Oh, the bliss . . .

Today's post covers two days really. The last post I mentioned that I was off work, and I was going to make the most of quiet ice time and go to the midday sessions yesterday and today.

Yesterday I arrived at the rink, and OOOHH WOW! There was two people on the whole ice! I have never been to a quiet session, so you might understand how fabulous it was! In fact, for the first 15 minutes (during which it went up to a whole four other people on the ice), I felt a little intimidated as they were all so much better than me. But as I relaxed, and started focussing on what I was doing, I actually felt like I had a really good practice session. Following Wednesday's lesson and what we were taught about outside edges, I practiced these most and think that I got somewhere with them. Towards the end of the session, my one foot glide on an outside edge were actually beginning to get quite "curvy" with the grinding noise that the coaches were getting with their skates. And I felt real pride when I looked behind me and could see pronounced markings on the ice behind me!

After the session yesterday, it was straight off to Kentish Town to see a friend of mine whose birthday it was, with wine and cake. Happy Birthday Anna!

My book arrived yesterday as well (yay!) and it is really quite good. It has a very no-nonsense approach, and really concentrates on the basics. It was also half written by someone who started skating at 47 (I think?) so not geared to the young, competition skaters like a lot of other books seem to be.

Today's session, whilst quiet, was not so quiet as yesterday. It seems Friday is the favourite day for bunking off school, although it was obviously nowhere near a normal weekend / evening public session. I just concentrated on the same things as yesterday, namely my edges. I had to bite my tongue a few times though as there was a young lad (well, mid-teens) on the ice who although not skating particularly well, was trying to go as fast as he could, and as close to other people as he could. A number of times he came whooshing past me within arms length and I saw him do it to a number of other people as well, including a coach teaching a very small child. What do you say to these people to get them to behave sensibly?

My legs are quite achey now - certainly today, after having skated fairly intensively (for my level that is!) three days in a row, the muscles in my lower legs were getting that burning sensation when they've been working hard. But that's a good thing - it all helps towards building those strong muscles! However, I will rest now over the weekend, and skate again on the quiet session back at the small rink on Monday.

Have a good weekend all!