2013 Sherwood Invitational
My figures events at the 2013 Sherwood Invitational...
I had wanted to skate FO8, FI8 and BO8. There was some confusion about this because EntryEeze doesn't handle figures events correctly, e.g. it won't let you sign up for more than one event in the "open" or "restricted" category. I had signed up for "open" BO8, "restricted" FO8 and then it wouldn't let me enter FI8 at all so I had emailed the registrar. I talked to the referee Saturday and explained what I wanted. They had me scheduled to do an exhibition BO8 in "open" and Kara L. to do an exibition BO8 in "restricted". I talked to Kara and her coach (Madelyn) and they agreed to combine the events, so that's what happened. So I had competition for BO8 and FO8, each was one of Madelyn's (young) students.
Events were schedule for 7:30 a.m. (eep!) after the ice cut (there was no figures practice ice this year, unfortunately). They let us out for warmup at the Zamboni end of the rink; they gave us a good 10-12 minutes to warm up, which was nice. I started by warming up the BO8 since it was first; I was driving Kelli crazy, I think, because of course I'd reverted to my old/bad habits of not keeping the free foot in front and my body positions were a bit wacky. Finally we got things under better control and they called me up to skate.
I went and picked out a decent spot, made my mark and off I went. I can't really recall much except that it went reasonably well. I felt like I had okay control and I didn't go horribly flat and while I probably cut off the return on the LBO, in general I felt it was okay. Then I was done! Came back to the warmup area and gave Kara a high-five.
I began warming up the FO8.. yikes! It was really horrible. I just couldn't hold an LFO edge to save my life. My R shoulder kept coming around on me and I would go flat and just grind to a halt. We worked on it (poor Kelli! I was a basket case) and it got a little better... and then we were out of time. Went over and picked out a spot.. marked my center... pushed off. RFO was okay, not the greatest but under control. Pushed to the LFO and OMG...I really don't know how I made it around and didn't fall, but it was really, really bad. Somehow made it back to center and pushed to the RFO and by now I was really freakin' nervous and my knee/ankle were just shaking, which, y'know, doesn't make it easy to hold a good edge and have flow. I was telling myself to just breathe, and relax. Yuck. Somehow I got back to center, pushed to LFO and it was a bit better but still really bad... back to center, push to RFO and it was almost okay. Not great but I wasn't as panicked. Around.. push to LFO and it was better but again, still not so great. Made it around, finished and back over to the warmup area as I still had to skate FI8.
Warmed up the FI8 *very* quickly and then they called me over to skate. Kelli warned me to watch out for some holes that were left over from yesterday (by now we'd worked our way down toward the lobby end of the rink). Ugh! I'm glad she told me, but then I got horribly paranoid about hitting one. Found a decent spot (far from holes), made my mark and pushed off to the RFI. I think this figure went relatively well (it's normally my best) although my RFI circle tends to be a bit on the small side. Anyway it went okay. I finished and skated off. Ugh.
Results -- I came in 2nd (of two) on the BO8; but I did get two 1st-place ordinals so that's a minor victory I guess. I came in 2nd of 2 on the FO8 -- by some miracle I actually got a 1st place ordinal on that one also -- I really don't know how. And of course the FI8 was an exhibition.
All in all I'm a bit disappointed, though I guess considering the 3.5 months I was off the ice I really shouldn't be. I just feel like I was a lot more solid last year, and the whole nerves things is distressing to me. Oh well. I'm really grateful that Kelli put me on the ice, she made it much better and more bearable than it would have been otherwise.
I'm going to have to de-emphasize figures a bit for the next couple of months as I have a lot of freestyle stuff to work on. I guess the next goals are to prep for and pass the Preliminary test. Grr.
I had wanted to skate FO8, FI8 and BO8. There was some confusion about this because EntryEeze doesn't handle figures events correctly, e.g. it won't let you sign up for more than one event in the "open" or "restricted" category. I had signed up for "open" BO8, "restricted" FO8 and then it wouldn't let me enter FI8 at all so I had emailed the registrar. I talked to the referee Saturday and explained what I wanted. They had me scheduled to do an exhibition BO8 in "open" and Kara L. to do an exibition BO8 in "restricted". I talked to Kara and her coach (Madelyn) and they agreed to combine the events, so that's what happened. So I had competition for BO8 and FO8, each was one of Madelyn's (young) students.
Events were schedule for 7:30 a.m. (eep!) after the ice cut (there was no figures practice ice this year, unfortunately). They let us out for warmup at the Zamboni end of the rink; they gave us a good 10-12 minutes to warm up, which was nice. I started by warming up the BO8 since it was first; I was driving Kelli crazy, I think, because of course I'd reverted to my old/bad habits of not keeping the free foot in front and my body positions were a bit wacky. Finally we got things under better control and they called me up to skate.
I went and picked out a decent spot, made my mark and off I went. I can't really recall much except that it went reasonably well. I felt like I had okay control and I didn't go horribly flat and while I probably cut off the return on the LBO, in general I felt it was okay. Then I was done! Came back to the warmup area and gave Kara a high-five.
I began warming up the FO8.. yikes! It was really horrible. I just couldn't hold an LFO edge to save my life. My R shoulder kept coming around on me and I would go flat and just grind to a halt. We worked on it (poor Kelli! I was a basket case) and it got a little better... and then we were out of time. Went over and picked out a spot.. marked my center... pushed off. RFO was okay, not the greatest but under control. Pushed to the LFO and OMG...I really don't know how I made it around and didn't fall, but it was really, really bad. Somehow made it back to center and pushed to the RFO and by now I was really freakin' nervous and my knee/ankle were just shaking, which, y'know, doesn't make it easy to hold a good edge and have flow. I was telling myself to just breathe, and relax. Yuck. Somehow I got back to center, pushed to LFO and it was a bit better but still really bad... back to center, push to RFO and it was almost okay. Not great but I wasn't as panicked. Around.. push to LFO and it was better but again, still not so great. Made it around, finished and back over to the warmup area as I still had to skate FI8.
Warmed up the FI8 *very* quickly and then they called me over to skate. Kelli warned me to watch out for some holes that were left over from yesterday (by now we'd worked our way down toward the lobby end of the rink). Ugh! I'm glad she told me, but then I got horribly paranoid about hitting one. Found a decent spot (far from holes), made my mark and pushed off to the RFI. I think this figure went relatively well (it's normally my best) although my RFI circle tends to be a bit on the small side. Anyway it went okay. I finished and skated off. Ugh.
Results -- I came in 2nd (of two) on the BO8; but I did get two 1st-place ordinals so that's a minor victory I guess. I came in 2nd of 2 on the FO8 -- by some miracle I actually got a 1st place ordinal on that one also -- I really don't know how. And of course the FI8 was an exhibition.
All in all I'm a bit disappointed, though I guess considering the 3.5 months I was off the ice I really shouldn't be. I just feel like I was a lot more solid last year, and the whole nerves things is distressing to me. Oh well. I'm really grateful that Kelli put me on the ice, she made it much better and more bearable than it would have been otherwise.
I'm going to have to de-emphasize figures a bit for the next couple of months as I have a lot of freestyle stuff to work on. I guess the next goals are to prep for and pass the Preliminary test. Grr.
Labels: Competitions
posted by Gordon @ 3:58 PM
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