Spins & Moves

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  I warmed up with the "odd" Bronze Moves (perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges, 5-step Mohawk).

Today's lesson:

• spins -- we worked through the spin exercise that Holly gave me at my last lesson. It's really a good exercise for me as I'm starting to feel where I need to be on the blade, AND, I'm standing straight up with arms correct.  Of course after a few times she wanted me to pick up the free leg, lol.  Not quite successful in that as soon as I did so I dropped my free side somewhat.  Grrr.
• 5-step mohawk -- Holly wants me to have deeper lobes on these and to hold the 1st step a bit longer, esp. on the R side.  I'm still up on my toe a lot on the BO edge but other than that it's actually improved a lot since last year.
• power-3s -- we worked on these in the pattern and then just 3s on the line.  My 3s are not so great.  The turn itself is nice, but free leg is very swingy.  I told her I need to work on these more with my new figures coach, whoever that turns out to be.

Considering I had not skated in a week it was not too bad.  Yay!

I'm still working on getting a figures coach....

Final Lesson

I had my last figures lesson with Lynne today, on the Chandler Ice Café as usual.  I got there slightly early so I had time to warm up with edges, scribe circles, and do FO8, FI8, and one circle each of waltz-8.

Today's lesson was a potpourri of all the stuff we've learned:

• waltz-8 -- of course.  About the same, though I did better on tracing the circle on the RBO.
• BO8 -- surprisingly good!  Came in a little short on the first circle but other than that it was not bad.  I really enjoy doing these, so I should def. practice them more.
• BI8 -- all in all not bad.  I deliberately made my RBI circle smaller so I could get around :-) as that push is still kinda weak.
• 3s to center -- most of these 3s are still very forced or skidded.  I often don't come "down" quickly enough after the turn, so even if I have a nice entrance, instead of a nice "shoulder" on the exit from the turn it just goes straight as I skid on the toe :-(.  Lots to do here.
• serpentines -- better than I expected.  COE is still a bit rough, both FOI and FIO.

It was nice to have some time to go through things and see the progress that I've made, and where I still need (lots of ) work.  I'm very sad that Lynne is leaving -- despite my frustrations with the waltz-8, we have, really, made a lot of progress.  My FO8 and FI8 are really solid, and my BO8/BI8 are pretty good, really.  The other stuff is further out.  I know that Lynne will really enjoy her new home and be very successful. I will treasure memories of our time together and look forward to the future!

Spins Etc.

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

I warmed up with Bronze Moves (skipped power-3s tho). 

Today's lesson:

• spins -- we worked on some spin exercises.  First we worked on basically a spin-pivot -- putting the L foot on the sweet spot and turning around by pushing with the R foot, trying to keep the head up and standing up straight.  Next we worked on holding a BI edge without getting too far up on the toe.
• 5-step mohawk -- the BI edge exercise led to working on the BO edge in the context of the 5-step mohawk  -- I demonstrated to her how far up on the toe I get when I am doing this. So Holly held my hands while I did it and of course in that setting I can do it without getting up on the toe.  So we worked it some more to flex the foot and get the middle of the blade down.   We also worked to do more of a push onto the BO edge, which helps a lot.  I used to do this and I'd forgotten.  Urph.

After the on-ice lesson, we got off the ice and took our skates off.  I had brought my spin trainer with me and Holly showed me what she wanted me to do, basically similar to what I was doing on-ice with pushing myself around.  I tend to get twisted with the free leg behind me -- Holly showed me that I need to keep the free leg even with the skating leg and stay square into the motion.

Waltz-8 and Serpentines

My figures lesson with Lynne on the Chandler Ice Café as usual.  I got on the ice a little earlier than usual, so I had time to scribe circles, do edges, FO8 and FI8.

Today's lesson:

• waltz-8 -- still working the same issues.  We did two sets on the scribed circles, then worked on the tracings from my FO8.  I noticed that when I do bad or early 3s in this figure that it really throws me off for the rest of that circle, so we worked on improving them.  All the other usual corrections still applied.
• serpentines -- still working to improve the FOI change of edge.  I did make some progress on getting the COE to be at the axis and not early, though.

Perseverance

I skated the 5:30 p.m. FS at Chandler as usual for practice.  I ran through Bronze Moves (all of them, I didn't skip any this time!).  I then spent the remaining 20 minutes or so working on spins.  In that whole time, I think I had 4 that would have looked like a (short) spin. Geez.

I'm really discouraged.  My 15-year skativersary is coming up, and it's very disheartening to think that something that seems to come pretty easily to practically everyone else, kids or adults, is so difficult for me.  It's just.... so frustrating.

Spins

My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert 8:15 FS.  Kinda crappy ice, 5 skaters and 3 coaches.

I warmed up with perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges and 5-step mohawk.  I felt like I had not skated in forever!

Today's lesson was just spins.  We worked on them from the line (standing start), trying to build on the success I had in lesson a couple of weeks ago and in practice.  It was about the same, though -- first few were good and then not so good (though they did improve later). Still working on keeping the right side up and letting the edge come around.  We made some progress on that but then had issues with me not bringing the free leg in.  At one point we tried doing 2-foot spins and though I had not done them in a while they were pretty good. From there, picking the R foot up.  Eeep. This doesn't work for me :-(.

Holly says I need to commit to working through this and just practicing a lot.. she's right.  I tend to do a few and then I want to move on but that's not going to get me there.  Ugh.

Preliminary Test & 3s

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

I was running late so I scribed circles and did F edges as warmup.

Today's lesson:

• BO edges - nice!
• BI edges - not bad.  Wasn't happy with the first push so we spent a few minutes working them. I actually did several that were really good!  Not widestepped, only a small BO edge at start and almost perpendicular.  The trick seemed to be to not rush, slow down the takeoff, and really just put the R foot down in the right position and push from there.
• FO8 - random layout.  The first circle on each side was really, really nice (though again the RFO was a bit large). Subsequent circles were pretty good too.
• FI8 -- good.
• waltz-8 -- still issues with the step forward, but generally better.  Flow is better, and I think it looks more controlled.  Turns a bit inconsistent though.  We did 2 or 3 sets.
• 3s to center -- mmph.  The turns were (eventually) better but still not getting control after the 3. I feel like I'm checking okay but then can't hold the free side back so it comes around and then I lose my circle. Urph.

Only 2 lessons left with Lynne :-(.

Perseverance

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

I spent the first 25 minutes or so working on Bronze moves (though I skipped the power-3s).  After that I did a couple of jumps, then worked on spins.

The first few spins were not bad -- a couple were 3 revs.  After that I seemed to have a harder time making myself wait before hooking the spin, and quality went down.  I really need to find a way to conquer/compensate for my anxiety or whatever that makes me rush.

I finished off with a couple of salchows that were not so great.  Grrr.

My schedule for the next week or so is pretty crazy so not as much skating as I would like.