APB FS Test Elements

Today's lesson on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert, as usual.  Good ice and not crowded.  I got to see skate buddies Trevor and Megan as they were leaving, and Nikki had her lesson the same time as me.  Cool :-).

Today's lesson was a review of all the elements on the APB FS test (not in order though):

• Lunge -- these are fine, but we worked a little bit on trying to pick up the dragging foot without scraping the toepick.  Grrr.  JJ says I need to put more weight on the skating foot to do this.  It will take some work.
• Two foot spin -- These are pretty good once I warm them up (note to self).  JJ suggested getting more rotation in the shoulders before the spin (like a whirlwind, he said).
• One foot spins -- I did a REALLY good one as JJ was getting on the ice (4 revs! mostly centered!) but none as good later.   JJ reminded me to keep working on holding the free leg back on the step forward, letting the spin develop, and working to open up more.
• Salchow -- these are not bad.  JJ wants me to not rush, let the 3 happen naturally, and to work on keeping the free hip up after the 3, just before the jump.
• Waltz jump -- I did one of these by accident when we were working on salchows.  It's fine :-)
• XOs -- we practiced doing these in a pretty basic pattern, starting on the red line, 3 strokes to the center (L, R,L) then into the FXOs to the left (4 XOs), back to center, LFI mohawk (eeep) into the BXOs to the right, finish into landing position, step forward, T-stop.  This will take some practice!  JJ wants me to get some speed on the initial steps so that I have some speed going in.  I'm having to make these circles pretty big (going past the blue line) and then had some issues doing the mohawk at that speed (that's my kinda-crappy side for mohawks, I need to clean them up).  It'll be fine but it will definitely help to practice.

All in all I feel pretty good about this.  I'm supposed to test 1/8 in Peoria.  I need some practice on the two-foot spin and on the XO pattern, but the main thing is the 1-foot spin.

I need to find some mantra or other relaxation technique I think.  I know my problem with my spins is that I'm too tense and anxious.  In spite of that, sheer repetition has helped a lot -- I can keep myself from bailing out on questionable spins a lot more often now than I could before.  I need to relax and just let them flow and it's a hard thing for me.  Very frustrating.  :-(

After my lesson I stayed and skated the next session, just me and one other skater & coach.  Nice.