Program Practice

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  Due to illness and other issues I'd not skated free style in a week and a half; and this lesson was moved due to scheduling issues this week.

I warmed up with stroking and perimeter crossovers, then a couple of jumps.

For today's lesson, we spent some time on jumps first -- waltz, salchow, toe loop, waltz-toe.  The waltz-toe combo was pretty rough but did improve.  Next we reviewed the footwork section -- mohawk sequence, turn sequence and spiral.

After that we ran the program with music -- I had just gotten a final cut last night. It sounds good.  The runthrough went surprisingly well -- I did pretty much everything in the program, and though it was pretty rough I only finished a few seconds late, which considering where I'm at with this is not bad at all.

After that we worked on the little footwork section after the first spin as I was confused.  Made some progress.

All in all not bad, all things considered.  Lots of work to do in the next couple of weeks though!

Waltz-8, Serpentines

I skated the Chandler Ice Café today as usual for my figures lesson with Lynne. 5 skaters and nice ice.

I warmed up with edges, scribed some circles, then worked on FO8 and FI8.  FO8 was okay for no warmup, FI8 was pretty nice.

Today's lesson:

• waltz-8 -- about 25 minutes on these, mostly working on the step forward.  It seems like there are about 4 things I need to do simultaneously to make these happen:
• Stand up straight on the BO edge
• look where I'm going
• bring the trailing arm/shoulder around right before Is tep
• turn the upper body, set the new skating foot pointing in the right direction, bend and step forward.
• serpentines -- just briefly.  I've not done these in a long time, they were not so great.

Free Skate

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  I warmed up with Bronze Moves.  Not bad, other than circle-8 and usual power-3 wonkiness.

For my lesson, we worked through the program to refine and improve elements (mostly footwork) that I'm having issues with.  We also ran it once with the music.

We decided to change the mohawk sequence to start with the right foot instead.  In general it's coming along I just need more time to work on it.  Competition is 4 weeks from Sunday!

Still Slogging

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café as usual.  6 skaters.

I warmed up with edges and scribed my circles, and had just started FO8 when Lynne came on the ice.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- hm. Some issues on the first layout, so we did another set that was much better.
• FI8 -- pretty good.  I freaked myself out a little when I was starting the 3rd RFI; I looked ahead at the tracing and saw that my two previous prints were RIGHT ON TOP of each other, perfect!  Alas I was not able to get the 3rd print that close (it was probably 6" away, oh well).
• waltz-8 -- I talked with Lynne about some of what I'd learned in my practice last week and discovered that I was trying to do the step forward the hard(er) way!  I was trying to turn my foot under me from the back-middle of the blade, almost like a back-3, but Lynne said that's not really necessary and it's perfectly fine to do it from the ball of the foot (which is what I observed Mary doing last week when we were all talking about it). So yay!  This is pretty important as it makes it at least theoretically a lot easier to do.  With that learning we kept working and it's a little better.  It will take some time to incorporate all this into my skating.

After my lesson I spent some time on waltz-8 and also a little bit on BO8.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual tonight.  7 skaters and 5 coaches.

I warmed up with stroking and Bronze moves.  Ice was crappy so of course my circle-8 was horrible.  Geez.

After that I worked on spins and jumps.  I actually got 2 pretty nice spins, then several really bad ones, and then another good one and more bad ones.  Hm.  Jumps were about the same as ever, i.e. salchow mostly okay, toe loop cheated, waltz jump okay.

Perseverance

I skated the 3:45 FS at Chandler for practice.  Since I had the day off I got to sleep in AND skate, yay!  Best yet, there was an ice cut right before!  Just 7 skaters and 3 coaches.

I ran through Bronze Moves.  They went pretty well -- I feel like I am getting smoother and more speed, especially on the BXOs to BO edges.  Still not happy with power-3s though.  The circle-8 was great!  I attribute that to the ice cut.

After warming up I warmed up some jumps and my bunny hop, then ran my dramatic program.  The good news was I finished on time.... the bad news, I skipped the bunny hop and forgot the side toe hop.... and the spins were pretty bad.  Urph.

After that I worked on chunks of the free skate to try to get them smoother. Eeep.  I only have like 4 lessons left and there's so much to do!  Oh well.

