Coachless

Last year, after canceling several lessons first for back pain, and then after the knee went 'kablooey' (TM applied for)  I gave my coaches notice. It's been several months since I skated regularly, and today I finally think I'm ready for a coach to get me back into shape.

Let me be frank, I'm a weak enough skater now with one bad knee, that  it's going to be a long, long time before I get on public again (unless it's a summer, noon public) so since both my old coaches could only coach me on public, I'm looking for a new coach.

Right now the thought that some slack-jawed jackass who thinks he's God's gift to hockey, but who can't stop without slamming into the boards, will run into me, makes my blood run cold. Ditto for little kids kneecapping me. Or a teenager who will grab me on their way down.  I don't want to go into injured status yet again.

The last lesson I skated on public was a nightmare. It was the rink where I skated with Cruella. Publics there had very few ice tourists. What it had were adults and kids practicing furiously, oblivious to other skaters.  Think of it as an overcrowded high level freestyle combined with a hockey game. Hockey learners practicing patterns,  15 people in the jump and spin area,  people jumping and spinning in the end zones,  hockey guys hogging the corner circles,  coaches on the boards with their little kids, little kids where little kids go which is everywhere. And the sessions were absolutely packed.  Aaaaaargh!

Cruella had me in fast crossovers on the center circle, and no one is paying any attention to the fact that I'm going fast. I have my eyes moving, keeping on top of what the 14 other people inside the cones are doing, when a little girl skates into the coned off zone, directly in front of me and

falls...

Right.

Where.

My.

Free.

Foot.

Is.

Going.

To.

Land.

Ever have that moment where your brain has sent a signal to your leg, and your limb has started its action, then you need to change that action, and your. body. will. not. respond?  My brain is screaming to my leg "don't step down! don't step down!" but the "step down" message is first in the queue.  I can't override the "step down" message in time. We're talking fractions of a second here.  Fortunately, I was then strong enough that I was able to extend the crossover so that I didn't step on the little girl, but my blade did brush her jacket and I actually had to step over her in the cross!

When I think about it, I can still see that little pink jacket and feel the blade touch it. I don't think I could pull out of that step down now. And I'm not going to put myself back in that situation.

So freestyle skating only for me for now!

Creeping Up On a Skill

It's not supposed to be like this.

I tend to creep up on skills. I learn a piece of it here, and a bit of it there, and then with hours of coaching, and endless practice, suddenly I have it. And then I wonder why it took me so long to get it.

Right now (yet again) I'm creeping up on FI3. Yeah, I've been able to do these off and on, but I've never felt anything other than lucky that I could do one. And only at the boards. I've had some close calls too involving near death experiences---well, it seemed that way to me then....

Noooo! Noooo! I'm falling! I'm faaallinnngggg!

Then tonight, I realized I could actually feel the rocker as I turned, and I could shift myself from the back of the blade, to the front of the blade consistently without going up on the toepick, then stay at the front of the blade as I glided backwards. It was an interesting moment. At the beginning of the lesson I'm all flingy, then zip,zap, thunderclap, I'm on the rocker and kickin' rocker ass.

Still need assistance though (hold my hand Coach Cruella, please) so it's debatable if I'm kickin' rocker ass, or it's FI3 is kickin' Babbette ass. But, I'm creeping up on that skill a little bit more.

To what do I owe this marginal increase in my FI3? It's a slightly different approach to doing the turn.

I used to try FI3 the freestyle way with the leg extended. Then Coach Cruella told me to do it the dance way, with the toe tucked and the legs in closed position.  Closed position in this case being to keep my legs together like I'm protecting my virginity.

So, stroke onto the inside edge, hold for a slow two count, tuck the foot into the closed position for another slow two count, turn. To me the feel of the rocker only came through when I held the tucked position for the slow two count. I had time to get comfortable on the blade and in the right position. rather than just turning when my upper body was ready (which led to flingy 3's). Now I can get on the edge, get in the turn position, and turn. But the part where I'm supposed to go down in the knee on the back edge is problematical.

So I've 2 of the 3 C's: Control, Consistency, Coach holding me up after the turn. Sigh.

Anyway, now that I can feel the rocker change--and control it--I'm thinking complete FI3 may show up any day/week/month now!  

Making friends with FI3

Or I'll be blogging about it next year!

New Blades, Old Challenges

I took my new blades and skated on them at freestyle then immediately went into one of Coach Cruella's group edge classes. Fortunately, group class was exactly what I needed, forward inside and outside edges with the leg in front and back. It was nice to have a half hour of relaxing skating where I could get used to my new blades in a disciplined fashion.

As usual, Coach Cruella stood in the center of the circle dictating our every move.

Achtung! Skate! SKATE, I tell you! Forvard inzide edge, foot in front, NOW!

Yes, our own little edge nazi.

And she's just that cute too. And not much taller.

