Sometimes (like, all the time if you read this blog), it seems like learning to figure skate is full of good cheer and sunshine and delight. Well, it is all of those things, but I confess that there are days where it is freaking tough. On Sunday I had trouble lacing my skates tightly enough, then my feet were killing me, and I could not seem to make my limbs do a single thing I wanted. My muscles seriously felt like they had no power at all and I was all wobbly, which is very unusual for me.
About 30 minutes into our usual Sunday practice I was near tears with frustration. Now, people who have known me for a long time are aware that I do not like to be bad at things. My default mode is to give up. On days at the rink where it feels like nothing is going right, I don't give up. I skate around the ice as fast as I can, doing simple tricks and concentrating on picking up as much speed as possible. Then, when I've worn out some of my anger and frustration, I go back to trying whatever it was that was pissing me off (currently: mastering those damn backwards crossovers) and ignoring the pain in my feet.
I did learn a valuable lesson on Sunday, though, and that is that I'm not training enough off the ice. I also have done the stupidest thing possible and haven't been warming up before I go out there, which probably explains a lot of my physical problems. The point of this hobby is not to seriously hurt myself, and if I keep on the way I've begun, I will eventually do some nasty damage. Every time I go to the rink I'm so eager to get on the ice and start, I don't know, magically doing the triple axels I can totally do in my head that I just lace up my skates and race out there. Stupid idea which leads to frustration. Hmm. I'm seeing a pattern here that I need to break.
ANYWAYS. On to a list of new things I've learned how to do and am currently working on mastering.
Lunges: You lunge one foot forward and allow the other foot to drag behind you. What's hard is not having the back foot catch and either make you start to turn or fall on your face.
Three-turns: A one-foot turn with a change of edge that results in a '3' shaped tracing on the ice. This one is very hard because I'm terrified to turn on one foot. I can successfully do it two-footed, but that's not how to works. SCARY.
Backwards crossovers: Forever and always working on these. They're hard. You cross one foot over the other while going backwards to pick up speed.
Candice and I learned a dorky ice dancing move that I can't remember the name of right now, but just know it was awesome. Because we are awesome.
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