Ice Doesn't Care--2nd Year Blogiversary!

Can't believe I made two years!  I thought I'd run out of topics after a couple of months, then I realized I  could  cover things so trivial no other skater would touch them…and, of course, pictures of cats.

So, what were my most popular posts of the last year (based on page views) ?

The Six Stages of Adult Figure Skating thanks to Lori over at International Adult Ice Skaters for mentioning it.

Judges--Thinking Positive. Apparently a coach at Bowie Ice Rink (I don't know who) posted it on Facebook. Thanks!

My favorite posts of the last year?

Types of Coaches

The Great Skate Bag Debate,

The most popular posts involving cats…

When I'm the tallest skater on the ice.  I have to admit, the punchline on this was a lucky find.

String Theory for Figure Skaters

So, do you have a favorite post? Waiting to hear about it!

My motto for every lesson is as follows:

Types of Group Numbers for the Holiday Show

Christmas is coming the goose is getting fat, time for the rink to do a skating show with hats.

Honestly, I always see a lot of hats at Christmas  Winter Solstice  Snowy Holiday  Winterval   Festivus Saturnalia  okay, at the rink show in December.

Also, Hats rhymes with fat, so call me doggerel lazy.

Anyway, I went skating today (45 minutes! 2 1/2 laps backwards!) and saw people out working on their programs with 3 foot long candy canes and decided to present a universal Holiday Show on Ice!

The Coaches Group Number

The Group number of a bunch of weak skaters and a star skater

The Group Number with the best costumes

The Basic Skills 1 class...
They get the biggest round of applause....

But the adults steal the show with a classic Adult Swizzle Train Number

Adults know how to shake it baby!

Also, adults know how to 'shake it' after the show too!

Finally, Back on the Ice

I made it to the rink today, and for the first time since the end of August I skated.

Back on the Ice!

For 30 minutes.

Yeah, when you're old, you lose your skills and muscles faster than when you're young. Another reminder that I'm another day closer to death....woohoo.

On the other hand, I'm off to skate again tomorrow unless the government un-shutsdown. I hope to make 45 minutes!

For the first 10 minutes my blades were all over the place but I quickly got back my stroking skills and just did some lap skating. Then I was able to do some russian stroking for a few times. I did a lap of the rink backwards, and then I.was.done.

Couldn't wait to get my boots off

Probably a couple of weeks of lap skating and I'll be back to the level I was before.

Lap Skating (updated)

After I recovered from my knee problem, I'd been off the ice for 4 months, and only poking around delicately at skating for 2, when I realized I had the leg muscles of yogurt. Now age and weight wise I'm probably at the extreme end of 'people who skate'. But I've noticed a lot of skaters (kids included) don't skate continuously. They do a few elements, then stop and do a few more. Only the most determined are continuously on the move.

So a couple of weeks ago I started lap skating. This means continuously skating, no breaks for an hour. Forwards, mostly, due to crowding on public. But if it's light, I'll go backwards.

When I get off the ice, I'm like this:

It's really exhausting

But on the other hand, after the third session, I was delighted that not only had my leg strength returned, but my power and  skating skills were better too.

The downside of lap skating is the tedium.

Hey! I'm passing the gate again!

But I notice that I now skate with more power and better confidence.

Hey! Going faster now!

The trick to lap skating is having a playlist to set the beat for your stroking if your rink will let you wear earphones. Run through your music collection until you find music that makes you do this:

Don't make it too fast. Remember you're in it for the long haul of an hour.

You can also check the Podrunner website for some free podcasts cut to specific beats per minute.

What am I listening to now? Some Queen, a couple of Kanye West songs, some Hans Zimmer soundtracks, and some workout music cuts.  Whatever you like is what suits you best.

Just remember there's only one rule for lap skating: Don't Stop!

Hernando's Hut of Skating Requirements--Adult Skater Party

If we go to Hernando's Hut of Skating Requirements, we find everything arranged perfectly for the adult skater: perfect ice, select coaches, masseuses, warming rooms, and also the perfect adult skating party.

So, earlier the adult skating party came up in the post on Birthday Parties at the Rink. This resulted in some discussion in the comments, and I've had time to think about it. Today I'm going to lay out what I think a perfect skating party would be like.

1. Saturday. Right before public. I have my reasons.

2. Lots of male figure skaters. So shoot me, I like watching men figure skate. Towards me, away from me, jumping, ice dancing. Whatever. I have a friend, the Big Guy, 6'3", 280 lbs. Beautiful edges. Skating backwards into a jump entrance, he's the sexiest thing alive. So must have guys at party.

