FXOs

Today's lesson:

• FXOs -- ugh. We started with these and spent almost 15 minutes on them -- it really kicked my butt! We worked them both in the Moves pattern and on the circle. Anna said on the CCW ones I'm tending to look into my arm -- need to keep the leading arm/hand down; also she said that as I pick up speed on these, I tend to pitch forward, which of course makes me uncomfortable (actually, it scares the heck out of me) -- need to take my time (rhythm!) and settle more firmly on the whole blade. On the CW ones I still need to work on keeping the trailing arm up and turned into the circle, and bringing the free foot around closer/quicker. Anna also said I'm tending to bring the crossing foot too far over into the circle. She mentioned four checkpoints I should think about for FXOs (this was new to me): 1) push and extension, 2) foot crossed just before placing it on the ice, 3) crossed-over just after underpush, and 4) feet together. I'd never quite thought of it in that way. She also suggested I should go ahead and make bigger circles, and demonstrated that instead of slavishly following the hockey circles I can follow them about 2 feet or so out and still clear the boards. This gives me more room; it's basically splitting the rink in half. She said, though, that she thinks the real key for these is for me to get a better tempo, and I think she's right. When I practice them in isolation I often can get into a good rhythm on them (not always); but when doing the Moves pattern or in front of Anna I'm tending to not establish that tempo. Without that rhythm I'm thinking too much about what I'm doing instead of letting it flow.
  
• Perimeter stroking -- in the middle of working FXOs we did some of these in each direction, CCW first. Anna said my tempo was too slow and I still need to get a straight leg on the extension. There were about 8 people on the session (including mostly higher-level kids) so I was feeling a little inhibited. Not my best effort. I need to work these more so I get the right tempo for 6 strokes down the rink (I'm still oriented toward 4). When I did these for Anna I did 4 strokes for most of the length of the rink, then threw in 2 more and wasn't set up for the end crossovers. Grrr.
  
• FO edges -- Anna was actually happy with these! Yea!
  
• FI edges -- Anna was pretty happy with these as well. She still wants me to wait to bring the free foot through though; she suggested just holding the free foot up (toe pointed down) until I'm done rotating the arms.
  
• BO edges -- I'm tending to get up on my toe coming back to the line, which gives me problems including a weak push; need to keep the weight on the heel coming back and use the whole blade for the push. Anna says I'm also tending to try to make my push too small; it's okay to make it rather bigger than I was (several feet). Also need to focus on drawing the free foot in so I can bring it in front.
  
• BI edges -- not that bad. I complained that my first lobe is always stinky, though, and we discovered it's because I'm doing the pushoff on two feet and I'm not pigeon-toeing the soon-to-be-skating foot (right foot) enough and I'm turning the left foot a bit. I actually need to keep the left foot still and turn the right foot out more and then push off. We worked this a few times and it made a big difference -- bigger (more balanced) first lobe, better push, and it's easier to keep the free foot in front for the beginning of the lobe.
  

All in all, a good but very tiring lesson -- as I said to Anna when I looked at the clock after we finished FXOs, "The longest 18 minutes of my life!" At one point while we were working on edges, Anna went over and looked at my tracing, then turned and asked me if I needed my blades sharpened. I told her I was due, it has been 6 weeks. She said she thought so, because my tracing looked like I was on a flat although the edge had looked okay when I did it. Interesting!