Pain, The Great Instructor

Saturday morning, that means get up early and get your butt on the ice!! well, for me any way. So dispite the fact that i fell asleep sometime between twelve thirty and two- i have no idea when i actually fell asleep- I got up this morning at six thirty and dragged my self to the rink again. I did it for the love of Axels, but I didn't get to do an Axel today, but I had fun any way.
I did all sorts of warm up moves for the Axel. Outi added a new one. she has been having me do a two footed sort of a 180 hop on a circle, I guess today I was jumping high enough she let me do 360s.it was fun, like my roller blading days again. Apparently though she normally wouldn't let me do that on the ice unless she had seen me do it off ice, but I had built enough confidence in her in my abilities to safely perform this task that she let me. she even said i could do it next week when she is not there as long as i warm it up off ice first. normally that is a no. However, and this is the first time in my life I have reached a level to be told this, I am not to even attempt the Axel if she is not there. Well, obviously, I haven't done the Axel off harness yet, so there is no way I would have even considered doing that!!! but someday I will be there. So any way, we did that, and some back spins and then we were possibly going to do the Axel.
Now, here comes into play the title, Pain, The Great Instructor. My arms were being crazy and above my head as usual today, so Outi decided to strap on me what are called "Champion Cords" they are basically thin bungie cords with a carabener attached at the bottom and a loop to put around your hands. you carabener the cord which is wraped around your skate (through the between boot and blade part) and then you strap the loop on your hands. what this does, is forces you to know where your arms are because it creates tension. i had to skate laps like this, and it wasn't a big deal at first, but then my shoulders started to burn. We took them off, and voila!! my arms were less stupid, and more in position. can't accomplish that without a little pain. later on, pain instructed me again. we never got to the axel, because I tried to Hockey stop without turning side ways. This is called falling on your butt, Hard. but the worst part, I didn't tuck my arms, so i landed on my hand funny and luckily just bruised it. I got to spend the rest of the session doing sit spins because of that. so Pain taught me today- put your arms in the correct place or you are getting the cord young lady!! as well as, turn your skate blades side ways when you are trying to stop, and tuck your arms when you fall moron!! Yay for learning!! I love skating. Rock on!!

Axels, Awesomeness, and Falling On My Ice

So every Saturday, I wake up at 6:30 am (well, I'll be honest, when I am finished with the snooze its seven) and drag my tired bottom to the ice skating rink ten minutes away. I start out every single time wondering why I am even awake, and why i even want to do this. I pull out my skates and remove the soakers (they are the cute soft fuzzy things skaters put on their skates so that the moisture on the blade gets soaked up and doesn't cause a rust/mold problem for the blade/boot. Mine have butterflies on them). Then i take my cold feet and try to shove them into a foot molded tight cold skating boot. it never feels pleasant, because you should really warm up the skate a bit first before you put your foot in. then i start lacing up my skates. it usually takes me a bit to get the tongue in the right place, and my foot in the perfect spot it has to be in- because the skate was molded to my foot. then trying to get the laces tight enough, well it never happens on the first go, because when the boot does get warmed up by my feet, then i have to retie them tighter any way. So now I have managed to get my skates laced up, I grab a head band, my skating jacket, gloves- one grey, one pink, so I can tell right from left, and my water bottle and then i head out to the ice- usually about 5 minutes late (sorry Outi!!).
Outi is my coach. She is supper awesome and from Finland. Sometimes she coaches me partly in Finnish. Today I learned the word for pink, and then I forgot it, so i can't tell you, sorry. I get out on the ice ( I love the smell of the ice, cold and crisp and refreshing- starts to wake me up) and do a quick warm up, edges, edge pulls, cross overs, cross strokes (pretty boring and i am a bit grumbley to this point), and then I start my favorite- jump ladders =). I love Jumping it is the best thing in the world. Jump ladders are basically starting out with the easiest jump you know (a waltz jump for me) and then working your way up to the hardest (so far a Lutz). Outi is trying to teach me an Axel (a 540 taken off and landed on one foot for those who don't know what that is), so when I finish my single jumps I start doing a jump combo ladder. Basically that means i do all the jumps again, but as soon as i land each of them i instantly spring back up like a bouncy ball and add on another jump, in this instance the loop (a loop is a jump where you take off from back wards on one foot and just sort of hop into the air and turn, difficult but loads of fun). When I finish that, i start working on a back spin and some other foot work things to help me with my Axel.
My goal in skating for the past 18 years has been to learn and get the Axel jump. 18 years!!! holy cow!! I have a lot of determination to eventually finish goals when I make them, but sometimes it takes a ridiculous amount of time. any way, so today Outi had me do a Flip-Loop (jump combination, too difficult to explain. maybe i will add some video) and i was going pretty big, but i kept getting too far back on my landing for the Flip. I fell hard on my butt, i fell correctly, but it hurts to sit now. I did eventually get the Flip-Loop, then I did a Lutz-Loop almost perfect on the second go, so we moved over to the harness to begin our Axel work. A harness is basically a pulley system so my coach can set me down when I do my Axel wrong and I don't have to hurt myself falling. its like training wheels for figure skaters learning jumps. Doesn't really work for spins, which is a shame because i am a bad spinner.
Any way, I started working on my Axel, and it was AWESOMENESS to the max!!! I was jumping so high, and it felt more like flying than any other jump I have ever learned. (that is why i love to jump, its like flying!!!) I still need the harness one more week before i loose the training wheels, but i am quite certain this will be my favorite jump when I get it!! my arms are still being funny, and sometimes my foot, but Outi is so good to force me to get the technique right that its going to be amazing. When I finally get it, and get off the harness, I hope all my friends will join me at the rink some morning to watch me do an Axel- the coolest single jump in figure skating, and a result of 18 years of hard work and early mornings for me.
watch this video on basic figure skating jumps, it will make more sense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbfRRXHqLm8&feature=relmfu
Axel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFGLGFv8Mu0
Flip jump: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zb8C7lnYVk
Lutz:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNmTZlo0tc8&feature=fvwrel
Flip/Loop combination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nw-6nAE93c

updates, and ferry commutes

so, I am still working hard to make it to Salt Lake for Nationals in April, but first I have to pass my bronze free skate. I had a few injuries that held me back, but now i am going to hit it hard. I need to get my spins, especially my backspin and then we are there.
also I am getting really frustrated with my 2 hrs of commuting everyday, becasue i cant practice as much as i would like. Today was our skaing club hallowen party, so i left two and a half hours early so that i could skate for really- half an hour. but i also played off ice and had a blast. it was a great way to wind things down.
Yesterday I did a 20 min Jackie Warner Core excercise video to help me so i can center my spins better. That woman brings pain!!!! but hopefully results. i am going to try to update this weekly from now on, so hopefully someone follows.
peace out- mandi

a skating up date

So while i am here updating my life, I will also update skating. In July I won a gold medal at the Washington State Games/ Pacific Northwest Interclub Championships, for the adult pre-bronze level. I took a month off for my brothers wedding, and discovered I sprained some ligaments in my ankle. I was cleared to train "gently" so I am. I am now working on preparing to pass my bronze test in November, so that I can qualify for Adult Nationals in Salt Lake City in April, I will do this at Pacific sectionals in Las Vegas in Febuary. will keep you posted.