Gordon's Sk8er Boi Blog
Sidelined Again
I saw the podiatrist on Friday. The GOOD news is that my unspoken fear (that I had re-broken my foot) did not come to pass -- xrays show my foot bones are fine.
The not as good news is that the doctor says that my pain in my foot is probably a combination of overuse (moving, carrying heavy boxes etc., walking barefoot on the tile floors in the new house) so soon after the break, and my foot adjusting to bearing weight slightly differently than it did before (my 3rd metatarsal is now slightly shorter than pre-break, so the other bones bear weight just a little differently). He suggested that I rest it, take lots of ibuprofen, don't walk on the tile floors without shoes or cushy flipflops, and perhaps some ice if it's swollen. I go back in 3 weeks, if it's not better we might explore some inserts or orthotics (I have orthotics the previous pod gave me that I wear now).
So... I'm taking a couple of weeks off the ice although I can say it didn't hurt to skate. Geez.
Trial Lesson With Lynne
I had a trial lesson today with another coach, Lynne. Lynne was highly recommended to me as a figures coach, and also as a freestyle coach. Today's lesson was on the coffee club session at Chandler. The ice had been freshly Zam'd and was actually the nicest ice I've seen yet here in Phoenix. Really, quite nice, and the session only had 4 skaters and 2 coaches.
I warmed up with some figures and then some moves. At 12:15 (the appointed time) Lynne came out and introduced herself and we began:
- FO8/FI8 -- started with figures. I had done some of these in warmup and they were not bad. Lynne asked me to keep my back straighter especially in the 2nd half of the circle.
- Serpentine -- just a little time on these. I need a better push. Lynne had me bring my foot forward earlier and hold it there before the change of edge, which seemed to produce a better run after the change of edge.
- Forward perimeter XOs -- Lynne suggested that I need to curve the FI edge more, it's too straight. I really like these and it shows, I am starting to get some good speed with these and I'm pretty good about maintaining the axis.
- Back perimeter XOs -- Lynne pointed out that I do 6 of these (I hadn't really been counting) and really I could open them up and just do 4. My BXOs are still pretty scratchy and the weight shift is not bad but inconsistent.
- Spins -- Lynne had me really work to hold the FO edge out, which exposed that I often don't get solidly over my L side. I'll have to work this some more. It also tends to slow my tempo down which is also helpful.
- Toe loop -- my other freestyle sore spot (well, okay, there are many more). Nothing particularly new, Lynne had me work on doing the BO pivot and trying to feel where my weight is on the BO edge beforehand.
And with that we were out of time. Lynne had told me she'd done ice shows for several years and had taught for about 5 (?) years before that, and another 3 years or so since. I told her I would let her know about my decision.
I'm not sure what to make of this. I should have scheduled my trial lessons closer together but my L foot has been bugging me and I am waiting to go back to the podiatrist, so I have been trying to take it easy. So I'm not sure if I should make a decision now or look at more coaches or what. In the past I had fewer choices and it was simpler :-).
Labels: Lessons
Sunday (Non-)Zoo
I skated for an hour and 15 minutes at the public session this afternoon in Gilbert. I met up with skate buddy Melissa who introduced me to some adult skaters and one younger skater as well.
I had a really good skate! The session was not too crowded, actually, and the ice was pretty good. Despite being off the ice for a week and a half, I felt very relaxed and happy and enthused. Worked on some moves, as well as toe loop, waltz jump and some spins. Had a rather odd fall on a spin, but no harm/no foul.
Housekeeping
Just to make a note, I am going to do some housekeeping on the sidebar. I'm going to roll up all the lesson links into a master post for each coach that will have all the links there. It's a bit too long right now with some 300 lessons listed :-).
Trial Lesson With JJ
I had my trial lesson with JJ this morning on the 6:45 FS (lesson at 7) at Gilbert.
The morning didn't start off too auspiciously -- I didn't sleep well (why is it that when you have to be up at 6 and are sleepless, you start to feel really sleepy at 5:30? Grrr), drove to the rink, got there at 6:25... and there was no one there! It wasn't open and the lights were off. To say I was perturbed would be putting it mildly. All I could think was how at Sherwood the place would be buzzin' at that time of day. I went ahead and warmed up and stretched and put my boots on sitting on the bench in front of the rink. Finally at 6:45 someone (the skating director I think) showed up and opened the door.
I have to say I was more than a little surprised there were not more people there -- SWP Regionals is this coming weekend and I expected there would be lots of competitors there getting all the ice time they can before the competition. Maybe it's too close and they don't want to tire themselves out?
