Bloggable Moment! Power Pulls

I skated up to Gold Skater and said, "Hey, am I doing real power pulls?"

Because, normally I'm a Level II power pull skater. I do snakebelly wriggles and an occasional 'real' pull with edge change and speed gain (or at least no loss of speed). Or I think I'm doing a power pull but they're really just wiggles. I call these "deception pulls". My coach calls them "not a pull".

Snakebelly wiggles
There's no real change in edge

I start at the middle and skate to the boards. No loss of speed. Edge changes. Always just a little sense of danger.

Gold Skater nods. "Yes that's a real power pull with assist." (The 'assist' is that I hold my free leg out from my body to increase the impetus.) "Try it with your free leg close to the skating leg."

I admit the 'leg away from the body' is a beginner's power pull, so I give the 'grown up' version a try.

"You did it!" Gold Skater says. We high five.

"Now," she says, "Do the other leg."

The 'other' leg is not quite as graceful, but it's a real power pull that doesn't fade out,  and has clear edge changes. And also, that sense of danger.

"That's good too!" Gold skater says.

We high five again.

Two years I've been working on these! Two years! Finally!

And when my coach sees them she'll say, "Okay, it's time to work on your back ones."

How to survive an injury

I went on a trip for business, and during that week Out Of The Blue, I developed iliopectineal bursitis.  I don't want to scare you, but this is the kind of injury/inflammation that can end a skating adventure. When rising from a chair or a squat, I would get a stabbing pain in my left groin, and the leg would collapse (and once  it collapsed while I was just standing in place).

If this doesn't get better on its own or with physical therapy(these usually works) there's limited options and a patient can end up needing a cane if cortisone and surgery don't work.  Fortunately, once I got home, it went away* and my doctor recommended ice alternating w/ heat and prophylactic NSAIDs before I skate.  So, it was with some trepidation that I got on the ice today. You know what I was thinking...

 Since I hadn't skated in a couple of weeks, it was a rough first fifteen minutes after I got on the ice, but I got the feel of skating again, and just started practicing all my old bugbears. My skills were just fine. When I was in the center doing two foot spins: They were amazing--solid, centered, on the right place of the rocker, no hesitation, four rotations, with nice exits. I don't think I've ever felt that good doing a spin. And my bad side mohawks were fine, and my hips didn't hurt at all.

But just to take care, I only skated 45 minutes. If the problem comes back tomorrow, I may have to seek medical care...again.

Then, in preparation for writing this post, I decided to do some research and came across this quote:

"The iliopectineal bursitis is frequently associated with hip diseases, such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and sports-related injuries, especially when the pre-exercise warm-up is not performed adequately. It can also be secondary to pigmented villonodular synovitis, osteochondromatosis and pyogenic bursitis." source

Well, I guess I have to get serious again about doing my pre-skating XBX again!! I'd slacked off, and now I'm paying for it!

Well, yeah. Faceplanting at a 400 person conference will do that to you

* (I think the source of the problem was the SUV they rented. That thing was a tank to drive)

Skating Falls

What I want it to be like

What it's really like

That penguin is a cold little ninja

Kids on Mid-week LTS practice Ice

What the adult skater practicing spins wants on practice ice--
Empty Space and Silence

 

What the Skater Gets--
A Sea of little kids

What happens--eventually

I have a Choctaw!

Okay, it's a figures choctaw, and only one out of 8 (back outside), but it's solid.

Dance Break?

Sometimes....well, according to my coach, *all* the time...when I need to loosen up I'll take a 'dance break'. Tunes will hit my ears from the loudspeakers and I'll do some poppin' and lockin', or maybe even shake my booty. My coach doesn't like this. She'll give me a 'professional' look. You know, it's a slow stare with a sigh.

Yes, this is the 'professional' stare

I'm quite happy to smile back and keep on bustin' some moves.

Then last week my coach had a new student. He's about five and like all five year olds, he's adorable. When his lesson was over, my coach skated to me to start my lesson.

"You know what my little student did?" she asks. Of course, I shake my head.

"He stopped in the middle of the lesson and says to me 'Dance Break' and starts dancing to the music."

Then coach gives me a long suspicious stare. I can read her mind, 'Did you teach him that?'

Everytime, I think of this, I gotta smile.

The Glove of Shame

In yesterday's post, I used the term "The Glove of Shame" and if you've never heard it, you may wonder what that is.

The Glove of Shame is when your coach takes off one glove, holds it in one hand and tells you to hold the other end. This is supposed to demonstrate you can do some skill on your own, and don't have to have their assistance.

Why use the Glove of Shame? Usually it's when the skater is afraid of doing a skill, but is fully capable of doing it. The skater is also about five and is very, very gullible.

The glove is supposed to give the skater a psychological boost. "You did that crossover and I wasn't holding on to you, you can do it yourself! Give it a try!"

But, once you are old enough to understand the meaning of the picture below, the Glove of Shame loses its mystical power that  it holds for five year olds and you'll just roll your eyes at the coach.

All you know is that as an adult, once the coach shows you the Glove of Shame, you are the one who needs to get over your own damn headgames....with yourself!

All Back Edges All The Time

My coach decided my last lesson would be all back edges.

It used to be when my coach had me do back edges, I was all whiny when I had to repeat them.

But now, I'm all enthusiastic, tough, and ready for repetitions. Every time we finished one line of back edges, I'd skate hard and fast back to the other side of the rink and start over. I'd look at her and say:

Yeah, this sounds like I'm all successful and everything, but I'm not.
1. I can't do a push off with my left foot worth a darn
2. I'm great as long as my coach lets me hover my hand over her arm. I don't even have to touch her, just hover a fraction of an inch above her coat

I know what you're thinking: gurl you got yourself psyched out.

So true, so true.

The problem is, I can back stroke just fine...back edges all by myself -- pretty sucky.

I suspect the next thing we'll do  is she'll tell me to hold her glove....like I'm five.

I'm not real thrilled with the Glove of Shame myself...

Shame! Shame!

Yesterday, my coach, Miss Bianca, spent the whole sessions working on my back edges. We were working on the line next to the short boards when I took a fall backwards. I rolled over onto my knees and dug my toepick in when I realized I had slid so I was only a couple of feet from the boards.

You know that moment when you're tired, and old, and fat, and just want to grab the boards to pull yourself up? I had one of those.

I started pulling myself to the boards,....

When suddenly, Miss Bianca  whipped demonically fast between me and the boards, spread her arms and blocked my way...

"I am not going to let you shame me!" she said.

Really? I'm going to have to put my hand on my knee and push myself upright and everything?

Why My One Foot Spins Go Wrong...(Edited)

I lean out of the circle....then just my head leans out of the circle...

Or my shoulders twist....or I look down...look up...too far to the side...

Or my feet are too far apart....or the toes aren't in the right position....

Or I enter the spin too fast...too slow...too early....too late...the wrong arm forward...

Not to mention that when I hold my arms out in a hoop they aren't hoopy enough but to the left.... or the right....

Right now, to spin I get my hands/arms/shoulders positioned by grabbing my jacket zipper with both hands as I spin, squeeze my gut in, don't look down (look straight ahead), point my toes in, don't bend forward,  and then....

And you know what happens? I find another way to do it wrong!

When You Need a Sharpening

When you slip like this....

 Not Yet

When you Slip like this......

It's Time

When you slip like this...

Too late!! Too Late!!