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Yesterday we worked on strides. Last session, I had to work on the day that we had the stride clinic. This made me both sad and annoyed. I love my job, a lot. It's what I'm suppose to be doing and I love it, but sometimes it comes at the expense of other things. I think that this is true of all things we love. We can't love them all to the same level and sometimes one thing takes priority over another. I skipped skating at the dome once to encourage my future step-daughter at her derby practice as her older sister (also in derby) had a concert that night and my fiancee couldn't be at two places at the same time.
We started with a review of our edges and remembering where they are because it turns out that you use your edges for everything! Somehow, this doesn't surprise me in the least. I'm good with where my inside edges are and I can find my outside edges on my right foot really well but not on my left foot. Guess what I'm going to start working on?
I wish I could clearly write about the technical stuff that we did but I'm not really sure how to explain it yet. I know that we learn by teaching but this was such a physical and visual thing that I'm not sure how to describe it. I also don't quite get it yet. I know I will eventually and I'm being really kind about myself because it was my first time through the clinic. I'd heard wonderful things about it from last session and really was down on myself for having to work that day. Priorities and responsibilities can be annoying at times.
When we were divided into groups, we self-assessed our skill level. Group 1 was for people who felt they were experts at the skill while Group 4 was for those who were really new to skating. I was in Group 2. Yeah, that's right, Miss I'm-Never-Going-to-Advance was at the top end of things and it felt good and right. I also made a point to not compare myself to others, though during one drill I nearly forgot to go because I was impressed how the person in front of me was doing. She and I were both in pink last session and wow has she improved! It was awesome.
Some of the drills were awkward. Mostly it was when we broke down the cross-over. We did the stride with the right foot only. Then we crossed behind with our left foot. This was definitely an awkward moose. You could cheat and push your right foot in front but that's not working the right muscles. Our groups broke into smaller ones as we all went around a set of 4 cones. The first time my sub-group went, I struggled. I wasn't dropping my left hip enough and I was way too rigid. Of course, I wasn't aware of this until it was pointed out but once it was, I could feel the tense. The second time around, I let myself relax and ended up falling. Not low enough but at least my foot was starting to get where it was suppose to do. At some point, I actually felt it. I'm not sure I repeated it but I had one Ah-Ha! moment that I could feel the difference. The best part of that was hearing our coaches reassure us that it was hard and that we wouldn't just magically be able to do cross-overs overnight. When we put the cross-overs together, I could get my left leg back and I was pushing with it. This means that it's most likely in my head and I'm freaking out over doing just the left leg part.
The best was yet to come. We grouped together to have two groups and got onto each track. Our practice space has a front and a back track which is fantastic. We can use both and have less girls on each track while still having more girls working at the same time. Harmony was with my group. She had each smaller group (1 and 2) do pace lines around the track. We skated the diamond (outside on the straightaways and inside at the top of the apex) while doing cross-overs. Once the person in front skated a lap, they would fall back. It was interesting to watch the girls who are more comfortable with them working on it and see both strengths and weaknesses. Despite mostly turning off the voice that says how much better everyone else is than me, it still sometimes speaks up, so it's good for me to see other people who I look up to having a hard time. After each group had done a pace line, Harmony took the lead. She said that she learned her stride mostly from skating behind other skaters and learning from them. She wanted us to each skate a lap behind her and start our crossovers not when she did but where she did. I would have loved to have skated several laps behind her. One didn't seem nearly enough to learn everything but then again, there's so many parts that it would take more than just an afternoon skating behind her to get it. It was surprising how much slower her legs changed places. I expected it to be faster.
So what does my title have to do with stride? Everything. Our nose, knee and toe should always be in line. Our head isn't moving but our feet and we continue to put our feet back to the same place and we get a good stride. It also has us balanced. This starts getting into the technical part with edges but even though you're pushing out to the side, you still end up skating a straight line if you keep your nose, knee and toes in line.
There's one thing I'm going to start doing at the end of every post. I'm going to list the things that I need to work on and then the things that I did really well. I'm not forgetting these things as often as I use to (I use to only see the bad) and I think that it's good to record it so that I can see my progress.
Things to work on
- Outside edge on both feet
- Smoothing transition from foot to foot while striding
- Pushing with my left leg independently using the outside edge
- Relaxing my hips
- Getting lower and bending my knees more
Things that were AWESOME
- Circle turns (using edges to go around in a circle; in the past I've always fallen; yesterday and the week before I went all the way around each one without falling)
- Opening up my chest doing crossovers once I realized I should be looking across the circle
- Four point fall after tripping on the weird lip on the side
- Getting low when doing single foot strides (though I'm sure I could have gotten lower)
- My T-stops were awesome yesterday
- The brief Ah-Ha moment with my left leg
- Getting a compliment about looking good and not immediately falling after hearing it.
