Skating Fridays

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!

 

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