 So what happened in privates? Well, since they were new blades she made me demonstrate stroking forward and backwards to make sure I was balanced. It turns out that going backwards, my left foot is not pushing as strongly as my right. So with every stroke I had to chant OUT LOUD, "Left side push, Left side push." to get my left foot / leg to push stronger.

Eerily, it did work.

But, despite my stroking weakness, man, I loves me these blades going backwards.

It's really easy to get in the right position with knee and ankle bend so that I'm skating with upright posture, and for the first time going backwards I don't feel like I'm about to fall on my tuchus. 

Like this Cistercian Sister at Nuns Skate Free day at the rink.

Somehow it seems mean for the Benedictine Sister to be getting a good laugh out it.

May I touch you?

A long time ago, I had a coach who on my first lesson said, "Don't be shocked. I'm going to need to touch you occasionally to correct things. Is that alright with you?"

I come from a performance family. It's normal in singing, dance, and the theater for directors to touch you to position your arms, legs or move you physically around. Even when I was showing horses, the trainer would occasionally need to make an adjustment to my leg position, or my saddle while I was riding, or even boost me onto a tall horse. So, I'm comfortable with instructional touch.

Apparently, there are people that aren't.

Anyway, I gave the coach a stunned look. That's a look that can go both ways; Either, 'You're going to TOUCH me! Horrors!!!!', or 'You have to ask?'

The poor coach seemed to think I was going for the "Horrors!" version. She was looking uncomfortable so I gave her a grin, "Don't grab the tatas and we're okay." We got along famously after that.

In Ice Dance, there's a lot of instructional touch. Dance Coach used to shove bits and pieces of me around like a kid playing with a doll. "Arm here. Leg here. Shoulders back. Head turn THIS Way. Now skate like an ice dancer!"  I'm better now. The last time I remember an instructional touch was when he pressed one finger down on my left arm to put it in position on top of his right arm in waltz hold. Then he frowned at me with significant eyebrow action so I would remember to press my arm on his. I think the eyebrow thing is supposed to hypnotize me.

You will remember correct waltz hold arm position--will you not?

When  we start the pre-bronze dances I assume the doll-like shoving around will begin again--only backwards.

Cruella though, is in a class by herself. Not only will she reach in and move my arm during a turn, but a friend of mine told me she would reach in and correct him while he was in jumps!

Let me fix that arm position

The Torture Edge

For the last two weeks Coach Cruella has had us working on edges inside and outside, forward and back, facing out of the circle!

The first week is forwards facing out of the circle. I'm not adverse to skating forwards facing out of the circle. I had a Czech national champion coach once, who taught me to do crossovers facing out of the circle. I like to use it as a kind of warmup to get my edges and body position neatly in place. The challenge is to put your back solidly on the circle, with your arms on the circle--yes, while facing away from the center.

Then Cruella adds a special twist, she has us look along the back arm while going forwards. Well, this opens your chest more to the outside, and makes the whole thing immensely harder!

What good is facing out of the circle?, you ask. It's not on any tests as far as I know, and seldom gets exercised. (Edit) As was pointed out by commenters, it appears in tests as part of more complex steps. Let me rephrase. As a stand alone element, it doesn't get tested, it is a developmental skill for the hard stuff to come. (Stand by for further edits if that sentence is wrong too. Sigh. I hate being a beginner.End Sigh.)

Skating on edges facing out of the circle is a good way to do two things:

a. Build upper body, lower body independence. This helps you learn to keep your legs operating independently of what your upper body is doing.
b. Improve your edges.  If you can get on an edge and glide there, the hard way, you'll find your edges facing in the circle are much much easier.

(edit) c. Get ready for back 3's and the evil 8 step mohawk! (Thanks Anonymous 1 and 2!)

I'm actually doing the forwards stuff pretty well. I've done it before, and sometimes if he's feeling generous Dance Coach will let me do forward crossovers facing out of the circle in foxtrot hold (although I don't know if there are any dances where the girl takes this position).

The next week, we do backwards edges in Cruella's class facing out of the circle.

Let's just say there were a couple of occasions where I skittered backwards across the ice completely out of control, but on the other hand,  after half the lesson was over, I could get my back solid to the circle and glide along backwards. As long as I can see myself in the boards, I seem to be able to do it. Once I'm relying on muscle cues: no clue.

This is where Coach Cruella introduces the "torture step".

Face out of the circle. Glide backwards on two feet. Take a back inside edge and extend the free leg behind the skating leg and out of the circle. Keep gliding.

Think of doing  a back crossover, hold the inside edge, extend the free leg under the skating leg and hold. Now do that facing out of the circle.

Facing backwards. With your back solid to the circle


Congratulations. You've just done a "torture edge".

My feet still hurt too.

Psychic Cruella

Coach Cruella can read my mind, or look into the past in her mysterious crystal ice ball.

I have a problem with hitching my free leg coming out of 3 turns and mohawks.

