Sigh. Farewell to Ice.

[Query]

I'd love to skate well. When I’m moving smoothly, it feels so good. But that is such a small portion of the time. I have to work very hard and put in a lot of hours to justify taking private lessons. So I’ve decided to skate less, and stop taking private lessons for good. It’s not my coach – I found the best one I could for an analytic learner like me. She’s a great coach.

I’ve loved the opportunity to teach with a volunteer-run skating program. Teaching is fun. But it’s obvious that some students learn skating orders of magnitude better and faster than the rest.

There are people who have an intuitive feel for how stuff works, and can design and fix mechanical things much better than the rest of us. Likewise, there are people who have an intuitive feel for how to move and do athletics things. That isn’t me.

Living in an area where everyone is type A, where everything is test and compete, and almost nothing is social, it just isn’t enough fun most of the time.

I can be good at other things. I love bits and bytes. I love starting at the bottom of a software design, analyzing the technical and mathematical aspects, and working up to the final product. That’s another field where 99% of your time is spent in an intermediate state, finding and fixing bugs. In the end I can create a product as good or better than the best. That will never be the case with skating, or anything else athletic.

Sigh.

[RoaringSkates]

For a recreational skater, you should be getting something from skating. If you don't feel you are, you should move on.

But don't quit skating because you feel you need to compare yourself with other skaters. I am often the absolute worst skater on the ice I skate on. Believe me, if I compared myself to those around me, I'd have quit long ago. You need to focus on yourself - on your own improvements, on your own joy in what you're doing, without feeling like you must be learning faster, or you must be learning differently, or you must by now be a better skater than you are. The only person telling you that is yourself.

If you do decide to quit skating, try to pick up something else athletic, so that you do have something that brings you joy, and keeps you fit, and which you can learn and improve. It sounds like you already have something for the mind - the programming - so you do need something for the body. Something that you can perhaps keep doing as you get older. Walking, or Tae Kwon Do, or anything. Don't worry about how you're doing compared to the person beside you. We're not all going to be great at everything we do. We don't have to be.

[fsk8r]

I know exactly what you mean about finding some things really hard and other things easy. But isn't this the way with all activities in life. I've always considered learning a bit like climbing a mountain, a struggle to the top and then it's plain sailing down the other side. Some people hit their mountain at school straight away and struggle to learn to read, others find that school is easy and it doesn't hit them until university. Others find math and science easy and find languages hard and vice versa.
I skate because it's hard. I don't like finding a mountain. I'm a math and science geek, so I went and studied engineering in a foreign language. I wasn't going to be beaten by my inability to learn a language at school. I was probably the worst in the class for foreign languages, but I don't care, because I did my best, and I find the same with skating.
Sometimes it's really frustrating but it's when I look back and see how far I've come that it gives me a determination to carry on.
I'm not saying that you should carry on with having lessons, but maybe you need to give yourself some prospective and maybe try skating different sessions / rinks to try and find perhaps the recreational scene that you're looking for. Or even have a break from skating and try something different. But I know I'm stubborn and hate to be beaten by something. (Or perhaps I've yet to reach the point where you've got to where you say enough is enough).

[CanadianAdult]

Living in an area where everyone is type A, where everything is test and compete, and almost nothing is social, it just isn’t enough fun most of the time.



I'm lucky that there's some adult public skates which for me is social skating, I tend to chat more than skate and only do things that I like. I've gone in cycles where I'm just not into skating club sessions which means testing and competing, and then I social skate for a while. I don't want to be burned out and hate the sport because I love the feeling of blade on ice. Hopefully you could find somewhat of a public session and still keep the flow going. The good thing about adult skating is that there's no one telling you shoulda coulda's. If the wall is too high, quit throwing yourself at it and find the gate through.

[Sk8Dreamer]

Likewise, there are people who have an intuitive feel for how to move and do athletics things. That isn’t me.

Living in an area where everyone is type A, where everything is test and compete, and almost nothing is social, it just isn’t enough fun most of the time.


I can sympathize with both parts.

I am sure I am the world's slowest learner. I know I've improved in terms of speed, but after 4 years of lessons I know very few moves and do those poorly (okay, well, my forward inside and outside edges are pretty decent). Skating has seemed like one step forward, 10 steps backward for me. It's certainly the biggest challenge I've ever taken on.

