Ice Quality

The first thing I do when I get to the rink, is check out the ice even before I check in with the desk

Just cut, nice  refresh, glisten of new skin on the top,
no standing water,  Excellent.
I think it will do

If I'm lucky, I'm the first person on the ice,

Then the manager gets up to his office and turns on the music.

Please, God, NO! Not the Rock Station!

Good ice spoiled.

Graduation Hell

This week I ran through my FO3 for Miss Bianca and she pronounced herself satisfied. They're far from perfect (I've got some checking issues) but they're strong and consistent.

Hooray! I'm moving on from FO3!!!

Then Miss Bianca said, "Let's work on you FI3."

You know, lady, give me more than 3 seconds of happiness before you introduce fresh hells into my lesson.

Anyway, she had me start doing FI3. I'm all ass over teacup.

Welcome to FI3 hell.

Then she ran me through two footed brackets and back threes.  If she'd asked me to do them one footed, I'd have said no.

But I know what's she's thinking.....

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!