It's been awhile.. A long while.. With four months of being stuck on a plateau, drama and skate malfunctions (where everything that could go wrong has). There is finally some improvement and a break through.
Plateaus suck. Period. I was learning quite quickly and suddenly. I couldn't pick up the easiest drills. I watched girls that were once my equal in skill soar/skate past. I was left in the dust. The harder I worked. The more I would get mad at myself for not being able to do what I was trying to do. I am my own worst puppy kicker. (not kicking real puppies btw.. Look up Bonnie D'Stroir's audio file called Puppy Talk to know what I'm talking about further)
Drama sucks. Nothing really more to say here other than to say.. Drama sucks the life and heart out of people. Normally I can just watch it and treat it like watching a soap opera but after awhile. It just makes it hard to want to keep going. No matter where you go there will always be drama. Thankfully tho. It's mostly passed or maybe I'm just on the outside enough I don't have to see it. (Like that spider you just "know" is hiding in your bathroom but if you can't see it. All is well)
Skate malfunction sucks. The guru of skates himself looked over my plates. Thinking that perhaps I'm not just falling all over on the ground because of lack of skill but maybe it's my skates. If you can't be "one" with the skates.. You can't really be expected to excel. Turns out.. My king pin was moving back and forth, in and out, and in every other direction you can think of. They were busted.. Really I can't be surprised. Those damn things were my first real pair and they survived a damn fire!
So new plates were ordered. Then the new boots were ordered (love love my reidell boots!) Sadly, if I didn't have bad luck. I'd have no luck at all. The boots were in within a couple weeks. The plates finally arrived. Now I wait for the trucks. (they were apparently forgotten when the plates were shipped.. Sigh) So I have lovely new skates just begging to be whole. Begging to be used. Hopefully soon. I'm tired of waiting.
A light at the end of a dark tunnel. The guru cast me a line and I appreciate it more than anything. I borrowed a set of plates until the new ones come in.. They were for all intents and purposes the same ones I'd been using. Just one little difference. Mine were a 6. The borrowed ones. A 5. Which means where my back wheels used to be. They aren't anymore. They are further in towards the front of the boot. Suddenly, I'm learning how to skate again. I tried to plow, fell on my butt. Tried to power slide, fell on my butt. I had to relearn my balance all over again but once that happened. I felt faster. Better. More confident.
Fast forward a couple weeks later. Still trying to remind myself not to put so much weight on the back of my feet. We had our league benchmarks. Where the entire league re tests their min skill requirements to make sure we are all safe and sound skaters. Tests no matter what kind. Make me nervous. Period. First the basics. Falling, stride, stance, cross overs. Easy stuff. Next.. The dreaded 25 in 5. These always make me nervous. So we start. I keep pace with my wife on our team and just go. We chat. We laugh. We skate. 7 laps go by and I'm wondering how much time in we are. Turns out. Only one minute. We keep skating. First 25. Then 27 (my previous record for the past two years) then 28 (whoo hoo I got a bit better) and with ten seconds left.. I fit in one more lap for a total of 29!. An all new record and improvement..
So the question is.. Was it the gruelling Bella practises and their 50 in 10, pain trains and Tazbot dryland? The improvement in the skates/wheels/floor? or was it the slightly better confidence in said skates that worked out as a placebo effect? I have no idea.. but what ever it was.. it works and that's all that matters.. Take that plateau!! Now to wait and see how the new skates work.
