no more lessons!

Oh no, it turns out the rink is closing for the season next week. That means my last lesson of the season was today. I'm totally bummed.

My instructor encouraged me to try some crossovers, and I pulled off a few very awkward ones. She also got me to do a move which turned out to be easier than it looks, I think it's called a 3 turn on two feet. You start with a forward swizzle, and then twist around while moving into a backward swizzle. Whew! Exciting! I wish I had more time to practice.

See more progress on: learn to ice skate

3 hours of skiing

I went skiing for 3 hours at Wachusett today. I didn’t stay longer because I wasn’t well rested, and started to feel tired by noon. Probably would have been better not to go ice skating the day before.

I started around 9 am with Ralph’s Run, a blue trail. At first everything went perfectly! I was carving some beautiful turns and the trail felt great. Then I noticed it began to get a little bit icy. Not solid ice, but there were sections where the powder was wearing thin.

So I went over to the green trails, Indian Summer and Sundowner (my photo was taken at the top of Sundowner). Sundowner has hills which make it a little tough to practice turns, so I mostly went down Indian Summer. The only problem with this area is that the lift is slow. It’s a nice ride though, and gives you time to rest. The snow conditions were better here, but the trail is pretty short, unfortunately.

I also took a few trips down Conifer, another blue trail. This has some sections which are slightly steeper than Ralph’s Run, and in addition it had more scrape-y icy spots. I wound up on my butt more than once!

For my last run I went down Challenger, and somehow managed to invade a “NASTAR” training race. Oops! I wasn’t the only one who was confused, so I didn’t feel too bad. This area was getting icy too so I decided enough was enough, and turned in early.

Nice thing about Wachusett, if you leave before 12:30 you are refunded $10. It seemed wise to leave and get the discount, since my form was getting progressively worse as I got more tired and the conditions were clearly not getting any better.

I think my skiing technique has continued to improve. Lito Tejada-Flores' video is a really big help, especially if I watch it the night before a ski trip. Also, it feels like my ice skating work has helped my skiing technique – the pumping motion is similar, and my balance is better.

I need more practice. I also think I need to get more specific advice about how to deal with icy conditions, since I encounter them too often.

See more progress on: learn how to downhill ski better

progress ice skating

I’ve been taking lessons once a week, almost every week, since November.

There’s definitely a big improvement. But I need more time practicing. I’ve managed to get to the rink only a couple of extra times during the week for practice, so far.

I tried another practice session this evening. I do believe that Friday is the worst possible day to go. There were about 3 adults on the ice, and 50 kids. The kids were even more hyper and erratic than usual, flying around as if propelled by the paddles in a pinball machine, and I nearly got tipped over twice. I am never skating on Friday night again!

See more progress on: learn to ice skate