Anyone have tips to for early morning freestyle sessions?

[Jane17]

Hi! I'm an adult skater with a full time job, and as a result can mostly only skate on 6am freestyle session at my rink. When practicing by myself I try to go to weekend public sessions, but I'm working on my axel with my coach on the harness, so need to be on freestyle for that. I’m really motivated to improve, but am having an impossible time making my body cooperate that early in the morning.

Some context: I get to the rink 30 min early and spend a bunch of time doing warm up exercises and off-ice jumps. I bring coffee and a protein shake to wake up and get something in my stomach (usually too nauseous in the morning for real food), and I even warm up on the ice for 30 additional min before my coach arrives. I do all of these same things when I skate in the afternoon and have no issues at all, but at 6am I am always freezing cold and can’t warm my body up, I have a hard time picking my feet up in my jumps, and my legs shake (maybe from the coffee to be fair, but I am a regular coffee drinker). I pretty much always end up wasting the whole lesson because I perform so much worse than I normally would. Today we spent 10 min trying to land a single flip and failing every time, when on an afternoon session I can do that on the first try without a second thought.

I’m frustrated with this because a big reason for being on these early sessions is for me to work on my axel, but I feel like there’s no hope for my axel on these sessions where I can’t even land a flip. Does anyone else have this issue and have tips for pushing through it?? Are there specific workouts or exercises I should try? I am desperate to become a morning person and would love it if I could start my morning with a solid skate where I improve instead of feeling like I’ve wasted time.

If you don’t eat, you shouldn’t drink cofee. Maybe go sleeping earlier to have 8-9 hours of sleep. And your overall diet is crucial. Eat well the day before.

 

[kinari]

Hi! I'm an adult skater with a full time job, and as a result can mostly only skate on 6am freestyle session at my rink. When practicing by myself I try to go to weekend public sessions, but I'm working on my axel with my coach on the harness, so need to be on freestyle for that. I’m really motivated to improve, but am having an impossible time making my body cooperate that early in the morning.

Some context: I get to the rink 30 min early and spend a bunch of time doing warm up exercises and off-ice jumps. I bring coffee and a protein shake to wake up and get something in my stomach (usually too nauseous in the morning for real food), and I even warm up on the ice for 30 additional min before my coach arrives. I do all of these same things when I skate in the afternoon and have no issues at all, but at 6am I am always freezing cold and can’t warm my body up, I have a hard time picking my feet up in my jumps, and my legs shake (maybe from the coffee to be fair, but I am a regular coffee drinker). I pretty much always end up wasting the whole lesson because I perform so much worse than I normally would. Today we spent 10 min trying to land a single flip and failing every time, when on an afternoon session I can do that on the first try without a second thought.

I’m frustrated with this because a big reason for being on these early sessions is for me to work on my axel, but I feel like there’s no hope for my axel on these sessions where I can’t even land a flip. Does anyone else have this issue and have tips for pushing through it?? Are there specific workouts or exercises I should try? I am desperate to become a morning person and would love it if I could start my morning with a solid skate where I improve instead of feeling like I’ve wasted time.

Hi! Usually when i go to early morning sessions, i wake up about 1-1:30 hours before i head out. For me, doing a 10-min workout at home before i go to the rink really helps warm my body up. I also recommend drinking a lot of cold water because that can help soothe hunger and wake you up easily. I wouldn't exert my body too much before the session starts because whenever i do, i get tired easily on the ice, so (in my opinion) i like doing a quick workout/light jog + some yoga before i go to early morning sessions. Good luck and dress warm