BXOs, FI3s And Half Flip Intro

I had my lesson this morning at 6:30. I skated the last half of the 5:30 a.m. FS, then had my lesson and stayed 'til 7:30. For the first half hour (6 - 6:30) the rink was pretty deserted (3 skaters and a coach), after that there were about 10 - 12 I'd guess.

Today's lesson:

• BXOs -- we started with looking at the weight shift against the boards, then went to looking at the Moves pattern. I realized that if I thought more about the inside foot step as stepping and moving my weight, I get a much better step and I can sit back on it a bit more. Yay for new insights! I need to work these a ton, still, but this new approach really helped me get them less scratchy. I still need to sit back on them more though.
  
• Back perimeter crossovers -- I'd seen these before but I remembered the pattern wrong. The weight shift is supposed to come on the minor axis (i.e. when you are facing toward or away from the boards), for a quarter circle, then the crossover. So really they keep you moving becausse it's 1/4 circle weight shift, 1/4 circle BXO, on and on and on. I need to work these too.
  
• FI3s -- despite my vow from last week not to be so self-deprecating, I decided it's okay on those (now few) moves that Sonya hasn't seen yet to warn her they are stinky. And they were. On the dread LFI3 Sonya told me to keep the free foot crossed behind me to help me get around, and to try to turn more into the circle (better rotation). I did manage one where I didn't put my foot down -- they are so scary and "whirly" for lack of a better word. I've really not worked on these as much as I should, so -- no more slacking!
  
• Half Flip intro -- as promised, Sonya broke this out for me. The first part is similar at first to the Salchow entrance, i.e. LFO edge, LFO3 with extended leg and hold the edge. From there, pick in and draw. After looking at just that, we practiced just the draw. It's tricky to draw and keep your knees bent! The ankle of the picked foot really has to stay forward to keep from dropping off the pick. After that we looked briefly at the second part (when your feet are together after the draw), which is just a half-rotation jump. We'll come back to that later. After the jump it's land on the L toepick and push out onto the R foot. Sonya wants me to work on the pieces and we'll come back to it.
  

All in all a pretty good lesson, with some hard work (LFI3s, eeep!). Sonya will be gone next week, so no lesson for me.

I was smiling toward the end of my lesson as I looked around me. I was the only male on the ice all morning, and between that and the usual teen queen stuff on the CD player I thought I'd better watch out or my estrogen levels will rise by osmosis! :-)

After my skate I drove to work. The route from Shiny Rink to my work is about 19 miles through a very rural area. It's a very pretty drive, especially at that time of day. It's kind of relaxing and helps to make the transition from skating to work.