She gave my what for in lesson. "You're spending too much time practicing near the wall. That's why your leg hitches on the back edge. You are not allowed to practice near the wall anymore."

I can't look you in the eye

Anyway, I got in the habit because when I'm going backwards, I'm afraid of running in to someone, so I stay at the boards so I'm out of the way.

But today, I did my turns out in the middle. 

It's creepy how she found me out though.

The Sweet Spot (Edited)

(Edit) I had a lesson with Coach Cruella a week after I wrote this post. I found I'd misunderstood her in a lesson, so now I'm correcting this entry.  Yeah, it's a little confusing that I'm editing an old post, but I didn't want to leave a bad process floating around on the net.
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So I'm still working on smooth, swoopy mohawks with Coach Cruella. I can occasionally get these on my own, but they're not to the level of Russian Freestyle perfection that Coach Cruella wants. This week, I'm a little bit closer.

So, I've written before about Coach Cruella's pedagogical method for teaching mohawks to adults.
1. Start from a T position, with the weight on the back foot
(edit) 2. Check the forward shoulder by moving the forward arm in front of your chest (I think of putting it over the boob)
3. Bend the knees so a metaphorical basketball (!) can be held between them
4. Push off with the back foot (the strike) onto an inside edge and onto the 'sweet spot' of the forward skate.
5. Skating forward (the checked shoulder will do this for you), bring the free foot to the arch of the skating foot while going deeper in the knee (edit) and check the forward shoulder.(end edit)
6. (This next part I DO NOT HAVE consistently yet) turn the skating foot (Edit) As a result of the check, the skating foot will turn inside the circle. Step down with the free foot, and sort of push the skating foot away while  placing the free foot on the ice, while going down in the knee some more (!). (edit--after I started doing step 5 correctly, I now have the step down for the mohawk solid)
7. Raise the arm that was formerly in the checked position. Smile for the audience.

I've left out all the stuff about leg position that we worked a whole lesson on.  This is not something you can learn from reading a blog post.

Anyway, this week I finally figured out about the 'sweet spot' she was talking about. I figured it out, because I was leaning to far forward in step four, the strike. Cruella fussed at me and made me do the strike over and over. If I was leaning forward she told me I was skating on the ball of the foot, which left me no place to roll forwards.

So, the 'sweet spot' in this case is towards the back of the foot, but not at the heel. For me I feel it's just under the back of the arch of my foot. My body is nicely balanced with good posture (don't look down). I can hold my free leg with nice extension going into the mohawk (exiting the mohawk--still have issues), and I can get a nice 'x' on the ice where the exchange of feet takes place.

Then we started improving the exchange of feet, by turning the first skating foot inside the circle before I drop the exchange foot in.

I got nuzzink for that unless I just get lucky.

I've seen people learn mohawks in a single lesson. I've been working on these for weeks. Mucho frustrado. (Edit from a week later--not frustrado anymore!)

Does this never end?

The Achy Breaky Foot

Some people are gifted in skating. They can learn even complex skills in 3 or 4 repetitions. The may not be smooth, or graceful, but they've got the basics down.

I take 40.

Coach Cruella has a very methodical way of teaching edges, and particuarly turns. It's very structured and appeals to my need for rigor. She starts with step A and works through to G or F or Q.  I like this approach as it allows me to break a new skill down into pieces. By the time I've worked through the whole thing, I'm really solid and able to enter the turn even with a bad entry, or do things with leg and arm positions that are 'off kilter', or do it dance style vs. freestyle style.

I've found that it takes me about 40 repetitions to get the first few parts of a turn until they're at the 'don't have to think about it' stage. Then maybe another 40 reps, to get the last few skills habituated. But often that last arm position--everything I do seems to have an arm position thing at the end--eludes me.

Coach Cruella just reaches in and moves my arm while I'm moving. Aaaaaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!!! Nerve wracking!!!

Usually when I'm learning these new skills, I'm anxious (the whole falling thing) and I tense up. After the first few repetitions my toes are numb and my insteps are aching like they're on fire, which brings brings us to the point of this post. Cruella's recipe for fixing this is to bend the knees and raise the toes. Apparently, when stressed, people crunch their toes and this restricts blood to the arch of the foot, causing that achy breaky foot.

It seems to work. Although as the lesson goes on, I have to do it over and over. As I get comfortable with the skill, I usually stop the toe clenching and my feet feel fine.

So, in summary, to help with the achy breaky foot caused by tension not a boot defect (pain in the arch)

Stand on two feet. Bend the knees. Raise the toes in the boots. It will take a few seconds.

Hope it works for you!

Man, I've got like 4000 repetitions to get those CCW back edges. My toes will see the top of my boots plenty of times!

Decepticon on Ice

Since I started taking lessons from Coach Cruella, I've skated deeper in the knee than ever before. It's really improved my skating. More power, deeper edges, greater stability.

