GEEKERY  
ADVENTURE  
CONTEMPLATION  

20150208

ice skating as a waltz

Yesterday, NWC and I went ice skating on the three frozen bodies of water in our area—a tour of the ponds and lake.  The muscles in my feet usually get tired after about 40 minutes, so the was a nice way to take advantage of the outdoor ice skating opportunity without wearing myself out.  As soon as we got tired, we took a break by switching to the next one.

I'm still very much a novice when it comes to ice skating.  This season I've made it my goal to practice two things: stopping and skating continuously (instead of two pushes and parallel gliding; repeat).  My biggest problem with smooth skating was speed; I could skate continuously by constantly pushing off one foot then the other, but then I end up going far too fast and losing control.

Yesterday I finally made a break through on skating continuously: I turned it into a waltz.   I was watching a slow experienced skater, and started to count how often she pushed off, and it was every third beat.  Once I found the rhythm and turned it more into a dance, it was like flipping a switch.  Now to figure out how to stop properly...

No comments: