The Thrill of Speed

Faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.

--Hunter S. Thompson

At the beginning of the lesson Dance Coach said, "Today, I shake you up."

 

I hate moments like that.

Fortunately, once he explains, I'm all smiley face. All he wants to do is alternating crossovers in Killian hold.  I do these solo  all the time. 

Then comes the shocker. He wants to do these at speed. And not what I think is 'speed', but what Dance Coach thinks is 'speed'.

My idea of speed

Dance Coach's idea of speed

And ladies and gentlemen, I nail it. 

It's taken a year plus, to get to this speed. It's not 'kid speed', or 'competitive speed', but Dance Coach told me it's much better than 'adult speed'. And it's speed with good edges and posture. Where this ends I don't know. Maybe here:

I'll have blades of dilithium crystal

The only amusing thing is, Dance Coach skates me to the very end of the open space, then since he's on the inside, he peels off to the center, leaving me to work out how I'm going to stop without slamming into the boards. Technically, I suppose I'm supposed to skate like a nice little partner, and stay with him.  But as he releases me from hold, just holding lightly onto one hand, I just stop how I want. There's probably a rule for this, but /shrug/ if I've been told it, I forgot it.

Did I ever tell you I have this funny looking stop at high speed? Drag one foot into a two foot turn, slide backwards and do a backwards stop. I can't stop on a dime, but I'm in absolute control of where I'm headed.

The first time Dance Coach ever saw me do this, his jaw dropped. Now he just ignores it. Today, he skates me into the corner more than once and I don't have time to do my beautiful T-stops. Crossovers, swingrolls, waltz holds, I turn and stop backwards. I hit the wall once, but I do  my best to make it look like a casual slide into the boards, so I can pause gracefully with my hands resting on the edge, to glance up at him and ask, "What's next?"

I'm in complete....control

Canasta Tango is looking good. We do a single pattern to warm up, then the dance as it would be for the test.  No yapping. Dance Coach is looking awfully smug, so I guess I'm living up to his expectations.

Then Dance Coach says, "I think we may have you do a little entrance into Tango."

I'm so excited, I can't wait. I can really ham up a Tango. "So, where's my music so I can practice?" The test is in less than a month and I paid him a month ago for the music cut. We had this conversation two weeks ago and there's only 4 practices left.

For once Dance Coach looks sheepish. "I forgot. You need to remind me."

I'm now supposed to text him and remind him. I guess I'll send him the picture and message below.

Please, don't forget to cut my music

 But, still, I'm all excited about skating entrances to my dances. Excellent! Something to have fun with.

And I have speed that's much, much better than old lady speed. Lookin' good!

Take Care of Your Feet

I'm lucky enough that I don't have really bad feet. I have a hockey coach podiatrist, so for those rare occasions when I have to see a podiatrist, I have one who skates.
Lucked out there.

What does he emphasize for daily foot care?

Moisturizing my feet.

Happy Feet!

The best time to do this is right after a shower or bath. As for product, I've not had good luck with stuff squeezed out of a tube. Too thin. Moisturizers work by blocking water from evaporating from the skin. For my feet I don't want something that wears off in a heartbeat; I want something that will stay on my feet.

I've found Burt Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Cream to be excellent. I also use a Bee Bar from Honey-House (online only). In third place is Bag Balm. The first two of these have just the right stickiness to stay on the feet long enough to do some good. The last is not perfect, but good in a pinch (mostly because of the smell).

As for trimming calluses and keeping my toenails trimmed I've found that an industrial strength cuticle trimmer does double duty. It takes a bit of time, but I've got perfect control of whatever I'm trimming. Like most old ladies I have toenails that could be used as construction material, regular toenail clippers are pretty useless. Cuticle trimmers allow me to put more power on the nail I'm cutting and precisely cut even small calluses.

A nice pumice stone is also useful for occasional use during a shower or bath.

When I'm skating I like to put some regular moisturizer on my feet and hands. Here I use whatever I buy in a tube from the dollar store. I think this keeps my stockings from sticking to my feet, and the moisturizer does keep my hands feeling nice.

This moisturizing, trimming, and pumiceing  prevents problems like impacted sweat glands. It's one of those things that is just part of good health habits.

It pays to take care of your paws--er--feet.

The Awkward Phase

I'm at that awkward stage. Too fast for public; Too slow for freestyle.

Freestyle skater

Public Skaters

Me: not fast enough for freestyle, but look at that posture and edge!