No Skate Thursday

Ended up not skating last night due to limited ice time and airport pickups and whatnot.

BUT, I was a good girl and went to spinning this morning! It kicked my butt but very much in a good way. Could totally go for a nap now.

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Wednesday Will-it-rain-or-won't-it?

It did rain, but not with any of the sort of severity you'd have thought from looking at the radar.

So, Coach Stalin and I hit the Memorial Park driving range last night and whacked a bucket of balls. I've decided I need a driver to add to my 7 iron (my only golf club... which gets boring after a while). And I need a glove. The sweat was making my lose my grip on the club by the end. Maybe I'll drag Mr. Conduct out to Golfsmith next week.

Anyway, after we hit balls, we walked the 3 miles around the park. Amazing how much more enjoyable it is with some company. Especially company that likes to talk about hockey as much as I do. I got to hear about her goal on Sunday, which is always exciting (of course, then I start asking questions about what the goalie did to miss it, which is the interesting part to me!)

I was drenched in sweat from the icky humidity by the time I got home, and also pretty worn out. So I fell asleep while watching the TIVO'd Game 3. Though I think all I missed was Detroit's second goal. And then woke up with 1:30 or so left in the game. Kinda disappointing that Detroit wasn't able to sweep, but also cool that the hockey season will last at least one more game.

But man, did I sleep well last night. Except when a mosquito came in after Major came in off the balcony (just shoved the door open) and bit me right in the middle of my back in that 1 square inch of space that's nearly impossible to reach. Gah!

Tonight we're going skating at the Galleria, so I'll be busting out the goalie skates. Not sure whether she's available this weekend, but I'll definitely go on Saturday or Sunday. Next Thursday, I'm heading to Vermont, so I'll miss my weekend skate. If I have time, I might try to hit the public session at lunchtime on Wednesday so I can get a good session in. Then we might be going up to my parents the following weekend, so I'll need to do the same the following week. I hate going that long without a "coached" session, but maybe we can work in some mid-week sessions at the Galleria.

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Yoga Tuesday

I had a grand plan to get up and go to spinning yesterday morning, but had a terrible time falling asleep, so I ended up bagging it at the last minute in favor of extra shut-eye.

But that left me feeling grumpy and depressed and not right in the head all day, so I bit the bullet and pulled out the yoga DVD last night before bed. Man, what a difference that makes mentally. I felt SO much better, like the cobwebs had cleared out. I don't know why I resist doing yoga more often. It's not like it's particularly hard on my body now that I've done this DVD so many times and can do everything on it pretty well. But it sure does help mentally, not to mention the flexibility benefits.

Anyway, I'm hoping we'll go skating tonight, but if not, I'll go tomorrow and do something else tonight. Not sure what. Maybe I'll make a circuit for myself. That might be fun.

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Saturday Skate

AMAZING skate yesterday. Especially in contrast to such a bad skate the weekend before. Seriously, go back and read how down I was last weekend! Oh don't. It's too sad.

I think the thing for me was that I felt as strong as I ever have on the ice. It was an hour and a half before my legs finally gave out on me (but when they did, they DID... I could barely get to the rink door, I was so tired).

Anyway, we worked on the usual swizzles, but mostly concentrated on stopping and backwards. Coach Stalin had a brainstorm about teaching me stopping and it helped a lot. I need to do some work off the ice to get my "stopping" leg rotation stronger. Backwards is getting better. I think working on it in my goalie skates really made it seem easier in my player skates. I just need to learn to relax because I tense my feet up in my boots and they ache like crazy.

Also did my usual dumb-leg shuffles from goal line to goal line. Did them much faster and better than ever by imagining there was a shooter in front of me and I was shuffling in my crease. :) Worked pretty well at making me hustle down the ice instead of plodding as usual. Also got it over with faster!

The other weird thing is that Chilly, the Aeros mascot, was there for a couple of birthday parties. Not sure if it's the real Chilly, but he came up to me once and then sort of hovered nearby another time. If you know me and mascots, you know this wasn't good, though of all the mascots in the world, Chilly is the one who skeeves me out the least. I've just been around him so much at Aeros games. It was more funny than anything, but kinda weird to see him there.

Anyway, I'm pondering going skating tomorrow since we'll have the day off, but might wait until mid-week and go to the Galleria. I think doing a skate in my goalie skates really helped me on the weekend.

Oh and the punching I had done to deal with my stupidly wide feet seems to have worked. I had very little pain after quite a long skate and no pain while skating. That was a new experience!