There are few rinks within reasonable driving distance of my home, and week day public sessions are almost nonexistent. There are very few adult skaters at the rink where I take my lessons, and often I am the only "beginner," not to mention one of the few adults, surrounded by serious competitive skaters. So there's nothing social about the skating. I often feel that if I could skate with several adults who are also learning like me, I'd feel a lot happier on the ice.

But it is what it is. I've thought about quitting, but I'm just not ready to do that yet. So I try to find the socializing and the feeling of competence elsewhere in my life, and I try to just not think about the frustrating aspects of skating. Because when I'm doing edges across the rink it sometimes feels like floating or flying, and that can't be beat.

So we all need to find the right balance. If the negative outweighs the positive so much that the positive isn't that great, then it's time to try something different. If not, well, then, we just keep trying. Just my two cents.

[teresa]

I've read some great advice. Fellow skaters are sharing good thoughts with you. Skating needs to be just for you. It took me awhile to come to terms with this. You can't compare yourself to anyone but yourself. Like you've found, it will drive you crazy and make you unhappy otherwise. Skating should be your personal journey. I skate with many adults who skated as children and thus knew how to do "everything". It drove me nuts that I had to learn "everything", I really did. I never, not often anyhow, saw/see adults show up to skating with no skills. Like you mentioned, I just felt backward. I had a coach that I didn't feel felt confident in me and I just about quit. I thought about things and I decided to change my attitude, get a new coach and just tough it out. Some days this was easier than others. Skating should be fun and give you joy. Sometimes the joy is from getting exercise, others it's learning something new or actually making progress. Sometimes it's just knowing that when you look back at your life you can say you challenged yourself. Don't quit, hang in there. Sometimes taking some time off makes you understand how much you really love to skate. Oh, sometimes you need to build skating relationships outside of skating. I know I like to focus on skating and not visiting while I'm on the ice.

Hang in there,

teresa

teresa

[smelltheice]

I'd love to skate well. When I’m moving smoothly, it feels so good. But that is such a small portion of the time. I have to work very hard and put in a lot of hours to justify taking private lessons. So I’ve decided to skate less, and stop taking private lessons for good. It’s not my coach – I found the best one I could for an analytic learner like me. She’s a great coach.

I’ve loved the opportunity to teach with a volunteer-run skating program. Teaching is fun. But it’s obvious that some students learn skating orders of magnitude better and faster than the rest.

There are people who have an intuitive feel for how stuff works, and can design and fix mechanical things much better than the rest of us. Likewise, there are people who have an intuitive feel for how to move and do athletics things. That isn’t me.

Living in an area where everyone is type A, where everything is test and compete, and almost nothing is social, it just isn’t enough fun most of the time.

I can be good at other things. I love bits and bytes. I love starting at the bottom of a software design, analyzing the technical and mathematical aspects, and working up to the final product. That’s another field where 99% of your time is spent in an intermediate state, finding and fixing bugs. In the end I can create a product as good or better than the best. That will never be the case with skating, or anything else athletic.

Sigh.

If you thrive on an analytical challenge, you could look at the mechanics of skating. At the end of the day, the actions of your body, the interaction of the blade with the ice can all be summed up in mechanical principles and mathematical formulae to find the ideal and if you have a penchant for science, the laws of physics govern all skating really so perhaps you can take that as an approach to find a passion in your skating.

[Sessy]

Query, sounds to me like it isnt the lack of progress that's doing you in, but the environment. Maybe it's worth for you driving an hour single-trip or so to an other rink, but where the atmosphere is more relaxed?

Another thing you could look at if it's just the gliding motion that you love... Is speed skating. Shorttracking or long distance, depending on what kind of facilities your rink offers?

[momsk8er]

I can relate to the frustration over spending so much time to get better. Especially when you look at the kids and see them zoom past you. Quit if you don't love skating anymore, but if you still love it, then keep skating. Sure many people in our area are type A, but you don't have to be. Skating is great for analytical people, because it occupies your whole mind. I find it kind of a zen experience when I skate. Refreshing. But if I get down on myself too much, then it just becomes annoying. Maybe taking a break from lessons isn't a bad idea. Just skate for the fun of it instead of trying to please a coach. Then someday you'll probably say, "I wish I had a coach to look at that" and you'll be back.

