Footwork, Toe Loop, Spins

I am in Portland today and tomorrow, and had a lesson with Sonya this morning on the 6:15 FS at the Winterhawks Skating Center.


Today's lesson:

• Footwork -- we started off by working through some of the footwork in my Apollo 13 program, specifically the 2nd half -- bunny hop, lunge, RFI3.  Sonya worked with me to get better height in the bunny hop, and then we spent some time working on the step forward after the RFI3 -- keeping the feet close together and stepping onto a good edge.
• Toe loop -- we next spent some time working on my toe loop to un-cheat it.  Sonya gave me an exercise at the boards: on the L toepick, R foot raised, arms on the glass, jump up and untwist the hips to land on the R foot. We also worked on these out on the ice and did a large number of them.   I did manage to get one that was almost not cheated and felt pretty good.
• Spins -- finished up with these.  I did several that were really darn good! Sonya reminded me to look up on the brushout so that I don't lean forward, and to keep the free leg in after I'm in position.

All in all I was really pleased with this lesson, especially on the toe loop.  I also had some time in the middle to play my 2011-12 free skate program music, and Sonya really liked it :-).