New Instructor

I had my first Basic 2 lesson last night. My new instructor, Glenn, is terrific. I'd guess him to be in his 50s. He said he has been teaching for 30 (?) years or more and competed nationally. I'd say he's definitely not in the "kinder, gentler" coaching style -- more like the "lay it all out" mode. That is to say, he's not going to sugarcoat anything. The first thing he had me do was just kind of show him where I'm at and what I can do. He then said something about me being too tight (which is certainly true) and later said something like, "You're not a very adept (? maybe it was "natural") skater, you know that, right?" To which I responded "yes" since I do know that (see above about "lay it all out"). I am the only one in the class so I'm effectively getting a 1/2 hour lesson for $12!

Anyway, we had a really good lesson. The two things he had me focus on were 1) what I believe are forward 1/2 swizzle pumps on a circle (actually a Basic 3 skill) and 2) those darn 1-foot glides. To work on my glide he several times balanced me while I leaned to see how to get on the outside edge. He also pulled me forward and supported me while I tried to get on the flat or the outside edge -- as I suspected, when I was curving to the right it's because I was on the inside edge. I did manage to glide on the flat briefly a couple of times, so at least I know sort of what it should feel like. It's further over than one wants to be -- like they say, on your outside edge, there's nothing but air between you and the ice. The best thing he corrected for me is that it's not about turning the blade at all -- I need to stay straight up and down, but lean my whole body so that my sternum is roughly over my ankle. At the end of the lesson he left me with those things and told me to work on them. He also suggested that I work on my weaker side twice as much as the strong side.

After the lesson I stayed to practice until 9. I should mention that when I arrived the ice was in really frightful condition (ironic that I praised it in my previous blog!) -- apparently they had busloads of school kids in the afternoon session. Anyway, it was really, really bad. They finally had a Z-break at 8 p.m. (he had to go over it twice, that's how bad it was!) after which it was much nicer.

I worked on the skills that Glenn had taught me, with a little time spent just stroking etc. Since the session was a little crowded it was kind of frustrating trying to practice some of this stuff, until I finally just went out in the middle of the ice and gave up on trying to be in the traffic pattern. That helped a lot. I worked on my 1/2 swizzle pumps on a circle for quite some time. Swizzling CCW with the right foot was easy, as I expected. Clockwise with the left foot was monstrously difficult, and heeding Glenn's advice I spent a fair amount of time on it until it felt pretty natural -- by which time my left knee, while not in pain, definitely felt a little exercised! I then worked on my glide for a while and made some significant progress although it's still not there yet. I'll need to practice more between now and Wednesday, that's for sure. I left the session pleased with my progress.

I had some time to speak with José a bit, who has his freestyle class (with Jennifer) the same time as my lesson. He's pretty neat, and I do like watching him skate. It's nice not to be the only male around. I also got to talk briefly with Dana, who I mentioned in an earlier post. I think I had mentioned I thought she was between 22-29, but the school list says she's 17. So much for my powers of observation! I also talked with some of the skater moms etc. I'm really enjoying the social aspect of skating although I don't really know any of these folks too well at this point.