Basics

I was back on the ice today for the first time in 2 weeks, and of course I'm still breaking my new boots in, so all in all I felt like a baby giraffe! So we decided to go back to basics... but first, we did a quick double-check of my blade alignment. Sonya says they're okay.

Today's lesson:

• Stroking -- (told you it was basics!). The new boot/blades are apparently much better aligned, with the result that I get a lot more oomph for each push, and therefore a disturbing amount of speed. I tend to chicken out on the FXOs when I'm at speed; I need to work on speed and being able to handle it better. My extension is a bit better though.
  
• Forward edges -- These are looking pretty good actually.
  
• Back edges -- Lots of work on these, especially on the push-off for both BO and BI. We also worked on not hunching over (keeping back straight etc.) and especially on bringing in the free foot and keeping it in front. This has been better before :-(.
  

After my lesson I dropped my skates off for permanent mounting.

We talked before lesson briefly about testing, and we agreed to work for the August 12th session for APB Moves. Sonya feels this is pretty doable for me, with the FXOs and BXOs needing the most work. Surprisingly she said she doesn't think the turns will be an issue.

If anyone has some brilliant ideas (other than "just do it!") for how to handle speed, I'm all ears. I think bending my knees more will probably help but it's a bit difficult in my brand-new boots at this point.