaned the lack of afternoon/evening sessions in The Big Apple or the nearby Long Island. My fellow skater mentioned that due to the lack of evening sessions, no New Yorker has ever won Adult Nationals. Hmmm..... I hadn't noticed that, but I do believe she was right. The lack of evening sessions that do not involve my driving 30 miles home from the rink has caused me to re-think my early morning skating ban. I don't know if my body will actually cooperate on the ice early in the morning; it's not really cooperating for my early morning Spin class. But I'll try. I figured that the rink closest to my home (World Ice Arena) would be my best choice. If the weather is too inclement, I can simply take the subway there and then take a bus (or two) to work. Easy. All I have to do is go to bed early enough to get up at 5:00am. Actually, that's not that difficult; I set my alarm clock for 5:00am every morning. I just don't get up. That will end soon. "Oh how I hate to get up in the morning, Oh how I love to remain in bed..."** **Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning by Irvin Berlin (1918 - really)

A Brief Intermission

"New York City; center of the universe..."** Dear readers: This blog will have a brief intermission due to the US Open and Middle Atlantics, both of which curtail my skating. The US Open because (if you recall a post from a few years ago) ALL of the parking spaces in and around Flushing Meadow Park are reserved for those attending the matches. Recently, after 40 minutes of driving around the park, which included having my car searched and a snarky comment from a cop telling me my car was "a mess" (thank you ever so much, Mr. Policeman), I was directed in a series of circles, literally. The last person told me to "turn left here", which took me out of the park and heading for the highway. Okay, I got the message. For those of you who suggest that I park outside the park, I can tell you this: those spots were gone too. Judging from the license plates that read New Jersey and Connecticut, I'm guessing those people were going to the US Open as well. It's okay; I know when I'm not wanted. Middle Atlantics is something else. I announce at that competition. Plus, it takes all the ice time at Chelsea Piers. Therefore, I'll be back when it's over. "Until that time my friend, until that time."*** ** Santa Fe from Rent. Music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson *** It's Always Fair Weather - (MGM movie) written by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

The Summer of No

1967 is known as "The Summer of Love". Why? Well according to everything I've read, it was when the hippies came to Haight-Ashbury; James Rado and Gerome Ragni started seriously working on "Hair" and Scott MacKenzie had a huge hit with the song "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)". Fast forward to the summer of 2016. This was my summer of no. I had such wonderful plans for this summer. I would be skating more than I had in years; an adult intensive class on Tuesday, freestyle with an occasional lesson on Wednesday, another freestyle with the occasional lesson on Friday and another adult intensive program, which included off-ice on Saturday. Only something went slightly wrong. While I have had an adjustment to the blade placement by adding a bit of cardboard under the blade in the front of my skate and I can now spin, I still spend so much time with my feet in incredible pain. There is no rhyme or reason; it changes every time I put the skates on. There are session when, if I shake my feet really hard, the numbness goes away and I can continue. Then there are days when I have tears in my eyes from just skating laps in the first five minutes. I always warm-up my feet for no less than 15 minutes, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I end up missing at least 15 minutes of every session I skate because I have to take my skate off and massage my either numb or just painful feet. It's amazing. And more than a little confusing. I tell ya, it had been getting better and then....BOOM!!! It got worse. But wait, there's more... On Saturday morning, during off-ice I was not warmed-up as I hoped and strained my left hamstring. I know the difference between strained, sprained and torn. Definitely not torn. I've been doing everything I'm supposed to do to help it heal, the only problem is, I re-strained it two weeks ago. Since it is my left leg, I am at a loss as to when I'll be able to jump without pain. As it is, during yesterday's session, I had to leave early because I couldn't put any weight on my leg at all. Now I'm concerned. I had hoped to improve my MIF test this summer and to jump and spin like a mad woman. That didn't happen. So I am disappointed. I don't know when I'll have that much ice time again, no one has posted their schedule for the fall yet. I still hope to take my MIF test by Nov/Dec. I so want to compete at Easterns this year; it's so close. If you have any suggestions as to how I can fix either one of these problems, I would soooooo appreciate your feedback. Until that time...

