So now that my baby is 9 months old, here's a quick look back...
6 weeks post
I went back to skate for the first time after baby. My legs felt like jelly, and my balance seemed waay off! I managed some upright spins, and single jumps with wobbly landings...
Posts from the first month back on ice (in reverse chronoligical order)
8 weeks post
I started coaching again. Meanwhile, I was still trying to skate 1 or 2 sessions a week, and building up my strength.
10 weeks post
I was thrilled the Axel was back. Strangely enough, I was happy attempting doubles even before I dared to try the Axel. I attributed it to the fear of the forward take-off. However, in reality, I think was afraid I might find myself losing something I had, rather than something I never really had. (did that make sense)
12 weeks post
I went back to work, and skating was greatly reduced - to zero! I was still coaching on weekends, but didn't have the time to skate myself. I suppose I must have stopped blogging too...
4 months post
I can *finally* get up from the sit spin. It did take me a while before I got to trying the sit spin, and when I did, I was happily doing a pretty low sit, a nice broken leg... then oops, I couldn't get up!! I was pretty embarrassed by that when I was asked to demo the spin combo during the seminar by technical specialist Janet Born.
5 months post
I danced! Yes, it so happened one of the coaches was free, and agreed to dance with me. This was the first dance in eons!
6-7 months post
My skating schedule became regularly irregular. I would skate almost once in 3 weeks, each time trying to work on jumps, spins... sometimes thinking of choreographing a new program. There wasn't much visible progress.
8 months post
I got myself in a skating dress and skated in an exhibition! It was a group item put up by a few of us coaches, for the Fuji Ice Palace farewell party.
Now, 9 months post, and having lost my home rink and my coaching job, I am trying to get into a more regular skating schedule. The difficulty is that the other rink in this entire country is oh-so-far (don't hate me for thinking that a 20-min drive is "far"), and with the school holidays just started, the crowd makes it uncomfortable to work on anything seriously.
As for skating itself...
- The Axel is mostly there. I'm also working on the 1A+1Lo+1T combination, which generally comes along nicely once I land the Axel.
- the double Sal and double toe feel good when I don't pop them, *but* I am still trying to get rid of the slight 2-footed landing
- I've been working on a potential L4 spiral sequence, and hopefully there are no more major changes to the IJS rules on this!
- Spins are back to normal, with one big exception - my flying camel has flown away! Possibly because I have problem working on that during public sessions, but if that is the reason then it will never come back... I will have to do it sometime!
- Recently, I have been trying to choreograph a new program... I say "trying" because this is really can't be done properly during public sessions, and without music!
That's my 9 months' of skating in a nutshell... Time to plan for my training so that I can compete next year!
