On the edge

I don't really like this photo of me from last night, but I am happy with the depth of edge and body lean going in to the Blues Choctaw:



I still don't have good enough muscle control to make the actual weight transfer happen seamlessly. My left thigh muscles still fatigue too quickly as I go into the turn. I feel I am still building control and strength from after the surgeries.

And this was fun - presenting the awards to the Championship Adult Ice Dancers at the Pacific Coast Adult Sectional Championships where I was chief referee:

Travels With Skates

Puddles in Chicago


I shlepped my skates through 4 airports on my week-long business trip -- Portland, OR; Chicago; Portland, ME; and Philadelphia -- with high hopes of skating in all of those places. An unfortunate heat wave in Chicago reduced the outdoor rinks to puddles (as seen in the photo above on the right). Had I been in town just a week earlier I would have been able to skate there.

In Maine, the indoor rink had just closed the week before as well. Philadelphia, my last hope, was open for business.



I skated the adult session at the venerable Philadelphia Skating Club and Humane Society, the oldest skating club in America. The ice was my favorite kind, gray, on sand, and there was a mirror at the end of the rink which was great fun. The ice was uncrowded. Unfortunately I didn't get to skate much because the locals wanted to chat me up, but when I did get to skate I had the ice to myself. There are no barriers at PSCHS, so it's a bit disconcerting to do certain steps near the edge of the rink. I didn't step off the ice onto the mats but came close on a TR twizzle!

My Spirals Drop in for a Visit

Since surgery, I've been lamenting my lack of flexibility. One thing I really miss is my spirals. I used to have nice spiral positions, for an adult. No, dammit, I had nice spiral positions period. Not great when compared to, say, Nicole Bobek or Sasha Cohen, but they were nice for a reasonably flexible skater.

I've been working on my spiral position off the ice and since the surgery could only get my leg to "almost hip level." There is really nothing uglier than "almost hip level," and of course "hip level" is the minimum requirement for a spiral to be counted as a spiral. (Even hip level is not the most beautiful position, let's be honest.) I looked like a constipated goat.

I haven't done much stretching lately but nevertheless today I went to my weekly yoga class, which I missed last week, and without any warmup at all attempted a spiral position in the studio. (I was all alone with a mirror before class started ... what would YOU have done?) And, progress! I looked like a constipated goat with one hoof just millimeters above hip level. The other leg was the same.

I also had a great yoga class in which many things were better than usual. So perhaps I have had a spurt of post-official-two-year-PAO-healing-period healing that has improved my flexibility a bit. Or perhaps this was just an anomaly and tomorrow it will all be but a memory. Stay tuned.

Not a spiral ...

Hip in the desert

I felt great about our hike at Joshua Tree, where I scuttled up, down and around the boulders for a couple of easy miles with no hip pain.




At the end of the day, I was feeling ... well, fabulous.


The next day I dropped in at the Desert Ice Castle. It's a new facility and geared for public sessions and elite training. I skated the crowded public session. The rink ambiance is zero to none (no windows, just a metal shell really with few amenities). The temperature was warm and the ice was a bit melty but after all, this is the desert. I am happy that there is now something fun for me to do during our annual vacation when the rest of the fam is playing golf.

Blast from the past

Skating on the canal in Ottawa in 2000. It was about -5 degrees Fahrenheit that day!

...

The Argentine Twizzle appears to be here to stay. I did several succesfully today and they seem to be pretty consistent and I can almost do them at speed in the dance. In honor of my accomplishment, I treated myself to a few pieces of my favorite candy, thankfully fat-free which I know does not mean calorie-free, that I keep in my desk drawer for just such occasions.

My rhumba choctaws were also much improved since Monday's lesson with Coach John in the Bay Area. He is the best coach ever, period.

Now back to my candy.

Off-Ice Edge Trainer

I've had a few comments on the Off-Ice Edge training device. I'd like to provide some information. First, a caveat ...I have no connection to this company other than owning and using their product. I do feel that this training device helps simulate some of the core training taught by figures/patch in years past. While actually skating figures would accomplish the same thing better and faster, most skaters don't have access to regular and frequent patch ice and instruction.

I wrote the following about my experience with the OIE for the Oregon Skating Council.

When my husband presented me with an OIE unit for my birthday I was skeptical, and didn’t “find the time” to try it out. It sat in my basement gathering dust.

Meanwhile I was struggling to rehab and re-learn how to skate after surgery. On the ice I no longer had the muscle strength or fine motor coordination to hold decent edges. I was frustrated and considered quitting skating.

Finally, I hauled out the OIE unit and DVD and decided to give it a try. I put on my skates, climbed on the OIE, and watched myself “skate” in the mirror.

I am a visual learner and had no idea what I looked like on the ice. It was kind of gruesome the first time I looked at my posture and alignment in the mirror. I could clearly see where I was out of alignment and what was causing me to have problems on the ice. I was able to experiment with different ways to make the corrections in my body and instantly see what happened in the mirror. I could feel the edge happening on the OIE platform. I got on the ice the next day and although I was still weak and uncoordinated, I could actually hold a true forward outside edge for the first time since my surgery.

I started using the platform a couple of times a week. Within a month, my coach (who I didn’t tell about my off-ice activities) noticed much improvement. I wasn’t spending more time on the ice but the time I did spend was much more productive since I was training off the ice and using visual reinforcement of correct alignment which translated to muscle memory on the ice. Off the ice I was training my core, hips and pelvis (the parts that were damaged by my surgery) to work correctly so that they responded more automatically on the ice.

I still have a long way to go, but I will continue to use the off ice trainer to speed my improvement. I see the changes in the mirror and I feel them on the ice. I am bringing this to OSC because if it can help an out of shape grandmother to regain some function, it can certainly help take our young athletes to the next level.