No I think that was fair. I read through Casey's list of problems and I thought "welcome to my life!"

I haven't been skating at all well since I got back from the Mountain Cup.

Firstly it is financial, I haven't had any lessons for months and I can barely afford ice time at the moment so I am not getting to skate as often as I usually do.

Secondly it is psychological, I have a few things weighing on my mind, firstly finishing my PhD and secondly the absolute misery that is job hunting and I find I can't switch this off when I go skating as I normally can. Of course I then skate badly which makes me feel even worse.

Thirdly it is physical, after having my boots for 6 months I have suddenly started getting the most incredible lace bite on my landing boot which leaves my lower shin swollen and inflamed for a good few days after each time I skate.

So what am I doing?
1. Easing off the difficult stuff and concentrating on moves and my easier jumps.
2. Skating when I can and not beating myself up for being nowhere near my best.
3. Reminding myself that I will finish the PhD and get a job eventually, that he financial issues will ease, the boot problems can be sorted out and the skills will come back with a bit more practice and some coaching. I would even consider taking some time out if I felt it was necessary, but I have no intention of quitting ever because underneath it all I still love to skate and compete.

Note that this is coming from a 3 time British adult masters champion. It happens to all of us, regardless of what level we are at. I bet Michelle Kwan has come off the ice a few times after a bad skate and thought to herself "why do I bother, I suck at this!"

John

Hi Casey,

Sorry you're having so much frustration & pain. I know how it feels when your feet (or in my case ankles) can hurt so much you start to think you may have to quit. I wanted to just put in one other thought for when you're ready to start back up. You've mentioned here the huge number of hours you'd skate in one day--it's possible that your ankle injury may be resulting from chronic overuse. Once you start back up, I'd strongly suggest skating no more than 2 hours a day, & probably less to begin with. You may have some tendonitis or something going on that is the result of doing too much over & over again.

I'll also throw in my voice w/ the others that you need continuous lessons to also avoid injury caused by incorrect technique. I know you've had a coach in the past but I didn't get the sense that it was a weekly thing, at least not for long.....it's very possible that the injury is a result of wrong technique done over & over for hours on end.

I hope you can get the new boots soon & that you'll find yourself missing the ice.

I'm sorry to see you leave the ice. You've really made very good progress on your own and were just starting to jump into this with both feet. (Pun intended)

I hope you come back soon and the equipment problems get resolved sooner than you expect. Once the boots are fixed, why don't you try selling them to finance the new boots? Keep an eye on ebay for blades.

Don't forget to touch base with us! You can still hang out here.

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Reluctantly, I agree that youmight be well-served by taking a break from skating. If you had only a single obstacle or issue, it would be one thing, but you've got multiple obstacles consipring against pleasant skating, including money, equipment, and motivation. My advice: don't bother having the boot fixed. (1) When you feel interested in skating again, get the money issues under control, then buy some appropriate boots that fit. (2) Skate recreationally a little to break them in. (3) Sign up for skate school or get a private coach. (4) Lower your expectations for how you'll progress in this irritating sport.

And come back soon.

I agree, and I also think your boots are broken down, rather then broken in, since they were not appropriate with your level, and you have no guidance in your technique (landing or doing jumps strangely can put the wrong creases in the boot, for example). Even doing a sit spin wrong can mess up your boot, especially with hours and hours of that sort of practice.

I am sure the majority of us here have made skate buying mis-steps that give us financial nightmares ( ), but again, that is all part of this frustrating, exciting, maddening, wonderful, sport.

Again, I agree, and I mentioned this a bit in my first post. This is not an easy sport. It takes a LOT of patience and a LOT of time. No improvement (or backsliding) for a month or so is 100% completely normal and expected -- especially if you have painful equipment and no coach! You are too hard on yourself!

I wish you the best, take care of yourself on your break, and maybe re-evaluate how you approach this sport. It is really about the journey, it isn't about checking off a list of skills... You have great enthusiasm and talent and spirit, regroup, and then get back on the ice!

Hopefully you'll still pop in here to say hello every once in a while as well!

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--
Natalie

http://www.ILoveTaB.com

Last year I skated about 20 hours a week, and my skills were at a standstill. I was taking lessons, skating on club time, working on show routines, and learning new things, plus skating on public time. I think my body got burned out. I backed off to about half that to 7-10 hours a week and allowed my body to recuperate and within a month noticed a change in my skating. I was not falling as much, nor was I exhausted. Sometimes you just have to back off and allow your body to heal and recuperate. Skating is a very demanding sport, especially with all the jumping (and falling). Add off-ice training and you up the ante. Just my 2 cents worth.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!

I think you just need some time to heal, maybe think about if skating is what you really want to do. I've been through the same type of problems, and you just have to decide how much you love it, and if you have to think twice about keeping it around, then maybe you shouldnt?

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» stephanie ..

no dream is too little ; no dream too big - but always dream.

breaks can not only get you out of bad habits, but help renew your passion and drive for the sport.

Kick back and enjoy the time off, save your coin, and we'll see you at the rink.

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Champagne in 2005, 2008, 2009 - who's next out of the pre-bronze club...?

Wang chung!

I have lost count of the times I have said "thats it, no more", you will be back, just wait and see.

Catch you later
Grace
xx

I'd say walk away from skating completely. Try to find other interests to occupy the time that you normally used for skating. Give it about two months of not skating. Your brain will tell you wether you want to try skating again after that or not.

