Solid Work

Today's lesson was just solid work. Not "fun" (but not unenjoyable), just solid work on stuff that needed it. The Tuesday adult session is really a great environment for lessons, though -- good ice and only 5 of us there today.

We started by working the back outside edges. Anna says on the LBO edge I'm scissoring one arm but still bringing the other one around. They are definitely improved. I'm also tending to rise in the knee for some reason, which just makes it more difficult to hold the edge. Of course the turning-the-head thing is still an issue, although I managed to actually do it right once, so that blows any excuses I might be able to make :-), and what a difference it made!

We spent the bulk of our time on the back inside edges, especially the pushoff. It's not easy. Anna says I'm not getting enough weight on the pushing foot for the pushoff, and then I still need to get my weight more firmly on my skating foot as the edge starts. Part of it is that I tend to rush the pushoff and bring the pushing foot in too quickly; it's okay to have it coming in during the first third or fourth of the lobe. There are also a lot of issues of timing, etc. Anna said that these are hard and are just going to take some time, which is what I expected.

After that we spent a few minutes just working on backward stroking, holding the foot in front. I still need to work a bit to keep the free hip up on this, although it has improved and is definitely stronger. I had the strangest feeling as I was doing this -- mostly realizing that I was skating backward on one foot much faster than I'm used to, and it was okay. Cool! Of course part of it was that I was not allowed to look down at the ice since Anna was talking to me and watching me, skating following me.

We finished off our time by looking once more at the perimeter crossover pattern, and I got some good clarifications/corrections on the pattern. I've been trying to place the crossover a little too early, at the very bottom/top of the lobe instead of just after. Anna also noted that I need to hold the arm position until I bring my feet together to step onto the first step (i.e. the FO edge just before the crossover); and the 3rd step needs to be held longer and more perpendicular to the boards/center. The sequence is 1) FO at the top of the lobe, 2) crossover to FI, and 3) push to opposite FI. So step 3 to step 1 is where the arms/body switch positions, not before.

All in all it was a good lesson, solid and fruitful. Anna says we will work on some freestyle stuff at my next lesson (which will be Thursday instead of the usual Friday since I'll be out of town). I guess I know what to work on tomorrow night :-).

After the lesson I had a couple of minutes to skate, and I chatted a little bit with Lisa H. She says that I am skating a lot faster and that I'm improving. It was really nice to hear.