Grinding Away

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

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- a layout in a random spot.   The first set had some issues (hey, no warmup).  A second set was better but still some issues with return to center (was diagonal).  A 3rd set was better and we moved on.
• FI8 -- Urph.  Usually my best figure but the first set not so great (again a layout in a random spot).  Second set was better.
• waltz-8 -- we moved to my scribed circles for these.  These were really inconsistent, unfortunately.  Still cutting into the circle pretty badly, and the step forward on the R side not so good. Left is better.  

After my lesson I worked some more on waltz-8 and then a couple of BO8s.  Not getting around the circle, I'm cutting in too much.

Looking back I feel like I am regressing on some of this stuff, which is discouraging.

Private Patch Ice

I skated the 8:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.   The website claimed I was the only one signed up, so I brought both pairs of skates; and when Squid got off the ice at the end of the 7:30 session, I had it all to myself so I worked on figures.  Yay!

Well, yay for time to work on figures. The ice was pretty horrid though, which is what you would expect after almost 3 hours of FS beforehand.   I spent over 20 minutes on FO8 and FI8 and had real issues with flow, I could not get all the way around most of the time.  Horrid ice or no, I should be able to do that.  Yuck.

After that I spent about 15 minutes on waltz-8.  It was not as bad as I was expecting; actually the step-forward was not that bad. I was kinda cutting into the circle too much on the BO edge though.

I spent the last few minutes on BO8, BI8 and a couple of 3s to center.  Pushes on the back circles were not so great though I had reasonable control on them other than that.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual (though I will be skipping this session the next couple of weeks due to work constraints).

I went through the "odd" Bronze Moves (perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges, 5-step), and worked some specifically on FXOs to try to get better knee bend and a better cross.  Bleah.

After that I worked on jumps and spins. Other than the waltz jump they were all pretty awful.  Yuck.

New Free Skate; XOs

My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I warmed up with Bronze moves, then ran my dramatic program.  It went okay... even the dreaded bunny hop was okay in spite of no warmup! Yay.

Today's lesson:

• new FS program -- we started working on my new free skate.  I need to get some fixes done to the music as the beginning is too quiet :-(.  We only did about 15 - 20s but it's a start.  We at least came to some conclusions as to what the character was etc. so that's good.
• XOs -- we worked a bit on FXOs and BXOs as I'm still not happy with them.  I am too tentative and don't generate enough power.  We made some progress I think, though.

Perseverance

I had planned to take yesterday off from skating, after my late night return from 2018 Pacific Coast Sectionals in Spokane.  A good thing, too, because after 5 days in a very cold rink I picked up a bit of a cold.  I wound up staying home from work and sleeping a lot.  I felt pretty ukky this morning (had to cancel my figures lesson :-( ) but after dragging my butt to work I decided I might as well skate my contract ice at 5:30 p.m. at Chandler since... contract.

I spent a half hour working on Bronze moves.  I'm really pleased with 3 of these now (perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges and 5-step).  Circle 8 still is an issue and power-3s I really still am not happy with.

After my moves work I spent the remaining 15 minutes on jumps (nice waltz jump, horrible toe loops, a nice salchow) and some spins (uh).

Spins

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  Ice was a bit beat up.  About 5 skaters and 3 coaches.

I warmed up with Bronze moves (all but circle-8).  Hey, at least I am making myself do the power-3s!

For today's lesson we spent most of it on spins, all from the windup. Holly reminded me to do a "real" BXO into it and not be lazy :-).  Keep the head up, bring the hands in and up.  Toward the end we got some that she was happier with but I'm not too convinced.  Oh well.

We had thought there was an issue with the alignment on my L blade, but in looking at it today we couldn't find anything wrong, so I'll leave it alone.  I do want to get the heel of my R boot punched out a bit as it is grabbing the sides of my heel and it doesn't feel like my heel is on the floor of the boot. 

No lesson for me next week (traveling to Spokane for sectionals!) but in two weeks we'll be back and it's time to get started on a new free skate!

