After a long hard day at the rink, I have returned.
First, let me give a word to the wise - hockey tape is no good as boobie tape. I should stick to electrical or duct tape. That hockey tape just doesn't hold on to "the girls" as they need to be held.
My day started at 8:45am. I hauled my two bags of skates, costumes, makeup, etc. to the rink and checked in. Saw a TON of people I haven't seen in ages since I don't skate on the club sessions. Got to gossip and catch up.
My first event was my compulsories. There were two of us. So I pee about a hundred times in 20 minutes. Nerves. My warmup was for shit but that's ok. I'd rather get it out of my system on the warmup.
I did well and was so damned excited about I landing my lutz combination that I totally forgot my flip! lol! It was pretty funny and everyone laughed when I started jumping up and down saying "I land my lutz! I land my lutz!"
After that I seemed to relax. I got second out of two but I was pleased with myself. I skated clean and kept my feet under me - my whole intention.
Next was compulsory spins. Again, there were only two of us. This went better than I expected. Sometimes my camel can be wonky - especially when I'm nervous. But today it was very solid. I won that. (But I can spin like nobody's business).
Then came compulsory jumps. There were three of us in this event. Again, I did my lutz from back crossrolls just like in my long program. YAY! I landed that a little wobbly but I held on to it.
My flip was awesome. (It's my favorite jump). Some chick (curse her) landed her Axel - so I got second place. My feet were solid under me and my knees didn't feel like jello which was good and built my confidence for the long program.
Lastly was my freestyle to music or "long" program. My old pro was the referee and Jeff (one of my old skating "rivals") was one of the judges. Ahhhhhhh! Talk about psych!
And there were SIX of us competing! That is like the most at my level/age group outside of sectionals! I knew every one of them so that was kind of weird. I was the second one to skate after the warmup. I was soooooo nervous. I thought I was going to puke.
Compulsories are a walk in the park. To me, they are just like practice. No music - someone sharing the rink with you (you only get half the ice) - no big deal. And you're judged on your TECHNICAL ability - not the "fru-fru" stuff like "musicality" and "artistic merit". So, for someone like ME who is technically strong, compulsories are my favorite events.
It came time for me to hit the ice and do my long program. I quivered. But I wiggled and gyrated to my music just like I was supposed to. I hit my first flip out of that footwork then my lutz combo again out of the cross rolls. And then I got nervous. Why I don't know.
Well, I think I know - I got excited that I was doing well and made the mistake of THINKING "oh, wow! I'm doing good!" Instead of "breathe, keep your head up."
I was right in time with the music just going along and got into my spiral and my legs just started shaking pretty badly. I fell on my flip/loop combo out of the spiral and it took me so long to get up that I was behind the music.
But I recovered pretty well. I had my combo spin - camel into sit into back sit - which can give me trouble on the back sit sometimes. But today it was perfect. I actually GAINED speed on the back sit which pleased me immensely. I took my time and THOUGHT about what I had to do.
Then I heard the music ending so I just came out of it and did some gyrating to the last beats so I could end on time to the music.
I was so pleased with myself. Bummed because I fell on my favorite jump combo - the flip/loop but pleased that my lutz and my combo spin were so strong. And my footwork was (to ME) impressive. And I was able to get my focus back and my nerves under control after falling. THAT was VERY important to me.
I didn't get to watch anyone else skate - I was so nervous I had to pee again. UGH! Then I just sat in the locker room quivering as everyone else skated. I'm glad my nerves waited until AFTER I skated to kick in.
Later I had several people tell me that they enjoyed watching me skate which pleased me even more. I felt I had skated well (except for that ONE miss) and I was glad to hear that other people found my program entertaining.
One dude was like "wow - I can't believe how powerful you are." I just laughed. Well, those big old thighs have got to be good for SOMETHING, huh? lol!
That is what I was aiming for - entertainment and to make people say "that's cool" that I don't take 1/2 the rink to "set up" my elements. God, that drives me BATTY (or battier, as the case may be). I HATE it when people use half (sometimes MORE) of the ice surface to set up their jumps. It's just not right.
And a LOT of people do it. Watch the pros or World Figure Skating Championships and see. I don't want to do that. It is uncool (in MY book). I want to keep people guessing as to what I'm going to do. Like I'm going along doing this footwork and "bam" I just jump - or spin. *I* think that is cool. And that is the sort of skater I want to be.
Now tomorrow I have to work the remainder of the competition then test. I'm not too worried about my test. The elements aren't anywhere NEAR my competition - much easier altho the atmosphere will be quite different. It's like skating in a TOMB when you test. It's so quiet and somber. Kinda creepy actually.
Oh, I got third in my freestyle out of 6. Yeah. I was quite pleasantly surprised. I didn't think I would even place since I didn't try that hateful axel (a few did). But apparently my spins and other jumps and footwork make up for it.
Before each event that I skated I would say to my pro, "tell me nobody's watching." She would say, "nobody's watching." That made me feel better. Stupid but it worked. Then I had her tell me "you have plenty of time."
Weird how things like that make such a difference (to me, anyway). "Nobody's watching and you have plenty of time." Even if it's not true (and I know it's not) it still makes me feel better to hear it! How lame is that? LOL!
Now I'm tired. So I'm going to catch some zzzz's then get up tomorrow and do it all over again.
The Rogue Goddess saw shadows dancing at 8:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home