Jumps

Today's lesson was all jumps, all the time:

• Waltz jump -- I was working on these just before the lesson, so by the "your coach wants to look at whatever you were just doing" rule, we started with that. Sonya reminded me to really lift the hip and free leg on the landing position -- I was getting a little lazy I guess. She also worked with me on bringing my arms down and through in the takeoff. Some improvement.
  
• Half flip -- Sonya says these are much improved. We worked a little trying to improve the mohawk beforehand, and to have a better pushout -- I was having problems getting in the "buns of steel" position, because with the new boots my weight often feels too far back and I couldn't get stable. Still, not too bad.
  
• Salchow -- arrgh! This jump is my new nemesis. We worked on them for quite some time trying to get me the feel of the free leg coming around and through -- I just can't get it. It's not a mental block, though, so that's good, and I'm sure if we keep working it it will come eventually.
  
• Toe loop -- the first one of these wasn't too bad, actually -- a bit cheated, of course, but not that bad. Unfortunately it went downhill from there. The turn and pick are fine, although I'm tending to pick a little too far to the side. I tend to not want to draw the R foot all the way back to the L foot though, and I have to fix that. Still, they are coming along and I was pretty happy with that.
  

The boots are getting better. The left boot hardly hurt at all today. The right... I re-laced once and that helped a bit, but still rather painful.

I'm off-ice for a a week and a half, traveling home on a visit. Since the rink in Tucson is closed (sigh) and I won't have much time in Phoenix, I'm not even bringing my skates.