This summer, it was extraordinarily hard for me to skate. Rinks slim down on sessions during the summer months, usually because it's not so profitable to remain open due to the hockey offseason. (Hockey rules the rinks out here, unfortunately, and the figure skating clubs have to fight for ice time.) There were no evening or early morning sessions from June-August, which are the lifeblood for working adult skaters like myself. So I found my goals thrown off by lack of access [shakes fist!].
But as of last night, the Tuesday night sessions are back, and I'm BACK IN THE GAME.
It was a productive session, despite the atrophy of my muscle memory over the summer. In the absence of on-ice practice in the last three months, I loaded up on yoga, with the hopes of increasing my flexibility. I'm not bendy and flexy by nature, and it has always been extremely difficult to get that leg up in those "look-at-my-crotch" moves that are so popular these days. Building core strength and flexibility has proven to be the best supplement to my skating at this time in my career, more so than endurance training.
Session highs: I started getting combinations back—nailed a 2toe/2toe on the first try. The feel of combos is different when you've been out of it for a long time. Takes a while to get the mechanics back, even though when I was younger I could whip them off without a thought.
Session lows: My lutzes are still flipping to the inside edge, and the snap that needs to happen to land the 2axel still isn't happening. I'm frustrated with the lack of progress on these two, but am chalking it up to not skating all summer...for now.
And I finally handed off my skates to be sharpened, after (gulp) almost two years. Granted, I only skated for a small portion of that time, having been red-shirted for much of it, and the blades were brand-spanking new when I started. But they were nevertheless dull and nicked and starting to affect some of my edgework. So I'm looking forward to a nice sharp blade next week!
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