Loosen up a little

July 18, 2012

Fresh Meat skating together while vets give advice

Tonight practice focused on us fresh meat girls. We worked on crossovers, falls, weaving, and stops. We learned baseball slides--and I did some successfully, to my amazement. It was a fun night!

Halfway through practice I mentioned that my wheels were still tightened from the day I bought them last month. I'd spent plenty of time on my skates and had been meaning to loosen them a little, but hadn't gotten around to it. We decided to loosen them up right then, hoping it might improve my speed. Con Artist, one of the veteran skaters, loosened them for me.

I asked to try again for my 25 in 5. Last time I skated it in 6:11. This time I was skating alone except for our team captain skating in front of me to set the pace. I dug a little deeper and tried to keep doing crossovers the whole time, skating a circle. It was much easier on my leg muscles with the wheels loosened! So this time I skated it in...

5:13! I know I could cut that 13 seconds off easily if I could stay lower in a derby position and lean forward more. I kept standing up too straight and throwing myself off balance when I tried to speed up. Need to work on that!

The other two fresh meat girls there tonight, who have not been skating long at all, both finished their 25 in under seven minutes. I can't remember their exact times, but they were amazing for first tries! We are all gaining skills and skating faster and faster. Getting there!

~Jenny Two Shoes~