Beginning Again, Again

I had my first regular lesson with Sonya today on the 7:45 a.m. freestyle at Shiny Rink. I didn't sleep very well but I was fine once I got there. I got on the ice a little late as I couldn't find anyone to take my money for the session, GRRR.

Today's lesson:

• Waltz-8 -- we spent quite a bit of time on these. Sonya suggested that I should use a bigger circle (which, come to think of it, Anna had told me too, and I'd forgotten) -- so that if I'm using the center circle (with the blue dot as my zero point) I should be 2 - 3 feet beyond it on the 2nd step. Placement of the 3s actually wasn't so bad, but we spent some quality time on my RFO3; Sonya had me try to get more rotation of the shoulders before the turn, and also reminded me to keep my shoulders down. We worked on the second step a bit, Sonya had me practice backward stroking to remind me to get a good push into the second step and (of course) hold the free foot in front during the first half of the second step. All in all they weren't that bad.
  
• FXOs -- we did these in the Moves pattern. We made some good progress on getting me to hold the crossed position (even on the bad side! Incroyable!) but my extension was really, really stinky (worse than usual). Oh well.
  
• Waltz jump -- these weren't too bad. We worked on being more collected before the jump. Sonya had me walk through it to work on bringing my hands/arms together so that I can actually bring them back when I step forward. She wants me to practice this in the hall :-).
  

Next week, Sonya wants to work on BXOs, the new 3-turn pattern (eep! I know we'll spend time on the LFI3), and she says she's going to teach me a half-flip.

I'm working to try to avoid my usual litany of self-criticism that usually punctuates my lessons -- with a new coach, it might be time to break some bad old habits. It's hard though!