USFS testing begins!

One of the advantages of being an adult skater is that when you begin to work on USFS testing, you can actually test in two tracks (though you can only compete in one).  The standard track is the "kids track" for lack of better terminology- it's the one that the kids do in order to go to the olympics- which is what is most visible to non-skaters.  It starts with pre-preliminary, then preliminary, pre-juvenile, juvenile, intermediate, novice, junior, and finally ends in senior.  The adult track is much simpler: pre-bronze, bronze, silver, gold, masters (for people who have reached a certain level in the standard track and/or have finished lower level adult levels).  For adults over 21, the adult track is the one they will compete in.  When you test, you have to to test and pass moves in the field and then you can test the freestyle for the same level.  It is much more complicated than ISI, which is what I have tested under previously.

Up until now, I have tested and passed all of my ISI basic skills.  I will be testing and passing ISI Freestyle 1 and 2 as soon as my coach says, okay, let's test.  Haha.  I have one more week in my Freestyle 2 group class, then I'll move into Freestyle 3- yay!  So today, one of my coaches (I have two) began working with me on my moves in the field for my pre-preliminary test.  I will be testing under both tracks- and I'm super excited about it.  The edges will be no problem, just have to work on moving my arms a bit slower at the change and the stroking won't be a problem either- though I've gotten lazy with my technique, so I'll have to be sure to practice with long strokes rather than just quickly skating around.  The waltz 8 will be the trickiest just because it's new footwork- so we spent a fair amount working on that.  The hardest is trying to figure out how big to make that darn circle!  Haha.  We only did it on one side before it got way too busy to try and do the other side.   The last part we didn't practice, the spiral.  My left spiral is really good, but my right one is not so good-it's hard to raise my left leg up all the way!  I'm not flexible at all.  Boo.  But it's fun to work on something new because now I have a new goal- pass my pre preliminary and my pre bronze tests in addition to learning my ISI Freestyle 3 skills.

One of the reasons I love figure skating is there is always new things to learn and there are built in goals- new skills, new tests, new competitions.  :-)  It's perfect!

Injuries

As an adult skater, I often wonder whether we get injured more often than young skaters? In my experience, I would say yes... but I think part of it is a self-fulfilling prophecy. I am scared I will fall and hurt myself- therefore I fall and hurt myself. I wonder if other adult skaters have this problem?

In the first month of skating, I fell into the splits- I tore my groin muscle and ended up with a giant hematoma and a swollen leg for about 2 weeks. Luckily, with ice/heat/compression/pain killers... it wasn't that bad of an injury. Also, while I happen to injure myself in fairly spectacular fashions, none of my injuries are ever long-lasting (knock on wood!). Over the last nine months, I have fallen at least a million times. My latest injury is a growing chronic bruise on my right elbow/forearm- I have managed to fall on it twice in two weeks and I keep knocking it into things- ouch! Bruises I can handle, but they tend to make me fear the what if... what if something more serious happens the next time...

I think as adults, sometimes we tend to be more tense when we skate, thus when we fall, the injuries are more intense than younger skaters who I've seen literally bounce when they fall. It seems to be they don't have any fear- and it's a good thing! I've been working on my fear of falling, but it seems to creep up on me when I'm doing waltz jumps or left over right forward crossovers with speed. Those are the bane of my existence currently. Does anyone have any advice?

Tomorrow is my powerstroking class- the class I seem to fall the most in. I'm in class with a bunch of younger skaters who all skate so much faster and fearlessly... and I am constantly falling or almost falling. I count it as a success when I manage to not fall! So wish me luck... and any advice on how to get over my fear of falling would be much appreciated!