3. Complete control of the music box by party members. No manager in some office somewhere running it like a public.

4. Ice resurfaced immediately before party time.

5. Large sign on the gate: "Private Party. No Kids Allowed." The gate will be closed. Hockey boys entering the ice will be picked up by male figure skaters and unceremoniously dropped back on the matting and the gate slammed in their face.

6. Guest Coach. This is tricky, as many of my skating friends are coaches already. So, figuring out how to hold a fun group class when some of the partiers are coaches, well, the only thing I can think of is make it a dance coach and let the other coaches be partners to the uninitiated.

7. Guess Coach must be happy and cheerful.

So, happy coach

NOT,  grumpy coach

8. Brunch after skating

9. Drinkies!

Not this kind of drunken revelry

More like, sophisticated revelry

And why do I want the party to be right before public? Because I want all the public skaters to see adults skating, having classy food, and sophisticated fun! They will ENVY us!

"Mary, I think we need to take skating lessons
so we can have fun like that!"

The Mystery of Freestyle Ice

I have 3 rinks within driving distance of me. These are their drop-in charges.

Rink A charges by the quarter hour--$4.50 a quarter. $18 an hour. (allows bridging)

Rink B charges a flat $10 an hour. (Bridging unknown)

Rink C charges a flat $14 for three-quarters of an hour. (And *no* bridging)

These are the 3 rinks' freestyle qualities.

Rink C has ice as hard as diamond, but more coaches than leaves in the fall, and freestyle hours coming out of the yin-yang. HUGE ADULT SKATER COMMUNITY...Did I say the ice was crap?

Rink B has 'okay' ice (it's sometimes rough, but not hard), but I don't know any of the coaches. But in addition to being the closest, it's also the cheapest. And ice times that are incredibly convenient. But NO ADULT SKATER COMMUNITY.

Rink A has DIVINE ICE. I know all the coaches. And two hours of freestyle a day at the most inconvenient times. HUGE ADULT SKATER COMMUNITY.

Outside: I'm all Hillary Clinton. Worldly, mature, aware that others are in pain and need my help and sympathy.

Madame Secretary

Inside: I'm 8.

Why can't I have cheap freestyle, near my house,
with coaches I know, with GOOD ICE!
And an adult skater community!

LIFE IS SO UNFAIR!!!!

Sorry, had to get that out of my system.

Figure Skating for Exercise

I met a woman M.D. last year who told me that she had been to a medical conference at Harvard. One of the conclusions presented was that the best exercises for mature people (me! me!) were figure skating and dancesport.

Yes You Can!

So I've been skating for a few years, and I have some experience that I'd like to write about.

1. Figure Skating burns more calories than aerobics-even more than step aerobics. Someone gave me one of those heart rate/calorie monitor watches for Christmas a couple of years ago. Figure skating, even just for play, consistently beat aerobics for calorie burning by 10-20%. I would struggle in aerobics to burn 350 calories in an hour, and end up with sore knees and hips. Just tooling along working on my stroking and figures, I'd easily burn 400 calories in an hour. Apparently, I'm something of a slacker. According to the Harvard Women's Health Newsletter, the calories burned per HALF-hour for women of the following weights are:

                              Calories burned per HALF HOUR

125 pound person

155 pound person

185 pound person

Ice Skating: general

210

260

311

2. Figure skating improves your balance, helping develop skills and coordination to prevent falls in later life. Lack of muscle strength and coordination are the leading cause of falls in those over 65. A broken hip in an older person is often a death knell. As much as 20% of older people with a broken hip die within a year. Half of all, die within TWO YEARS.  While skating helps maintain those balance and coordination skills, it also helps you know how to fall. This in of itself may help prevent serious injuries.

3.  Improves your endurance. The ability to exercise for extended periods of time is enhanced by skating.  The fact that the rink is cool encourages exercise because you don't get overheated.  Some medications common in the more mature athlete make overheating more likely, therefore a rink is a safe place to work on endurance without having that worry.

4. Skating is a gateway sport.  People who enjoy skating often take up other exercise activities in order to improve their skating. Someone who just likes to stroke around may take up yoga to help get a spiral. Adults who want better posture for ice dance may also do yoga, but also take up weight training. Improving balance may result in going to the Y to use the balance board or a class on improving core strength.

5. Skating improves your grace and movement. Because skating relies on your coordination and balance on ice, you'll notice that your off ice coordination and balance improve too. I actually had one of my doctors comment on this as I hopped down off the exam table.

