Drills, Program Work

My lesson with JJ on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert, as usual.  Nice ice and only 2 of us on the session (Amber and I).  Before my lesson I warmed up and did a really nice spin... it was encouraging.

Today's lesson:

• Drills -- JJ showed me a couple of hockey-puck drills he'd like me to work with a bit.  The first is -- standing on the L foot (facing the boards), R foot extended behind w/puck under the toepick; holding the toepick on the ice, bring the R foot out and around into a spin, keeping the weight forward on the ball of the L foot.  The second was a crossover drill; standing on the L foot (parallel to the boards) with R foot extended back w/toepick on the puck; bend the L knee and extended the R foot behind/crossed under.
• Program work -- JJ wanted to review the first part of the program with the changes we've made.  We ran it with music... ugh! The spiral->half flip->lunge->spin part is okay, it's mostly getting the footwork part correct in the new configuration.  I am not clear on where I need to be on the ice, exactly; I need to work on it more.  I also need to get more speed up so that I come out of the spiral and still have some speed going into the half flip.  Hmmph.

After my lesson we talked a bit more about some issues, both the new artistic program and also learning back-3s.  No firm decisions there yet.