Back In The Saddle

I was originally tempted to not schedule a lesson for today, but I'm glad I did. As usual my lesson was at 7 a.m. (on ice at 6:30). I was rather unmotivated in my warmup but did do some stroking, crossovers, and of course did a very nice waltz-8 with no FDs :-).

Today's lesson:

• 2-foot spin -- we started with these since I'd not done any spins at all in a lonnnnnnnnng time. We worked on bringing the hands together more slowly; Sonya also had me start with my L arm in front instead of to the side as I've usually done them.
• half-flip -- after some rustiness, these came back reasonably nicely; we just did some review and then moved on.
• waltz jump -- review. I'm really tending to be up on the toe on the back edge before the step forward (this is a persistent problem everywhere in my skating). Sonya also had me really work on keeping my head/chin/eyes up. She ran off and brought back a cervical collar she'd bought (she was so excited to get to use it on me!) so she made me wear it and do a couple waltz jumps. Eeeep! It feels very unnatural, but of course that's because I spend waaaaaaaay too much time staring down at the ice. A good lesson. Fortunately she let me take it off :-).
• BO pivot -- I'd mentioned these (RBO pivot, specifically) to Sonya as a way of helping me work on the being-up-on-the-toes issue, so we worked 'em a bit. Eeep! Didn't get back to where these had been, I'm finding it very difficult to get turned around like that. Also attempted a couple LBO pivots -- eeep! Very, very weird! It's not that my LBO is that bad (it's not) but that that's the wronnng direction to be turning. Eeep!

All in all a good lesson, I'm glad I didn't postpone -- I think it would have been bad for my motivation. Better to get back in the saddle and keep moving, I think.

We discussed testing options briefly. The next test I'm eligible for is 8/24, but it's down in Eugene and Sonya can't go -- plus I think it's just too early. I need some time off from test prep or I'll go nuts. The next test date after that is 10/5 -- but Sonya will be gone for that one too, and anyway it's at Lloyd Center. I don't really want to try to cut my 3-turn pattern down to fit LC (it's not a standard size rink, it's in a mall and it's smaller) -- I tried that at FS there yesterday and I could only (barely) get 3 lobes in on each side. So that leaves us with November for testing Moves again. That seems pretty reasonable to me.

I'm thinking about the judge's feedback and my own experience of testing -- I think I need to work on my stamina so I won't be quite so ready to die 3/4 of the way through the test. I'll have to think about how best to work on it.