5-Step Mohawk; Jumps

My lesson with JJ on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.

Today's lesson:

• 5-step mohawk -- ugh.  I warmed up with these a little.  JJ had me work to really push the heel down on the BO edge. I did manage it a couple of times; it was sort of scary because... it just flowed, lol.  Like seriously, that is the point, but it was kind of scary.
• waltz jump -- just a couple of minutes.  I can do these nicely when I concentrate.
• toe loop -- I really know all the things I need to do for this, it's mostly making them all happen and not leaving something important out.  I'm still not really remembering (consistently) to get a good check position when I pick in, and not remembering to let it come alllll the way around before I jump.  It's getting better though.  I'm kind of frustrated that I had these better and then I was off and it kind of went away :-(.  Oh well.

After my lesson I talked with JJ about my boots. It looks like I may need new ones after sectionals.  Grrr.  These boots will be 5 years old by then, though, so it's not like I didn't get some use out of them.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler.  About 9 - 10 skaters today.  I had an okay practice.  Working on spins and jumps.  Spins are about the same (bleah).  I landed a couple of good toe loops and a bunch of stinky ones.  One nice salchow and several not-so-great.  Just a little bit of time on moves (it's a bit too crowded w/people running programs at this session to do a lot of moves).

Preliminary Test, BO8

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  We had private ice! I warmed up with edges.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- actually pretty good. My first RFO was a little large but I corrected it subsequently.
• FI8 -- pretty nice.
• waltz-8 -- still working on the same areas.  We actually made a bit more progress on the BO edge and step forward; I'm doing a better job of actually bending my knee on the RBO which is giving me more control on the step to LFO.  I'm excited to keep working on this.
• BO8 -- a little rough at first but not too bad.

Skating Wit Da Homies!

I skated with my home club (Tucson FSC) at the TCC Arena today.

I had a pretty good skate.  Worked a bit on moves, then some time on jumps.  I got a few toe loops landed on one foot (I'd guess about 3-4).  I also spent a little time on spins but not much to report.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I've decided I have a love/hate relationship with this.  I sometimes really dread this lesson, but when it's over I feel pretty proud of myself.  Oh well!

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- as fast as possible, as usual.
• slaloms -- ugh.  My quads! my quads!
• swizzles -- one side forward, the other backward.  I like these so that was kinda okay.
• lunges -- again, yuck.  The L side is pretty good, the R side not so much.  Still, doing them by myself (no handholding) is a win.
• twizzly things -- these actually are getting kind of better.  I need to practice them!  She had me doing them on two feet still.
• swizzle pumps -- on the circle.  Oh my quds!
• swizzle-hops -- one side forward (Holly held my hands) and then one side back.  Ugh.  At the end of the lesson it's so hard and I am so exhausted!  But, proud of myself.

And of course a final lap of stroking.  I timed myself on this lap and it was 42 seconds (from a standing start).  That's at least 20s of what I was doing a couple of years ago, so that's pretty impressive.  And this was at the end of the lesson when I was tired!  So that's encouraging.

Patch Perseverance

I skated the Chandler Ice Café for patch practice today.

I spent about 45 minutes on the Preliminary test, and most of that was on the waltz-8.  A large chunk of that was just working on the BO edge and step forward.  I don't feel like I made much progress though.

The last 15 minutes I worked on BO8 and serpentines.  BO8 was a little off at first but got better. Serpentines were okay; the first 1.5 circles I didn't usually quite make it around but the 2nd half was better for both sides.  Not sure what to make of that.

Spins & Jumps

My lesson with JJ on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- I had warmed up with these and we wound up spending about 20 minutes on them.  We worked a lot on always leaning into the circle. I hadn't really realized until JJ told me, but after the 3 you have to shift over so that your weight is still inside the circle now that you're going backward.  JJ had me really reaching the free leg inside the circle after the 3.  It's kind of a different approach.  We'll see how this works.
• waltz jump -- just a few of these.  I did a couple that were not that great and then reminded myself to not be sloppy, after which I did a pretty nice one.
• toe loop -- these are not quite back where they were but considering how little ice time I have had, not too bad at all.

Preliminary Test; 3s

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  I warmed up with edges and scribed some circles and we got started.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- pretty good.
• FI8 -- pretty good.
• waltz-8 -- meh.  After running through them we then spent a bunch of time just working on the step forward on the circle; mostly the LBO since that's the weaker side.  We worked on holding the skating shoulder back on the first part of the BO edge so that I don't get so much swing started, then releasing and turning the skating foot for the new push.  I think we made a little progress.
• 3s to center -- I've decided it's not so much that the initial check is lacking, as it is that after the turn I don't control the shoulders and free leg/hip so that I then swing into the circle.  Grrr.

After my lesson I just had a couple of moments to work on the step forward again.

Power

I had a power lesson with Holly today on the Gilbert adult skate.  This was make-up for Friday as I had a work function and couldn't attend. I warmed up with stroking, then some spins and waltz jumps and 3s.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- 1.5 laps this time... eep.
• slalom -- straight from stroking.  1.5 laps also.  I was feeling a bit winded.  I'm getting a little better rhythm to these but my feet are still waay too far apart.
• FXOs - pre-pre pattern, twice each side.  Not so great.
• sprints -- ugh.  These are the things where you skate to the blue line, then the red line, then the far blue line.  I'm slow and I take too long to stop.  I need to work on my hockey stops, I've not done them in ages.  Grrr.  After the last one she had me immediately do alternating lunges to the other end of the rink. Bleah.  And then a lap.
• twizzly-things -- we did the regular ones down the line, then she had me do them on two feet down the line 3 times.  Uck.
• harness -- pulling her in the harness a full lap, then (of course) another lap of stroking.