6. Even with the falls, I've found skating less stressful on the body that almost any other exercise. When I used to do aerobics, an hour class would leave me with sore knees and hips. Skating the next day, would take that pain away.

7.  I took up skating because hot flashes were making it too hot to exercise in the summer. Solved that problem by getting on the ice. Haven't looked back.

I'm waiting to meet this guy
http://www.hivehealthmedia.com/benefits-exercise-elderly-study/

While researching this post, I discovered here, why mature (oh, let's face it--OLDER) women can't build up muscle the way men can (such as the man in the picture above).  Apparently, our bodies are unable to store protein in muscles after menopause. To counter this we need to eat more protein. The researchers recommended more meat and eggs in women's diets. They also recommended resistance training (called weight training over here).

So, no matter how old you are, even if you're no longer testing or competing or taking lessons, figure skating is STILL good for  You!

A Crushing Blow

I went to a new rink the other day for public. I asked for the senior citizen rate.

They.....they.....DIDN'T CARD ME!

Lake Placid Adult Skate Camp-- Part I: The Lay of the Land (updated_2017)

All Lake Placid Posts here.

UPDATED 2017


I've attended the LP adult skate camp twice, in two different years. They should be announcing the summer skate camps starting in February, so I'll prep you what to expect.

How to find out: Sometime in February, LP will announce the dates for its adult camp. In the past there has been one in June and one in August. I usually start checking the LP adult camp webpage in late Feb/early March. In 2017 the announcement was made in mid-March.

Housing: The camps take place in beautiful (but isolated) Lake Placid, New York. How that town handled not one but TWO winter Olympics, I'll never know. The town is small and expensive. It's also a tourist town, so it's casual wear all day. Even the upscale restaurants  allow casual wear.  There are hotels (expensive), athlete dormitories (you give up some of your privacy), and private homes for rent to stay in. The best deal is to go up with a group and rent a house. The most expensive is to rent a hotel room. I understand the athlete dormitories are reasonable, but I have no personal experience with them.

Travel: There are three ways to get to LP: car, train, and plane. I took the train one year when the Big Guy was still skating. From where we lived it was the same travel time as a car trip and it cost way less. But cars do have conveniences associated with them once you're in town, so it's a trade off. Last year two of the skaters in the group I was with flew in and rented cars. It's a long drive to the airport which is some distance away in Albany, NY. You can also fly into Saranac Lake--but that's expensive.

Signing up: The controller of the skate camp at Lake Placid is the Olympic Redevelopment Association (ORDA). When the camp is announced, you can go to the website and register online. The fee last year for the August full wee was $275. (In 2013 a 'processing fee' or $50 was added). That is just ice time and three receptions. That doesn't include lessons. Usually the website has an outline of what group classes they think they will hold. This is vague. Don't expect to see an exact list until you show up and sign in. (In 2013 a pdf of the schedule was emailed the week before).

Coaches: There are a number of resident coaches at LP, and ORDA brings in some guest coaches who are elite skaters.  Since there's usually an ice show during the August session, sometimes ice skating stars show up and give a group class. Jeremy Abbot showed up and gave an adult group class last year.   Ryan Bradley has also appeared. There have been some non-resident coaches who show up with a stable of students, and these non-resident coaches are sometimes available for lessons.  You can look on the Lake Placid website for coach listings. Many (but not all) of those coaches are available for Adult Skate Week. For example, in 2011 and 2012 I never saw Paul Wylie or Gregory and Petukhov coaching (but in 2013 I did) . Non-resident coaches are not listed here. You won't learn about them until the initial reception.

Tomorrow--Part II: Getting Started at LP Adult Camp

The Adult Friendly Rink

I've had good luck with 3 out of the 4 rinks I've called home. Those 3 rinks were adult friendly. One wasn't.

So, what does it mean to be 'adult friendly?'   I operate on a general definition that it means there's a number of adult skaters in private lessons, and a strong adult learn to skate program. Others may have other concepts. But to me an adult friendly rink has a community of adult figure skaters;  not just two or three.

Since I've been in and out of rinks for 5 years, I've picked up on little things.  Some rinks have a culture where adults are welcome; others don't.  I really don't know why some coaches don't like adult skaters--we're a revenue stream after all. If the coaches don't like adult skaters, well, it's just the way it is. But the adult skaters can still like the rink. Maybe it's the ice, or the cost, or the location.  It's an adult friendly rink, if the adults decide it is.

But the trick is how to discover if the rink is adult friendly at first sight.

Sometimes a rink makes it obvious;  the rink has an adult public or an adult freestyle on the schedule. That's an easy rink to call home. Almost certainly there will be coaches with experience teaching adults.

