So I have been trying to get myself to lean more into my skating circles.

Throughout my years of imperfect alignment, I have been trying to deepen my edges by pressing down on the blade through my foot, scrunching down on my skating side, or counter-leaning. In case you’re wondering, none of these work!!!

I was trying to find some images that could convey the degree to which I’ve been fooling myself, but I couldn’t find any, even of myself in past skating sessions. That might be because I’ve learned to compensate so well that it actually looking like I’m doing something right.

Nor could I find pictures of other skaters who look like they have the same problems. Perhaps that’s because those compensations are so anti-intuitive that nobody else has this problem; or because no one wants to leave hard evidence of having done this.

I did find some nifty diagrams from this page on the physics of circular motion:

What I’ve been missing is that “inward component of force.” I am so fixated on the up and down that I totally forget about the inward feeling. You can’t achieve the needed degree of “tilt” without allowing your body to move inwards toward the center of the circle.  It just doesn’t work.

While leaning into the circle is definitely the way to go, I’ve had a hard time allowing my body to go there. But I’ve found that one way for me to get myself to do this is imagine that someone is pulling me towards the center of the circle.

Yup, you got it!

Of course, if anyone actually suggested that I learn to do a death spiral, I would probably laugh in their face (or run screaming off the rink, ’cause they’re crazy!)

So don’t expect any actual pictures of me doing that anytime soon. For now, I’ll only post pictures of (a) my happy skating friends, and (b) skaters who are leaning happily into the circle on their own (maybe someday that will be me!)

(a) Marianne and Sonja, a.k.a. Happy Skating Friends

GANGNEUNG, SOUTH KOREA – FEBRUARY 19: Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue of the United States compete during the Figure Skating Ice Dance Short Dance on day 10 of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at Gangneung Ice Arena on February 19, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

Speaking of “how do they do that?” here’s a favorite piece of mine: Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. Be sure to listen for the cello solo at 8:30. So good!

Lesson notes:

• back eights: outside and inside (these have improved!) Really hold yourself accountable to be on a real edge.
• threes on half circle. Think about how to get the turn in the right place (where is that foot pointing before it turns?)
• inside mohawk. Think about where your new foot goes.
• back inside edges. Hips forward. What does that actually mean?
• Outside threes in circle. Legs straight and together before the turn. Don’t open up on the back outside edge before stepping forward.

So at the end of my lesson this week Ari and I were talking about my left inside edge. Well, actually, it started out being about my left inside edge and then progressed to some words of wisdom about other things in skating, and then became a conversation about life in general.

Usually on my lessons there’s not much time for philosophy. But this week I had a lesson later on the session, which meant that I had already been skating hard for close to an hour beforehand. By the time my lesson got going, I was already feeling a bit tired, and by the last ten minutes of the lesson I was ready to get into conversation mode.

Okay, I admit that talking while doing some leisurely laps is not a good use of my limited time on the ice. But it actually was a very helpful conversation.

I am still working really hard these days is (no surprise to you regular readers!) on consistently maintaining strong edges on my left side. I’ve gotten to the point where I can actually figure out how to make this happen much of the time on outside edges (especially if I shift my ribcage towards the left rather than scrunch my left side and don’t over-rotate the edge). And I am beginning to feel it on inside edges as well, especially if I think about engaging those inner thigh and glute muscles so that I hit the edge immediately.

But perhaps an even greater challenge is letting go of old habits that feel right just because I’ve done them so many times. These include trying to balance over my skates rather than actually doing an edge, and letting my hips go out. Oh, and not actually pushing onto an edge, just because in the past there hasn’t really been an edge to push onto. (Chicken or egg? Chicken or egg?)

So here are some words of wisdom, paraphrased from Ari.

In skating, you have to let yourself try to do things you haven’t done before (like skating faster, or really leaning, or really using edges). You can’t let the fear of doing it wrong stop you from doing it at all. Don’t get stuck on getting the perfect position. You just have to keep moving. Don’t worry about “hitting the right edge”–just push and make it happen.

There are no records of what you did before; no one is watching and judging and video recording each moment. So don’t worry about what you did in the past; just think about what’s happening now.

Okay, too much talking! From this moment on, only hoop-de-doo songs and classic Bob Fosse choreography.

Almost rid of the old snow–only to get another foot!

But Asal and I made it through another busy public session!

Lesson notes:

• outside edges using the ribcage shift to help create lean (rather than “scrunching”).
• outside-outside mohawk exercises: practice just placing new foot down (like a T-stop) in the correct position.
• three turns: maintain curve on entry and really refine the twist.
• inside mohawk: think about the curve in and out being equal, and move core underneath your body; don’t turn your entire body into the turn.
• back inside edges: think about keeping your push in front of your new foot (pushing directly back rather than sideways).
• changes of edge: learn how to move your skate underneath your body with those edge pulls.
• Alternating directions: inside mohawk, push back, back outside three, inside edge change to outside, tuck behind, repeat on other side. Work on getting that edge pull
• Alternating directions: inside mohawk, step forward, outside three, step forward, outside three in the other direction, step forward, repeat. Make sure your feet are together after the mohawk.
• Inside mohawk, change of edge (want to hear it!), cross front, change of edge the other way, cross front, step forward and repeat.

