Spins, Toe Loop, Salchow

Today's lesson was at 7 a.m. as usual. I was on the ice at 6:45 (our previous issues from last week re: session start time etc. have been resolved). There were about 12 skaters on the ice when I got on but by 7 we were down to 8, not bad at all.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- some small progress on these. Sonya told me to think of tucking my free foot in and this did help me to bring it in and leave it there for a bit longer :-). My problems with this are mostly mental, I think.
• toe loop -- we made some progress on these as well. The flow has definitely improved, but Sonya says I'm tending to hunch over and draw in. She suggested that I think of a continuous flow of movement as I draw in, staying straight and getting that turn.
  
• salchow -- Sonya held my hand for a couple of these and I tried some by myself as well. The big issue seems to be that I find it difficult to bend the L knee and keep the R leg straight at the same time -- if I actually bend the L knee I want to bend the other one too! Grrr. The setup is pretty good now though.
• backspin -- we spent a couple of minutes reviewing the entrance to the backspin and I tried a couple -- basically LFI edge, RFI edge into an RFI3 spin entrance. It's not happening yet but I can work on it.
  

This was my last lesson with Sonya! *sniff* Lesson tomorrow with Kelli, then club ice on Friday and then I am off to Arizona.