[Mrs Redboots]

If it's time to stop, it's time to stop. Two people I know have recently stopped, for whatever reason. You can always go back if you find you miss it too much.

There are days when I wonder why I carry on - and other days that I know! Plus I'm quite fat enough as it is - what would it be like if I didn't skate?

[jskater49]

If it's time to stop, it's time to stop. Two people I know have recently stopped, for whatever reason. You can always go back if you find you miss it too much.

There are days when I wonder why I carry on - and other days that I know! Plus I'm quite fat enough as it is - what would it be like if I didn't skate?

I struggle so much with finances I often think if I would just give up the skating..but that is the ONLY excersize I enjoy so I share the same fear if I ever gave up skating.

I understand the frustration with slow progress..fortunately I'm not in the kind of environment described. I imagine that would be difficult.

j

[RoaringSkates]

...I skate with many adults who skated as children and thus knew how to do "everything". It drove me nuts that I had to learn "everything", I really did. I never, not often anyhow, saw/see adults show up to skating with no skills. Like you mentioned, I just felt backward...

I remember when I first started skating, at age 30, having been on skates maybe three times as a child. I was the only true adult beginner out there. I am still one of the few, the proud, the skaters who skate at the rinks where I skate, who were absolute beginners when they started as adults. Now, when I see others who obviously started as adults, and are still in that "learn to skate" stage, I try to be encouraging.

[looplover]

If you thrive on an analytical challenge, you could look at the mechanics of skating. At the end of the day, the actions of your body, the interaction of the blade with the ice can all be summed up in mechanical principles and mathematical formulae to find the ideal and if you have a penchant for science, the laws of physics govern all skating really so perhaps you can take that as an approach to find a passion in your skating.

I completely agree - Query you might want to look at it this way! Though I'm not a math person, I'm a really analytical skater...once you look at it as mastery of physics through body positioning, it makes it not nearly as daunting (I'm not including my jump problems in this, though I probably should). I don't know anything about the math of it, but in terms of knowing you have to sometimes make sure that shoulder blade is just this far back and you can get that bracket...or you're tilted just a bit too much forward in the upper body...that's all fixable. So for me, when I get discouraged I immediately switch to footwork, moves or spins where I know it's about a body position that either needs to be fixed or is fine, depending (and then there's the whole momentum issue, etc.)

[Query]

the actions of your body, the interaction of the blade with the ice can all be summed up in mechanical principles and mathematical formulae to find the ideal and if you have a penchant for science, the laws of physics govern all skating really so perhaps you can take that as an approach to find a passion in your skating.

Just curious: Do you know of any books, etc. that take that point of view? Are there any online discussion forums that do?

A lot of things about skating don't make sense to me. For example, why should looking in a direction, or pulling one's shoulders in that direction, make one move and rotate that way? Since the upper body is usually held almost stationary, that is an internal force, and can have no affect on net linear or angular momentum. The only thing that should affect net linear or angular momentum (aside from largely insignificant air resistance) should be the way the blade interacts with the ice, which essentially occurs at the single point of contact along the blade.

I spent a tremendous amount of time over maybe 7 years working out techniques for dealing with ill fitting boots. That's should basically be a simple combination of physics, chemistry and biology. I suppose I should have done the usual thing and just kept buying new custom boots until I happened on ones that fit, but finances are limited, and besides, it seemed like it should be a simple subject, and I was stubburn. (I'm tempted to offer a kit containing tools and materials, detailed descriptions and a DVD with my conclusions. Not sure how well or where it would sell. Besides, I haven't really yet sat down and created a good clear description, and what discussions have occurred here show that different skaters expect their boots to fit and interact with their bodies in very different ways.)

But I never found any good forums for discussing that sort of thing - nor for discussing the effects of different blade shapes (like altering hollow, rocker, sweet spot placement and shape, the details of edge shape and side honing, the precise way the metal is worked, etc.). These things seem to mostly be a combination of many different "the way I was shown must be best" attitudes and closely guarded secrets. Of the ones I've tried, this forum comes closest - but not many people seem interested enough to play. Not many even try to sharpen their own, let alone experiment.