Stepping... Forward

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café.  5 skaters and one coach today, nice ice as usual.  I scribed circles, then warmed up with edges and FO8.  First couple circles of FO8 were a bit wonky but they settled down.

Today's lesson:

• FI8 -- a layout at a random spot.  Really nice, actually.  I managed to make the first LFI a reasonable size so it matched the RFI.  
• waltz-8 -- we ran this a couple of times, then worked for a while just on the step forward.  We specifically worked on being more aggressive (for lack of a better word) about turning the skating foot and pushing.  What tends to happen now is that I don't really turn the skating foot on the BO edge, I just sit back on it and it cuts inside the circle so that I've turned almost perpendicular to the circle so I can step forward.  But that's not really how it's supposed to work.  If you watch someone do this who knows what they are doing you'll see them skate the BO, then turn the skating foot and push from it. So we worked on that.  Right now it skids all over the place (after all, when you turn the skating foot you have to just go, or it will skid). ugh.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual for practice. Only about 6 skaters and 3 coaches.

I ran through all the Bronze Moves.  They are slowly improving.  I feel like the perimeter XOs are not bad except I still feel the CW FXOs are weak.  Power-3s are about the same but at least I get through them?  BXOs to BO edges are okay.  Circle-8 is still weak.  5-step seems like it's a lot better than it used to be.

Next I worked on toe loop.  Ugh. Still cannot convince myself to get down in the knees and bring the RBO around.  Grr.

After that I worked a little more on circle-8, then some time on spins.

2017 Autumn Antics Adult Pre-Bronze Showcase Dramatic Video

Here's the video!  I missed the side toe hop and the arms on the lunge (which was a bit wonky) and a bit rough in places, but really, not too bad.

2017 Autumn Antics Showcase Dramatic

Today I skated my "Years" program at the 2017 Autumn Antics.

It was a really busy day!  I was also chief music tech, so I arrived at the rink at 6:40 a.m. and spent the next 6 hours or so doing final prep and then running music.  Since Autumn Antics is run like a show there is almost no break at all.  I finally got my break around 12:15 or 12:30.

I was scheduled to compete about 1:43 but the competition had been running early all day, so I was aiming to be ready a bit earlier than that. I spent some time just getting warm again after sitting in the cold for so long.  Finally about 1 p.m. I got my costume on, then put my skates on around 1:15.  I went and checked in with the ice monitor and waited for my chance to warmup.

I was competing against two women (Gwen and Patty).  We got on the warmup ice (behind the curtain, so it's small).  Like I'd worked on with Tammy, I did some stroking, then mohawk sequence a couple of times, then a couple of bunny hops, then a couple of lunge-toe loops, then a waltz jump.  Some conversation with Holly and some feedback.  I landed several really nice toe loops (well, nice as in "on one foot" but it's because I said "screw it, I'll toe waltz it but it will look better" :-( ).  Then a couple more bunny hops.  I was feeling a bit nervous/anxious but not too bad, really.

Finally it was time to go.  I went out and circle around to my position -- honestly for a second I forgot exactly where I was supposed to go! lol.  Took my position and music started.  First part went well -- I was a little early on the arms before the 1st spin.  The first spin was -- short, but okay (for me).  Into the backward stroking/BXOs and the "beauty" position in front of the judges.  Holly had reminded me to smile but I didn't do a great job.  Oh well!  Mohawk sequence - first one was okay but I got a little off balance when I crossed my feet which slowed me going into the 2nd one.  Yuck.  Then the BXOs (remembered the arms, yay!) but I think I forgot to do the side toe hop. Urph.  Waltz jump was okay, did the bunny hop okay, but for some reason I had the same issue with the lunge that I had before - my free leg didn't stay back and I wound up just sort of bringing it in, then standing up for the toe loop.  All that made me forget to do the arms on the lunge (I think).  Urph.  Toe loop was landed on one foot (yay) but a little rough.  The end of the program went okay (final spin not bad) and I ended just on time, yay!

