Santa Comes Through!

On Friday I wrote that I hoped that Santa would bring me a nice LFI3. Well, with a little help, he's brought me an LFI3! Not a "nice" one, but a real one nonetheless. I'm pretty stoked. I attended the adult skate today and spent a good 20 minutes or more at the end of the session just on the LFI3, and I managed to do a number of them. Not "good" -- they're very skid-y and scratchy; but they are there. The keys seem to be several things all at once -- 1) better kneebend before the turn, 2) a certain feeling in the foot/ankle that I can't describe, and 3) keeping the right (trailing) hand/arm extended before/during/after the turn -- sort of the "embracing the circle" thing. I did them over and over and over again to try to get them in my muscle memory, and then when the session was over I managed a really good one and decided to quit on that note.

Besides the LFI3 I worked on all my 3s a bit, and also forward crossovers. I seem to be making progress in skating in the crossed position; I managed it several times and it felt very natural, so I was quite pleased.

One of the joys (and distractions) of today's session was the presence of one of Tucson's better skaters, Jenna. Jenna lives and trains in LA (I think she's going to school there) but is home in Tucson occasionally. She's an amazing skater to watch -- I'd never seen a double axel up-close and personal, but it's an amazing thing. She has so much grace, power, and flow. Like I said, it's distracting -- it's tempting to just watch her skate, but of course I have my own stuff to work on. Still it was fun.