Edges, Edges, Edges

I was going to title this entry "I Suck!" but I decided that was overly negative :-).

I went to coffee club today, and during the lesson we worked on crossovers and 3-turns. This is the first real feedback on my 3-turns I've had in a while, and Cecilia said I need to have a better check (something that had occurred to me too) and to keep my free foot behind my skating foot and not let it drift out.

While we were working on crossovers I got very frustrated, mostly because I realized that basically all the problems I have with crossovers come down to not having established a good enough balance yet, not being able to hold the edge properly and have my weight placed solidly over my skate. If I were able to really do that then I would be able to do whatever I needed with my free foot and it would be fine, but since I can't yet, I'm having the problems I'm having. Of course all this ties in to my previous post about learning new stuff before I've really got what I have down better. So while it is nice, and fun, to practice the stuff I've learned recently, I need to go back and spend even more time on my edges, especially my right ones. Mind you, I've not entirely neglected them; in fact I've spent time on them at almost every practice. But clearly I need to give them a higher priority than I have been.

As I was leaving I got to see an acquaintance of mine, Lisa, do a run-through of her program (she is competing a week from tomorrow, I believe). It's pretty cool to watch. I hope that's me in a couple of years.

As an aside -- I worked a little on my 2-foot spin today. I can get several rotations reliably and I seem to center it pretty well. Would I be evil if I confess that it doesn't particularly excite me? So many people seem really obsessed with spins (well, especially the kids) but it doesn't seem to do much for me, really. Maybe when I learn some "real" spins I'll feel differently, but right now I can take 'em or leave 'em. It's quite a different reaction from, say, a turn -- a good 3-turn makes me go "whee!" I suppose it's just different for everyone.