Greensboro 2011

Thanks to my friend Laurie for this great shot of Maia and Alex Shibutani, Championship Free Dance, at the U.S. National Championships in Greensboro, NC. I am judge #8 (right in the middle between "AT&T" and "2011").

I consider it a privilege to serve as a judge and was honored to have the best seat in the house as our talented skaters showed their stuff. Thank you Greensboro for my new addiction to grits and sweet tea!

And down ...

...as in falling down. On the judges stand, before my first event at Nationals on Sunday morning.

Last year I was just off crutches from PAO#2 and had a cane at Nationals and could barely walk a block. The year before I was pre-surgery but also had a cane. This year I am walking normally, no cane, looking like a pretty normal person, reassuring everyone that I am just fine. As we were walking out to judge the first event I missed a step on the judging stand, fell down, and land on my hands and knees in front of a pretty large audience. Of course I twisted my ankle, so I LIMPED to my seat. Good thing I know how to limp with style and panache!

Before the splat I had been reassuring people who asked that I was just fine and needed no assistance. Geez! All of the times over the past several years I judged with a cane and once even on crutches, I never came close to falling down. It's so ridiculous. Luckily the IceNetwork cameras were not turned my way and big TV is not here yet; perhaps some lucky fan caught it on video but I sure hope not.

I have been super careful on the other events because if I fall down again I will just die of embarrassment!

And up ...

After doing some hydroblades over the past week I seem to have irritated my psoas, which is not entirely unexpected. So I'm laying off them for now and concentrating on less glamorous tricks which are in fact not even tricks, but basic skating.

I had hit a plateau on some of the formerly (pre-PAO) easy maneuvers - in particular FO rockers and stepping forward from back crossovers to the inside of the circle. I have been really concentrating on just doing these things and not jumping ahead to do the fun things like twizzles and patterns of the Rave. I've also really been working on my lazy glutes off the ice. Due to the lifelong dysplasia they have never fired correctly and now I am forcing them to work, so that my other muscles don't incorrectly take up the slack. Today I had the ice to myself and really saw improvement, although I am sore. I touch down with my free foot much less frequently as my skating muscles get stronger, although I still use training wheels when turnout doesn't happen.

Some of the things I struggled with 4 - 6 months ago I now do easily, such as LFI 3 turns and the Starlight mohawk section. I am still skating very slowly for me, but my speed has increased and I don't think I look like a slug. Maybe a turtle!

Friday is my last day of skating and lesson before 9 days at Nationals, so I hope to show Coach R a lot of improvement.

Today ...

Hydroblade down AND up.

'nuff said.

Onward to 2011 ...

For me, 2010 started on crutches and has ended with a hydroblade (well, half a hydroblade - I can get down and hold it but can't get back up ... yet).

2009 was a year of surgery; 2010 was a year of recovery. I hope that 2011 will be a year in which I think about my hips less and less, and eventually not at all.

For 2011 I am not planning any surgeries or trying to fit my life in around physical therapy and crutches. I don't have any looming doctor appointments. My x-rays are in storage.

I am looking forward to a front-row seat at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Greensboro, NC next month. I am on the panel for all of the dance events from Novice to Championship. This will be the last competition I judge this season after a very full schedule. I am grateful that I am able to sit in the cold through an entire event without hip pain. (Some of the events at Junior Nationals went on for hours, with just one potty -- uh, Zamboni -- break.)

For those recovering from PAOs or preparing for surgery in 2011: it's going to be a long year, but when it's over you will have your own story to tell.

Happy New Year!

A holiday gift

This morning the rink was almost empty, so I decided to try some things I normally don't do on crowded sessions. I've been trying to do a hydroblade on my (stronger) right leg; something I used to do pre-PAO. I just haven't had the strength to go all the way down and usually get stuck half-way down. Today I just went for it and was able to get down and hold it for about half a circle. I could not get up (no surprise, that takes a lot of quad strength) but was already practically sitting on the ice so just fell.

I have been trying to get all the way down for several months. Now that I can do it, I will work on getting back up. Perhaps that will be my birthday present in March!

If you are a skater with hip problems (FAI, dysplasia, arthritis, traumatic injury, THR, PAO, arthroscopy, resurf ... you name it) and want to connect with other Hip Skaters, I have started a Yahoo Group called, believe it or not, Hip Skaters. I have met so many people who referred others to me, and I put them in touch with other skaters with their same problem. I wanted to build a forum where everyone could connect with each other without me in the middle. Skaters have special rehabilitation needs and desires. Please join our group if you can lend your expertise or if you need support.

Hippy Holidays to All! Terri

Learning to Cheat

Now that I'm done whining about the claw, here are some of the things I've done on the ice this past week for those skaters who are curious. I have started to compensate more with my upper body to overcome the lack of turnout and have found some new ways to cheat which are even more wonderful than what I used to do pre-PAO. I am also still compensating for some strength deficits.

Yesterday I did some hard stuff:
~FO and FI triple twizzles
~Twizzle from our old free dance (with arm overhead)
~Inside and outside rockers from Jr. MIF (RFO rocker is still the tough one as the left free leg doesn't want to come through correctly yet)
~Starlight Waltz solo (first time I have gotten through the entire thing solo; still no flair on the closed MO - thank you claw - but I was able to do the 3 turns into the MO and then the mohawks down the ice on the back end - the stepforward from LBO to RFI has been impossible until last week and now I've learned to cheat it)
~Rhumba choctaw at glacial speed
~Cha Cha Congelado solo
~Ravensburger waltz solo at slow but not glacial speed with all twizzles

And also the stuff that is easy for everyone else but hard for me:
~Alternating FO 3 turns (The 3 turns are easy, the stepforward has been difficult but I've finally learned to use timing and momentum to cheat it - still scratchy though)
~Back crossovers then stepping forward from the back inside edge onto a forward outside edge (a choctaw but one of the most basic moves in skating and something that has taken me a very long time to learn how to cheat - can now do these at about half speed)
~The three turn move from the adult pre-bronze moves test (I can finally do this; had major issues with the LFI 3 turn for a while until the strength came back in my left leg. Now the 3 turns are easy and I can now finally step forward from BI to FI with a lot of compensation in the upper body for lack of turnout)
~Blues choctaw now up to about 1/2 speed (I don't have the strength in my left leg yet to really bend the knee at the start of the LFI lobe, so it's difficult to come up from that and rebend into the turn. Instead I tend to stay down and then can't stop the rotation very well, especially with speed)
~Power pulls (getting stronger but still shows exactly where my muscles are weak)
~Stopping (almost don't have to think about it which is amazing considering I couldn't even do a snowplow stop from a crawl a few months ago)

And that's today's report.