Skating on a Sunday . . .

Went skating this morning at the public session up at Ally Pally. Nothing really much to tell - it was quite busy, but this doesn't bother me now as much as it used to, as I don't worry so much about falling over! I practiced lots of stops (really getting the hang of it now), two foot turns and getting up speed on forward stroking. I have found with two foot turns that if I think about it too much, they go horribly wrong. The best thing seems to be to just go for it, without too much thought!

I also had a sneaky go at forward crossovers whilst holding onto the barrier. My coach has demonstrated them before, but we never did them ourselves. It didn't seem too bad at the barrier, but I was hardly moving. We shall wait to see how easy they are in the middle of the ice. It feels like being comfortable on one blade and lifting your feet up (and out of the way!) should be the two most important things, but I only tried it a few times.

I had a chat with a regular skater who I see every week (just got past the nodding at each other stage!) - I have been given a business card of a skate sharpener, which is quite a relief. I was told about a bike/skate shop in Muswell Hill previously, but couldn't find them anywhere!

We also had a chat about the Ice Skating Club up at Ally Pally which is on Sunday mornings at 8.15am! (although I know this isn't as early as some skaters who get up at 4.30am etc, but on a Sunday!) Anyway, it seems affordable and you get a half hour class and two hours skating in total, so that will be the next thing to think about. That would be two group lessons a week then. I might wait until after Christmas though, when I should comfortably be on Skate UK Level 5 or 6.

I am dousing myself with Innocent smoothies, Vitamin C tablets and Echinacea at the moment, as everyone around me seems to be coming down with flu. They are offering us free flu jabs at work, but I don't really want one. I just hope all the immune system boosting helps. I don't want to miss any skating!!