First Time Back on Ice
Guess what? I was able to skate for the first time in 3 months! This past weekend, a friend and I drove to a rink 90 minutes away to skate on their freestyle session. Although it was a trek to get there, it was worth it. Our rink isn’t supposed to open until mid-July so I was eager to see how I’d do. Well, I was also a bit nervous too. What if I fell a lot? What if I lost all my elements?
It took me a good 10 minutes to warm up and get used to being in skates again. I took it easy and stroked around the rink and managed to do some counters down the ice. Thankfully, I did not fall. Eventually, I tried a scratch spin (hellooooo, traveling!) and then attempted a backspin:
Yes! It was centered! I moved on and slowly worked my way up to my combination spins and other spins with variations. Surprisingly, they weren’t too difficult to execute. I even tried a layback spin and admit that it came much easier. My guess is that all the stretching exercises I’ve been doing for the past 3 months have paid off.
After I finished working on spins, I attempted some jumps. I tried the easier ones first – waltz jump, loop, flip, and then toe loop. I skipped the lutz and went straight for the axel. Much to my surprise, I landed it! I tried a few more during the session and landed all of them. Hooray!
Our sister rink also opened this week, but with a lot of restrictions. In addition, the times are very limited, the rink is a short haul away, and ice time is $$$$. I’m going to take it easy and see how many of these sessions I can do before our regular rink re-opens.
Until then, I will cherish whatever time I am able to make it to skate. I feel faster and stronger than ever!
Eva! Great to see that somebody is back on the ice! The last time I skated was the 14th of March. Our rinks in Maryland may reopen towards the latter half of July, but that’s not carved in ice…
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I hope that you are able to get back on the ice soon, George. My rink isn’t open yet and likely won’t be until sometime in July as well.
Eva, you are an inspiration! I am so excited for you; your training off-ice has really paid off. Fingers crossed that we’ll all have ice soon (though I think ours might take a while).
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I hope that both of our home rinks open soon. It’s great to see that off ice training really works!