unicornduke | (no subject)

Skating in the new skates wasn't bad. It was incredibly different than the rental skates which are either not sharpened or sharpened differently than the way the store guy did it because I was sliding all over.

It was slipping sideways when I would push off so I'm guessing he put more of an edge on it, which is helpful only if you are already good at skating. I did get used to it and it actually helped after a little bit, I was much more stable and consistent with things

I also can now pretty consistently do left turning crossovers although some can be a little choppy and weird. I waited towards the end so most people cleared out to loop to the right in the middle of the rink to try right crossovers. Meh. I can do them but not gracefully or consistently.

Increased my skating backward distance to the length of the rink!

I still cannot stop.

I did leave ten minutes early because either my sock or the constant left turns were causing issues because my left arch started pinching a little and I was afraid it was a blister. It wasn't and I hopped back on the ice for a bit but it came back.

I also didn't really stretch after, mainly because I end up cold and I'm not sure how much help the stretching will be. I stretched a little while the zamboni was going halfway through. But my thighs and hips are cold the whole time I'm skating although I am sweating a little bit.

I'm going to try and make it to the other rink on wednesday for skating. We shall see

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Back cross cuts are easier to do than they look, in keeping with the skating principle of opposite difficulty. (if it looks easy, it's likely hard, and vice-versa.)

You might find video useful; there are several functional ways to skate, and it's difficult to tell which one you're using from the inside. (This keeps skating coaches in business.)

Well, I am signed up for skating lessons starting in two weeks. I definitely need to learn how to stop from someone who knows more than the internet can tell me. Plus it's just extra skate time. I think it will be helpful just to have someone keeping an eye on me. It's eight weeks, 1 hour sessions so I'm pretty pleased with the cost to ice time, it's a little over $100.

I'm going to keep skating before then because I think I mostly just need to keep doing it and I'll get better.

Yay, lessons!

You're nigh-certainly correct about getting better, too.