Jumps

My lesson with JJ on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  I warmed up with Bronze moves.  Bleah.

Today's lesson:

• step forward exercise -- JJ told me he'd read my blog post about my power lessons, and also watched my Sherwood figures videos (I need to post those here).  He asked what I was working on with Lynne and I explained that I'm still working on waltz-8 due to the step forward.  He suggested doing an exercise down the line (NOT on a curve) of back edge, step forward, repeat just to work on the step forward.
• back spin prep -- this is really loop prep, I believe; just as we worked on last week. Two foot spin and put most weight on the R foot to feel the BO edge.  It's getting a little better.
• loop prep -- on the boards; just stepping through the jump holding that free leg in front.  Eeep.
• toe loop -- about the same but I think the timing is getting a little better.  I'm certainly feeling more comfortable with it.
• salchow --mmph.  I did one that felt really good and the rest were yucky.  Oh well.

Skating With TFSC!

I skated at the TCC with my club, the Tucson FSC.  There is no rink in Tucson at the moment but we have ice when the convention center has it up for UA hockey.

I had an okay skate.  I spent about half an hour on Bronze moves; I feel like I have somewhat lost the fine edge I had on these when I was prepped for testing but they are not that much worse.  I'm not really seeing too much improvement in them as a result of my power work with Holly, though :-(.  Grr.

I spent some time on jumps and spins. Spins were pretty bad in general.  Toe loop about the same as ever and salchow not too great.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I warmed up with stroking and some crossovers, then worked a little on spins and jumps.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- as usual.  
• lunges -- twice around the rink pushing Holly doing alternate lunges.  I did some of these yesterday with Danette. Actually they feel pretty good; good speed and I feel like I'm getting down really low (I should get someone to video me).  
• forward slaloms around the circle  --  I still think these stink but Holly insists they're not that bad.  They are tiring though.
• back swizzle hops --  OMG.  We  did 2 laps of these.  Back swizzle, jump and try to tap the boots together. First holding Holly's hands and then on my own.  It's kinda scary but getting better.
• FXOs -- around the circles (PreBronze MIF pattern).  I felt like I was not going as fast as I have been, partly because I was tired and partly because being that close to the wall scares me when I'm going that fast.  So we moved to the middle circle and Holly held my hand and I went faster.  Eeep.

I was wearing my Apple watch and so I checked my heart rate a couple of times during the lesson... 170 bpm!  That is about max heart rate for a person my age.  I have to say, while it was tiring I didn't feel like I was going to die, so I guess that's pretty good.  My resting heart rate is around 70.

This is slowly getting better.  This feels really productive to me; it's very encouraging.

Preliminary Test & Serpentines

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  I got on and scribed circles then we started.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- pretty nice, actually.  Even the BI is looking pretty good.
• FO8 -- Actually pretty good.
• FI8 -- Nice.  Circles were a little smaller than the FO but okay.
• waltz-8 -- most of our lesson.  Actually, these were about the best they've ever been.  I'm getting a lot more control on the BO edge.  I'm still struggling with the step forward (it's a little better) but the tracing on the BO edge and the placement of the step forward is much better.
• serpentines -- just a couple of minutes on this.  Actually much, much better than the last time I worked on them.  I actually made it around after the FIO, which surprised me.  The circle after the FOI was weak and I didn't make it around after the first time.

After my lesson I participated in the group lesson, which was mostly power stuff -- a field drill, some swizzle drills, and some other drills she came up with.  It was cool, but a bit challenging in patch blades.

After the group lesson I had a few minutes so I worked on BI8.  Eeep, not so great.

Jumps & Spins

My lesson with JJ on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  I had private ice!  I warmed up with Bronze moves.

Today's lesson:

• waltz jump -- just a couple.  The first one was okay but when we looked at the print I didn't come off the toe straight. JJ says I'm tending to want to get to the landing before I've finished taking off :-).  I did another one that was much better, so we moved on.
• toe loop -- Working still on keeping the upper body turned into the circle on the entry.  These are pretty decent except, of course, that I'm still landing on two feet.  Urgh.
• salchow -- about the same.  I really need to not rush these, my timing is just off.
• back spin prep -- JJ had me doing a two foot spin and then just feeling my weight on the R foot.  It does flip over to the BO edge; I can feel it.  Can't quite pick up the other foot yet though.
• loop jump prep --  on the boards, just stepping through an RBO3 w/free foot in front and jump.  Hmmph.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I warmed up with Bronze moves (just perimeter XOs and power-3s).