I walk away from skating about 3 years ago. I've been on a few public sessions sporadically since then and enjoyed it but never enough anymore to invest $$$ and time into training and testing and being a regular like I used to.

Casey, how old are you boots?
Are they less than a year old?
If so, call up Graf and explain the problem. Get them to replace your boots for new ones. This is a manufactures defect. Mine is too but I didn't notice it until almost 3 years later. I thought it was me but it is not. Yet, I still managed to learn stuff. But with your heal coming apart, that it is dangerous. You can't skate on those skates anymore. You must get Graf to exchange them.

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"It's not age that determines but the heart." "Skating is not just a sport for the young but it's a passion for the soul of the young at heart." Brigitte Laskowski

I am a nomadic adult skater who is a member of Windsor FSC (Skate Windsor) WOS SC again since Sept. 1st, 2008.

http://eastcastlemusic.tripod.com

Singerskates Sports Music Editing

I guess this must be very common for every skater then feeling this way

Count me in as another "time off can be beneficial" voice.

I started skating in college through group lessons, and progressed very quickly for about a year (got through USFS Preliminary levels). Then, I took a year off to go abroad. When I came back, people were...let's just say "disappointed" that I didn't go back into skating, but I had no time or money to do it (senior in college, writing thesis, doing unpaid internship, etc). Then, I took about another four years off for work and grad school...I finally got back into skating about 3-4 years ago. I now compete at the silver level and hope (please, God!) that I will soon pass my Gold moves.

It took about a month to feel comfortable on the ice again and regain most of my skills. After that, I tried to be a self-taught skater for financial reasons. After a (short) while, I simply stopped progressing, and I thought about hanging up the skates again.

But this time, I took the advice of a fellow skater and did two things instead: I cut down on my ice time and I got a coach. So I was skating on two public sessions a week (90 minutes each) and getting a lesson on one of them. At first, the lesson was 15 minutes, but then, I increased it to 30, damning the cost. I had to re-learn everything that I taught myself incorrectly. I almost quit again. But I stuck with it for a couple months, and then suddenly, I improved. It was weird. I sensed no progress for a long time, and then one day, it was like a miracle happened and everything clicked and I could skate. But I find that a lot of my progress has been like that--hit a plateau, stay there for a while, groan and moan, and then break through and start climbing again.

So. You do what you feel you need to. Taking time off may help you. It probably won't hurt you. Getting a coach when you return will definitely help you. Don't wait too long after you re-start. Getting boots that don't hurt will also help, but I would put money in the coaching before the equipment UNLESS you are in so much pain that you can't think or move properly. And finally, don't be discouraged by plateaus. They will happen, and some of them will stay around for a long time. They're like slumps in baseball. But with time, determination, and some faith, they can be overcome.

Caveat: Don't try to overcome plateaus by yourself. I tried this, and learned a LOT of bad habits that I'm STILL trying to break...like double-leaning with my hip on back inside threes. I'm still paying for this dearly in sweat, blood, and tears (yes, in blood! Check out the door that I crashed through last week...I even impressed the hockey guys!). If I could go back in time, I would NEVER have tried to learn this skill on my own and ingrained improper technique into my body. You'd think that smashing into the boards at full speed on the FI-BI three turn (novice) pattern on the gold moves test countless dozen times would have taught me to stop doing it the wrong way. But... It is SO hard to unlearn a bad habit that you either taught yourself or a coach let you get away with for too long...and it is more expensive in the end. Just MHO.

Hey when you where learning spins and stuff in your first 2 years of skating where many of your elements consistent or did they come and go day by day

There are always days you get off the ice wondering why on earth you are putting yourself through this! I had one today. But I'll be back on the ice tomorrow, and I hope I'll skate better than I skated today - I'll have need to!

But I agree with 2loop2loop and BlueIIIMoon - it's not for everybody. And if you take a break, you'll find out whether it really is for you (in which case you'll be back), or whether you're one of those who'd rather do something else. And that's fine, too.

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Mrs Redboots
~~~~~~~~
I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Things usually come and go day by day---it's simply the nature of skating, especially when you're still learning the elements, and they're not yet committed to body memory.

It took me 3 years to learn to spin--and I practiced at least a few nearly every day. Some things are just HARD. Did I get discouraged? Sure. There were times I thought I'd NEVER learn to spin. Sometimes I did take a break from spinning, especially after the days when every attempt only seemed to get worse. But ultimately I kept at it, and now I can spin, although I certainly won't be winning any spin competitions. I rarely had a 'breakthrough' day for spinning--it was more often than not 1 step forward, 1 step back. But I eventually amassed enough baby steps forward that success happened more often than not. I still have crappy spin days from time to time--it happens to everyone. But I don't get discouraged like I once did--I know that it will return, and even get better, if I just don't give up. Breaks are good, especially if you've been overdoing it. But giving up isn't the answer either.

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

Although I'm basically a beginner compared to most of you here's my 2 cents worth (again); I agree that there are times when you don't seem to progress or even seem to step backwards skill-wise. Those are times when it's best to "go back to basics" and work on things that are the foundations of skating: edges, flow, control (I guess in the old days these would have been covered under figures), posture, etc.

There have been whole sessions I've spent working on 3-turns and edges (ok, maybe I did a spin or two) just because everything else is built on them and they need work just like everything else. Yeah, it's not as fun as spinning or jumping, but it's just as hard. And they aren't as hard on your body as jumping and spinning.

So, if you feel you can't give it up completely, you could at least work on edges, 3-turns, stroking, etc. during public sessions.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!