Edges & Turns

For today's lesson we started out looking at my forward edges. Anna says my FO edges, when I take my time and concentrate, are passing quality (although, she says, I still am looking down. I really need to fix that!). The FI are not :-). They are improved but I still need to get my weight more firmly over my skating foot, improve the scissor action on the arm change, and keep my free foot firmly in/in front of my skating foot when I bring it forward. Still, as Anna said, I know what to work on.

We then spent the bulk of my lesson on 3-turns. My LFO3 is looking pretty good; I'm holding the edge, but I need to maintain the check better. The RFO3 needs work, I need to keep the free foot more firmly tucked in. We worked the FI3s as well; the RFI3 is much improved but still needs basically the same fixes my FI edges do. The LFI3... I'm doing something strange with my free foot. Anna says on both the FI3s I'm tending to stick my butt out (my term) or tuck my hips in (Anna's term). I think it's a basic fear reaction that is most noticeable on the LFI3. I think the solution will only be to do a boatload of them. If I am honest with myself, I tend to avoid working on the FI3s, not so much because they stink but because they are scary, especially the LFI3. I'm only going to get over that by doing a zillion of them.

We finished up with a few minutes on the FI Mohawks. These are coming along, and when I remember to keep my eyes up and maintain the check, aren't that bad. Probably the biggest single problem with them is that when the newly free foot comes off the ice it's coming into the circle so it tends to either make my exit edge curve too much, or I have to put the foot down. The solution is either to tuck it behind the new skating foot, or in the ideal world extend it out. Something to work on.