3s, Sals, & Toes

Today's lesson:

• FI3s -- per my request, we started with these. I still think they are pretty stinky, though Anna says they are not that bad. We focused a lot on the LFI3 (many of the same issues/corrections apply to the RFI3 though). The main issues for this were, first, Anna insisted I need to keep the free foot/free toe firmly behind me (not at the side) and toe pointed down. She was very adamant! The other main point (one I was well aware of) was not rushing. Push, Set, Rotate, Set, Turn! I tend to especially leave out the second "set" and the result is not good. With some attention to this I did some pretty good LFI3s.
  
• Alt-3s -- Anna's idea, not mine (although I was glad to get some time in on them). Still working many of the same issues on the step forward. At one point I had Anna skate in front of me so that I would have to keep eye contact with her -- this was surprisingly helpful, so a pat on the back to me :-). On the FO3s I tend to get in the right position but it's early (too far from the line) so I don't step forward, and then I lose the position. On the FI3s I can usually get the step forward pretty readily, but then it's hard to do the turn because my body position is whacked out. There's an awful lot to do here.
  
• Waltz jump -- Anna had me do a few from a standing start just to get the feel in my feet. I actually was getting some good spring on them!
  
• Salchow -- Anna started by asking me what I remembered, so I did the entrance (LFO edge, LFO3, hold the LBI, then curve it around and bring the free foot in). She was pleased. We worked on this for quite a while. Anna emphasized that the LBI needs to curve from bending the knee (as I observed, like the RBI entrance for the spin), not from dropping the hip or leaning into the circle. We also worked on the arm position. Anna says that basically it's like doing a waltz jump once you get to the right position. I can see why she'd say that. Anna was very excited (and I was too) and howquickly I'm picking this up and getting closer to it. I'm just lacking a bit of kneebend/oomph to jump at the appropriate point, and also the "flick" off the toepick as the jump happens. I'm really happy about my progress on these!
  
• Toe loop prep -- Anna asked me what I remembered about these, and it was just basically the RFI3. We worked on the RFI3, hold and reach back with the leg for a bit. Then we worked just on skating backwards, reaching back with the L leg, planting the toepick and popping up. Anna held my hands while I skated backwards and tried a few. It's a little unnerving. Anna said these would take a while to learn because she wants to make sure I don't fall in the "toe-waltz" habit, which is apparently pretty easy to do. I can kind of see how that would work. Anyway, it's pretty cool to be working this stuff.
  

Today's lesson was extremely long. I'm not sure what time we started (the clock in the rink was off) but I think we started around 12:55 and went 'til 1:35. Wow! It was very warm in the rink today (62 degrees!) and I was sweating up a storm. Ewwww. I begged Anna not to make me do crossovers today, so I'm sure they'll be at the top of the list on Wednesday. What a great lesson, though.

During my lesson today I told Anna that I had decided I was not going to concern myself with my testing date. I think I've obsessed about that a bit too much; so I told her I would just count on her to let me know when she thinks I'm ready to test and I'm going to leave it at that. At first she seemed concerned that maybe I'm discouraged or down about my skating, but I reassured her it's far from that -- I think I just need to let go of focusing on the test date at this point. Anyway, we have probably 3.5 weeks before we'd need to make up our minds (next testing is 8/28).