A lesson at last. Woohoo!

Yes, my darling coach has returned from San Francisco (albeit slightly later than intended due to her original flight being cancelled due to torrential rain!) and it was my first lesson in FIVE WHOLE WEEKS!!! Haven't blogged in a little while, but I've just been mostly settling into my new boots, which has been going relatively well.

Today was going back to basics - making sure I could do everything okay on new boots / blades and it was great to be back in a lesson. I have 45 minutes now (as opposed to half an hour) so lots of time to fit everything in!

Forward Stroking: All about knee bending in the right place to generate power. I look like I "skim" the ice, rather than pushing down into it.
Backward Stroking: Again, need more knee bend and push - in the right place. I also have to work on keeping my free hip forward.
Two and one-foot slaloming: One foot is not too bad on one foot - dreadful on the other. D has corrected my position (I was kind of holding my free leg a little behind me) so now I have my free foot tucked into my other ankle, and knee lifted to the front.
Changes of Edge: Namely, inside to outside which I have been struggling with. She got me to do them by bringing the free leg forward on the inside edge and then swinging it back on the outside edge. Bingo! Now just have to try and translate it into NOT moving the leg!
Forward Edges: Not like Field Moves, but keeping the free leg extended back all the way. Free hip needs to be more forward.
Backward Outside Edges: She is supporting me, but was actually really pleased with them. And when I tried to do them on my own, they were tiny!
Backward Crossovers: I need to lead with the inside shoulder more and keep my weight back at all times.
Backward Runs: Lol, haven't done these in aaaaages. But they felt relatively smooth and D was happy.
3-turns: These are one of the things feeling a bit dodge in my new boots - D puts it down to new blades, lack of confidence and needing a stronger check.
Spins: D was soooooo pleased with how these have come on in her absence. She is now bullying me, in her inimitable way to get more revs :) Most of it comes down to me not always being right over the skating leg, but I do know when I am not. We also played around with different spin entrances.
Spirals: She was pleased with my new outside edge spiral! Also did the Level 1 Field Moves spiral exercise which was okay I think.

One boot didn't hurt at all today, which is great - the other one was giiving me a little grief above my arch, but manageable. It's taken a few weeks, but the pain is nearly over! D was complaining that I have no creases in them yet - apparently she got creases within a week. But she skates like 60 billion hours a week!!!! Humph, no fair . . . I have been instructed to either blast them with a hair dryer, or wear wet socks in them. I think I prefer the hairdryer approach.

Overall though - I think she was pleased with my progress. She said I was definitely a stronger skater now than before she went away, which is a relief. I had visions of spending four weeks trying to break in new boots, and not getting anywhere!!!

Time to go to the physio!

I've had a few good skates since my last post - everything going fairly peachily. Haven't tried twizzles yet - but not deliberate, I just keep forgetting to try them on my new blades! The only thing that feels awkward still is (quite specifically) counter-clockwise backward crossovers. It's the crossing foot that feels very strange - a mixture of sharp blades, stiff boots and weight not in the right place to avoid toepicks. But getting better - I nearly fell over doing them, but as the rocker is so much better, I twisted out of it really easily!

Now, I've been moaning about my shoulder giving me problems during synchro, and as a result not being able to do anything in hold. Well, I finally got round to going to the doctors this morning - and his diagnosis corresponds with mine. Rotator cuff tendinitis. So I am waiting for a physio appointment to be set up (apparently it should only be a couple of weeks, which I am seriously impressed with - but we'll see) to have some treatment on it. I certainly am not allowed to have it yanked around in synchro - he actually said "Maybe ease off the skating", but reassured him that skating solo is very different to skating synchro!

I have a dilemma now though. Do I continue going to synchro for the next x number of weeks, not being able to do anything bar pottering through the steps on my own in the corner, or do I use that time for another solo session? I am kind of thinking that the solo skating would be more beneficial until my shoulder has improved, but won't make a decision till tomorrow. I have emailed my coach in sunny California to ask her advice as well!!! If she agrees with me, I'm actually going to try and book a lesson with S (another dance coach) at Ally Pally on Thursday. My own coach is back next week, but want to have a lesson again! And my coach is quite happy for me to have a lesson with S in her absence - in fact, highly recommended her!

I was going to skate tonight . . . but the weather is all of a sudden disgusting, after multiple blood pressure readings on my bad arm and being poked around by the GP this morning, my shoulder is rather sore - and when it is sore, it makes my neck stiff and other parts of my arm achey as well. It's not like me to miss a session, but quite frankly, after a horribly busy day at work, I have had quite enough today!