Then, I get to back edges in waltz hold. Butt neatly tucked, down in the knee, looking at the right place over Dance Coach's ear. I'm mentally patting myself on the back. Then Dance Coach says.

"Deeper in the knees."

I goggle at him a bit, but just like a well trained dog I go deeper in the knee. At this point I feel like I'm about to sit down in a chair. I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm not chair sitting deep in the knee, but I'm deeper than sitting on a bar stool deep in the knee. Depressingly, I realize that 'deep in the knee' is the great deceptor. I have no clue where I am in knee bend after a certain point. Maybe because I'm a 'mature' skater, or maybe it's some defect in my head wiring. Don't know.

So for me, knee bend is the Decepticon of ice dance. It's never what I think it is.

Remember the Decepticons? And the Autobots? Transformers, remember those? From the 80's? Oh, and there were some movies too.

Anyway, what I need to do is skate like a red-eyed Decepticon, and not like the good guy blue eyed Autobots. My proof:

Decepticon

All the Decepticons are like this. Good knee bend. Lots of cool weaponry.

Plus, they convert into cars.

If they were smaller, and nimble, minus the weapons, they'd probably be able to solve the male ice dance partner shortage.

Sad. They're the 'bad' guys. But can they do choctaws?

 

And here is one of the 'good' guy Autobots.

Note that he/she/it/whatever is as stiff in the knees as a first time skater in a pre-Alpha class.

Oh, and yellow--so 1998.




So Decepticons can skate. I happen to have some video of one skating at a top-secret test facility. And it is a Decepticon. Note the red eyes.

Listen, I'm so desperate for an ice dance partner that I'm trying to convert hockey players by telling them it will improve their hockey. At this point, I'd skate with a Decepticon....plus he could drive me to the rink!

Biting My Tongue

"You need to hold on to me harder." Dance Coach said.

It's been decades since a man said that to me, popped into my brain but I wisely decided it wasn't the time for even mildly naughty jokes, so I just said, "Okay." We'd been skating in Killian and I'm occasionally casual about the strengh of my pressure on his hand on my right hip. Dance Coach likes my left arm straight and firm across him, and my right hand strongly pushing his hand onto my hip. I  like to just lightly rest my hand on his, which is a no-no. He wants strong connections.

This week, he's all yappy about my power. Or my speed. Or my ability to keep up. At one point in the lesson he abruptly skates away from me while talking. I call out, "Whoa, slow down." He glances over his shoulder, "No, you speed up."

I narrow my eyes. "I'm elderly!" I whine as I try to catch him. All I get for that is laughter.

I Canna give you more power, Captain.

 

 

 

 

Anyway, at this point I have to assume that now that the whole 'more power' thing is raising its ugly head yet again, he's emphasizing my holds because when we're skating fast, I'm pretty much a side of beef being driven around the rink.  Okay, that's an exaggeration. But I intuit a strong hold makes it easier for Dance Coach to lead me in the dances and keeps me tucked in neatly in the right position, so he can stop me from falling in the event I catch a toepick.

Or my legs collapse in exhaustion.

We zip through the first half of the Canasta Tango on public then a kid runs into him.  Dance Coach  recites the Russian alphabet under his breath to keep from swearing as we skate back to the starting point for the CT.  When he explains this to me, he asks, "Don't you have words like that in English? So you don't swear?"  I didn't have to think about that. I was brought up in a strictly non-swearing family. I've got dozens of non-swearing  expressions. I pick out a couple. "Geeze Louise." I said, "And Fudge." As I step into Reverse Killian hold I hear him murmur, "Fudge. I get that." I take a deep breath before he starts counting. "I never use it, of course." There's a snort from Dance Coach; if I'm frustrated I've been know to tear off some fearsome full metal jacket swear words.  This always shocks him. According to a skater I know, who is a fluent Russian linguist, Russian men don't like to hear women swear.

Too late.

The second Canasta Tango, at first only one rep, goes smooth as silk. There's absolutely NO YAPPING! I even get praise for my presentation glide. The third time around, we do the dance in full test pattern. I briefly see myself in the glass. I'm not 'hinching', and during the presentation glide my butt's not sticking out.  I takes improvement where I find it. Even when I can't see myself, I know my posture is right because I can effortlessly push my shoulders back lightly into Dance Coach's supportive left arm.

I have to give Coach Cruella some credit for that posture improvement. While Dance Coach has told me how to get my posture and practiced with me; Cruella manhandles me into the right position.  Cruella just reaches in while I'm skating, shoves my hips around and makes blunt woman-to-woman comments about how to place my chest that no male coach would ever dare do. So, one guy/one woman coach, working out for me.

We do a few more elements from other dances. I am able to do three turns in waltz hold consistently, and my forward and back edges in waltz hold rate approval and only one comment--"sit down on the edge, more". Okely-dokely.  

So, I didn't learn anything new today. But I got approved to test in August.

Finally.

I'm going to nail that dance.

