Not All Leggings Are Created Equal

Today I'm starting my entry with a rant.

I wore a pair of leggings to class today that I don't normally wear. It was warm out, I wanted to wear capris, they were from when I used to dance, etc. Well, class ended up being HELL because anytime I did anything that wasn't stationary they slid down. I would have to hike them up mid step, try tucking my shirt in and hoisting them up...NOTHING WORKED. Needless to say I was not as focused as I could have been and it's leaving me thinking.

Surely there are other types of exercise that woman do that are as taxing as Irish dance? Did I just buy a crap pair of leggings and if I had been jogging or doing Zumba I would have also had this issue? Ugh. Maybe I need to wear shorts or ultra thick long leggings because I had no issues before today.

Rant over.

So as it stands on February 12th, 2022, I am one step of treble jig and a half step of slip jig away from having my rounds. All new material (Except for that first slip jig step, we think) and all harder than what I was doing before. I won't be learning any new steps for a while as the focus will be get those 4 steps ready for the class feis I'll be doing in 43 days, but I'm definitely in good shape for late May or June for a real competition. I likely will not need a set until Oireachtas, but we'll see what happens with that down the road.

I go through these moments where I day dream about being in Open chams or standing on the podium at a prelim competition before swinging to the other end of the pendulum where I despair about coming dead last at every competition I do going forward. The old me probably would be getting down on how fat I look in the mirror or how I'm not getting everything right the first time. It would be so easy to get into that frame of mind again, but I refuse. I need to remind myself that:

-I have not danced like this EVER. Even peak me in Late 2018/Early 2019 was just starting to play with prelim rhythms and things. This is new territory and I'm able to do most of it in my lesson and even better the following week.

-My last Feis was 3 YEARS AGO.

-I pushed a literal person out of my body.

-Covid made everyone Sedentary, not just me.

-I've only been back at this since December. I've had two weeks cancelled due to weather, plus Christmas and New Years. I'm doing great given the circumstances.

So yes, I'm giving myself grace. I'm seeing improvements in my dancing as well with my cross training. I'm still doing a good job of hitting clicks and I wasn't great with that before. I think I said this last week, but I'm not working to peak next week or for my class feis either so there's time to work. That being said, I plan on drilling some of those new tricky rhythms so I'll be all set for next week.

Talk to you next time,

Kay