Jump-O-Rama

Brrrr! It was 40 degrees F in the rink today! BRRRR!

Today's lesson:

• BXOs -- we started with these, and they were horrible. So horrible, in fact, that we had a new first. Anna said she didn't even want to look at them, that I should work on them and we would come back to them. She's never reacted that way before, but I could see why. For some reason they really were just awful, to the point I was embarrassed myself. Yech.
  
• Perimeter stroking -- we did these in each direction. For some reason people were congregating around the rink in clumps, and (particularly on the CW lap) I felt like I was playing the old video game "Frogger." Nevertheless, Anna was pleased with the placement of my strokes and the tempo. The crossovers were fairly good too. She did say I need to be sure to get the leg completely straight on the extension though.
  
• FXOs -- in the Moves pattern. About the same as before; still need to get better extension, and keep that darn back arm up. Anna also reminded me to bend the knee on the underpush.
  
• Waltz-8 -- the 3-turn is pretty good on these. We worked a lot on the step forward, again, in particular being sure not to block with the shoulder; keep the step forward as the last part of the rotation on the BO edge. These have improved, though.
  
• Waltz jump -- we spent a huuuge amount of time on these. I have no idea how many I did -- 15? 20? Sheesh! We worked mostly on timing, getting the forward edge to be more consistent and more than a trivial length; getting the arms and free leg to come up at the same time; and keeping the head up (grr!). Anna actually stood in front of me on the ice and waved at me to get me to look up! How sad is that, that she should have to do that? Anyway, I managed some really great improvement, more lift, better timing and jumping more straight off the toe.
  
• Salchow -- We finished up with these. They have really improved! For some reason practicing these doesn't scare me, which is a good thing. Anyway, Anna's main correction was to try to curve a little harder and jump a little sooner; she said I'd need to be more aggressive. So I heightened my aggression quotient and tried again, and wow! Much improved! I'm really pleased with my progress on these.
  

Once again Anna was very generous with her time; she gave me at least 10 extra minutes. After my lesson I asked her about blades again. She started to say that she wanted me in Coronations, but then stopped herself and said she wasn't done thinking about it.