Spins & BXOs

I have been off the ice since Thursday, and it showed in my warmup today before my lesson. Still, one bright spot -- in working on my RFI3 I was able to do a full lobe AND step forward onto an LFI. So that part is coming. Still working the FO3 step forward though...

Today's lesson:

• spins -- these were pretty stinky. Besides dropping the right side I'm doing weird things with my pull-in. This is still the 2-foot --> 1-foot spin, by the way. I'm tending to rush picking the foot up and not establishing a good spin first. Anna told me she wants me to lay off them entirely for a couple of weeks. Eeep!
• BXOs and back cross steps -- we spent most of the lesson working these; we started by doing the MIF back crossover pattern. Still pretty scratchy, and Anna says I'm nowhere near a real cross on the weak side (not sooo bad on the good side). We alternated working the BXOs with doing back cross steps around the rink. These are hard! Anna wanted 4 in a row. I tend to lose momentum on them so it's hard to continue. Anna says I need to have softer knees to keep them from scratching and (where have I heard this before! :-)) push the heel more. She wants me to integrate these into my practice patterns.

After the lesson Anna let me know she would be out of town next week, so no lessons then (spring break for UA). She also mentioned in passing that it appears that she will be going straight on to her master's program and that she will be in Tucson "indefinitely." She says she's not fond of Tucson, but I'm really glad she will be around a while. I told her she has to get me through to Adult Silver!