Light at the end of the tunnel

Managed a whole hour solid in my new skates today!! I was happy to rip 'em off by the end as the bones in my arches are still giving me some grief, but it is improving. If I keep moving, it almost wears off!! I can highly recommend Scholl Party Feet as a cheaper alternative to Bunga Pads though :)

My confidence is definitely increasing now. Today I did lots of basic fast(ish) forward stroking, slaloming and swizzles, stroking, Russian stroking, Level 1 FM edges (getting much better now) and more stroking! And a little bit of backward swizzles/slaloming/stroking as well.

I started experimenting with mohawks and 3-turns. Albeit gently, they are happening. FI3's are a little dodgy, but mohawks and FO3's are getting there. In her latest missive from the States, D advised I started spinning on my new blades ASAP. Now my spinning is in its infancy, and I was beginning to manage 2-3 revs fairly consistently on my old blades. It took me a little while to adapt to new blades, but just a couple of times, I hit the sweet spot sooooo easily!!! And did 3 revs straight off!! I think spinning might be taking on a new dimension with these blades, with their lovely larger rocker :)

I also did some forward crossrolls - one side feels okay, the other side feels a bit toe-y, but it will get better I'm sure. And I did my first spiral in my new blades as well, which felt very nice :)

Lastly, I did my first dance in my dance-y blades. Just a slow-ish runthrough of a Dutch Waltz. The swingrolls feel really nice and secure but the progressives feel a bit odd and clunky. For some reason I was catching the tail of the blade (even though its about a foot shorter than my old blades!) but when I started pointing my foot a little, it got rid of the problem. I did half a runthrough of a Canasta Tango as well (had to stop as midgets in the way). I was a bit worried about the slip chasse's on shorter blades, but so far, it feels okay. In fact, I haven't really noticed the shortness of the blades at all yet, which is great.

The only thing I haven't got my head round yet is backward crossovers. I have done a few strokes, but drawing the foot across the front feels very peculiar. Something to tackle next time I skate.

And then I took in a bit of culture and went to see two exhibitions at the Tate Modern with my brother - Mark Rothko who I just love, and Cildo Meireles - a Brazilian installation artist, which was really interesting. I recommend both exhibitions if you fancy an afternoon pottering around the TM!

A little better . . .

Maybe my new skates aren't the Instruments of the Devil after all :)

On recommendation from another skater, I bought some of those Scholl Party Feet (gel cushions designed for cushioning the balls of your feet in high heels) and shoved 'em down the sides of my skates. They didn't remove the pain, rather they dissipated it so it was a little more bearable. I managed 30 minutes solid before resting my poor battered feet today, which doesn't sound much, but is compared to 10 minutes on Wednesday! I also learnt today, that to keep the pain down, I have to keep moving. No standing on the ice chatting, as when I start moving again . . . OW! But towards the end, I could feel them beginning to "give" just a tad. Either that or my feet were going numb . . .

The boots definitely felt more secure today - my forward stroking is getting up to speed, forward crossovers are not such a struggle and I can hold pretty good forward edges on them. I think my edges will be much better on these blades. Level 1 Field Move forward edges are a little off centre, but I think that is a mixture of finding my weight balance on new blades as I bring the free leg through, and wearing slightly heavier boots. Did some forward Russian Stroking, and lots of slaloming (on two feet - haven't tried it one foot in these blades yet!) and swizzles. I also did a few gentle 3-turns, just to try and feel the rocker. They happen very easily, and as a result, feel rather strange!

I tried a few strokes of backward crossovers, and this feels rather odd. However, tomorrow I need to start doing backwards stuff on them, so I will just have to bite the bullet. I think it felt peculiar, cos I am not sure where on my blade I should be yet, and the comparitively massive toepick at the front becomes more apparent :)

So, although it was painful, I am pleased with progress. I was really a little dismayed after Wednesday's session, so this has perked me up a bit!

I didn't wear them to synchro last night - and I couldn't believe that even after just one session in my new boots on Wednesday, my old boots felt sooooo wobbly!!! Still not in hold cos of my bl**dy arm, but learnt the steps for the long line bit, and then we did some circuits for Moves in Isolation. I am getting more confident with spins (only 2-3 revs but still more confident) in my old boots - I hope this doesn't take too long with new ones. One circuit was salchows - well as an ice dancer, that ain't goin' to happen, so did some very feeble attempts at 3-jumps. I don't even think I am leaving the ice, lol. Spirals felt good - I have discovered that I really like doing these on an outside edge which I thought would be hard, but actually, no! And last circuit was drags. I was praised for a nice drag and nice spiral position - at least there is something I can do nicely in synchro!!!

My Transpack has just about fallen to bits after a year and a half of heavy use, so today I treated myself to a little baby pink suitcase from Primark for the bargain of £15. I don't think the backpack has been helping my bad shoulder, so maybe a set of wheels will help!!! And of course, it should keep my new babies (yes, I am just about liking them again now) cushtie inside :)

Well, that was interesting . . .

