Spins & Jumps

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  6 skaters and 4 coaches, ice was meh.

I had not skated FS in over a week!  Eeep.  I warmed up with stroking and slaloms, then worked a little on spins before my lesson.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- we just did a few of these, from the windup.  They were actually pretty good!  I was a bit more relaxed and so I didn't rush things.  Holly was pleased.
• waltz jump -- just a couple.  The usual reminder to keep my head up.
• salchow -- just a few.  Actually not bad.  Again, I wasn't rushing so they were better.
• toe loop -- eep.  We spent a lot of time on these.  Holly held my hand to make me slow down and let it come around.  This really helped, so I think we'll have to stick with this for a while.  I was able at the end of the lesson to do a couple that were much better than they had been, all by myself.  We'll keep working.

We didn't work on backspin this week.  We'll have to get back to that.  I'm getting my blades fixed this weekend after the horrors inflicted on them at Autumn Antics, so yay!

BO8

My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Nice ice and just 5 skaters.

I warmed up with edges, scribed circles, then worked on FO8 and FI8, trying to improve my posture.

For today's lesson, we just worked on the BO8.  Again, mostly focused on posture and making all the positions good ones.  We actually probably spent 25 minutes on the RBO and just 5 or so on the LBO.  Eeep.

Danette held my R hand on the RBO to help me keep it back on the first part of the circle -- I'm not staying turned into the circle very well.  The lower body stuff is not bad, it's mostly working on checking the upper body and really holding that position firmly.  When she was holding my hand it was really pretty easy; and once I felt that I was somewhat able to do it without her, so yay.  I had some other issue to deal with after that, like keeping the free hip up and staying on a good edge but all in all I feel like we made some good progress.  For some reason the LBO feels a lot smoother and easier than the RBO.  Weird.

Spins, Backspin Prep

My lesson with Holly on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert.  Mediocre ice, 10 skaters and about 5 coaches.

I had not skated free style since Autumn Antics!  Between one thing and another it just hasn't worked.  So I was pretty rusty on my warmup!  Ugh.  I warmed up with some laps of stroking, then worked on the spin exercise for a bit.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- we started by working on the spin exercise some more, then from the windup.  I actually got some pretty good ones!  It was encouraging.
• backspin prep -- we had talked about me learning something new (it seems it's been forever since I learned something new), so we decided to work on backspin.  I had worked on this a bit with JJ a long time ago, but never got very far.  Holly had me do a variation on the forward spin exercise I've been doing just to get the feel for spinning on the opposite foot. Eeep!  It's so weird.  Anyway, a good start and clearly I will need to work on this a lot.

Patch Perseverance

I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe as usual.  Coach Danette had a personal issue and had to cancel our lesson, so I had a whole hour to skate and work on stuff.

I warmed up with edges, did FO8/FI8 (working on posture and passing leg/arms as we had worked on last week).  FO8 and FI8 were pretty good, although my FI8 circles are still too small I think (I had not brought my scribe).

After that I spent some time working on waltz-8.  Eeep.  Not so great.  I went on to spend some time just working on 3s to get them better/not so forced.  They need a lot of work.

From there I worked on 3s to center briefly, then BO8s.  I'm trying to keep the free leg tucked in in a "nice" position as opposed to the usual "landing position" that is not very figures-like.  Eeep.  Weirdly it's much easier on the second circle than on the first.  I assume that means either it takes me a while to get my position set up after the big push, or am just not very controlled after that initial push (or both).

2018 Autumn Antics Light Program Video

Here's the video from Sunday's debut of my new Showcase Light program "Jenny".

Back At It

My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Nice ice, and only 4 skaters.

I warmed up with edges, scribed circles, did an FO8 and an FI8, and then spent some time working on the back edge posture exercise Danette gave me a while back.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- we looked at my warmup FO8 and Danette checked it with my scribe.  My circles are too large on the first half (coming out of the push) and better on the second half.  We moved down to the scribed circles and worked on them a bunch more.  We worked on improving my posture and getting me to pass my arms earlier and in a more relaxed fashion, as well as bringing the free foot forward and pointing the toe correctly.  I'm tending to point it out of the circle which is not helpful as it tends to make it harder to hold the circle.  Eeep.
• FI8 -- more work on posture and position here, with much the same emphasis and issues as the FO8.  They did improve.  I'm going to need to work on this to remind myself to do this stuff -- I tend to forget about it and think it will just happen, but that's not (yet) the case.

2018 Autumn Antics Dramatic Program Video

Here's the video from Sunday's skate of my "Years" program.  Not my best, unfortunately.

2018 Autumn Antics Showcase Dramatic Program

I skated my "Years" program at today's Autumn Antics.  Here's how it went.