Determination

All the classes, all the practices and what do I have to show for it? Bunions. Sore hamstrings. Hot, painful feet. And the need for a new mouth guard because I grind my teeth when I practice. Odd. I wish I could say that all of the ice time has improved my skating, but that would be a lie. I still cannot really jump or spin. I am riding my toepicks like a motorcycle. Back crossovers into a spin causes me to grind to a halt. There maybe help on the horizon: something under the front of the blade to make me rock back. I stopped by the local skate shop and mentioned the problem and was told that was the solution. A coach at the rink told me the same thing. Unfortunately, no one seems to have the time to FIX the problem, but I'm hopeful. Next week I hope to have news that includes jumps and spins. In the meantime, my three are improving, providing I lean back...

Here I Come to Save the Day

Not really, but I like the sentiment. So here I am at the ASL Symposium at Northeastern University in Boston. I'm working hard on my ASL skills and trying to deal with both the hardest dorm bed in the world and a tablet that moves the curser at will placing odd letters in the middle of other words. My eyes are tired and my head often hurts. I love it. Sidebar: thinking of going into Tactile Signing for the Deaf-Blind. It's harder, but it is a field in need. Back to skating. While I haven't really posted in several weeks, I can tell you that I have been skating. Like an onion (only hopefully better smelling), I have been peeling away at my problem areas in hopes of improving. This has caused more than one day of me limping off the ice when my back decided it was in charge. I have created a pattern for myself that includes an intense warmup, followed by every element of my MIF test, taken out of context. I then repeat it, putting it in context. It's a lot to get through and I admit that it's difficult not to skip those elements that I hate: mohawks. Last Saturday, I have a few decent mohawks that didn't look like I was tripping over my feet. I really need to slow those down to the almost stand-still speed of the rest of the outside mohawk step sequence. And I had three good back three turns. But I think the best was the back spin with several revolutions. I couldn't repeat it, but I have witnesses. To quote The Beatles, it's getting better all the time! Here's an interesting bit of info before my tired eyes give out on me (plus, I have class in the morning and this page is no longer in focus...), while in Boston, I thought, maybe I could skate. The only place apparently open are a Skating Club of Boston sessions. I call and was immediately greeted by a woman who told me it wasn't a public session. I told her that I was aware. She then asked me what level I was; I gave her the information and she said, "ohhhhh..." I mentioned that I saw their schedule online and would only be coming for the No-Test session. She said, they were very advanced. Long story short, I didn't bring my skates. However, the club is having exhibitions on Friday and I plan to attend. And after that attitude, they'd better be good. Well that's it for now. Eyes are totally out of focus, so I have to wait until tomorrow to post this so I can read it again.

A M A Z I N G !!!!

Have you ever had one of those sessions, one of those days when you just wanted to jump up and down and kiss a stranger? Well, I have and it was on the ice!! (Never did find a stranger to kiss...) As you know, I'm taking an intensive adult skating class. On Tuesday, no one else showed up but me and the awesome coach decided to work with me for the entire 80 minutes!!! I was amazed!! In that short period of time, we worked on almost everything. And in that short period of time, he fixed almost everything. No, it's not perfect, but I must say, I felt pretty darn good about the progress! We did stroking (of course), crossovers forward and backward. I did a mohawk with a bit of speed. We did figure 8s forward and backward, inside and outside (I KNEW those figures would come in handy one day!) We did three turns, jumps and a few spins. It was lovely. Since this coach works at one of the rinks I will be practicing at, I am going to ask if he has time for a lesson or two with me. I'm not cheating on my primary coach as she will be going on vacation for 2 weeks to another country and then I'll be at an intensive sign language symposium the last week of June. In the meantime, I would love to work with this coach. I'm optimistic. How about you?