Moves

So... I was back on the ice today at the 7:45 a.m. FS for my first lesson in... 5 weeks? sheesh. It was a very crowded session (like, 20 skaters and 4 or 5 coaches!) since the "Rush for Regionals" is right after this session. Not the best of circumstances for the my first time back on the ice in 3 weeks. I had intended to go skating this week to get my legs under me a bit, but it just didn't happen. I've had some personal stuff going on that has left me very unmotivated and tired so it's been difficult. Getting myself to the rink today was a bit tough, but I'm really glad I did.

Today's lesson (basically an APB MITF runthrough w/out Waltz 8):

• Stroking -- my tempo was a bit off, and I couldn't get myself to really do the FXOs on the end. Sheesh. We did CCW only. I felt pretty off (even though I'd warmed up for 30 minutes) and it showed.
• Edges -- Not too bad. Sonya reminded me to lift the free hip on the FO edges. We worked a bit more on the pushoff for the BI edges, and Sonya had me bringing my skating hand around a bit more than I'm used to when I bring the free foot back on the BI edges (when coming back to the line); this helped me control the size of the lobe a bit. Still working on keeping the free foot in front on the first part of the back lobes.
• FXOs -- *bleah* Not so great. Extension was weak, and I didn't get a good cross and hold on the bad side.
• BXOs -- these were actually not that bad. Still kind of scratchy, especially on the bad side, but I'm getting a decent cross and I'm not rushing them anymore so that's a good thing.
• 3-Turn pattern -- I was reluctant to do these, but that's the way it goes I guess! Still they actually were a lot better than I feared. Started with the good side and they weren't that much worse than before, although I was having a little trouble with the step forward after the BXO. On the bad side I was pleasantly surprised that my LFI3s were not that bad, especially since I had not done any in my warmup.

I'm sure today's lesson was a bit frustrating for Sonya (as it was for me) since I had a hard time convincing myself to do things without stopping. On the positive side things didn't hurt nearly as much as I was afraid they might. All in all I was really happy with it.

No lesson next week as Sonya is out on vacation, but I have a lot to practice anyway so not such a bad thing.