Headaches

The weather in NYC is so ridicioulsy warm that I've had several headaches due to the barometric system. Add to that the constant construction, using jackhammers outside my window and you understand my headache situation. Have you ever watched people's videos in which they tell you that they do A,B,C,D,E,F,and G in a given day and you ask yourself "Don't they work??" I'm doing that right now. Actually, I'm at work and every so often, I look something up on the internet. You workout for three hours then make a nutritious breakfast, clean your closet and write in your journal for an hour? When do you work?? You skate for three hours every day in the middle of the afternoon, then go to the gym for two hours? When do you work?? I'm struggling to get in 4.3 hours per week, and I keep telling myself that I'm going to get up twice a week for the 6:00am session. I've only done it once and it was hell!!!! Seriously, when do these people work?? Read some of my older posts. I've been putzing around with my skating for years. Taking two steps forward and nine steps back. I'm sick of it. I'm tired of watching people who began SIX MONTHS AGO pass me by in a puff of smoke.I'm sick of the Silver MIF and regularly have dreams where I've passed the stupid test (virtually, I'm not doing this one live). I just want to get to Nationals next year and skate with confidence. So I've returned to off-ice workouts, regular workouts and a better eating plan. I have competitions that I want to do in the future (like in April and June) so I have those to strive for. And of course, there is the question about those mid-afternoon skaters. If you know how they do it, please tell me. I've been trying to figure that out for at least three years. Jackhammers have finished. The weather is a bit cooler, but humid. Who knows what the future will bring.

2023

Back in October, I received my US Figure Skating magazine and was very disappointed. Look, I understand that the adult skating community is not as "important" as the kiddos, but I thought we counted for something. The magazine devoted 1 3/4 of a page to adult skating. Not even 2 pages. There were more pages devoted to advertisements than adult skating. Normally, it wouldn't be such a big deal, but at the time, the competition in Ottawa had completed and everyone is getting into the swing of things for Easterns and Nationals. 1 3/4 pages? You have to do better. Many skating clubs have a healthy number of adults now and we deserve to be noticed. As mentioned previously, the videos from Adult Nationals were never received or posted. For almost a year, they were "lost media". Although I didn't attend Nationals, I was annoyed that the footage was seemingly lost and the powers that be could not care less. After several emails back and forth, the footage was found. However, it came with a caveat: you couldn't post it. It's your property, but you can't post it anywhere for others to see. Something's wrong there. I'm trying to figure out what's happening with this, but it sounds like the USFS is afraid of being sued by a musician and would rather avoid litegation. For the record, when Nathan Chan skated to Elton John, Elton send Nathan a congratulary note. Smaller, lesser known bands like "Boo-Boo and the Ants" threaten legal action. Go figure. This would explain the inability to see rebroadcasts of competitions or the silence of a recorded competition. Seriously, when did we become so law suit crazy? Since the start of holidays, which for my family is October, I have been having difficulty jumping. Apparently, I think too much. I also have an annoying habit of riding my toepicks on the back outside edge, setting up for the jump. I hear it and I immediately stop myself. It's a mind and confidence thing and I'm working on it. It's the beginning of January. A fresh start. So many opportunities. Don't let any of them slip away. Happy New Year everyone!

What Was I Thinking???

I woke up today and decided to do two sessions back to back starting at 6:00am. WHAT WAS I THINKING?? Twelve hours later and my body is still mad at me. At no point did the pain stop. My feet even hurt. I will do it again on Friday. The best part about double sessions is that one session is just for Moves In The Field and the other for freestyle and dance. With more sleep, I expect to be able to do this without my body getting so angry. Wish me luck. For now, at 8:47pm, I am going to bed. Good night.

