Monday Madness

I had the day off (President's Day!) so of course I spent most of it skating. I got there about noon (coffee club) and stay until almost 4, with a break for lunch, so, roughly 3.5 hours of skating. Eeep!

I worked on just about everything today (with that kind of time one can do that!). I worked on the two-foot spin a bit and it's improving; I'm getting a good snap of my arms coming in as the spin starts, so more speed and more revs. I was too chicken today to lift the right leg, though -- definitely have to work on that on Wed. I worked a lot on turns, and was able to do several RFI3s -- the problem is clearly one of nerve, not of skill. I also worked on the RFI Mohawk and that is coming along, a little bit improved. I did a lot of backward skating, and worked some more on my almost-back-crossovers. At this point it's really just getting the nerve up to put my weight on the forward skate so that I can pick up the back one; other than that it's pretty much there, at least clockwise. CCW is a little behind that. The exciting news is that I worked on my backward edges a bit, and I can do a reasonable LBO and even a start at LBI okay. My RB edges are still... works in progress I guess. And of course I worked on crossovers. I suspect a big part of my problem with crossovers (especially trying to do them around the ends of the rink when I'm just stroking) is not wanting to do them at speed. Hmm. Failure of nerve!

I bumped into Anna while I was there, she was teaching a lesson around 3:15 or so. She said hi and we talked for a minute. I noticed on the back rink they have finally posted a list of the available instructors, complete with pictures, phone #s, prices, and their backgrounds. I didn't realize (or didn't remember), but Anna has tested Senior MITF. Wow! Good stuff.

Update: I forgot to mention that I tried an experiment yesterday. I have probably mentioned at some point that my right boot has always felt slightly loose at the heel; my right foot is slightly smaller than my left foot (my left boot fits perfectly). A long time ago I had bought a Dr. Scholls heel insert thingamajig -- it's a small suede leather insert (gray so it matches the inside of my boot) with adhesive on the back. Anyway, I put it in my right boot yesterday before skating. It's pretty small but I think it helps a little. It took me a couple of tries to get it right -- too high up and it bit into my Achilles tendon, too far down and it just felt obnoxious. Anyway, hopefully that will help my RB edges a bit (maybe it already did).