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- 2 laps.  I am definitely going faster.  I need to work on my hockey stops because there's no way I can stop from this fast w/a snowplow or T-stop.
• slaloms -- ugh.  Soo tiring and they still stink, I am not keeping my feet together.
• pushing -- of course.  Instead of braking with the toepicks, now she's using a full-on snowplow stop from each foot. I did manage it though!
• FXOs -- I still feel really out of control though I am getting a pretty good underpush on the easier side, not so much on the other side.  I really need to bend my knees more, I assume, and lean over that FO edge to feel more secure.  They are definitely faster though.
• slaloms on the circle -- ugh these are even harder than down the rink.  These led right into...
• power pull intro -- as she explained, basically the slalom on one foot (I knew this).    We did these on the big circle. You need a kind of down into the FI edge and rise up for the FO.  We did both directions and they were generally pretty horrible, though they did get slightly better.
• FI3/twizzle thing -- don't know how to describe this.  Basically an FI3/BO3/spinning kind of thing alternating down the line, almost like a twizzle.  I kind of did this, but they were pretty rough.

After my lesson I stayed for a few minutes and worked on toe loop and salchow.  Judge Ken said the toe loops are much improved, and Scott mentioned that I am definitely skating faster, which is nice ot hear.

Patch Perseverance

I skated the Chandler Ice Café today for patch practice.

I did edges, then scribed some circles, did FO8 and FI8, then spent about 30 minutes or more (including during the group lesson) on waltz-8 (we all did patch for the group lesson!).

I finished up with a little BO8 and then some 3s to center.  3s are okay but still fighting to get that return to center... ugh.

Edges, Jumps

My lesson with JJ on the 7:30 a.m FS at Gilbert.  I warmed up with some Bronze moves and spins.

Today's lesson:

• BO edges -- JJ wanted to see me do these down the length of the rink.  I have not done these in freestyle blades in a lonnnng time (I do them all the time in patch) so it was a little weird at first.  They got better, though.
• waltz jump -- still working to be more consistent on having good form on the takeoff and landing.  I'm tending to have difficulty holding the landing because I let the free side come around.  Bleah.
• salchow -- Meh.  I had a couple that were almost okay, in that I kept my weight over my skating side.  Most were not so great, though.
• loop prep/backspin -- we looked a little at body position for this before we ran out of time.

Preliminary Test

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  I warmed up with edges while Lynne drew me some circles with my scribe.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- first RFO not so great, but the rest was okay.  Hey, no warmup.
• FI8 -- pretty nice.
• waltz-8 -- the bulk of our lesson, of course.  Skating on the scribed circles I'm doing a much better job of keeping the BO edge out more and holding it to the correct spot.  The step forward and FO edge is still quite weak though and it's where we spent most of our time.  Still slogging through...

After my lesson I had about 15 minutes to work on waltz-8 some more during the group lesson. Hmmph.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.

I warmed up with some Bronze moves, jumps and spins.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- I'm doing better at maintaining speed.
• swizzle-cross -- forward, then backward, a full lap of each.  Swizzle, then cross the feet, alternating sides.  Ugh.  I worked on these (forward) with JJ a long time ago I think.
• FXOs -- first doing a sort of progressive, then a regular crossover, around the big middle circle.  I was going pretty fast and it was kinda scary.
• BXOs -- same thing as above.  Eeep.  Holly was really pushing me to unscrape them ("big toe push, pinky toe push").  They did improve.
• pushing -- pushing Holly a full lap of the rink while she braked with her toepicks. It's getting better, actually.
• alternating lunges -- a full lap, the last half Holly was braking with her toepicks.  Eeep.  So tiring!
• stroking -- a final lap for the day.  Eep.

I was pretty tired and sweaty afterward but I do think it's getting better.   The speed on the crossovers today was pretty scary though.  Yikes.  No jumping up today but I suppose that will return next week along with slaloms!