Unfortunately, the scheduling issues for the day were really acute for this program, so much so that I had 17 minutes between the time I was done running music and the time I skated. So in that time I had to get my costume and skates on and warmup.  Ugh! I was in a state.  I was having issues with my costume, and the girls in the next locker room were laughing and yelling which I found very very annoying in my perturbed state of mind.  I couldn't get one of the buttons on my pants to stay, and I had forgotten how annoying it is to try to get the bottom snaps on my shirt to fasten.  So I got all that done and got out to practice ice and had to retie my left boot because it felt loose, and then of course it felt too tight -- I think every skater has experienced this!

Anyway I got on the practice ice, which by this point was really horrible (due to the curtain, it doesn't get zammed all day and it really showed). I did a spin and just some general stroking and tried not to think about my blades (see previous entry!).  I probably was on the ice for 3 minutes and then I had to skate (I was first in the group).  To be honest, I was in such a bad state of mind that between the boot issue, the blade issue, and my general state of mind I briefly considered withdrawing.  I was convinced I was going to have some horrible fall or accident because I was just so worked up about everything.  Nevertheless I made myself to out and skate.  I'm proud of myself for that.

They called my name and out I went!..  There were a bunch of adult skaters in the audience and they yelled and that really helped, or at least it made me smile and try to project some positivity.   The music started, and off I went.  The first spin was not so great, and then I had some issues trying to get some speed up in the back stroking and BXOs after that.  After that it was better, the waltz jump was fine, and the bunnyhop/lunge/toe loop was okay (well, the toe loop was a bit odd but oh well).

Apparently, though, I was moving really fast, as I went into the final spin and it was not that long and I realized I was like 5 - 7 seconds early!  EEP!  I made up something with my arms that took up a couple of seconds but then just took my final pose and held it for a couple of seconds while  the music finished.  I've never had THAT problem before!  I'll have to come up with some better improvs/moves just in case it happens again.

Went and took my bows and got off, then watched Melissa and Svetlana skate.  After that we all stayed to watch the other adults skate, then went off for medals and pictures.  I got 3rd of 3, across the board.  All things considered I'm very pleased with how it went and proud of myself for pulling that off in the face of some adversity.

2018 Autumn Antics Showcase Light Program

I debuted my new "Jenny"program today at the 2018 Autumn Antics.  I'll blog about the day in general later -- right now I just want to capture this particular program.

I had a somewhat limited time to warmup, so I got on the practice ice (which was not too bad, at that point) with about 8-10 minutes to warmup (I was 3rd in my group of 4).  Unfortunately in my haste and distraction to get on the ice, while I was going to put my water and guards on the boards I WALKED ON CONCRETE.  AHHHHHH!!!  As soon as I did it I knew something was wrong, I looked down... and there I was.  So I got back on the rubber mats without making it worse, and tried to see how bad it was.  I could see a couple of nicks but it was hard to tell.  Holly looked and couldn't really tell either, though of course I figured she would say it wasn't bad because after all, what can you do at that point?  So I tried not to think about it.

  I warmed up my salchow, bunny hop, spins and some other elements.  In general I felt pretty good. Holly had me work over the salchow a bit more.  I had just enough time to warmup but would really have liked more.  Oh well!

I was right after Melissa, so after she finished skating I went to the curtains, they called my name and out I went.  I tried to be in character as I went out and I think I did relatively okay.  Got in position, the music started, and off I went...

It went really well! My prop use was timed correctly, I did a pretty good bunny hop - lunge, my spin was pretty good (for me).  The salchow wasn't perfect, I had some weirdness on the landing but it was there, which was something.  The ending was right on and I think I did pretty well over all.  After I finished I tried to take my bows in character as well, and then got off relieved and grateful it went so well.

After I skated I talked with Melissa bit and then we all went to get medals/pictures done.  I got 2nd of 4! Very pleased with placing so well. Immediately after that I had to go back out to run music so I was still in costume other than taking the wig off  :-).

I should be able to post the video tonight or tomorrow.

Final Prep

I had my final lesson before the competition this morning on the 8:15 FS at Gilbert, as usual.  I warmed up with stroking, then warmed up the bunnyhop and ran my dramatic program.  It went pretty well, other than my toe loop being kinda wonky/scary.

For our lesson we went over some costume details, then ran the program.  Pretty good, really, except the salchow was wonky.  We worked on some issues with the very end of the program, then ran it again.  I got a better salchow (not great, but at least recognizable).  We worked a little more on the salchow, then rehearsed getting into position.  We ran it one more time without music and it was mostly okay. 

I'm competing Sunday at noon for the light program, and 2:25 for the dramatic.  Eep!  I have to be at the rink at 6:30 to setup as I'm also running music (not by myself, obviously).