Today I took a snowboarding lesson - the instructor seemed pretty impressed with my progress for a beginner, and I explained I had no problem with my heel edge, but couldn't do turns or get on my toe edge.
"Oh, you just turn your shoulders the way you want to turn, and then your legs will follow"
That's it?
So, before you knew it I was doing little mini-turns - still hard for me to stay on the toe edge, since I can't seem to get the balance between leaning too far forward or too far upright, but I can do a turn or two at least.
After my lesson, SB and I kept going for a few hours. Because of my balance issue and trying to get the feel of that, I fell quite a bit, but was taking it like a trouper. Until our last run. I had already fallen on my left butt/hip at least five times, and I'm sure a bruise will appear, but then I had a doozie of a back-flip thing and crashed on my butt, then whacked my head so hard my goggles flew off. I took a moment, then jumped up to catch up to SB, then like two seconds later some lady on skis ran smack into me from behind. I decided then we should call it a day. Before I died.
In other news, Cuba is a coming! Less than a month away now, and I can't wait! Sun, sand, drinks, and keeping my Mummy in line. They changed our flight times, so we end up getting a whole extra day of sunshine - WOOHOO!
Showing posts with label Snowboarding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snowboarding. Show all posts
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Third time's a charm! Not really
Attempt number three at the snowboarding thing took place last night. I'm really starting to think that I'm not going to catch on to this thing. At least the snow was nice, so falling wasn't as painful as last time, but I was so afraid of falling because of my last experience that it was hard for me to try any new skills.
It was really cold (I think -20 was what we heard on the radio) plus the windchill, which at the top of the mountain was pretty crazy, but I didn't even notice because I was so terrified of falling, or getting run over by the little punks that obviously don't understand English or French when they see the signs that say "family zone/reduced speed".
Anyway, it took over an hour to do one run, and then it was time to go because they were shutting things down. SB is getting frustrated with me, I think, but I can't help it. I am so scared, so I go slow, and then my legs get killer sore because I'm so tense and always using the same muscles cause I still can't use my front edge. Ugh. I called yesterday to try and book a private lesson, but they didn't have any appointments available. I might try to get one for Friday afternoon. I think it will help to have a stranger yelling at me instead of SB.
When we got home I was freezing to death, so I took a hot shower, put on my pyjamas and crawled into bed. Then I was still freezing so I put on a hooded sweatshirt and wore the hood all night. That's how cold it was, cause until two nights ago we've been sleeping with the window open.
It was really cold (I think -20 was what we heard on the radio) plus the windchill, which at the top of the mountain was pretty crazy, but I didn't even notice because I was so terrified of falling, or getting run over by the little punks that obviously don't understand English or French when they see the signs that say "family zone/reduced speed".
Anyway, it took over an hour to do one run, and then it was time to go because they were shutting things down. SB is getting frustrated with me, I think, but I can't help it. I am so scared, so I go slow, and then my legs get killer sore because I'm so tense and always using the same muscles cause I still can't use my front edge. Ugh. I called yesterday to try and book a private lesson, but they didn't have any appointments available. I might try to get one for Friday afternoon. I think it will help to have a stranger yelling at me instead of SB.
When we got home I was freezing to death, so I took a hot shower, put on my pyjamas and crawled into bed. Then I was still freezing so I put on a hooded sweatshirt and wore the hood all night. That's how cold it was, cause until two nights ago we've been sleeping with the window open.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Hey there 2007!
Wow, so it's the new year, and I have finally slowed down a bit at work. This week has been utterly decadent - a few work things, but all-in-all I pretty much just read and watched TV and got caught up on some office stuff. It felt SO GOOD!
Two nights ago SB and I went snowboarding for attempt #2 - we haven't had any natural snow lately, but they've been making some, so we thought we'd give it a try. However, the first run we did was a trail that was only recently opened, and it was hard-packed and .... hard-packed. I can't count the number of times I careened out of control, fell on my ass, fell to my knees, slid 50 feet on my back (thus pulling up my parka and causing major burn on my back). I have bruises everywhere. I was so discouraged when we finally got to the end that I was almost in tears, and SB was ready to strangle me with his board leash. We did another run, on one of the better groomed trails, and things went better, but I had hurt myself so bad on the first run that it just wasn't any fun. Even though we were only there for two runs, it took two hours, so I guess it was still worth the drive. And I'm still sore today. I'm going to set up an appointment to take a lesson next week - I have done okay so far with SB's instruction, but I get frustrated when he goes on ahead - it makes me panic, but he should be able to have fun too, so maybe the lesson is a great idea. Plus I'm sure the instructor will be able to explain things a little better to me.
In big, crazy news, I'm going to Cuba in February! I know, crazy! SB and I bought my mom tickets to see Rod Stewart (her fave 4ever) here in Montreal in February. She had already been planning on taking a trip south this year, so started looking into leaving from here, so she would maybe get a better price than leaving from Halifax. Plus she has to come here for the concert anyway. So, we found her a great deal, but then the problem became who would she travel with. Now, since the ski suit that SB got me for Christmas didn't work out (it didn't fit, and we couldn't find another one that I really loved), he offered to pay for part of my trip as my gift. WooHoo!!! I'm so excited, I could burst. It's very helpful that SB also got me a gift certificate to yoga, so I can spend the whole month between now and my trip getting in better shape. As long as snowboarding doesn't kill me in between yoga classes!
