Skating in April
April has been a good skating month. I didn't skate much over Easter but at least I saved some money not having lessons. It made it all the more fantastic to get back to my normal routine once the kids were back at school. The one time I managed to get to Deeside, it turned out to be a family outing with Hubby, kids and video cam in tow. It was interesting to see my whole lesson on video- but how lucky that in the moment I learned the hard way that you shouldn't tip into the circle, that hubby had turned around to tell the kids to stop squabbling, so I hit the deck sideways (and quite painfully) but he missed it!
It was back to normal by April 20th and I skated twice that week- once with Tony which was a cool lesson. I asked him to skate with me which is something he rarely does. We did a Dutch waltz and a Riverside Rhumba. I was really pleased that he said they were much better and stronger than last time he's seen them. I think he was quite surprised, and I felt much more confident skating with him than I had in the past. Thursday I was at Deeside. My skating buddy made it back through the volcanic ash so it was great to catch up on a months worth of gossip and news on the way to the rink. Ann and I are still working on my free dance. 15 minutes per week isn't easy and I know it's likely to take ages but I have limited resources (and too many coaches to be honest!) so thats how it has to be. I had a great lesson with Mike too. He began the lesson with forward runs around the circle and made the usual demands of more speed and knee bend. Both were eventually achieved due to being whipped across the backside with a glove while being yelled at! I have to admit that having a coach with a sense of humour is a big plus and in my case, much more productive than a boring one! We ran through the test dances and apart from occasionally swinging my free leg a bit too high (a la John Cleese doing a goose step in Fawlty towers!) they were all okay. Just as well really as I now have a test date. May 10th is D day and I can't wait! Last Tuesday was Telford and Tony again. The group lesson was predominantly level 2 field moves, which is what I was going to do in my private lesson. So, having covered most of them already I asked if we could work on spins. My sit had been playing hide and seek, and I also wanted to work on attitude spins and other variations like holding the knee or catching the blade in a kind of sideways layback spin. A few tweeks to the sitspin (namely visualising everything revolving round the left hip and jamming my knees together!) and it soon came back. In fact, after the lesson I had a bit of an light bulb moment involving the sweet spot. I realized I've had my weight too far back and just a tiny adjustment means its centering much better and is much much more consistent. It was a great lesson - and a lot of fun too, which is nice after the last 5 months of frostiness. I've really enjoyed the last couple of skates at Telford so maybe the positive vibes are back?
Yesterday I went to Deeside. My lesson with Ann was good. We've had to take out the back 3 that was in my steps as it's stopping the flow. It may go back in later but for now it was just holding things up and causing frustration so its now gone. I now have a step sequence that I can do. The bigger picture is that progress is slow getting the steps in the right place and fitting the music. Ann is patient and a lovely lady who pushes me but at the same time, is no rush as she knows my priority is with the compulsory dances at least until I've done this test! I skated over for my lesson with Mike feeling a bit dubious as my skating buddy had warned me that he picks things to bits when a test is around the corner. He was actually quite the opposite. We ran through the two test dances and he said they were good- much better. There was a queue for the music so we didn't bother with it for the tango and after two sequences and a minor tweak on the last swing roll (“ not so wild!”) we left them alone and did the GSW and RR. They still need a far bit of work but I'm looking forward to polishing those and starting to work regularly on the FT and SD. Later, Ann said that she'd watched us dancing and thought we were nicely matched. That was a really nice compliment and has added to my confident mood. I enjoyed a good practice afterwards and was relieved that the sit spin was still there and behaving well!
Today I made it three rinks in one week by going to Solihull with best skating buddy, who has lessons there. The recently re-furbished ice pad was fantastic. It was softer than both Telford and Deeside and to start with I could barely spin. I was going great guns working on edges, basic turns and generally potting around and trying not get in the way of a high level adult dance couple who were training in preparation for the ISU adult World championships in Oberstdorf. They were pretty amazing to watch. Very very fast across the ice and inspiring to see that adults can skate at such a high level, even if they did scare the life out of me! All was well until I turned from forwards to backwards crossovers, caught my heel and when crashing into the ice smacking my head really hard. I heard the crack and it stunned me for a few seconds during which time I was quickly surrounded by faces looking down at me. I couldn't move immediately- my head was telling me to stay put and it seemed sensible to listen to it. After wiggling toes, and fingers and establishing that I wasn't leaking blood from anywhere I was helped off the ice to get my breath back. Banging my head is one of the things I fear most of all but once I realized I was okay and not suffering any ill effects I got back on and skated round a few times, did a few edges and ran through a Dutch waltz whilst waiting for my knees to stop shaking. It didn't take long and in the end I stayed for another two hours working mostly on spins. I was happy that my skating buddy saw what was probably the lowest sit spin I've ever done. I made the most of the nice ice and enjoyed my skate even if the bump has knocked my confidence slightly. I fear I may have a bit of whiplash tomorrow but I suppose that's they way it is. I should also add that while I was there I met a young skater who I haven't seen in while, chatted to another adult who I met at Bracknell a couple of years ago, and also had a nice chat with the adult dancers who helped to scrape me off the ice and checked that I was OK. All in all, a nice reminder of how social this sport can be and in particular, how friendly and supportive the adults can be of each other.
Next skate is Telford on Tuesday.