The Mohawk--Again

I really want to get my mohawks smooth and....well, I can't say 'sexy' because with my short legs I look like a frog when doing a mohawk...so I want smooth and not awful. How about that? Good enough goal?

So Coach Cruella eyes my mohawks. All I can say is after my 'bad fall' I've got mohawk PTSD. She's been working on it for a couple of weeks. I don't panic, and I'm more comfortable, but not smooth, not safe.

For my case, Cruella's approach is start in a strong T-position, assume the depth of kneebend to hold the 'basketball' between the legs. Make sure the hips are pointing forward, not turned to the side of the back foot. (Open hips or closed hips? I never can get that straight) Put my weight onto the back foot. Stroke onto an inside edge, hold it, bring the free foot forward to the inside of the arch of the skating foot while going deeper in the knee, then go even deeper in the knee while looking in the direction you're skating towards. Switch feet and simultaneously bring the back arm slightly up, go deep in the new skating knee and keep the chest up.  * And make sure the new free foot is in the 7 o'clock position.

Oh, and there's the not falling part going on too.

Yeah. That last fraction of a Mohawk. Like this

*There may be one too many 'deeper in the knee' in there someplace.

The Invisible Partnership

I have fallen into a perfect partnership between my ice dance coach and my edge coach. And yet they've never met. If they were to meet and form an instructional team, they could probably write their own tickets with adult ice dancers. Yes, together they're that good, and I'm that lucky.

I'm perfectly satisfied with the way Dance Coach teaches me. He focuses on the dance skills, and works to get my basic skating skills, particularly power, up to par. I chose to go this route because fixing my basic skating skills was getting dead boring. I had so many things wrong; I needed something more than just relearning stuff. I needed a motivation.

So I told Dance Coach I wanted to test. Since then he's focused on building my skills around the dance tests. As I wrote about in an earlier post, learning to ice dance is a good introduction to skating.

So Dance Coach is my Macro coach. He's teaching me dance skills and how they fit into a pattern dance. Rather than learn going around in a circle, I'm learning by going the length of the rink, developing my skating skills and my stamina and power at the same time. The lessons are not boring. They are full of variety. It keeps up my interest in skating.

But with Coach Cruella I get a Micro Coach. She is quite willing to work me on a single element for 20 minutes.  Her lessons are focused, exacting, detailed,  and fun. If this was all I was doing, it might be boring. Instead, because her skill building is improving my ice dance, I'm immediately able to translate her coaching lessons directly into my ice dance.

source

So, Dance Coach is directing me into the skills that have me sweeping across the ice, changing elements with every stroke, building into skills that have me covering the ice with power and fluidity. Coach Cruella is taking elements and breaking them down to the atomic level so that I develop ever precise control over every edge, rocker position, and posture element.

Over the last two months since this invisible partnership formed, my ice dance has leaped forward. Dance Coach hasn't been this happy about my skating since the Big Warmup. My edges are nice and even the scary left inside swingroll has become a deep and powerful curve. My posture is now natural and erect. My power has improved. There's still things to be fixed. There's no perfection in figure skating; but I can see a future where I can get the outside mohawk and the choctaw--and the rocker too!

Rocker Foxtrot

What can I say? I fell luckily into a great partnership with two coaches who don't know each other and never met each other. Right now I feel like the luckiest skater in the world.

The Strike

In my old figures books, what we now call a push off or even just a push, used to be called 'the strike'. Doesn't that have a powerful sound?

"Set up for your strike." the older coach said, "You can absolutely dominate your opponent with the quality of the strike." He paused drawing on his pipe, while his eyes darkened with memories of figures past, "Do it for America."

So begins the never to be written figure skating novel dealing with with the vicious competition at the 1960's Olympics cold war fought on the figures ice. Yep---that's a best seller.

Dick Button

 Anyway, Coach Cruella is not the only coach to lecture me on my strike, but she's the only coach to keep after it and get me doing it correctly.

I know how to do a strike. You set up in the T push position, then put all your weight on the inside edge of the back foot. As little weight as possible should be on the front foot.  Bend your knees and push off.

Only, it never worked for me. I would be hunched and bend forward, or my kneebend wouldn't be enough. Good posture is necessary so I can get the weight on the back skate. Hunched over, or bent forward meant no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my weight solid on the back skate. So in previous posts I've discussed Coach Cruella's rules for getting good posture:

1. Put 'the girls' on the table
2. Shine the headlights (in my language 'assume the position of the sitting trot')
3. Pinch your shoulder blades towards each other

Good kneebend is necessary to get a good push. She introduced her one rule for kneebend with the hyperbole:

1. Bend your knees so you can hold a basketball with your legs

Unfortunately, I'm naturally more of a bend your knees so you can hold a whiffleball girl myself. What she's trying to get accross to me is that I need a lot more kneebend than I think I do. It's been hard to make the basketball mindset a habit, unless someone is there eyeing me. I know it's the right thing to do, but my body forgets.

