Forward Spin!

Anna had switched cars with her fiancé (and left her skates behind), so she had to coach me from the boards today. Today's lesson:

• Waltz jump -- Anna wanted me to focus on several areas -- first, I'm checking too hard on the landing position. She wants my arms in less of an "L", instead the left arm out to the side much more. Second, we worked on remembering to bring the arms back on the step forward, something I've been meaning to fix. And third, working on my body position so that I'm not trying so hard to turn. Anna showed me the loop position (backspin position) and explained how I need to work to be able to make that happen in the air -- prep for waltz-loop and eventually the Axel (!). These have definitely improved, though -- more speed and better flow. Still a bit scratchy on the BO edge but the entrance positions (collect, especially) are much better.
  
• 5-step Mohawk -- we'd not looked at these in a while. Anna says my rhythm is much better. I need to work, still, on the 3rd step -- Anna says I need more kneebend, keep my back straight, and keeping my weight more in the middle of the blade. I noticed I tend to have some uncontrolled swing on the 2nd and 3rd steps that tends to force me around in a wide swing instead of a narrow "skinny" rotation.
  
• Power-3s -- we'd not looked at these in a long time. Anna suggested that I try to be square (looking down the ice) after the 3-turn when coming back to the line; then to remember to (waaaaait for it!) look where I'm going! when doing the back crossovers into the step forward. Anna says the main reason my step forward on the RFO power 3s is so bad is because my BXO is crappy (makes sense, it's the bad side) and thus my hip is blocking me (too far forward) when I want to step forward. More stuff to work on.
  
• Spin entrance -- we finished up with these. The windup and back edge are pretty comfortable and solid now, but I'm still tending to wide-step the step forward and getting no push as a result. At one point Anna asked me to just try to skate the FO edge around one of the "pepperoni dots" (the small solid hockey circles that are maybe 18" in diameter). Amazingly enough I was able to do this and enter a forward spin! I must have given Anna the dumbest "what the heck!" look. So we tried it again a couple more times and yep, I can now enter a forward spin from a forward edge. So we went back and tried to see if I could do it from the full setup and no, not quite. Still, I'm so psyched! I've been working on this for months. I looked at her and said, "Does that count?" and she said "I think it does!". YAY! Obviously I need to practice this more. It was slow (not much oomph to work with) but it was there. So now if I can get it from the full entrance of course I'll have a lot more to work with in the way of speed and power.
  

When we were done, I asked Anna why I'm able to do the forward spin entrance around the pepperoni dot, when I couldn't the last time we'd tried it several months ago. "Because you got better!" she smiled. It was a good feeling!