Skating Update

I haven't written about skating much since synchro ended but it's been keeping me pretty busy. I decided to kick it up a notch this spring and devote more time and effort to improving my overall figure skating skills. More time however means more money but I must say it's been worth it so far and I'm getting results.

In addition to the 90-minute group lessons I take on Monday and Saturday, I added a 30-minute private lesson on Thursday mornings (at 6:45 AM!) which started at the end of March. Private lessons are quite pricey ($1/minute) but my skating has improved remarkably. Before private lessons, I couldn't for the life of me get a handle on one foot spins without traveling (spins should stay centered and in one place) but now I'm able to do a scratch spin (really fast spin), sit spin and camel spin (arabesque position). They all need lots of work still but I'm happy I can finally spin correctly. I can also do a loop jump but I'm still trying to figure out the flip. As an added bonus, my weight has dropped a few pounds and I can feel my body getting tighter. The rink is the best gym ever. It never feels like working out. Getting fitter and adding a coach has helped my skating tremendously.

There's a 60-minute Friday night elite class I might also go to from now on. It's a more intensive group lesson. My niece is in that class so it'll be nice to see her there every week. Our rink doesn't have any adult-only classes (yet) so I've immersed myself among the tweens and teens. I often get asked what school I go to. Once, I asked this little girl to guess how old I was instead of just telling her and she replied, "10?" I've gotten 23, 18, 16, but 10!? Ugh, I'm never wearing my Justin Bieber shirt again. Like ever. LOL.

Four times a week would be a good amount of skating although I would love to add another early morning practice, maybe on Tuesday. I think that would help me drop more weight and I like exercising in the morning. There's also little traffic going to the rink. I might need a part-time job just to keep up my gym membership! (Maybe I should work at the rink.. Zamboni driver?) But since I'm doing all this skating, I decided to do skills testing and the first one is scheduled for June. Figure skating testing is kind of like karate where you get tested on specific skills by a panel of judges and earn belts or, in this case, a certificate. For adults, the testing levels are Pre-Bronze, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. There's various categories like Moves in the Field, Free Skate, Dance and Pairs. Once I pass a level, I would be able to compete with others in the same level. But me, compete!? Alone? Ha. I don't know about all that... I would need a cool name like Chazz Micheal Michaels and some campy performance dresses if I want to start competing.