Not long ago I had a bad fall doing a mohawk. The kind of thing where I thought I wouldn't get up from without two coaches lifting me.  But after I stopped sliding on the ice, I clawed my way up, and skated away from it.

"You fell," Coach Cruella told me, "Because you didn't have enough kneebend on that first push."

Right. I'm permanently motivated. That fall was scary. BEND THAT KNEE! EVERYTIME!

Now I have the upper body positioned so I can put my weight solidly on the back skate, and the kneebend so I can hit the sweet spot when I straighten the back leg. The strike is looking good!

Power and control together. Perfect.

Power! Performance! Booting Out!

When I told Coach Cruella that Dance Coach had said some time ago, "You're not ready," for progressives, she got down and cracked the whip. It was progressives, progressives, progressives for about 10 minutes during a private lesson. I got a few right, then I proceeded to practice passionately in order to perfect proper progressives.

Feeling like Oliver Twist I approached Dance Coach during our next lesson. "I think I'm ready for progressives. We've been doing them in group." I said.

Please, sir. May I do progressives?

 Let me tell you, when someone 30 years younger than you puts on their professionally attentive face--it's just the cutest thing. This is the fun of being old, I've seen everything, now I get to have fun with it.

"Tell me more." Dance Coach said.

He  had me demonstrate how Coach Cruella introduced them with the grapevine. This appears to be the standard way, because I got a grunted "Good." Then, I did them around the circle. I now have the rhythm of them, and after I've got a few under my belt I can actually roll onto the side of the free foot in the underpush. Technically this is not booting out as it's the free foot, not the skating foot. "Not any power there." I said.

He's looking happy and pleased. "High five!" he says, "Power will come."

What's the moral of this story? Well, practice helps. And developing your edges also helps. I don't think 6 months ago I could do them. I tried them once then instead of crossovers, but Dance Coach said, "Not yet." But a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then. I'm pushing myself, Coach Cruella is pushing me and it's working.

We rock through some dance skills. High fives are raining from the skies. I think my inside swingrolls only deserve a high two, but what they lack in power they make up in depth of curve.

The rest of the lesson is dance, dance, more dance. The Nasty goes okay. It's the usual Hockey Boy Tango with the crowds, but I have some power in it now. Not Dance Coach power, but more than I had a few weeks ago. Not bad power for 'the elderly'.

Then we did the Rhythm Blues. Remember I booted out last week on the first go round? Well, I did it again this week! I'm just going to plan for it from now on. I'll tell Dance Coach to expect me to boot out the first time around so I can get it out of the way and not have to worry about it for the rest of the lesson!

Edges forward and back in waltz hold go very well. And now that I'm deep in the knee my butt doesn't stick out. So, stylistically major gain!  Work on the step/cross behind (whatever) in the Cha-cha. This is the only place in any dance I've ever heard the words firmly uttered by Dance Coach in his 'safety voice' "NO EXTENSION!"

No extension, I can do that!

Progressives

Three more discouraging words I've never heard: You're not ready.

When I asked Dance Coach to teach me progressives he shook his head politely and said, "You're not ready."

Okay. Not ready for the axel? Sure. But progressives? They're just a slidey kind of crossover and he actually called two of my crossovers (out of thousands) "Beautiful."

A couple of weeks ago Coach Cruella introduced progressives into the edge class. I know what you're thinking. It's a Cruella vs Dance Coach Smack Down!

In the Left Corner. Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Dance Coach. Expert in footwork, stance, rhythm, timing, choctaws, stroking, musicality and teaching ice dance.






And in the right corner, we have Coach Cruella. Leader in teaching adults edges and jumps, developmental skating skills, and breaking bad skating habits.




And in the Middle Corner we have your hostess. Wringer of hands, faller on butts. Scaredy cat of the Ages. The ICE DOESN'T CARE BLOGMISTRESS!

Yes, I am just this cute!

Coach Cruella has an interesting way to introduce progressives. The student does a two foot grapevine and then bends the forward knee, while the under leg pushes out. So both feet on the ice, the right foot passes in front of and past the left foot, bend the right knee and straighten the left leg so that you get an under push. Bring the left foot out from under, and do the exercise in the opposite direction.

After a few go rounds with this warm up exercise, we students get in the circle and do progressives 'for real'. Stroke, set the free foot to the side of the skating foot, then pass the free foot (which is now on the ice)  ahead of the skating foot. At this point, the weight change is supposed to go from the skating foot to the free foot. The initial free foot now becomes the skating foot, and the initial skating foot becomes the free foot. When this happens, the former skating leg extends under the former free leg and gives an under push.

When the weight switch happens, it's supposed to be like a light switch. The skating foot becomes the free foot and vice versa just as the free foot passes in front of the skating foot.

Except it's not happening with me. I can do the weight switch, but the timing is off. And the under push is not a push, so much as it's an under leg.

And the winner is?