So at my lesson on brackets this past week Laurie noticed that I couldn’t shift my left hip  forward of my right without changing the level of my hips or the position of the rest of my body. We spent quite a bit of time just trying to get the right hip forward while skating on a forward outside edge.

Once again, I realized that the actual turn isn’t my problem: it’s the edge into the turn. If I can maintain a good edge, the turn is a piece of cake. I also realized that I still do a lot of skating (and other things in life) with my left hip slightly forward of my right, which benefits certain edges but screws up others.

If I try to force my right hip to move forward, all kinds of things go awry. I immediately start changing the rest of my body. Mostly I compensate for this by twisting slightly towards the left, so that I have the illusion of being neutral.

Once I tried to “encourage” my left hip to move forward, it seemed to help a lot. And this was not just true of brackets, but of many of the things I’m doing.

The lesson really made me think about how far I’ve come in understanding how my body works. I will continue to focus on getting my hips to move more “organically” as well as using more ankle bend for a better position over my skate. I also am trying to push down into the ice more to get more flow. I feel super-positive about these and other improvements that I hope to make. The new skates are working out great, and I have really been enjoying my regular time on the ice and having a chance to work at this.

The weather here has turned much warmer and the snow is melting! Spring is hopefully on the way.

Here’s my son’s suggestion for some super “chill” music to enjoy while I contemplate this new turn in my hips and hopefully the rest of my skating:

Lesson notes:

• Brackets: hip position; remember that both entry and exit are “forced” edges so they need more attention to correct position.
• Power pulls:  “sewing machine” action, with equal pressure into both the inside and outside edges. Also, think about keeping body on the axis, and making the edges equal on each side by pushing “outside” and away from the body.
• New lunge exercise: forward three, push back lunge, push back lunge on the other side, turn into forward lunge, push forward lunge on the other side; repeat. Really push (don’t just two-foot); make sure you can hear those pushes.
• Variation one: forward three, change edge, push back (really push and bend free leg in; make sure you are looking in the right direction), back three, toe through, repeat.
• Variation two: forward three, change edge, push back , choctaw, toe through , repeat
• In circle: inside mohawk, push back, back outside three. Don’t extend after the inside mohawk!
• Inside three, toe push, inside edge, repeat on other side.

So according to this Minnesota Public Radio article, Lake Superior is over 94% covered in ice now. They’ve built “The People’s Rink” by shoveling off the snow in a serpentine pattern. If it weren’t almost three hours away, I’d be tempted! After all, that’s what winters are for,

There is a lot of outdoor skating around here, but I confess that I’ve become a real prima donna when it comes to my ice time. I like it climate controlled, Zambonied (or should that be “Zambonified”?) on a regular basis, and preferably marked with clear lines so that I can be lazy about marking an axis for my warm-up circles. Music, but not too loud or too soft or too angsty. Oh, and not more than ten other people unless they’re total beginners and therefore clinging to the boards. Three if they are working on doubles or higher.

This is very funny because those conditions don’t affect me in the least. I have plenty of room to skate at most of my sessions–more than I need, in fact. I am not trying to get programs or patterns in, and I’m usually the most random skater out there. There are a few regulars who are quite serious about getting through their practice routines, but I pretty much know who they are.

Much of what I do these days is still focused on trying to get my body to move more efficiently and naturally on the ice. Skating these days pretty much feels like a physical therapy workout: isolating certain edges and movements that don’t feel right and then trying to figure out how to improve them.

This past week I have spent quite a bit of time just trying to get my boots on right. Let me explain. During one of my lessons I was having trouble doing a deep forward left outside edge. I tried adjusting my hips, pressing my knee forward, leaning my upper body. None of that really helped. Ari then asked me which side of the boot I felt pressing into my ankle. I replied the left side, which seemed to make sense to me since I was trying to “tilt” my skate over more to the left.

Wrong. As it turns out, I’ve been going about this all wrong.

If you take a look at these doctored speed skating photos, you’ll see what I mean. First the outside edge:

It’s a bit hard to see, but I think you can tell that the pressure generated by the tilt of the blade is actually on the top inside of the ankle.  I had been trying to shove my weight onto the outside edge not by pressing down on the outside of my foot but by loading the top of the boot in the wrong direction.

You can see this principle working more clearly on this picture of an inside edge. The outside top of the boot is really pressing into the ankle.

So since this discovery, I have been going through a major reassessment of all my edges. My right side seems to do this more naturally; my left side needs constant. . . well, encouragement. But the good news is that a little bit goes a long, long way.

Okay, finally got this post done (after several re-dos). Last thing to add is a song. This one is from the musical Waitress. Lots of great versions out there (including one by Sara Bareilles herself) but I find this one particularly moving.