First session on my new skates today. Hmmmm . . . .

Overall, I can feel the potential. They feel good around my forefoot and toes, which is as they should. The bony bits that stick out above your arches are screaming at me. But I persevered with basically 15 minutes on the ice, and 10 minutes off. The good news is that the bony bits on the outside of your ankles were also hurting me originally and that has more or less stopped. So that's progress!!! There is also none of foot or arch cramping that I had when I originally got my Riedells (probably cos they were too narrow) which I am very happy about. No blisters either, which is another bonus.

The boots overall are stiffer than my current old pair . . . of course . . . but I can get relatively good knee and ankle bend in them, being dance boots - and actually, bending my knees and ankles helped relieve the bony bits so that was very good incentive :) But the sore bits, "new boot" stiffness and higher cut that I am used to did all feel very peculiar and I felt very clumpy in them.

The blades were the least of my worries in the end (and was probably the bit I was most worried about!). I was extremely unadventurous today (mostly cos of the sore bony bits - its very distracting), doing just forward stroking, a few forward crossovers, some forward edges, a few tentative 3-turns near the barrier and lots of plies :) The rocker feels very different - much more of one basically. 3-turns felt practically effortless which was actually a little scary!!!

Hopefully that is the worst of it over. I will be wearing my old boots to synchro tomorrow evening and will wear my new ones during the day at home, and then take them to Lee Valley on Friday and Saturday for some more pain and agony. And hopefully start getting a bit more adventurous in them!!!

Say hello to the new girls :)

Went to see Les Westaway today, and now I am a few hundred pounds lighter :)

But look at how pretty they are!!! SP Teri Dance with Coronation Dance blades.


It was an interesting day. First of all, my feet are wide. Which I knew. Second of all, on a UK shoe sizer, I am a 3 and a half, which I did not know! I have been wearing size 5 or 6 apparently to compensate for my duck feet!!!

So with my wide, short feet. SP Teri are just about perfect. Not the cheapest boot, but even as I sit here typing on the sofa, with my ankles being tortured (well, a bit of digging in - could be worse!), I can feel the potential. We went with the slightly longer boot, rather than the size down which was a little tight on my toes, so I have a little wiggle room, and slightly narrower width as although technically my feet are off-the-scale wide, they are the sort of feet that prefer a snugger fit (the widest fit felt like I was wearing boats). Not too snug though - still the second to widest fitting! And since I have come home, I have looked closer at my Riedells and seen that I have about a spare inch at the end of room, hence in the picture below, my new ones look nearly an inch shorter!!!

One thing that is a trifle concerning, is that with both having a smaller boot than my Riedells, and having a dance blade, the blades are TINY compared to my Wilson Excels on my Riedells!!

Look!! Skating the first time in these should be amusing . . . . The rocker is much more pronounced as well - wonder if this will help with learning to spin?

It's my birthday :)

My shoulder is still very sore (not getting better, so I think I may need to go to the doctors about it) and today it is my 32nd birthday, so I have excused myself from synchro this evening to go out for a few drinks with friends. After getting such a lovely comment from "Anonymous" the other day encouraging me with the synchro, I shall be back as normal next week, learning the steps in the corner if need be, until I can hold on to people again without my arm feeling like it is going to fall off!!!

I am so positive about my birthday this year - it makes a change from being depressed about going up a year! I think one of the main reasons has to be that I am over five stone lighter than I was last year. My self-esteem and confidence has rocketed, and that makes such a difference to your general outlook on life, it is unbelievable. So feeling very positive about the coming year!!!

I am also very excited as I am off to see Les next week (I have a week off work so good timing!) to be fitted for brand spanky new skates. I have been meaning to do it for ages but just not getting round to it. I am rather bedazzled by SP Teri Dance - if they feel good, I may just splash out a bit on them. If I do like them, I am going to have lambswool tongue lining custom done as well - skating bare foot, my ankles are getting a bit lacerated, so something nice and soft would be lovely :) Les also said he may be able to do a special deal on blades (D has recommended Coronation Dance) for me as well, but I still think I might wince as I hand my credit card over!!! Unfortunately, they will take about six weeks to arrive, but at least the wheels (or should that be blades!) will be finally in motion.

Skating this week has been so-so. Lee Valley was swamped on Saturday, and patch has been busy at Ally Pally as well. However, I have been perservering with the spinning thing, and I can see progress. My weight is more consistently over my skating foot (not always, but sometimes!) and I am consistently getting 2-2.5 revs now. On Saturday I am going to start pushing it up to 3, and start doing them from a BXO start again, at least half the time.

I literally am SO EXCITED about getting new skates!!!!!!