Dance Coach. He's right. I'm not ready.

Coach Cruella's technique works with the other student who has progressives in 15 minutes. She also has knees 30 years younger than mine. That's my story. Anyway, even with practice I can't get the under push. Apparently, for some reason I'm leaning out of the circle. I also did this when I was learning crossovers, so there's some bad habit in there too.

Sad face. Well, it's another skill to practice and another life challenge to overcome.

The Sixth Sense

Everyone knows about the five senses: Sight, taste, hearing, touch, smell. We use these everyday. But we have a sixth sense, and not the one that pops up in horror movies. It's the sense of where the various parts of your body are. It's called 'proprioception'. Broadly, it's the ability to know even with your eyes closed, where the relative position of your body parts are to each other. For example, close your eyes and ask someone to move your hand. Do you know where it is? Of course you do. That's proprioception.

When I used to ride horses, I wore spurs. I had a trainer who told me to wear them because  "You always know where your heels are." That's praise in riding circles. I never jabbed the horse with them, I just used them for subtle cues when doing equitation. It's an art to ride with spurs.

You'd think with skillz like that, knowing where my feet are when I skate would be easy. It turns out, that  I have no clue.

More than once I've had a coach say, "Your free foot is in the wrong place." I cheerfully confess that especially in mohawks, I know that the free foot is pointing inside the circle.  Where it is relative to my skating foot--no idea. Ahead at the toe, back at the heel, where? Where?

So Coach Cruella has me doing exercises where I get on a strong inside edge, then move my free foot to mohawk position (while simultaneously going deeper in the knee) then hold it.

And hold it. And then hold it some more. But not do the turn. This is a position exercise, not a turn exercise.

She does the same for my free leg with the three turn exercises. I stroke, hold the leg in the extended position, then go down in the knee, again, again (for the outside 3), but again, and again (for the inside 3).  My job is to hold that edge, hold that posture, hold that extension.

This is pretty effective, especially with someone there the first few times  to point out where the free foot is going wrong.

After about 10 minutes of this work on threes and mohawks, I have a much more refined sense of my foot position. It's hardly a miracle cure, I'll need to practice this many times for it to become second nature, but it shows that focused practice can have immediate effects on my basic skating skills.

Whoa! Too far back on the heel! Bend the knee!

Troika!

Today's Russian: Troika!--three turn

Taking a lesson from Coach Cruella is a little like drinking from a fire hose.

I could make a whole week of posts from the group and private lesson I take from her one day a week. Right now I'm going to talk about her fixing my 3 turn.

Cruella Says:

So I have three turns that are minimally flingy. As long as I'm under Dance Coach's thumb, he's had me doing them the Ice Dance Way: with the free foot tucked up to the skating foot heel. This is because you're skating with a partner and kicking each other or stepping on each other is a Bad Thing.

So Coach Cruella brings out the Magic Marker of Doom. I cringe as she draws out a half-circle slightly smaller than the half circle at the net end of the rink. Then she draws a line at each third of the half circle.

"Skate the circle, then go down in the knee----" Insert mad scientist laugh here, "deeper each mark. And do a three turn here." She points to the third mark.

Bear with me here. I'm a beginner skater, with historically weak three turns and fear of learning new skills that have a backward element in them. What expression do you think I had when I started this.

 

Was it this one?

Coach Cruella takes my hands and supports me around the circle.

Start with a T-push, down at the first mark, down at the half mark, down at the third mark..... TROIKA!

I've had some opportunity to practice these by myself a few times, and I'm getting the hang of them. I've heard of mythical 'three turns that do themselves' . And I've been told down-up-down hundreds of times. In my limited experience with this method, the three turns do turn themselves (but I have to get REALLY down in the knee) and the down-up-down motion seems natural rather than forced.

So the pros--beautiful three turns, stable with just a half hour of practice.

And the cons--I need to enter with a little more power than I'm used to. A little scary there until I get comfortable with them. These don't work for me if I have too little power.

Mental Rehearsal

Taking a lesson from anyone can  be overwhelming. Move the body here, twist here, hold the arm here, don't do that-do this, BEND THE KNEE, hold the leg up, pputyourrighfootin, puullyourleftfootout, shakeitallabout. .......

This is my brain

This is my brain on skates

 This week between Dance Coach and Coach Cruella, I was mentally swamped. It's easy to lose track of everything in a lesson, especially when you're a beginner like myself. Losing old habits while building new ones requires a lot of effort, probably more than most adults can find ice time for.

Fortunately, there's a way to solve this. I'll call it Mental Rehearsal.

It's an hour each way for me to any rink I skate at. So to use that hour usefully, I've developed some habits of mentally rehearsing what I'm about to do (on the way up), and what I learned (on the way home).  Driving to a dance lesson, I put on my dance music and mentally go through the steps. Driving to an edge lesson, I review what I learned last week; driving home, I review what I learned this week--and attempt to merge it with previous lessons.

