Program Polishing

I had my lesson with Holly on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert this a.m.  This lesson was rescheduled from Friday due to conflicts.

I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs and power-3s and then prepped some stuff from my program (a.ka. the dreaded bunny hop).

Today's lesson:

• runthrough -- we started by running the program with music.  It went pretty well for the most part. I had some weird thing happen on the first mohawk in the sequence and it freaked me out.  Also,  I did not do the bunnyhop as someone was in my way and it distracted me from the setup.  Everything else was okay and I finished just barely late.
• toe loop -- we went on to work on the toe loop.  We got a couple that were at least landed on one foot but they are still cheated.  Ugh.
• runthrough -- one more time with music.  This was not bad except that I had something weird happen on the first spin and it was pretty bad.  Other than that not bad and almost finished on time.
• spins -- just a couple minutes on these at the end.  Holly reminded me to keep my head up and bring the arms in and lift up/shoulders back.

Competition is Sunday. I have one more choreo session tomorrow and a lesson on Friday and that is it. Ugh.

Same Stuff, Different Day

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café as usual.  I warmed up with edges and FO8 and scribed circles.

Today's lesson:

• FI8 --  pretty good.  My circles are smaller than the FO8 circles though.  It's not horrible but it's pretty obvious when they are laid out next to each other.  Hmm.
• waltz-8 -- as always, the bulk of our time.   Still working mostly on the step forward. I'm getting better at bringing the upper body around before the step forward but I need to do it more quickly -- otherwise I wind up cutting too far into the circle.  I really need more practice time for these to improve. Ugh.
• serpentines -- we worked on moving the free leg back at the quarter circle so it's in position before the COE.  Then we worked on not anticipating the COE and not making it so diagonal :-).  We made some good progress but I still need to push harder and need better flow.  Lynne says I should not worry about both of those things at the same time as it will tend to throw me off -- I can alternate between trying to push harder and trying to get better/smoother flow.

After my lesson I worked some more on waltz-8 and also serpentines.

Lynne's family came with her today. It was so nice to see her baby girl, she has grown so much!  She's adorable.  Her husband got on the ice too and was skating around in hockey skates. Cool!

Program Polish

My choreo session with Tammy on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  Decent ice, 4 skaters and 3 coaches.

I warmed up with Bronze Moves (yes, I made myself do all of them, even the power-3s).  Really, the only weaknesses now IMHO are the circle-8 (still can't get over how bad these are when I can do them so easily in my patch blades) and the power-3s.  Everything else is... okay.  Not sure about "passable" but okay.  After that I warmed up some elements of the program (mostly bunny hop).

We started our session by running the program with music. Still finishing a little late.  Then we spent some time working on the mohawk sequence -- Tammy added arms on the BXOs before the side toe hop.  From there we ran just that part with music and it was better.  Then we worked on the bunny hop->lunge->toe loop section, mostly to get the transition into the toe loop better (but, it made me do more bunny hops so that's probably just as well, actually). Then we ran it again with music.

So, the good news is I am definitely skating faster, which makes me happy.  I'm still getting behind early in the program -- I think it's in the mohawk sequence. 

Only 1.5 weeks left before Autumn Antics... eeep!

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual.  I warmed up with stroking and perimeter XOs.  After that I worked on spins for a while, then ran my program with music.  It went okay; I finished a few seconds late still. After that I worked on spins some more, then toe loop.

Program Runthrough, Spins, Toe Loop

My lesson with Holly on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  This was rescheduled from last week.

I warmed up with stroking, then Bronze Moves - just perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges and 5-step mohawk.  It was really cold in the rink this morning!

Today's lesson:

• program runthrough -- I ran my "Years" program with music.  It actually went really well!  I remembered all the new arms stuff, my spins went relatively okay, the toe loop not so great.  I only finished 2 - 3 seconds late, so that's progress.  And a victory of another kind -- I went to do my first spin and someone was kind of in my way and I held my ground and did my stuff where I needed to!  I'm kinda proud of that.
• spins -- we worked on these for about 10 - 12 minutes.  I got a couple that were pretty good, actually.  We worked on keeping the R arm up and then bringing the arms in.  
• toe loop --meh. We did a bunch that were just so-so. I am rushing too much.  I did one at the end w/Holly holding my hand and that was better -- it makes me slow down and bring it around.  I need to do that on my own!

Still Workin' Waltz-8

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.

I warmed up with edges and FO8 and scribed circles.  I had not skated patch for 3 weeks! Ugh.

Today's lesson:

• FI8 -- more or less okay but my RFI circles were small (all of them) so I did some more to get the correct feel.
• waltz-8 -- meh.  Ran through them for a bit, then focused in specifically trying to fix the step forward from the LBO.  UGH.  I need to really focus on leaning back into the circle (scary) and really bring my R arm (and head!) around, while keeping the L arm/shoulder back. We did make some progress, actually.
• 3s to center -- just 5 minutes on these.  RFO3 is not bad but the LFO3 really stinks.  How weird.  I keep forcing it and it's just bad all around.  Yuck.

After my lesson I worked some more on the step forward, but it was worse then when I was in my lesson (literally, 5 minutes earlier). Grrr.  I need more practice time.

Choreo Polishing

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler for choreography with Tammy.  Only 4 of us on this session and 3 coaches. 

I warmed up with Bronze Moves, which went better than I expected.  Still having issues with circle-8, and I don't think 5-step or power-3s are passing level, but it's coming along.  After that I had about 10 minutes so I warmed up some elements from my program.

We started by working through some of the chunks of the program -- first, the bunnyhop, then the mohawk sequence.  Then we ran the program with music -- I finished considerably late, in part because I came out of the first spin forward and had to change to backward and that took me too far down rink.  Ugh.

We worked to take some of my "thinking" time out before and during the mohawk sequence.  I just need to DO it... bam! bam! bam! no thinking! Also, working to "s" the flow after the side toe hop into the waltz jump so that it's more curvy and I will not go to close to the curtain on the waltz jump.

We added some arm movements and changed some others:

• changed the opening arms to have my hands behind my back at the beginning
• after the very first crossover, added an arm movement similar to the later one after the chainé turns.
• added/changed an arm movement in the lunge -- now it's arms extended in front and then lifting up during the lunge.

We finished with another run through.  Still finished a little late, but closer. I need to skate a little faster!

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler tonight. After 2 weeks off the ice due to illness and then traveling for NWP Regionals, it was a bit rough!

I warmed up with stroking, then some crossovers. After that some power-3s just randomly, not in the pattern.  I finished up working on spins - bleah.

I'm competing Autumn Antics and it's less than 3 weeks away... eeep!  So much to do.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual.  I had an ophthalmologist appointment this afternoon and my eyes were still a bit whacked-out (dilated) so it was ... interesting.

I did some stroking, then spent a bunch of time on spins (yuck) and just a little time on waltz jump and salchow (also yuck).  Not my most productive time, but oh well at least I got out there!