Ker-Splat

Day off, and up to Ally Pally for the public morning session where it was lovely and quiet.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a very good skate today. My main aims for today was to start to get to grips with my forward inside 3-turns, and to break the mental block with my backwards crossovers.

FI3's just aren't happening at the moment. I thought the other day that they might be starting, but not today. My weight is either too far back, too far over my free leg, my shoulders aren't turning enough, my hip isn't locked enough . . . struggling with these at the moment! Mind you, my FO3's weren't "all that" today either - I think generally it was a bit of a rubbish skate.

After an hour and a half, I finally got really annoyed with myself regarding the crossover mental block, and plonked myself on a hockey circle. The first couple I tried, I managed one crossover (yay, it's a start!) but then my feet didn't know what to do and I became a bit unbalanced. The third time I tried this, I lost my balance completely after one crossover and ended up on my back. Luckily, since my last nasty fall before Christmas when I really banged my head, some reflex seemed to kick in and I pulled my head forward and seemed to relax a bit more, so didn't hurt my back or my head. Not so lucky for my poor hands - I seem to have simultaneously bruised the base of both my thumbs (the fleshy bit). Typing is a little uncomfortable at the moment!

So not a great skate today. I came off the ice sulking and thinking "Why the hell am I doing this?". I know why - I love it and I love the sense of achievement when I master something new. And I will love it even more when my skills enable me to express myself with music etc.

Just not today.