FI Circle-8

Today's figures lesson was on the 8:15 FS as usual. There were only 3 skaters and 3 coaches present, and for the last 15 minutes or so I had the place to myself!

Kelli and I started by talking about how to get precision in our traces. We don't use a scribe in our practice, but we do usually the end red line as a long axis. I've found that I'm actually pretty consistent in that my circles are usually about the same size from one side to another and also that they usually are fairly closely on top of each other. However since I'm not making it around on one push usually it's difficult to say. Still I'm pleased with my progress and so is Kelli. We talked about where to be looking at various points -- for example at the 3/4 mark I need to be looking for my axis mark, and also it would help if I can spot the trace from the other circle to try to make sure they are about the same size.

After that we worked on the FI circle-8. These are about like the FO ones we've worked on. Still have problems getting around the whole way. I have a lot more problems holding my position on the RFI side than the LFI side. It's getting better though.

After some repetition Kelli had me move to an arbitrary spot on the ice with no lines to cheat with. I eyeballed where I thought the crossing point for my long axis would be, marked my start and off I went. It was actually pretty good! I'm really pleased with this.

After my lesson I spent some time working on the waltz-8, specifically marking where the 3 should be and doing 5 on each side. The good news is that I'm getting better about placing them in the right place; but they are very, very scratchy and awkward right now. After the rink cleared out, I did one side of Russian stroking and a complete circuit of back Russian stroking. My forward Russian stroking is awkward and scary -- I need to work these with Sonya as they are scary in the same way that I felt in my program. I probably need to work on getting into the ice better.

All in all a good lesson and a good skate. No lesson next week as Kelli will be out.