[doubletoe]

Not all "laws of skating" are purely laws of physics. I think some have more to do with laws of the human brain, particularly the "where you look is where you'll go" law of skating (or walking, for that matter, LOL!). Unconsciously, the muscles of the body get the message that if you're looking somewhere, that must be where you want to go. I'm sure our paleolithic hunter ancestors benefited from that programming as it helped them to actually shoot an arrow where they were aiming. . . or something like that. ;)

[looplover]

That makes sense, doubletoe! A guy at my rink has been having success with doubles by turning his head in the skating direction before takeoff. I thought you weren't supposed to do that so I've never done it, but maybe that's a good idea?

Query - I've had the Petkevich book forever - haven't used it so much lately but it might be a good resource:

http://www.amazon.com/Figure-Skating-Championship-Techniques-Illustrated/dp/1568000707

[fsk8r]

Some of the really old books on English Style Figure Skating (dated about 1890s) which come up on ebay from time to time have some really good technical descriptions of how to stand and skate. I wouldn't describe it as necessarily physics per se, but it's a lot more technical than some of the most modern books and they're more concerned with, the you hold your body in this posture at all times and then do this move.
The one interesting thing is that they want the skating shoulder to be leading at all times (ie if on forward right inside edge, right shoulder is forward and not left) which differs from "international style" or modern style. Just shows that basically you can hold the top half however you like it as long as your feet do the right thing.
I find the mind over matter to control what the body is doing as the challenge of skating and trying to disconnect the top half from the bottom half is my mechanical side of skating.

[Scarlett]

Query-

Have you tried doing figures? That may satisfy the need you have. I think a couple of coaches at Bowie still teach them. If not, Laurel has a huge speed skating program if you are just looking for the speed and glide feeling.

[Skate@Delaware]

I'll second that it has a lot to do with your environment and what you are looking to get out of it! I'm almost 47 and will NEVER be able to compare myself with even some of the 8-year olds skating skill-wise...nor do I care to! I skate for my own enjoyment and as I look back at my lengthy skating career (5 years now) i HAVE come a long way!

So, why do you skate and what are you looking to get out of it?

Bottom line...we are on the ice while 99.9% of the population can't even stay up on skates for one lap forward (not even doing crossovers I might add)!

So there!!

[hanca]

Not all "laws of skating" are purely laws of physics. I think some have more to do with laws of the human brain, particularly the "where you look is where you'll go" law of skating (or walking, for that matter, LOL!). Unconsciously, the muscles of the body get the message that if you're looking somewhere, that must be where you want to go. I'm sure our paleolithic hunter ancestors benefited from that programming as it helped them to actually shoot an arrow where they were aiming. . . or something like that. ;)

I love your explanation, doubletoe! ("where you look is where you'll go" law of skating). Perhaps you could help me figure out why I have such problem look where I am going when I do backward crossovers. I keep turning my head consciously to where I am going, and after every stroke my head unconsciously sort of turns back to the 'natural' position (bakwards to the direction of my movment). So during the backwards crossovers I am constantly turning head there and back as if I was saying "no, no, no" :lol:

[Isk8NYC]

Think about "looking along your inside arm" to keep the upper-body twisted properly and be able to keep your head/shoulders in check.

[hanca]

Think about "looking along your inside arm" to keep the upper-body twisted properly and be able to keep your head/shoulders in check.

I have my upper body twisted properly into the circle. It just looks like if my head can't decide at which arm it wants to look and that's why it is taking turns to look first at one and then the other one... ;)

[Isk8NYC]

I have my upper body twisted properly into the circle. It just looks like if my head can't decide at which arm it wants to look and that's why it is taking turns to look first at one and then the other one... ;)
Well, one of the arms is "inside" the circle. Look along the side of it in the BACKWARDS direction you're traveling in. When you need to switch crossover direction, turn your headand shoulders/arms before you stroke. Think about it: if you're going backwards you'll collide with someone if you look behind your direction of travel. Look where you're going, not where you've been.