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Nada hoy

Well, not totally nada. I did do my Stretch-a-Flex video today. I'm still not very coordinated at it, but I'll get better. It really does stretch that groin, but definitely feels like I'm doing it safer than just doing splits.

Anyway, like Monday, I went walking 3 miles with Coach Stalin Wednesday night and then we played balance beam in the parking lot while we stretched. I swear she has incredible balance. Bugs the hell out of me. :)

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Sweet progress!

So, I dropped off my naughty, foot-hurting skate to get punched today, but Coach Stalin wanted to hit the Galleria for a skate tonight, so I broke out the goalie skates.

I've been not using them, but I'm very glad I have them, because even just one skate on them told me a LOT about how far I had to go. That's a lot of blade on the ice and when they say you need to be a strong skater, they mean it quite literally. Shoving those blades through the ice is tough.

Tonight though, I had a terrific skate in them! They still feel like cement blocks but once you figure out to use the toes and heels of the blade, you can maneuver pretty well.

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to figure out was this funny move I saw that goalie kid doing a couple of weeks ago. Turns out it was just quick little c-cuts... sort of like swizzles but with just the thrusting part of the move for the most part, not the big swing out.

Oh, here's a video!

I figured it out pretty quickly based on remembering the pattern his blades left on the ice and by the time we left, I was able to haul down the ice pretty good doing it, and frankly, it's more comfortable than regular skating in goalie skates.

So, I was/am absolutely giddy at actually doing a real, functional goalie move.

I do need to work on getting it wider, with a goal of being able to stay pretty low while I do it, and also keeping the upper body still. And then I need to figure it out backwards. Ack!

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3 Miles

It's summer here. It's hot. The a/c has been running non-stop. I cannot tell you how delighted I am to have chosen a cold sport for myself. :)

Went out to Memorial Park with Dog and Coach Stalin to walk the 3 mile loop there. Because the conversation was good and primarily hockey-related, it went quickly, which is a good thing. Major has been acting all evening like I tried to kill him. It was quite warm, esp. if you're a fat dog in a fur coat. He drank/dribbled almost a whole bottle of water when we got back to the truck. Poor fella. But he's mastered drinking from a water bottle, so that's a fun party trick to show my friends. At least, Coach was impressed.

Anyway, I'm glad I got out and did something good for me (besides skating). I'm feeling better. My foot is feeling better, too. Still a bit tender. I'm going to try and get up north to get my skate adjusted tomorrow at lunch time. Looks like Coach and I have plans to skate tomorrow night, too.

Meanwhile, I have some Memorial Cup action to watch from Sunday and some water to drink. I always stay up too late when Mr. Conduct goes out of town. Maybe I should go to bed instead of watching this game?

Nah. I can sleep when I'm dead. There's hockey to watch. ;)

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Oh yeah and....

Somehow I managed to mangle my foot while skating yesterday, too. My right foot always hurts when I take my skates off but the pain goes away in a few minutes and doesn't come back. Same thing happened yesterday (after skating for 2 hours, which is by far the longest I've been in skates). I'm fine going to the car and stretching and whatnot.

But after I get home and step out of the car, I can't put ANY weight on that foot or it's excruciatingly painful. Like broken foot painful.

I was astounded! But I took some advil and iced it and took a nice nap and by the time I got up, I could limp around on it and it got better from there so that there was almost no pain by bedtime.

This morning though, it's swollen in the hurt spot, kind of on the bottom. So the swelling hurts when I put pressure on it, but nothing too bad. I'm sure it will go away in a couple of days. That's not my foot, by the way. Just a fancy demo foot.

So, the plan is to take my skates in and see about getting them punched out a bit or somehow widened right there across the forefoot. Apparently EE still isn't wide enough.

Also, back to the topic of falling: Strategy for Learning to Fall. Seems pretty damn tedious to me, but there are some good ideas there.

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Blog vomit

Eww. Sorry to be so graphic but I'm anticipating that's what this post is going to be. I'm feeling emotionally nauseous, you might say.

Went skating yesterday with Coach Stalin. First time with her in almost a month, I think, and any time I miss a week with her, I start forming bad habits or teach things to myself the wrong way. Apparently while my stopping was getting better, I was doing it wrong. And I just can't seem to do it right. Every time I think about it, I'm nearly in tears, I'm so frustrated.

She did say my crossovers are looking good and backwards skating is getting better. But the stopping is eating my fucking lunch.

But on top of all that... or maybe underneath all that... I'm just not feeling very good about me right now. I'm feeling very all-think, all-talk, no-action and yet everyday life just seems to fill me with excuses to not do what I need to do. I'm lost in thought on this today.

