Labor Day Skating Marathon

Since I had the day off, I went to coffee club and then stayed after for the public session for a while. In all I was at the rink for about 3.5 hours, with time out for lunch and a Z-break. I'm wiped out.

I talked with the skating school director today about the curriculum issue (Basic 8s vs. Adult) and she said it's perfectly fine for me to talk with Glenn and ask to use the Basic 8 curriculum. Yea!

During coffee club I mostly worked on backward skating. Linda gave the lesson today and we worked on the backward stuff with the other student in the class, but I have so far to go that it was a little frustrating. Until I can do better at getting a backward 1-foot glide I am going to have a hard time with the other stuff. We also spent some time working on the turn and she reinforced what I've been doing. I asked her about spotting the turn and she said that was a good technique to use.

After the lesson I continued working on my backward skating. I'm finding that since it's hard to work on backward skating at the public sessions (unless it's not crowded it tends to be a hair-raising experience), I work on it whenever I have good ice time, like coffee club and such. I am still fighting my tendency to lean forward.

After coffee club I had some lunch and then joined the public session. It was somewhat crowded, but not too bad -- more crowded than I'm used to at night sessions, but not as bad as the Saturday afternoon zoo. I worked on the same old stuff. My CCW turn is getting pretty good, so I spent a lot of time on the CW one with mixed results. I also worked on my right-foot glide with only modest results. I'd like to think that someday it will feel as secure as the left foot, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

I was struck today (as I have been in the past) by the little skater girls who like to work in the center ice. They are obsessed with spins, which they practice over and over. That's all well and good, but I can't help noticing that most of them have really poor form and don't do the fundamentals very well -- pushing the toe pick when stroking, leaning forward like hockey players, etc. Sheesh! First things should be first.