Two nights ago SB and I went snowboarding for attempt #2 - we haven't had any natural snow lately, but they've been making some, so we thought we'd give it a try. However, the first run we did was a trail that was only recently opened, and it was hard-packed and .... hard-packed. I can't count the number of times I careened out of control, fell on my ass, fell to my knees, slid 50 feet on my back (thus pulling up my parka and causing major burn on my back). I have bruises everywhere. I was so discouraged when we finally got to the end that I was almost in tears, and SB was ready to strangle me with his board leash. We did another run, on one of the better groomed trails, and things went better, but I had hurt myself so bad on the first run that it just wasn't any fun. Even though we were only there for two runs, it took two hours, so I guess it was still worth the drive. And I'm still sore today. I'm going to set up an appointment to take a lesson next week - I have done okay so far with SB's instruction, but I get frustrated when he goes on ahead - it makes me panic, but he should be able to have fun too, so maybe the lesson is a great idea. Plus I'm sure the instructor will be able to explain things a little better to me.
In big, crazy news, I'm going to Cuba in February! I know, crazy! SB and I bought my mom tickets to see Rod Stewart (her fave 4ever) here in Montreal in February. She had already been planning on taking a trip south this year, so started looking into leaving from here, so she would maybe get a better price than leaving from Halifax. Plus she has to come here for the concert anyway. So, we found her a great deal, but then the problem became who would she travel with. Now, since the ski suit that SB got me for Christmas didn't work out (it didn't fit, and we couldn't find another one that I really loved), he offered to pay for part of my trip as my gift. WooHoo!!! I'm so excited, I could burst. It's very helpful that SB also got me a gift certificate to yoga, so I can spend the whole month between now and my trip getting in better shape. As long as snowboarding doesn't kill me in between yoga classes!
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Hitting the slopes - a little harder than I had hoped
This weekend was the first weekend of ski/snowboard season!!! We bought our season passes last week, and decided to give it a go with some night-riding last night. Now, because we haven't gotten much snow yet, the hill has been making lots but only a few trails were open. I think there were like five trails or something like that. But, two were easy, and pretty long, so we decided to get a jump on things and get me a-learnin'.
My equipment is friggin' awesome. In the past when I tried to learn I had always rented equipment, but always had problems with pinchy boots, ill-fitting stuff, wrong board sizes, etc. When I decided this would be my year to learn, I knew I should invest in my own equipment, and I am so glad that I did. I think i would have gotten more discouraged with equipment problems. Plus, my board is cute. Who doesn't want to look cute?
All in all, things went pretty well. I have semi-mastered my back edge, so instead of nice ess-curves I make kinda z's, cutting back and forth on the trail, but always facing forward or pointed down. I tried a few times to go on my front edge, but fell on my face, so decided just to do what I was good at and not force too much on the first try!
It was a pretty fun night, although with the whole not a lot of trails open thing came the problem of people off all skill levels riding the same trails. This is very annoying when you are learning, and you can hear someone whizzing down, coming towards you. It made me so nervous!!! I also had some difficulties getting off of one of the chairlifts - but the other one was no problem. I fell down WAY too much at the beginning, thus my arms are killing me. First of all, from being jammed so much into the snow, catching myself, and second from pushing myself up at such awkward angles. Today my shoulders are killing me. (My actual shoulder joints, not my back and shoulder blades). Also, my thighs are killing from always being crouched. SB said that when I start to ride on my front edge my legs will get less tired cause I'll be working all different muscles instead of the same ones.
I was so sore when we got home I had to lay on the heating pad before bed. We only did three runs in like three hours, but they were the long and windy ones, and the first one took super forever. The last one was actually pretty fast cause I didn't fall and was moving faster by that point, but my legs and arms were so sore I was ready to call it a day.
Can't wait til next weekend!
My equipment is friggin' awesome. In the past when I tried to learn I had always rented equipment, but always had problems with pinchy boots, ill-fitting stuff, wrong board sizes, etc. When I decided this would be my year to learn, I knew I should invest in my own equipment, and I am so glad that I did. I think i would have gotten more discouraged with equipment problems. Plus, my board is cute. Who doesn't want to look cute?
All in all, things went pretty well. I have semi-mastered my back edge, so instead of nice ess-curves I make kinda z's, cutting back and forth on the trail, but always facing forward or pointed down. I tried a few times to go on my front edge, but fell on my face, so decided just to do what I was good at and not force too much on the first try!
It was a pretty fun night, although with the whole not a lot of trails open thing came the problem of people off all skill levels riding the same trails. This is very annoying when you are learning, and you can hear someone whizzing down, coming towards you. It made me so nervous!!! I also had some difficulties getting off of one of the chairlifts - but the other one was no problem. I fell down WAY too much at the beginning, thus my arms are killing me. First of all, from being jammed so much into the snow, catching myself, and second from pushing myself up at such awkward angles. Today my shoulders are killing me. (My actual shoulder joints, not my back and shoulder blades). Also, my thighs are killing from always being crouched. SB said that when I start to ride on my front edge my legs will get less tired cause I'll be working all different muscles instead of the same ones.
I was so sore when we got home I had to lay on the heating pad before bed. We only did three runs in like three hours, but they were the long and windy ones, and the first one took super forever. The last one was actually pretty fast cause I didn't fall and was moving faster by that point, but my legs and arms were so sore I was ready to call it a day.
Can't wait til next weekend!
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