Back when I was in the Air Force, the trainee pilots I knew had a procedure called 'Chair Flying'. They would sit in a chair and mimic a training flight they had scheduled. Although they were physically pretending to flip switches, making radio callsk and moving the stick, the actual rehearsal was all in their head. The rule was "Ten in the Chair, is worth one in the air."

If you watch the Olympic skaters before they go on the ice, they'll be stepping through their program, or they'll be standing with their eyes closed. In both cases they're mentally reviewing every stroke, gesture, twirl, jump and stop. Mental rehearsal really works.

Secondly, taking a private lesson is something like drinking from a fire hose. How I envy advanced skaters who only need to tweak a skill. I have to construct my skills like a single person building a castle, one brick at a time. My lessons are filled with corrections, skill upgrades, moves etc. I need the mental rehearsal immediately after the lesson to retain all those little skills. The silence of the car allows me an opportunity to review each skill we went through, and every technique I was taught in the lesson. No distractions of the radio, or music on the iPod. This is focused learning, not just running though a checklist. It's best when you can feel the muscles as you mentally think about the moves. It takes effort and concentration to get to that level of Mental Rehearsal, but it's worth it.

So my 3 rules are:
1. Review skills before the lesson
2. Review the lesson after the lesson
3. Review in a quiet environment.

By the way, Coach Cruella Reads My Blog!

My Goal Card

I was deeply affected by a group lesson given by a coach at Lake Placid when she started her mohawks class with a motivational speech. "Basics are critical." She said, "I'll get a student in who comes and says 'I'm having trouble with my flip.' Then she'll do this..." The coach stepped into an awkward forward crossover. "And I have to say to her, ' Whoooa! Maybe we should step back from that flip and work on your crossovers."

I don't want to be that student, so absorbed in some advanced element, that I don't realize that I don't have control of my basic elements.  I suspect that coaches casually eying a skater look at those skating skills with a critical eye, and rate that student accordingly.

My GOAL for now is nailing my skating skills solid. No excuses. No spinning in the corner. No self absorbed pursuit of 'fun' in skating. I want to be a skilled skater. A REAL skater.

Coach Cruella and I started private lessons this week. I want to improve my skills, but as I'll post tomorrow, sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to fix bad habits and relearn stuff. So I took 10 minutes and created a 3x5 card with my skills on them divided into sections. I think this is a worthwhile exercise for anyone in any sport or long time endeavor. I gave it to Coach Cruella for her reference.

I divide my skating world into four divisions: Weak Skills, No Skills, Goal Skills, Improvement Skills.

Weak Skills
Mohawks -- I have the hoppy ones :-(
Back Edges--lack of power
FI3--can only do them from a stop
Back Cross CCW
FO3 at speed

Improvement Skills
Power
Crossovers--The Twinkle Toes Maneuver isn't consistent
Back Chasse'--Short, no power
Swingrolls -- Extension needs to be higher
Checking
 
No Skills
BO3
Choctaw

Goal Skills
Rocker
Counter
Bracket

I plan to lay out a chart to track all my skills from the most basic to the most complex so I can treat them like a process chart. Unfortunately, my experience with figure skating is most books are worthless, and the DVDs are jargon filled and require you to already know what they're talking about. Maybe if I can break each skill down into a chart, I can get a better mental grip on them. This Goal Card is just a start.

Deeper! Deeeepppppeeeerrrrrr!

Coach Cruella has a small all adult (all women too) class of skaters wanting to improve our edges. Her spin class is full of the fanatics that like to get high by using centripedal force to brush their brains up against the interior of their brain pan, but in the edge class, there's only us 3. And one is a woman in hockey skates. (We're on the ice during the Learn to Play class. Based on the number of women in hockey skates in that class, Learn to Play is the new place to meet guys.)

Coach Cruella's approach to skating is much like every other coach I've ever had, get down in the knees. But she enforces it.

Her first lesson to us was stand in front of the boards and look in the glass. Then we had to mark where our noses were in the reflection. Then we bent our knees until the top of our head was at the line where our nose had been. That, she declared, was how deep our knees should be.  And when we skate, she makes us stay there until we whimper.

This is what her class is like:

Down in the knees or a puppy dies

It's a solid half hour of deep knees, using the hips as headlights, and resting 'the girls' on the table. Then this week she added pinching your shoulders back until it hurts. I may look beautiful on ice, but right now I feel like a soldier in a corset.  I ache when I get off the ice.

In the last lesson we learned how to get our back edges.  Her approach was to re-teach us how to do backwards pumps. I apparently pump to the back of my foot. I'm supposed to pump so that the outside foot comes to the font part of the inside foot (does not cross ahead of it). And it works! I'm on a well-balanced outside edge! It's not a miracle, but it's one advance over my awkward back edge issues.
Now if she can help me channel my inner Maia Usova, I'll be happy.

I'm the one on the left, going "Huh?"