A second sign is Sunday public. I've noticed in rinks that are adult friendly, Sunday public skates tend to have a lot of adults in figure skates. I think this is because adults have a lot of stuff to do on Saturdays (trips to the bank, dry cleaning,  grocery shopping, stuff that can only be done on a Saturday). That leaves Sunday for the adult to do the fun stuff like skating. Go to a public skate on a Sunday and see a bunch of adults in lessons with coaches, that's a good sign. At my present rink, for example, there's 6 male figure  skater regulars on Sundays, and me. *

There are rinks that have a strong adult participation, but it's hidden.  If you are a beginner skater you'll probably be unaware of this adults in Freestyle until you get to Freestyle level. I was lucky enough at one rink to be invited to 'secret freestyle' for adults only, even as a beginner.  Ah, the good old days. I really miss that rink. But if a rink has adult Freestyle, you'll probably see adults skating at publics, since we have jobs, weekend publics are a good place for practice. If the rink has a lot of people in adult learn to skate, and they're consistent session after session, that's a good sign too.

The rink that isn't adult friendly can be easy to spot. I found one rink who had maybe two adults in figure skates on Sunday publics. One of them was an Adult Gold Pairs Skater, the other was me. There were plenty of dads in hockey skates teaching their kids, but adult figure skaters were few and far between. That doesn't mean there wasn't an adult population of skaters, it's just unlikely. I never saw them.

Adults that compete may have complaints about not being included in competitions. Or treated to a single class of adult skaters, as if all adults of all levels fit in there. Adults probably won't be included in the Christmas show. All signs of a rink that doesn't try to make its adult skaters welcome.

Can you take lessons and find a coach at a rink that's not adult friendly? Sure. You can develop your skills, find a good coach, all that. But if the rink doesn't have a community of adult skaters it won't be as much fun.

We're having fun. Come join us!

* Remind me to do a post on the invisible male figure skater.

Learn to Skate--as an Adult

In an adult group class, the 25 year old coach was teaching us to do lunges. The class is divided between people over 40 and people under 25. The under 25's do the lunge. The over 40's applaud and cheer them on enthusiastically. Then group coach has the over 40's do it. "Get really down in the knee!" she says to our half hearted effort.

The over 40's all burst into laughter. The young coach blushes. Charming Charlie says, "I can get down but I can't get up." I tell her, "Wait 'til you're 60. You'll look back on this day and laugh too."   Hockey Harold gives it a manly try, rams into the boards and pulls himself up. "That's not gonna happen."  Poor coach, stuck with a curriculum for kids and teaching it to adults.

Some weeks later came shoot the duck. This was introduced to us with great enthusiasm. The over 40's laughed again. We didn't even try.  (However, this doesn't mean that older mature senior adults  AARPC eligible skaters can't do it. I saw a woman in her seventies do a classic shoot the duck across the length of a rink. She couldn't do it every day, but she could do it, and do it well. And by the way, every one on the session burst into spontaneous applause.)

So even though I'm in private lessons, and I'm testing, I still take group lessons. What wonderful fun!

Members of the adult group have been skating together at this rink for several years. The rink doesn't use the adult program, but sticks with the kids program. We do Basic 1-8 not 1-4. There's a distinct advantage to this for the rink; Their coaches don't have to keep two separate programs in their heads. For the skaters there's an advantage too; We're learning the program as it's meant to be taught.

We're also fortunate that the coaches don't make us do every skill to pass. I don't jump or spin; The coach substitutes something else. The guys in hockey skates are reluctant to do spirals; no problem, do something else. This is really an excellent example of how an adult program should be run, with flexibility and innovation. Adults are there to have a good time. We don't have a deadline for our triples; We know our limits and we want to have fun while learning a skill. I've had some really good times in the adult Basic class.

Then one day, they passed me into Freestyle. Oh, I was miserable. I'm in Ice Dance, I don't jump. The class is filled with little kids wanting to jump and three adults who are also willing to try. I stuck it out for one round and went back to Basic 8. There's stuff I can work on at that level: waltz 8s, and back edges, and maybe even a lunge. I just didn't want to spend my time in Freestyle. In Basic 8 the coach can send me to a corner and let me practice dance stuff so I can get mid week ice time. I'm so not worried about getting my patch.

Surprise! Surprise! The new coach came in and said to those of us who had been in the program for a while, "You guys are ready for brackets!" So she taught us.

That's what I'm talking' about! A program that says, 'Not everyone fits in the USFSA mold. Let's keep the adult customers by acknowledging not everyone wants an axel. Let's have fun!"