All things considered I thought this went fairly well.  Holly wanted me to do jumping jacks on the ice and I demurred but I told her I would try them when I practice.  Yuck.

Patch Perseverance

No lesson with Lynne this week, and work stuff resulted in me changing my Ice Café day to Wednesday, so I had an hour worth of patch practice.

I spent most of my time on the Preliminary Test, including of course a lot of time on waltz-8.  I worked on the step forward separately as well.  Not really much progress.  It was really cold in the rink, and I felt somewhat out of sorts.  While working on the step forward I caught myself from falling and twinged a muscle in my right gluteus... medius? or maximus.  It's still bugging me now a little bit, not so much to really hurt but a distraction and I am walking slightly odd.

I finished with working on BO8, BI8, and some time on serpentines.  Not so great.  Like I said, kind of an off day.  Oh well.

Power

I had my power lesson with Holly today on the Gilbert adult skate.  I had about 5 minutes to warm up.  I managed to land a toe loop on one foot :-) but it was a bit cheated :-(.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- not too bad. Good speed, I think.  I really need to time myself on this to have some objective measure.
• slaloms -- straight into this from stroking.  Ugh.  My quads were killing me by the end and I notice I'm getting some chatter from my R blade.  Holly thinks it's dull blades.  I'm not sure.
• swizzles -- a lap forward and backward each.  
• swizzle-hop - one lap forward and one lap backward.  Holly held my hands for the first half of each.  Ugh.  So hard forward and so hard to do when I'm tired and my quads ache.  But I did okay.
• slaloms around the circle -- like 3 laps of these, once around each hockey circle in each direction (just forward though).  I really suck at these.
• crossovers around the circle -- a couple laps of FXOs (alternating directions like the Pre-pre pattern), then a couple laps of of 2 FXOs, mohawk, 2 BXOs, mohawk, transition to the other circle.  Yuck.   The step forward from the clockwise BXO was really hard as she wanted me doing it to the RFI edge not LFI.  Yuck.
• lunges - a lap of alternating lunges.  Holly held my hands for the first half then I did the second half on my own.

Whew!  I was totally wiped out at the end of these and again, a little light-headed though I did eat beforehand.  Urph.

Patch Perseverance.

I skated the Chandler Ice Café for patch practice today.  Unfortunately I did not have my scribe ;-( which made working on waltz-8 not so great.

I warmed up with the Preliminary test as usual and spent some quality time on the waltz-8.  I also spent some time just working on the step forward from BO edge, both on the wall and on a circle.  Grrr.

After that I moved on and worked on BO8, 3s to center and a brief look at BI8.  Not my best day but I was really glad to get some practice in.

Jumps

My lesson with JJ on the  6:45 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  Fortunately this is our last lesson in the early-early time slot. Phew!

Today's lesson:

• toe loop -- I hadn't told JJ about my success yesterday, and I'm glad I didn't because I couldn't replicate it.  We spent just a few minutes on this and while they were reasonably well-formed (so to speak) I was landing them all on two feet.  Oh well.
• salchow - bleah.  Last week was better, unfortunately.  I'm still rushing too much.
• loop prep -- on the wall again.  I am starting to have a feel for what I'm supposed to do, but I'm a long way from doing it on open ice.  Urgh.

After my lesson I had some time so I worked some more on toe loop and salchow.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler.  There were only 7 people signed up on SkaterIce... and other 7 dropins :-(. Oh well.  A bit crowded and the ice was kinda beat up by that point, but hey ice is ice and I need the time.

I had an okay practice.  I worked mostly on jumps and spins.  The only notable event was that I started landing my toe loop on one foot again! YAY!  I had about 4 that were good.  I was pretty happy with that.  Other than that the same old stuff.

Preliminary Test & Serpentine

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  We had to move our lessons in November due to schedule conflicts.  I warmed up with edges while Lynne scribed some circles for me.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- actually, pretty nice.
• FI8 -- pretty good.  After I skated them we were looking at the traces and realized that when I'm pushing on to the new circle I'm tending to put my foot down slightly angled, not smack on the short axis.  I think this is part of the reason my circles were a bit small and also a little diagonal. So I skated the FI8 again paying attention to that and voilà! bigger circles and no crossing of circles on the restart.  I'm really pleased with this correction.
• waltz-8 -- meh.  About the same as last week.  We did some more work on holding that BO edge and it is a bit better, but the step forward is still weak.
• serpentine -- Lynne had scribed me 3 circles, so... we did serpentines.  I actually was able to get through the whole thing (starting with each foot!) and made it around the entire time!  That was pretty spectacular.  On the negative side my changes of edge are still taking too long and a bit weak, but they are improving.  I'm pushing a bit harder which made me have a little loss of control at times but if I'm getting around the 1.5 circles then I really can't complain too much I guess.