Observations

First, allow me to apologize to Lexi, who asked a question on my last post. I have been trying to respond, but something keeps going wrong. So, to answer your question: I competed at the Neal Wood Open in Hershey, PA. Now that the "standard" competition season is starting, I realized something important: no matter how good you are, as an adult skater, unless you are Master Junior/Senior level, you're not as important as the kids. Sometimes even when you are Master level, you're not as important as the kids. Lessons are re-arranged, understandably because of competitions. Or preparing for competitions. Or just because. I'm not bitter; it's just a simple truth. We matter, just not enough. Here's an excellent example: The 2022 Adult National Championships took place in April. As of this writing, it is mid-September. The videos of that competition have not been sent to the competitors, nor uploaded onto USFS Fan Zone. If this was a standard competition, those videos would have been available in late April. Five months of waiting? Doesn't that sound odd? The general consensus is that the company erased the footage, but haven't figured out how to tell anyone. I didn't participate at Nationals, but several of my friends did and I really wanted to see them. Some of them medaled. To whomever the videographer was for Adult Nationals 2022, admit your error and go on. If people paid for these videos, give them a refund, issue an apology and take steps to prevent this from happening again. I actually asked a different videographer what could be the reason for the delay. He asked if other events had been uploaded, which they had. He thought that basically, the data was lost. A few years ago, at Easterns, a friend's program was accidentally deleted, along with three or so other skaters. To my knowledge, my friend never received acknowledgement of the mistake or an apology. This brings me back to adult skaters during the standard competition season. We are not forgotten, but our lives are turned on their heads due to scheduling changes. Constant schedule changes. Beginning in September until the end of the season, there are dozens of competitions that will capture your coach's focus. That's not a bad thing. An inconvenient thing? Definitely. A bad thing? No. The adult skating season isn't really a season, but the high points are Sectionals (March), Nationals (April) and international competitions, such as Ottawa and Germany. I'm not exactly sure when they happen, but I think it's September and May respectively. And that's about it. There are smaller competitions all over the place, but those are the big ones to the adult competitiors anyway. It's sad to be treated like an after-thought in the sport. We adult skaters really only quit when our bodies or our bank accounts tell us to do so. We rearrange our work lives and our family lives. No one is driving us to the rink in the morning; we do everything ourselves. While adjustments are made to our schedules to accomodate standard track competitiors, it becomes more of the "norm" than the exception. Adult competitive skaters, has your coach ever gone with you to a competition? Here's a funny story that happened to me a while back. The rink had a local competition and there were adult levels. I signed up, my coach at the time said she had other skaters who would be there and so she'd be there to. She had everyone's competition time and knew she'd be there all day. The youngest skaters were earlier in the morning; I arrived at about 11:00 with my event being at about 12:30ish. I saw my coach. Waved to her and we agreed that she'd be there at 12:20. 12:20 comes; no coach. 12:30, we are standing, waiting to go on for the warmup. I'm looking around for my coach. She is no where to be found. I skate the event, come in third, get my medal and start looking around for my coach. I'm thinking she had a family emergency or she was ill... something. I ask one of the skating mothers who knows my coach, if she knows where she is. She tells me that my coach went to lunch at 11:30 and wouldn't be back until the Juvenile event at 2:00. I volunteered the rest of the competition, but when I saw my coach, I asked her what happened. She looked at me with a blank expression. She had forgotten that I was competiting at all and although she apologized, it told me I wasn't as important as the Pre-Preliminary Girls or anyone who came after. At least, not to her. By the way, she dropped me as a student. She said I wasn't progressing fast enough. Kept another adult skater who quit the sport six months later. I'm not really complaining, just making observations. Lessons are changed or eliminated to accomodate the standard competitiors. Now that school is in session, it has become harder and harder to schedule lessons. Some lesson time is better than none. We all appreciate coaches who are willing to accept adult skaters. We want to be treated like the true athletes that we are. There are coaches out there who only want the money and are successful in talking us out of various competitions and do not think we will ever be good enough. There are coaches who will spend most of your lesson time working on crossovers, even though there's nothing wrong with your crossovers or stroking and the skater really wants to go on to other skills. That's not to say that stroking and crossovers aren't important, quite the contrary. However, if one has a thirty minute lession, twenty of those minutes shouldn't be taken up by crossovers and stroking. School is back in session. Early morning sessions will be crowded until outdoor rinks open. Coaches will be away and back and reschedule and cancel. It's the life of an adult figure skater.

Pudding

In the play "The Matchmaker", which subsequently became the musical "Hello Dolly", written by Thorton Wilder, there is a scene in which two workers (a clerk and the assistant to that clerk) at a Hay and Feed store named Conelius Hackle and Barnaby Tucker, respectively, decide to have an adventure in New York City. They leave Yonkers and have a catchphase for when they are having an "adventure". They will say "Pudding!" when it hapens. After watching the movie "The Matchmaker" (it's a lovely, sweet old movie with Shirley Booth - look her up), my sister Becca and I decided that "pudding" would be our catchphase whenever we had an advenure. Got lost? Pudding! Stuck in a freak snow storm without proper clothing? Pudding! My competition last weekend? Well... It started off well. We took the train to the location because I no longer own a car. Upon arriving at a rather old hotel, one key card didn't work. Becca went upstairs (yes, the lobby or the foyer was on the 3rd floor; our room was on the 2nd floor) to get new key cards. And they worked, once each time. Afraid of bedbugs? Do what we do, which is bring bedbug spray and spray down your beds. Don't place your suitcase on the bed either. Don't forget to wipe down the remote, door handles, phone and light switches. We did this pre-pandemic so it's not our paranoia about germs that caused this. These things aren't usually cleaned and I don't want someone else's sickness. Some things didn't go as planned and one major one was my fault. I didn't do my due dilligence regarding the actual location of the rink for the official practice. As a result, there were two locations and the UBER went to the wrong one. Since we were not in NYC, the wait for another UBER took the entire length of the offical practice. So, no practice for me. Competition time!!! Let's just say, I was there. My nerves got the better of me and I missed three of the four jumps planned. I duplicated a spin because I fell out of the planned camel spin and received zero points for that. I did receive a nice amount of points for my footwork and attitude (which was supposed to be a layback) spin and skating skills. All in all, this being my first IJS competition and being away from it for several years, I was there. I am back! First IJS competition down, more to come. As far as "Pudding" is concerned, both my sister and I had a small bout of food poisoning after the competion was done. We both ended up with extreme dizziness and nausea, which lasted a few hours, but having the world spinning around you is quite disturbing. Maybe it was the water. Eight UBERs in one short weekend makes me think about renting a car for my next competition. The drivers were great, but the wait time was not. Onward to the next competiton... next year.