One weird thing -- I got really behind the music early in the program; not sure exactly how but it was before or during the backward stroking.  I just know I was in the "beauty" pose and heard the music cue that was supposed to be for the mohawk sequence.  So I was 2 - 3 seconds late there, and I felt like I was till late through the waltz jump. I must have been skating faster, though, because I came out of the toe loop and discovered I was right on time!  Weird.

Anyway, finished the program and started to go to center ice to bow.  Minor annoyance - the announcer did the "this concludes" event announcement before I bowed!  Grrr.  A screwup, not intentional I know but kind of annoying.  Anyway I bowed and got off the ice. Big hugs from Holly and collected some tossies from Melissa and a couple of other people -- very sweet!

I waited around and the results were posted -- I got 3rd of 3.  3 3rd place ordinals and 2 2nd place ordinals.  I was a little disappointed, but I didn't see the competition so who knows?  Anyway I was pretty pleased that my first competition in over a year and a half was done and I skated well. Yay!

Final Program Prep

My lesson with Holly on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert, as usual.  I warmed up with some Bronze Moves (perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges and 5-step mohawk), then warmed up the bunny hop and mohawk sequence from the program.

Today's lesson:

• program runthrough -- we started with this.  Not so great, I got behind early for some reason and I totally had a moment with the bunny hop and just skipped it.  Finished several seconds late.  Ugh.
• chainé turns -- we worked on the timing of these a bit as I feel like I'm getting slightly behind on them.  We ran through the opening of the program twice with music and managed to get it better - less thinking, more skating.
• toe loop -- we worked a bit on the toe loop.  I had a little success in getting it to slow down a bit and then to actually land on one foot. Let's hope that sticks.
• runthrough -- we ran it again with music and it was better, for the most part.  Just like on Wednesday, though, I had an oopsie moment on the lunge where my free leg didn't stay back.  This time it slowed me to a crawl so I had to get up and push a bit to get into the toe loop, which was then horrible.  Still, after all that I managed to finish right on time.  Yay!! 

I compete Sunday around 1:43 p.m.  Eeep!

Still Workin' It

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Cafe as usual.  I warmed up with edges and scribed my circles as usual. Good ice and only 3 skaters and 1 coach.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- since I'd not warmed up, we went ahead and laid out FO8 (and FI8) in random places on the ice.  FO8 was okay, for not being warmed up.  A bit of trouble on the 2nd LFO as I didn't hold my free shoulder back.  Circle size was okay, tracing not bad and I made the first RFO an okay size for once, yay!
• FI8 -- a random layout.  This was actually pretty good.  Good tracing, and circle size, while still smaller than FO, was more comparable than it's been.
• waltz-8 -- almost 20 minutes on these.  It was all over the place, but did improve.  I find that it's really hard for me to retain my progress though.  I really need to find more patch time.  The step forward is still the biggest hurdle.  I did find that counting to 8 on the BO edge helps me a lot -- I really need to remember to do this every time!

Final Choreo

I skated the 7:30 a.m. FS at Chandler this morning for final choreo (final Jeopardy?! :p ) with Tammy.  I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges and 5-step mohawk; then I warmed up my toe loop and bunny hop.  I wore my costume today... boy was I cold!! Urph.

We started by running the program with music.  I did something weird on the bunny hop, then the lunge went awry on me and I wound up bringing the free leg in but it was still okay -- apparently I skipped the side toe hop though.  We worked through some of the program chunks and Tammy made a small change to the arms as I pass the judges -- left hand up higher.  We also worked on coming out from the curtains, and the bow.  I need to remember to hold the closing pose just a smidge longer so it doesn't look abrupt when I move.  We also went over what I want to warm up when I'm behind the curtain -- mohawk sequence, then bunny hop, then lunge->toe loop, then waltz jump.

After that we ran the program with music again and it went pretty well all in all.  By that I mean that the spins were no worse than usual and I didn't fall, and I did all my elements :p . I finished about a second late.

In the last couple of minutes we did some more toe loops and I actually got a couple that were okay. Yay me!