Preliminary Test

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  We started right away, no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- These were pretty good.  We spent a little time looking at the BI edges push to try to get a really good start with no BO edge and no flat.  I improved it somewhat. Key is to not widestep and to really turn the foot out.
• FO8 -- just okay.  The RFO was pretty weak the first 2 circles, LFO was okay.
• FI8 -- nice.
• waltz-8 -- Not so great.  Circle shape was really poor, and forget about tracing.  We spent the rest of the lesson working on this.  Lynne drew me some circles, which helped a lot -- clearly I'm not ready to take off the training wheels on these :-(.

After my lesson I spent the rest of my time working on waltz-8, BI8 and also BO8.  The BO8s were really nice :-)

Jumps

My lesson with JJ on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  I warmed up with some spins and Bronze moves.

Today's lesson:

• waltz jump -- JJ wanted a bit more speed into the jump and also to actually do the setup etc. correctly (with good form, esp. arms).  I did a couple that were well-formed but somewhat lacking in height/spring.
• salchow -- ugh.  I really do need to work on these more.  I'm getting a better feel for it but I am not consistent at all yet.
• toe loop -- it took a while for me to get these back to where they were a couple of weeks ago, but it did happen.  I really need to watch the upper body on the entrance so that I don't swing around too quickly.  I do feel like I can fix what I need to do make this a nice jump.

After my lesson I talked with JJ on practice time and how I should focus.  He'd like me to do 1/3 moves, 1/3 jumps and 1/3 spins.  Hmm.  Seems like a lot of time on spins (does my lack of enthusiasm show?).

We also talked about competitions as I realized that Autumn Antics is 2 months away and I don't have a showcase program.  I think I will just not compete.  I feel like I am doing too much right now as it is (3 lessons a week) and I have barely enough ice time to work on stuff from lessons and improve so I can have a better free skate and to make the fixes I need for Bronze moves.  Ugh.

Patch Perseverance

No lesson with Lynne today, so I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for patch practice.

I worked pretty much the whole time on waltz-8, including in the group lesson.  I'm doing a much better job not cutting in the circle on the BO edge now.  YAY!  Still struggling to get the step forward to be on the circle better.  It's a little improved but needs more work still.  I so want to get this puppy in good shape so I can test!!

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the adult skate at Gilbert.

I was running a bit late today and only had about 5 minutes to warm up before my lesson.  Ugh.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- I think I was faster last week; but I am definitely faster than a month ago.  Yay!
• slaloms -- ugh, I really hate these, they are really hard on my quads and I don't do a good job of keeping my feet together.
• slalom-jumps -- down the line, and then down the rink.  Do a slalom, jump from both feet. Lather, rinse, repeat.  Kinda scary going forward.  Holly held my hand at first then I did them on my own. Eeep.
• backward swizzle-tap -- down the rink. I think Holly held my hand last week but no more!
• pushing -- pushing Holly down the ice while she's braking w/her toepicks. I'm getting better at this.
• lunges -- pushing Holly down the ice doing alternate lunges.  Yow.  These are getting better and I have a lot better kneebend than I used to.
• cross-strokes -- I had done these in Naomi's ice dance class but these are tighter.  Not so great but I did them.

I made it through 20 minutes and I was okay (though tired).  Yay!  I do feel like this is helping and worthwhile.

3s

My figures lesson with Lynne on the 8:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  This was some time we were supposed to have a couple of weeks ago that got postponed, just a 20 minute lesson.

I warmed up with edges.

Today's lesson:

• 3s to center -- we worked just on improving the 3s to fix the flats I tend to have coming out of the turn and to make them more precise.  We made a little progress.  I need to make the actual turn at a quicker tempo.  We especially worked on bending the knee after the turn and this actually happened (a bit)!  Yay!
• BO3s -- I thought I would work on these a little with Lynne since we'd not worked on back 3s at all in like a year, and never in patch skates.  Just doing a back two-foot turn in patch blades was ... interesting, but quickly got better.  These weren't particularly happening today but I think I did make some progress in the little time I had on them.  Yay!

After my lesson I worked on FO8 and waltz-8.  The ice was pretty crappy on this session and it was hard to see; plus, little holes etc. in the ice that don't matter in my FS blades really impact me in patch -- either they slow me down considerably or they make me stumble or fall.  Grrr.

Waltz-8

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.

Today's lesson was just on waltz-8.  I am seeing some improvement on both the BO edge and the step forward. To help with the first, Lynne stood in the circle and made me go around her.  Sounds simple but it really helped.  I really, really want to get this squared away so I can take the darn test!  There's so much else to work on and this is holding me back :-(.