Saturday Feb 27, 2010

It was so wild at the rink last night. I had to get a wristband to get in the door! It was even busier than usual. There was a 32 year old birthday party and a 12 year old birthday party. Major falls everywhere on the floor and it was very stressful. I stuck it out as much as I could so I could practice around the oval, and then I just mainly stayed in the middle.

There were a couple good jam skaters there last night, and they were incredible to watch. So smooth and they make it look effortless. I practiced all my usual stuff. I am getting a lot stronger on my toes, it's so cool!

I also bought my new toe protectors while I was at the rink. I had some super cool ones that I bought from rollergirl.ca but they were just too big for my skates. :( Sucks! The ones I bought last night are just boring white, but they should fit much better. I've got to figure out how to attach them before skating on Tuesday.

Adult Night Feb 23, 10

Lots of fun at Adult Night last night at Skate World. What a turnout! There were tons of good skaters, and of course a bunch of amateurs too. There was an adult birthday party, so that always makes the rink more crowded.

I skated in the center for most of the night. There was a bunch of good Skate This skaters and their moves were so impressive. I would love to skate as well as them someday.

I skated during the beginners backwards skate special, but it was unnerving. I feel like I could fall at any second unless I go super slow. Definitely need to practice more backwards skating at the rink Saturday.

Saturday Night Skate

Skating was fun at the rink last night, but there was way too many kids. They make me so completely nervous. I did end up getting knocked down by a kid recklessly exiting the floor. He just suddenly went to the right - right into me and pulled us both off the floor and onto the carpet along the side. Of course I had my wristguards on and didn't get hurt at all. He was a nice kid too, very apologetic.

I didn't do too well with my skating goals last night. I actually did not do one crossover the entire night! Just terrible. Sometimes I just baby myself and only do the things that are easy to me. I need to work on crossovers today for sure. I also got some new exercises to practice on for my next level of skating. So hard! I hope I can practice some of them today without falling. Heading to the rink at 1:30 for the afternoon skate 1:30-5:00.

Skating Weekend

Hello world! I have been busy working all week so no skating until the weekend. I skated Tuesday but the music wasn't the best and it was pretty dead so not much to report.

I am going skating at the rink tomorrow night, Saturday from 7:00 - 11:00. It will be packed with kids but I can't wait anyway. I have been itching to skate. When spring gets here, I'll be able to skate outside at night, but it's too cold right now.

I was reading on derbygirls.wordpress.com about the importance of setting skating goals. So here are my skating goals:

1. To be able to do three crossovers at each of the turns at the roller rink
2. To learn to do a spin
3. To be able to toe jam smoothly

That's a good start. #1 is going to hard enough on its own. I have a mental block when it comes to crossovers. I can skate on my toes but I can't pick up one leg and cross it over when I'm turning in the oval. Ridiculous. I try to force myself to do it as the turn is approaching but I typically chicken out. Although I can actually do crossovers, it's very unnatural and stiff looking and I avoid them wherever possible. This weekend at the rink I'm going to try doing two crossovers at each turn, however it looks. If I do it a hundred times, it's got to get less scary.

President's Day Skate

Went to the special President's Day skate at the rink today. It wasn't too crowded, maybe 50 or so people so that was less stressful for me. I did a lot of practicing around the oval and doing my crossovers. It was mostly kids at the rink so I also had the center of the ring virtually all to myself. I focused on doing certain moves and just practiced the same thing, over and over until I gradually improved.

I skated about three hours today. I did fall once right when I first got to the rink, because I tried to stop too quickly. It was okay though since I fell right on my wrist guards. After that I did a bunch of exercises to practice slowing down and stopping.

Adult night tomorrow, woo hoo! That is going to be so fun. So it's Tuesday 7:30-10:30, you should come and you can just tape Idol.

Valentine's Skate

Hi guys! Went to the rink yesterday for afternoon skating. It was a little more crowded than usual, but not too bad. One of the things I love about going to the rink on Sundays is that it is pretty dead. Gives me a chance to work on skating in the round at a faster pace. When there are more people, I get intimidated and just stick to the middle. So it was good to get some practice in on my crossovers around the oval.

Wonderboy was there, and he's one of the best skaters that go to the rink. He loves to show me new moves and push me out of my comfort zone, it's so annoying. That's what I love about my comfort zone, it's so comforting. But I know that ultimately he helps me become a better skater. But after an hour of doing moves I don't know how to do, I am hot and tired. I have a lot of little exercises to practice on now. But it was really hot at the rink yesterday, reminded me of how hot it gets in there during the summer.

Going skate at the rink today for a special President's Day Skate, 12:30-3:00. Today I am definitely going to pull my hair back and be ready for the heat.

Feb 12, 2010

It was lots of fun skating at the rink last night. Weekends are for families, so the rink is crawling with kids. Very frightening to skate in the round with them. I stuck to the middle for the most part, and got lots of practice in on this skate dance I have been working on called the downtown.

Before I left for the rink, I had this idea to watch some of the jamskateaddiction.com tutorials on my computer in my kitchen with my skates on. It worked great and was totally awesome! To be able to actually practice the moves while I'm watching the vids was so beneficial. I literally took off my skates and drove to the rink and put them back on, so I really had them fresh in my mind. The kids at the rink were watching me and actually seemed mildly interested for a change, so maybe I am finally getting better.

I skated for about two hours last night, really fun and I got a great workout. I'll be going to the rink tomorrow, Sunday for the afternoon skate 1:30-5:00.

Adult Night in Cerritos

Went skating in Cerritos at Skate Depot last night. They have a Thursday night special, 21 and up only. It was a very mature and sophisticated event, not like the way it is here. I love adult night at Skate World, but we get more than our fair share of amateurs having fun in their disco clothes. None of that BS here. Probably 90% of the skaters were intermediate to advanced, they put on a very impressive show. One of the funnest parts of the nights was a 3-song trio special - three people linked by hand or arm in arm skating. Truly amazing stuff, the people got going so fast, there was a huge vortex of wind as they flew around the floor.

I had a really good night of skating. I stuck to the center of the rink, despite the huge number of amazing skaters in there. I held my ground and did my moves. The best progress I made was doing a lot of skating on my toes last night. I was able to really do it and hold it for about 30 seconds! That was cool.

I want to build on the progress I had last night. Skating tonight at Skate World 7:30 - 11:00, I'll be there. :)

Welcome to my blog

Thanks for showing up at my blog! I started this blog to track my progress as I learn to be a great roller skater.

I started going to the rink about a little over a year ago, just for fun. It was great to do with my girlfriends, just get some rentals and fool around, try not to fall. I did that for a pretty long time until one day I got the nerve to roll into the center of the rink and ask one of the experts for some tips. I got lucky and got some roller dancing instruction too. I was intrigued. It was scary to do the dance steps, but exciting when I got it right. I wanted to do more. I started practicing at home in my garage and got better, little by little.

I also watched a lot of videos online to get ideas of different moves. I found this girl in Texas called Jam Skate Addiction (www.jamskateaddiction.com) and she is amazing! Super talented jam skater with a very slow and patient instruction style. I have watched her trick vids over and over.

I am still such a beginner, but I have come a long, long way.

I have the next five days off from work. My goal is to skate at least three times over this weekend. Let's do this!