New Moves Pattern

I've had a really bad 24 hours for many reasons, so having a lesson today really helped me keep my sanity. Before my lesson I talked with Anna about a few things -- first to congratulate her (yesterday was her birthday) and then to talk to her about my blades. I told her what I'd been told about my blades and that I was thinking about the MK Pros or Ultima Protégé. She took a good look at my blades and said that she didn't want me to have bigger toepicks, and she showed me hers (her teaching skates have Phantom blades). She said the Mark IVs I have have the bottom toepick pretty low to the ice. She concluded that she wanted to do some research about what would be best for me. She also looked at my boots (I told her I'd been considering getting new boots next year) and she said she'd like me to stay in these boots for another year; she thinks I need to finish breaking them in (which is true) and that I need to experience what that's like and skating in boots that are actually broken-in (not broken down) would help me to gain strength in my ankles and feet.

Today's lesson:

• FI3-FO3 pattern -- this is the new Adult Pre-Bronze Moves pattern. I'd asked Anna if we could work on it. We spent quite a bit of time on it (probably half the lesson or even more). It's a tricky beast. I'm used to working on the power-3s, and the back half of this move is similar except that you turn the other way for the step-forward, for an FI edge instead of an FO edge. I had a lot of problems with this, mostly because my FI3s are so weak. We made some good improvments on my FI3s, even the LFI3 is somewhat improved. Anna really doesn't like this move! She thinks it's a lot closer to the power-3 than the alternating 3s it's replaced. Presumably though the criteria won't be power on this move. Anna said she would try to work with one of the local judges to see what they look for on this move.
  
• perimeter stroking -- we did these in both directions. I'm really happy with how much they have improved, especially the crossovers. Anna wants me to shorten up the timing on the strokes; she says I don't need to hold the extension quite so long, just long enough to show control. This combines with the issue that she wants my end crossover pattern to be rounder/curvier -- I've been placing the middle crossover right at the back of the hockey goal, but she wants it placed several feet back from that, just a few feet from the boards. Still, we were both pretty happy about them.
  
• BO edges -- we'd not looked at these in a while I think. They are in fairly good shape. Anna says that I need more consistency (and concentration), but that when I do them well they are right on. I still need to work on keeping that foot in front.
  
• BI edges -- I'm still not happy with these, but Anna says they are a bit improved. Like the BO edges, I need to still work on keeping that foot in front; and in particular when stepping to the right foot I need to work on keeping the foot close and not stepping to wide. Also I need bigger circles!
  

As happens so often, Anna was extra-generous with her time; I think she gave me an extra 10 minutes. (the clock was off in the rink, and we were on the front ice).