Patch Perseverance

I skated the Chandler Ice Café today.  My lesson with Lynne was cancelled today so I had an hour's worth of patch practice.  I ran through edges and FO8, FI8, then some quality time on waltz-8 with most of it actually consisting of working on the BO edge->step forward.  I'm still not turning my foot under me, especially on the LBO; at one point I had Mary, Heidi and Linda all looking at it with me, lol!  I think the key things to think about are posture (stand up straight), weight in the middle of the blade, look where I'm going and try to step to the FO edge not a flat.  Uck!

I finished up with some time on BO8 and BI8.  Yow, they are rough!

Choreo

I skated the 8:15 FS at Gilbert this a.m. for my lesson with Holly.  I warmed up with some Bronze Moves - perimeter XOs and BXOs to BO edges, then worked a bit on jumps.

For today's lesson we worked on finishing up the choreography for the free skate.  We have a total of 3 jumps/jump combos and 2 spins and lots of footwork.  If I can remember, it's something like this:

• Pose, left hand above right.
• Hands overhead.
• LBI pivot
• Swizzle forward, arms to front
• Swizzle back, arms come back
• Turny-thing :p
• 5 BXOs into a 
• toe loop
• hockey glide w/arms to a turn
• arms to turn forward
• more/different arms  into windup
• spin
• CW FXOs to a 
• salchow
• mohawk/cross x2
• chainé turns with arms overhead
• LFO spiral
• waltz-toe combo
• spin
• final pose

Eeep.  It seems like a lot to me, though I guess it's not really.

Perseverance

I dragged my butt to the 8:30 a.m. FS at Chandler for practice.  I've had a hard time getting my butt in gear to make this session recently, but I made it today and was rewarded for the effort by getting to skate with my homegirls Abie and Viktorya!  Yay!!

I ran through Bronze moves, then warmed up some jumps.  Then I ran through my dramatic program ... I fell landing the toe loop. Ugh. It took me too long to get up too, so I was a little late finishing (I think I would have been right on time if I hadn't fallen!).  Oh well, that's practice too!

After that I worked through some jumps stuff, worked on spins (they were all horrible today, dashing my hopes from yesterday) and miscellaneous stuff. And a little too much socialization... oh well.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual.  Warmed up, then ran through Bronze Moves.  In general okay other than continued suckage on the circle-8.

After that I warmed up jumps (a really nice waltz jump!), then I ran my showcase program.  Actually really good -- almost finished on time.  In a fit of bravery I did it without warming up the dreaded bunny hop (which turned out a little wonky, but oh well).  So that was good.

After that I worked a bit on the free skate, which I am not remembering well at this point.  Grrr.  Finished the session by doing a spin that was the best I've done in a long time!!  3 full revolutions, centered!  Yay!  Good stuff.

Choreo

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  We had a short lesson today.

I warmed up with Bronze Moves -- mostly okay other than, again, circle-8.  Yuck.  Then I did some jumps and some spins. I actually got a couple of spins that were almost okay -- I was actually over my skating side.  I'm not exactly sure what I did differently other than I think I bent my knee more on the step forward, so then I straightened up and felt like I was actually over my L side.  Yay.

For my lesson, we talked briefly about what elements needed to still go in to the program and decided on the salchow, a waltz-toe combo, and another spin.  We quickly sketched out what that might look like.  I think we will also put in a spiral.

MidWinter is 6 weeks from Sunday!  I've not registered yet but I have my hotel so that is good :-).

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler for practice, as usual.  Okay ice, only 4 skaters.

I ran through Bronze moves.  I spent more time on circle-8, but unlike yesterday I was back to having flow issues.  Argh.  The ice yesterday was pristine and this was not -- if that's the difference (which it seems to be) that really stinks.  I need to have enough power & flow to not have that be a problem.  The rest of the moves were okay (power-3s still stink tho).

I worked on jumps; then I ran my dramatic program, and finished up with some time on the free skate. 

Perseverance

I skated the 1:15 p.m. FS at Chandler today since I had the day off.  Great ice and just me, Squid and another skater.

I worked through Bronze moves -- not bad, actually.  Still not happy with the power-3s but everything else (including the circle-8!) was pretty good.

After that I worked a bit on jumps, then ran my dramatic program -- it was about the same as last time.  The toe loop was wonky and I finished about 6 seconds late.  Urph.  At least I did everything!

After that I spent some time working on my free skate program.  I am feeling a lot more comfy with the beginning now but I got a little confused on the last part.  Urgh.  Oh well.