Basics

Today was a bad day. I had a 5-hour meeting at work that ran long, so I got to the rink about 8 minutes before my lesson and still had to change, get my skates on, and warm up. Anna gave me a few extra minutes to warm up, thank God, but even so... *bleah*.

Today's lesson:

• FO edges -- a little weak. Anna told me to get more blade pressure, that I looked a little wobbly. I felt a little wobbly, not quite warmed up.
  
• FI edges -- These were not too bad. Anna reminded me that I need to point the free foot/toe and keep the thighs together.
  
• BO edges -- Anna said these are not quite as good as they have been (I agree). Anna says I need to stand taller on the RBO edge and also work on bringing the free leg back straighter.
  
• BI edges -- Anna says these look pretty good. She did think that I need to work more on bringing the free leg back straight and keeping the thighs together.
  
• Perimeter stroking -- I wasn't happy with this at all. Extension was a little better (Anna reminded me to push from the heel) but the crossovers were just not happening. So we went to...
  
• Forward crossovers -- we worked these in the Moves pattern, and then Anna wanted to work them on the circle a bit. She had me practice pushing, gliding in the crossed position, and then uncrossing -- to work on eliminating the toe-push. We worked on the CW ones, then back to the Moves pattern, then worked on the CCW ones and back to the Moves pattern. Anna was pleased with my progress, but I wasn't so sure.
  

For Friday, Anna says she wants to teach me the Waltz-8. We also agreed that starting 4/4 my lessons will be Mondays and Thursdays at 7:45 a.m.