And Coach and I discussed on the way home that I really do need to let go of/deal with my fear of falling. It's a terrifying proposition to me but I know I have to get there mentally or I'm not going to progress in my skating.

I dunno. A lot of things here that I see as failures in my character, which is pretty depressing when they all kinda hit at once like they have this weekend.

Which is all just to say... I'm down. Way down right now. But I've been down before and I know what comes after the down is the up. Just gotta break through the wall. If it was easy, everybody'd be doing it, right? How many times have I had THAT talk with myself in my marathon training? :)

So, see Jane? It's not just you. Maybe I should rename my blog "Tears in the Crease"...

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Separated at Birth?

Saw Colin Farrell in the movie In Bruges last weekend (decent movie if you don't mind blood) and spent the whole movie thinking, "Man, he looks like someone... Who?"

Cal Freaking Clutterbuck is who.

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I hate being sick

Sunday it was a scratchy throat. Monday it was a REALLY sore throat. Tuesday it was a 100+ fever and swollen glands and an inability to stay awake more than 3 hours (to watch the hockey game). Today the fever is gone and the head congestion is full speed ahead, plus a bit of coughing.

Took sick days yesterday and today. About to take a shower and head to CVS for more Kleenex. Going through it like gas money today.

What has this got to do with hockey? Nothing. I just feel like whining cuz I'm a big baby when I'm sick.

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Stuff like this...

...is what sends me into total overdrive.

Words like "agility" have NEVER been in my workout vocabulary.

It seems clear to me, though, that strength and agility are up there with skating ability and ahead of goalie specific skills.

But then I remember that a lot of this sort of advice is for kids who have competitive aspirations, which of course, I don't. I just want to get a workout, and have fun, not necessarily in that order. So, while it's nice to incorporate these things when I can, I don't need to feel guilty for not doing two-a-days (or even one-a-days) every day en route to this goal.

I do little things... I walk around the house bouncing a tennis ball. I work on my juggling. I try to run up and down the stairs (foot speed purposes). I'll stand on one foot when I'm waiting in line just to work those balance muscles. And try not to use my hands or arms when I'm getting up off the floor or out of a chair (just core and leg muscles). Not sure such small things make any difference but it's better than nothing, right?

To compound matters, now I'm all worked up and wanting to go make some strides, but I'm sick and after my bronchitis episode last year, I'm very wary of working out when I'm sick (since I firmly believe that walking 10 miles when I was starting to get sick is what escalated it into something much worse than a cold). So, I'm spending yet more time with my tennis ball and juggling balls. Working on tracking the ball into my hand and such, which is a lot harder than it sounds. I can do some stretching and am going to do my Stretch-a-Flex DVD today come hell or high water since I didn't yesterday.

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Saturday Skate

Well, it seems I'm getting sick, but hopefully Zicam will nip it in the bud. It's making me a bit tired and grumpy though, so I've done NOTHING on this fine Sunday, other than eat ice cream. Moo Tracks. Evil stuff.

Anyway, on to yesterday. Coach Stalin isn't officially broken, according to the doc, but still wounded enough that I'm holding her skates hostage so she can't play hockey with her league tonight and delay her recovery further. So, I've been skating alone lately, but I think it's been good to just work on stuff on my own.

Worked on the usual stuff yesterday. My crossovers (left turn) are getting decent, though I figured out I have to pretend I'm actually chasing down a puck or a player to do it right. Need something to focus on. But I'm very pleased with my progress there, even though I'm pretty sure goalies can't do crossovers in pads. :)

Did a little bit of backwards. Man that's hard, but I'm getting better in TINY increments. Should probably work more on it, but I feel better doing it with Coach there to "clear a path" as I'm nowhere near able to look over my shoulder while I do it and I get spooked easily.

It started off not so good because I was really hungry and low blood sugary, but they cut the ice about 5 minutes after I got there, so I had a chance to grab a snack and shake the shakes. By the end, I was feeling pretty good and cutting all around working on my crossovers. Also did shuffles with my dumb leg all the way down the ice (and actually made it goal line to goal line this week).

Stopping is getting a little better. It's slow going.

What was coolest of all was that there was a kid goalie getting a coaching session. I've seen quite a few people getting power skating lessons, but never goalies in pads and stuff getting a lesson. It was fun to watch him. He was working hard but had a big grin on his face that's totally burned into my brain. That face is why I'm doing this. It's hard work but it's so much fucking fun. I was way inspired. Plus it was cool to see some of the drills he was doing. There were some skating drills I've never seen skaters do before. More of a short, quick kind of c-cut thing. He was booking it doing that move.