I got on the ice and warmed up (by this time there was another skater, a high level girl who had a lot of power -- nice). The clock was not working either but JJ came and we started our lesson:
- stroking -- yep, every coach starts with this. Just one lap; I cleverly did it CCW and he didn't ask me for CW. I thought I did pretty well and he was happy with it.
- BXOs -- I don't quite remember how we got into to this. JJ asked me for alternating BXOs and I did the Bronze move for him, but he really just wanted alternating BXOs so I did those for him, then in the APB move, and then we continued working just the BXOs to unscratch them. He had me work them at the boards and out on the ice to do a number of things -- feel the thighs pressing together, flex the foot before lifting it off the ice.
- waltz jump -- I wanted to move on so JJ suggested we look at my jumps. I did a nice waltz jump (I was pretty pleased) and he liked it so we moved on.
- half flip -- the first one I did, didn't have much *jump* to it so I did a second that was much better, more jump and a nice landing position ("Buns of Steel"). JJ suggested that if I trust the toe more I will be able to do this jump with more speed.
- toe loop -- some good time on this. We worked a lot on the wall with the BO pivot position, JJ had me work the BO pivot and turning it into FI pivot (i.e. turning the moving foot on the ice from BO to FI). The idea being to get comfortable with that motion because it's the same as the jump, only you pick the foot up before the foot turns forward. The other point he made was to think of turning in the air with the L foot winding up in front. It doesn't look that different from what I've been doing but is correct and will result in more jump. I had some small success with this.
And with that we were out of time (we actually ran long by 7 minutes or so). I was quite pleased with this lesson, although I have to say it's a bit different having a male coach. I told JJ I wanted to schedule some more trial lessons (well, at least one more) and I would let him know. Besides freestyle I am also looking for a figures coach.
I spent a little time reviewing the trial lessons I'd had when I was looking for a coach last time. Wow, it seems so long ago! I spent so much time with Sonya and she was such an amazing coach -- it's really hard to start over :-(.
Labels: Lessons
Coffee Club
I skated coffee club at Chandler today. The member price is only $6, so a good deal, and it only took me 20 minutes from leaving work to stepping on the ice so that's awesome! There were only 5 skaters and one coach, so not crowded at all. The ice was freshly surfaced when the session started, although I have to say I have never seen a Zamboni driven that fast! Seriously, I didn't think he would be able to make the turns he was going so fast on the straightaway. Scary. So the ice was fresh but still pretty bumpy; but still the best I'd seen at Chandler.
I had a pretty good skate, worked on Bronze moves and jumps and some spins. I got one 2.5 rev spin, it seems like I am getting a little better about not bailing out though I am still having trouble finding and keeping the sweet spot. Grr.
Got to meet about half the skaters and the coach. I'm going to try to skate this session every week if I can, it's mostly a question of getting out of work for it.
Perseverance
I skated the 8:15 FS at Chandler this a.m. -- skate buddies Jose and Tracy were there and it was nice to be among friends, as always. As usual, not-so-great ice. The session was a bit crowded to start with but cleared out to around 7 skaters and 3 coaches half-way through.
As usual these days I spent the first half working on moves, then FS. I worked on slowing down the toe loop a bit and did several toe loop entrances into back pivot. Not sure that helped much but it's getting easier at least. A few spins that were ukky, and some nice waltz jumps and half flips.
On moves, I spent a fair amount of time just working on FO3s, holding the entrance longer and trying to improve them. I did make some progress with this so I'll try to work this again next time. Power-3s slightly less stinky due to this. 5-step mohawk not too great. Other moves are about the same as before.
Lunch With JJ
This was supposed to be "Trial Lesson With JJ" but Polar Ice messed me up again. I had called yesterday to confirm that they had coffee club today, but when I got there -- no coffee club, they are having some kind of hockey camp. Grrr.
Anyway, I got to meet a potential coach, JJ. We wound up going out for lunch and talking since we didn't get to have a lesson. We discussed my goals in skating and my background, and he gave me some information on his skating background etc. He's a pretty interesting fellow -- skated as a child, took a break, came back to skating and passed all the way up to Senior level. Pretty impressive! He's big on focus, discipline and prioritization.
We have scheduled a trial lesson for next Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. Why I am volunteering myself for early morning lessons, I'm not sure -- it's probably because I am desperate to skate on ice that doesn't stink! Oh well.
