Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate, as usual.  I warmed up with stroking and some BXOs and power-3s.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- of course.  2 laps.
• slaloms -- forward and back.  Ugh. 
• cross strokes -- well, sort of. Forward and back about 2 laps of each (well, more on the back ones).  Holly held my hands on the back ones.  The step itself is okay on the forward ones but the edge doesn't curve around like Holly's does.  And the back -- Holly held my hands the whole time.  They did get better though.  After this I voluntarily did a lap and a half of stroking as I thought we were done... but not quite...
• BXOs -- Holly wanted to see if the cross strokes helped these, so I did a couple of circles of CW BXOs.  They actually weren't bad but of course that's my easier side.

Preliminary Test & Serpentines

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  I had a very brief warmup (FO/FI edges) then scribed circles and we started.

Today's lesson:

• BO edges -- pretty good.
• BI edges -- not bad.  Lynne said my initial stepdown was much improved.
• FO8 -- pretty good, although the first RFO was really large (fixed it subsequently) and the LFOs were all really large fore some reason.
• FI8 -- Really pretty good.
• waltz-8 -- turns were better.  BO edge was better.  Step forward was not as good as it was last week, but improved.  Still struggling to lean back into the circle and really be on that FO edge.
• serpentines -- I ran through both sides.  I'm consistently about a quarter circle short of making it the 1.5 circles though, and the transitions are a little rough.  The FIO is a bit early and I need to keep my legs/feet closer together.  On the FOI I need to work on  extending the free foot before the transition and not rocking back and forth on the blade so much on the transition.

After my lesson I just had a couple of minutes so I worked more on the FOI change of edge.

Spins, 3s, Mohawks

My lesson with JJ on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert as usual.  I warmed up with stroking and spins, and some perimeter XOs.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- about 10 minutes on these.  JJ says I keep thinking I'm in the wrong position after the hook, and I'm not.  I just need to saddle up and stick with it.  Grrr.
• 3s -- we reviewed the feedback on my power 3s from my test last year.  We worked an exercise where I did a 3 (we mostly worked on RFO3) then stepped forward and came around on the same circle and did another, holding the entrance longer.  We made some good progress on this (I need to practice this!!), I was able to hold the entrance much longer and was able to keep the free leg in better.  Still much more to do.
• mohawks -- just a few minutes on these at the end.  I can do a nice one (we just worked on RFI so I was cheating, I guess :-) ) when I try.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual. 

I didn't work on any jumps this session.  I spent the first part of the session working on spins, then I went on to work on problem points in my various Moves.  So I worked on 3s, I worked on FXOs, I worked mohawks.  Nothing backward, as this session is pretty crowded and I didn't feel like trying to dodge people.

All in all just an okay skate, although I think I saw some improvement on my mohawks.  We'll see tomorrow.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I warmed up with stroking, spins, slaloms and a couple of Bronze moves.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- as usual.
• perimeter BXOs -- not the Bronze move, just the warmup like the kids do.  Just one lap.
• lunges -- one lap of lunges, followed by another lap of stroking.
• slaloms -- 2 laps! ugh, my quads were killing me.
• mohawks -- down the line, alternating.  I'm really amused how much Holly and JJ are in sync on this stuff, when they don't even talk to each other!  Anyway the point of this mostly was to do the change of direction from one side to the other.  They were kinda stinky but did improve.
• twizzly thing -- I had kind of forgotten how these went, in particular that I needed to bring my outside shoulder around to make them happen.  We went up and down the line like 4 times.  Ugh.

Spins, 5-Step Mohawk

My lesson with JJ on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  This was a makeup lesson for last week due to my schedule being crazy then.

I warmed up with some Bronze moves and then some spins.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- from a standing start.  I did a couple that were okay.  I don't know what to say about these other than that my summary/translation is that I need to relax and not force things, and then do the other things I already know I'm supposed to do.
• 5-step mohawk -- urph.  After running these once we concentrated on the LFI mohawk since it's the worst.  Working on having more control and opening the hip more.  I can do a really great one on the wall!  But on the ice, not so much.  

Patch Perseverance

I skated the Chandler Ice Café today for patch practice (no lesson today).

I had a decent skate.  I warmed up with edges, then ran through FO8 and FI8 and then spent the biggest chunk of my time on waltz-8.  Not so great at first but I actually made some good progress! Doing a much better job of holding the circle on the BO edge and steps-forward were much closer to being on the circle.  I was stoked! We'll see whether it sticks or not.

Spins, Moves

My lesson with JJ on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert. I warmed up with the first 4 Bronze Moves.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- both standing start and windup.  JJ told me to think about the back of the blade continuing around after the 3 and this did seem to help.  I did get a couple that were kind of okay.
• edges -- we worked just a bit on skating deep FI edges.  I need to bend my knees more and get into a better rhythm.
• backspin prep -- we worked on doing an FI3 and toe-tap (similar to the chainé turns in my dramatic).  Meh.
• perimeter XOs -- I ran this and then we worked a bit on the crossovers, esp. the BXOs.  JJ said right now I should probably focus more on getting more power and a better push and leave worrying about the scratchiness to later.  He has a point...