Tick... Tick... Boom!

Back in January, I mentioned that a skating friend said I would improve faster if I competed. Well, I signed up for a competition, much to the surprise of everyone. Am I ready? No, not really. Will I do it anyway? Yes, because they're only giving refunds if you have COVID. Broken bones, illness, death? Was it COVID related? No? Then you are out of luck. Weird, eh? Granted, the program is coming along nicely. Two minutes and nine seconds is a lifetime when you can't catch your breath. I'll keep plugging away. The competition is in August. Don't think I'll be attending the one in Ottawa, even though I'd really like to go. It's one thing to only be slightly ready for a competition in your region; it's another thing to leave the country when you are ill prepared. Recently, I looked high and low for a skating movie named The Petrichor. It's a Canadian film about a thirty year old woman who wants to return to competition (not in adult categories). I hunted for it and finally located where I could see the movie. I was all set to enjoy myself. Forty minutes into the movie and no one is skating yet. I'm confused. And disappointed. I'll finish watching the movie and keep hoping for the best. Right now, it's on the back burner of things I want to watch while at work. Fast forward a week and there is some "skating". It's really just the actress moving her arms while the camera circles her. When there are shots of skates, it's in the dark and for all we know, those are MY feet they're filming. The movie isn't very good. It's not Hallmark holiday movie bad, but it's bad. Also, I can't figure out if only one man plays almost ALL of the male parts or if everyone looks that much alike. The summer sessions have begun at my main rink. The number of people on the ice hasn't gotten crazy yet. I'm curious as to whether it WILL get crazy. I'm sure it will. Darn those learn-to-skate and hockey camps that take up the entire morning. At my other rink, it is already crazy. The Coffee Club is gone and anyone who has ever strapped on a pair of skates is at the morning freestyle session. Several have just graduated from Learn-to-Skate. Okay, that's fine. I had to jump through hoops to skate a freestyle session. Now all you have to do is show up. With in mind, look where you're going and be mindful of the others on the session. If you see someone taking off to jump, maybe move your crossovers away from the hockey circle that you have been practing on for the last 45 minutes. Your conversation about how crowded the session is, shouldn't take place in the middle of the rink while someone is trying to do a camel spin. If someone's program is playing, just notice where they are and where you are. And get out of their way. I'm sure I sound like a witch, but we all pay the same amount of money and the sessions are getting more crowded. Know where you are. Know what you need to do. Be mindful of the others on the ice. And do not skate crossovers in lutz corners (all 4) for the entire session. You have no idea how annoying that is.

Ups and Downs

I saw a quote recently that said "If there are no ups and downs in our lives, we are dead" with a picture of an EKG. In that instance, you really want those ups and downs.

In skating, well, not so much. Have you ever worked so hard that five hours later, your body is still angry with you? That was me, last week. Maybe it was because my main coach had been to the Governing Council. Or maybe it was because my former coach was on the session (after years of telling me she couldn't get there at that time...) and I felt I had to prove something. Or maybe if was just because. No, the real reason was a quote from a motivation video I watched: Train insane or expect the same I love that feeling when I've worked hard and things start working. It doesn't matter if it's skating, working out or dropping a pound. It's that wonderful feeling of accomplishing something after weeks, months and years of disappointment and frustration. And it feels good. Sometimes a little painful, but good.

There are so many things I'd like to accomplish this season, beginning with, of course, training, practicing, testing and competing. Having missed so many Adult Nationals, I just want to compete in 2023. I even found out what the dances are for Bronze Solo Dance. Right now, I can do one of them. The other doesn't look too difficult; I just need to pass the last two Pre-Bronze dances (curse you Swing Dance!!). Yes, things were looking up. Then the down occurred. The following week, although I had skated a session where I did nothing but three turns, come time for my lesson and those turns went to visit someone else.

I was told to work so hard that I should be sweating after each and every session. Since it's getting warmer, that's actually easier than I thought. However, while my Moves coach has surgery, she expects me to have these sloppy three turns corrected upon her return... in two weeks. My jumps were working, until my lesson, where my jumps and spins decided to go have coffee together. And they didn't bring any back for me. Either there was height and no rotation or rotation and no height. I did a toe loop that neither I nor my coach were quite sure it left the ice. My sit spin sat and spun but didn't get back up. I had eased up on my off-ice training, which I now see was a mistake. You know how you're told not to compare yourself with others? It's easier when everyone you know ISN'T featured on Adults Skate Too or the USFS Instagram page. Seriously. Six people in the last eighteen months. How is that even possible? No, I don't want to be featured, but three of those people started skating eighteen months ago and have left me in the dust! Okay they're younger and thinner, but still... Yep, life has it many little ups and downs. Let's hope there are more ups in the future than there are downs. Unless it's a sit spin. If that's the case, get down as far as you can and still be able to get up.