Finding a way......
I have to start by saying thank you to those who left kind words on my last blog entry. Only skaters truly understand! Going cold turkey didn't work for me. I really believed that if I had to scale any of it down then it wouldn't be worth skating at all. Wrong. I managed four weeks and got steadily more depressed. I spent the first 'missed sessions' climbing hills in the hope that it would tire me out and keep the muscles in my legs from vanishing. I sat on the very top of the hills feeling very miserable and aware of what I was missing but at least I wasn't sitting at home moping. Last months expensive car repair and youngest sons residential school trip meant there was nothing at all left in the pot but I've managed to come up with a week by week solution to get back on the ice but it's meant cutting back to one fifteen minute lesson per week, skating only on public sessions and not sticking around for lunch/coffee etc... I've also decided to cancel all skating at Deeside for now. That didn't seem quite so hard as my closest skating friends are at Telford and I hadn't been to Deeside since before the summer holidays in July. So, I'm saving about 1/3 of my weekly costs and if I can't go sometimes then I'll just have to suck it up. Better that than to not go at all.
When Tuesday came around I was quietly excited. I'd already put Tony in the picture and he said not to worry, he would always find room for me and to just do whatever I was able to do with regard to lessons, and it was good to see me back. That day we worked on spins, upright, sit- which has come back now I'm used to my new boots and the new blade position, then we did parallel and finally we worked on layback with emphasis on not dropping my right shoulder too much. We finished the lesson with a partnered Riverside Rhumba which was nice. The group lesson was also enjoyable- not for any particular reason other than the joy of being back on the ice and the fact that my new boots seem to be making everything easier. Bonus of the day had to be that the Russians didn't come in until lunchtime so we had the whole ice pad. I stayed on the ice for the whole 3 hours and didn't even get off for a coffee! I did lots of spinning and one or two 3-jumps along with bits of my programme, footwork, edges, progressives etc... and left the ice totally buzzing.
Today I was even more keen to skate. Waiting out the rest of patch was hard but I got on at 10a.m, warmed up and started on jumps. Lots and lots of 3 jumps and cherry-flips. They are SO much easier now that I can actually stick my toe in! My old, too big boots had me in total fear of slipping off it and falling on my backside. I used to have a tendency to pre-rotate my Cherries, but not so much now. I managed a few salchows and attempted loop but with out success. I also tried 3-jump/cherry but it wasn't so great. My skating buddies were amused and surprised to see me jumping again, not mention very encouraging too. I worked more on my spins with gradual improvement. The group lesson was great as we worked mostly on iside 3's back 3's double 3's and FI twizzles- oh and level 5 choctaws. Loved this lesson as it wa all stuff I struggled a lot with in the past, but once again the magic boots have made a HUGE difference. I just worked my butt off until they booted me off at 12.30. Sit-spin is getting lower (slowly) and the whole spin is more consistent and I feel like I'm attacking it more too. Anne-marie even commented on it. It's soooo good to be back. I don't anticipate planning for tests or comps unless things improve financially but until then I just do what I can and think myself very lucky each time I skate.