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual.  I had just an okay skate; I was tired and just feeling off.  Bleah!  I worked a bit on spins and also jumps.  Toe loop pretty stinky and salchow too; waltz jump was okay.

I also spent a little time on moves but nothing exciting.  I felt kind of aimless and wasn't very productive.  Grrr.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate, as usual.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- two laps.
• slalom -- one lap.
• forward swizzles -- 1.5 laps.
• pushing -- one lap.
• back slaloms -- on the circle.  We started with the harder side first.  2-3 circles each side.  I still feel like I'm not really slaloming but Holly says she's more interested in getting me to go faster and get the edge change.
• 3s -- on the circle.  Weird, as I was just working on these with Lynne yesterday!  Holly says I'm dropping my skating shoulder too much right after the turn, which I believe.  Hmm.

This was the first time I'd skated in my new boots after I got the blades permanently mounted on Tuesday.  Still feeling a bit weird but getting better.

Preliminary Test & 3s

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  I had a quick warmup with edges, and scribed some circles.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- actually, pretty nice.
• FI8 -- nice.
• waltz-8 -- mmph.  I am actually seeing some improvement here, but as Lynne said there's still a lot of inconsistency.  I am doing better on the step forward, in particular at opening the hips so I can actually step forward and not "out".  But it's still a work in progress.
• 3s to center -- just a couple of minutes on these.  Ugh.  I am doing better at checking the 3 but I need to stand up straighter; I'm leaning into the circle too much so it makes me spiral in instead of holding the circle.  Grrr.

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Due to work schedule etc. we had a shortened lesson, but Holly still made it a workout!

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- of course
• slaloms -- forward AND back, a lap each.  And then a lap of stroking.
• lunges - a lap.  Then a lap of stroking.  Sense a pattern?
• alternating-3s -- I can't really do these (well, not on one foot) but we did them anyway, a full lap, followed by a lap of stroking...

Ugh.  I worked up a sweat here!  

Back In The Saddle

I had my first post-baby figures lesson with Lynne today on the Chandler Ice Café.  It was great to see her!  As always, she looks terrific.  I warmed up with edges and one FO8.  This session was pretty crowded (11 people at one point) -- if that continues I may need to rethink trying to do figures at this session.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- not bad actually.  I need to be more consistent about controlling swing in the upper body though.
• FI8 -- Pretty nice.
• waltz-8 -- 3s were nice.  Actually all things considered these were all pretty nice except for the last R side where I stepped forward way too early.
• BO8 -- after some work to control my upper body position I actually did a pretty nice set.
• BI8 -- ugh.  Not so great.  Push was weak and I never got around the first circle.

After my lesson I spent the remainder of my time on serpentines and 3s to center.  Neither were so great.  Oh well.

Spins

My lesson with JJ on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert, as usual.  3 skaters and 3 coaches!  Ice was a little bumpy though.

Today's lesson was just spins.  It's my major point of frustration after PCAS and we really haven't worked on them much so it was overdue.

We started by doing an exercise that was just LFO3 -> back 2-foot turn.  Ugh.  I had not done any back two foot turns for a long, long time -- since I was working on back-3s with Lynne.  So they were pretty rusty and bit scary.

After some time on that we went ahead and did a bunch of spins from the windup.   JJ wanted me to look to the left more on the step forward, and of course the usual things also applied (bending the knee on the step forward, holding the free leg back, arms out, don't rush).  I did a couple that were 2 revs or so but I'm always getting WAY up on my toe.  Grrr.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual.  About 11 skaters and 5 coaches; busy but doable. 

I was not in the most productive of moods; I'm still getting used to these boots.  Still, I spent some time on most of the Bronze Moves (ugh) and also some spins. I also spent a little time working on FI mohawks, because they are so bad.  On the boards I can do them really nicely; on the ice, not so much.  Grrr. 

Power

My power lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate as usual.  A bit more crowded than Tuesday :-) with 8 skaters and 2 coaches.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- not too bad.
• slaloms -- of course.  I am not getting any RIP on the left foot, only on the right.
• fwd swizzles -- 1.5 laps.
• crossrolls -- 1 lap.  Ugh.  My lobes are slow and very shallow.
• FXOs -- around the circles, then FXO-Mo-BXo-Mo around each circle.  
• Half swizzles -- around the circles, forward and back.  Not too bad, actually.  Okay speed and she only made me do one of each so my quads were not burning too badly.
• power pulls -- around the circle  a couple of times on each foot.  Ugh.  Although I guess there is some improvement.
• lunges -- one lap. Not bad, actually.
• pushing -- pushing Holly backward (braking w/her toepicks).  Not too bad.
• back swizzle hops -- ugh I hate these things!  And I was so tired.  I survived.
• side toe hops on the line -- ugh. I did them but they weren't great.

Heart rate mid lesson was 167!  Eeep.