Top 10 Rinks

This is amusing/interesting... CNN's list of top 10 rinks. Obviously it's from a recreational point of view.

Jumps

Last lesson of the year, on the 7 a.m. FS. It was not very crowded, just 5 skaters. I got to see skate buddy Christina, home from school and having a lesson. It was good to see her.

Today's lesson:

• half-flip -- I'm getting a nice spring on this now, but not quite getting all the way around (it's more like a 3/8 flip :-)). Sonya wants a better spring with pointed toes and straight legs, though. The entrance is okay (mohawk could be better) and the exit needs better extension and a better "buns o' steel" posture. Still, not bad for not having worked them much.
• waltz jump -- hmmph. We had a lot of cleanup to do on these, in particular to get me to not go up on the toe on the back edge, remember to collect and have a better step forward. We made some good progress though.
• salchow -- this is still pretty much eluding me. We worked it on the ice and against the boards. The entrance is okay, it's mostly I just don't have a feel for bringing the free leg around and through. Arrgh.

Sonya is gone for a while so we won't have a lesson 'til after New Year's Day. Much to work on though.

Potpourri

Today's lesson was on the 8:15 FS... ah, an extra hour of sleep! I had the ice to myself the whole time, and it was apparently a pretty quiet morning. I assume it's because of the holidays.

Today's lesson:

• Edges -- Sonya wanted to look at these. Oddly enough my FI edges are now better than my FO, which felt somewhat insecure. Sonya reminded me to bend the knee a little at the top of the lobe on the FO. Back edges have definitely improved but I need to remember to go straight out on the BI edges (get a bigger lobe).
  
• FI3s -- the bulk of our time; we worked them on the hockey circle. We're trying to get me to not force them and to have some control, but it's very difficult. I felt very stiff-legged for some reason. I'm going to keep working these obviously.
  
• Lunges -- Sonya wanted to look at other stuff that's in the bag o' tricks. The LF lunge is not too bad, but Sonya wants a straighter free leg. RF I'm not getting down far enough. I've not practiced these much so I was relatively pleased.
  
• Spirals -- again LF much better than RF. It takes me too long to get in position, and I'm having a hard time getting a truly straight skating leg and getting my chest low enough. These don't feel as steady as they used to. *sigh*
  

We spent some time talking about the upcoming Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals, which will be at Shiny Rink in March. Unfortunately the weekend of the competition is also a weekend I have two choir concerts but I'm hopeful I can work it out so there won't be any conflicts. We discussed doing either an interpretive or a regular freeskate. I gave Sonya a couple different CDs of music that I might like to skate to. We talked about goals and I told Sonya that my real goal would just be to skate well (it's my first competition after all). We'll be talking about this more I'm sure. The deadline to register is Jan. 25th.

Coffee Club

I am burning some vacation time, so I'm taking off Wed. and Friday mornings this week and next week. This means I get to sleep late AND skate at coffee club! What a deal.

Skated for about an hour at coffee club today. It's nice ice, only about 8 people. Worked on 3s, FXOs, BXOs, and waltz-8. Also had fun yakking with Leslie who I'd not seen in ages. It was a nice relaxing skate.

Perseverance

No lesson for me this morning, Sonya texted me at 5:27 a.m. to tell me she had to cancel since she was sick... "please feel free to practice." That's my coach! :-) This is, I'm pretty sure, the first time she's canceled a lesson on me in the 16 months or so we've been working together. She has a good track record with me.

I'm proud of myself. I resisted the urge to go back to bed, and went and skated the 7 a.m. FS anyway. Had a decent skate... back edges are doing well, FXOs are improving (especially bad side)... BXOs not so much. Worked on 3s a bit and I'm thinking I need to ask Sonya to just deconstruct and reconstruct 'em as I'm just not sure I'm really approaching them correctly. Sheesh.

Sunday Zoo

I skated the Sunday public session at Shiny Rink, just for an hour. None of my homies were there so that made me a little sad. I did some good work on FXOs and 3s though.

Basics

Before my lesson we did a quick double-check on the new alignment of my R blade. We're both satisfied it's correct now, so I dropped 'em off for permanent mounting later this morning.

Today's lesson:

• Back edges -- takeoff on BO edges is mostly fixed now (finally), but Sonya worked with me to fix my arm positioning so I don't rotate prematurely and to keep the free foot in front. On the BI edges she reminded me to get the free foot over the print. In general these have come a long way, so Sonya is being more picky now :-)
• FXOs -- my bad side is now looking better than my "good" side! Not sure why that is. I'm definitely feeling more secure on my FO edges though and that's helping a lot. Sonya worked with me to get a better kneebend and better underpush on the erstwhile "good" side, with some improvement. I am okay doing them slower but have problems maintaining good form when I speed them up.
• BXOs -- I was really happy with these today, the good side is much, much quieter. The bad side is still a bit scratchy but as Sonya said, now I'm scratching with the whole blade and not the toepick :-) so it's an improvement of sorts.
• Waltz-8 -- the BO edge is better and I'm holding the position longer, but having problems still with placing the turn too early and the step forward is still too much "out" and not enough "in". Arrgh.

After my lesson Sonya and I had a good talk (15-20 minutes) about our lesson schedule, my progress, practice, and other fun topics.

Perseverance

I got my right blade adjusted last Thursday but didn't have a chance to skate on it until tonight at the 5:15 p.m. FS. Had a good skate. Still getting used to the new blades, but they feel good... definitely more ... "active" I guess I'd say. 3s feel more "lilty" which is nice. Worked 3s, edges and some FXOs.