Also, the guy working with him wasn't Jiri, so there are obviously at least two coaches who work with goalies. That was good to know, as Jiri's is the only name I've heard at the Aerodrome. Not sure yet if either of them will work with adults, but options are always good.

Beyond that, I didn't do anything this week. My excuse is that I traveled and was out of town Monday-Wednesday, and was lazy on Thursday and Friday. Gonna try and do my Stretch-a-Flex DVD tonight after the game. I'll see how I'm feeling. Pretty ucky right now, so we'll see. It's not like it's that hard... I should do it.

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Saturday Skate on Sunday

Ended up skating on Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday night. Worked out pretty well since I was able to drop off my and Coach Stalin's skates for sharpening. I think my last sharpening job was a little whack, which is unfortunate because they'll do it while I wait, which is pretty nice given the 35 minute drive to the 'burbs. Oh well.

Anyway, I worked on a little of bit of everything and I feel like I'm starting to "get" stopping. I still suck at it and am scared of it (because it's taking about 6 weeks for my wrists to stop hurting after the two falls I've taken), but I'm getting there. I even forced myself to do shuffles with my dumb leg all the way up the ice. Boy is that hard. Phew.

Went to a concert last night and man, I'm tired today. And now I have to drive to Austin this evening for a 2 day seminar. Very much looking forward to the seminar, but not so much the drive, esp. being this tired. But hey, at least this trip will fill the gap between the end of the conference semi-finals and the start of the finals. :) Go Stars!

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New toy

I got my Stretch-a-flex today (thank you Mom and Dad!) and tried it out tonight with the accompanying DVD. I wasn't as uncoordinated as I expected, but I had trouble feeling the stretch on some of the moves. I need to go through it a little slower next time with liberal use of the pause button. My legs are definitely feeling wrung out though, so I guess it did something. It's a pretty cool deal.

Thought about going skating tonight but decided to take it easy and color my hair instead while Mr and his friend are at the Astros game. After watching the Flyers beat the Habs (please, if there's any justice left after it was served to Colorado).

P.S. I added a countdown to the NHL draft to this page. Get Ms. Conduct some fresh meat, DR!

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Friday Skate 5/2

Worked in a quickie skate at lunchtime today. I can always tell when it's time to go skating again because I can't shake the thoughts about stopping, edges, and stuff I want to try next time I'm on the ice. It's like I just need to go and get it out of my system.

And thankfully, there were only about 4 of us on the ice, which was crappy but not the worst it's been. Though it was foggy when I got there, which was kinda weird. And condensation had formed on the ceiling and dripped these icky lumps onto the ice. I swear... worst rink ever.

Worked on stopping quite a bit more than usual. I'm trying to get the idea out of my head that I need to stop quickly and just snowplow that foot evenly until I stop. Seems to be helping. It was good to just play around with it a bit.

I tried to work on crossing over to the right but I couldn't do it yet. For some reason, I really don't trust that outer edge of my right side and it's hard for me to lean that way without feeling like I'm going to bust it big time. Or maybe my right side knows not to trust my left side to actually catch it on the crossover. :) Smart side doesn't trust the dumb side.... and rightly so.

Did a little backwards and it was scary as usual. I wish there was some way to practice that off ice. I get so shaky and tense, I can't go very long at it before I just feel wiped out. Like one length of the ice doing backwards swizzles and I'm fried. Such a spazz.

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What a week

Mr. Conduct's NY apartment junk got moved home on Tuesday and we've been "re-integrating" all of it ever since. I think we're pretty much done, but it was pretty laborious Tuesday and Wednesday. I was getting pretty snarly by Wednesday night.

As such, I've skipped workouts for the last three days (though my aching knees tell me I did LOTS of stairs those two days). Yesterday, I couldn't contemplate anything but sitting on my ass, eating pizza, and watching the Rangers come back to life and the Avs get pounded into glorious rubble. Thanks Red Wings! Can't think of another team I'd rather see lose by 6 points. :D Franzen for president!

I think Coach Stalin has wounded herself again, in a way only Coach can. So I'm guessing I'm OMO for skating this week. I'm feeling a little excess energy today, so maybe I'll hit the Galleria ice at lunch and then one of the good rinks on Sunday afternoon. I'd like to make it to spinning tomorrow morning now that my favorite instructor is back. I've got some class tickets burning a hole in my purse. Or at least I hope I still do after cleaning out my purse the other day. *concern*

Okay. Time to work.

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