Posture

My figures lesson with Danette on the 8:30 a.m. freestyle at Chandler.  Ice was a bit beat up.  4 skaters.

I warmed up with edges, scribed circles, then worked on FO8.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- Most of our time on these.  I was/am having issues getting all the way around on the R foot.  Not sure why.  We worked on similar stuff to last time, just trying to solidify getting me to start off on a good edge from the very beginning, stand up straight and bring my hips forward a bit.  I'm also finding that some care in tucking that free foot/leg nicely in to the skating foot/leg helps me to stand straighter.
• FI8 -- just a few minutes on these.  Similar to the FO8 but in general better.

After my lesson I just had 10 minutes or so; I worked on BO8.  My push is too weak and I'm not making it around.  Grrr.

Toe Loop & Spin

My lesson with Holly on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  I warmed up with stroking, spins and waltz jump.

Today's lesson:

•  toe loop --  we started with Holly holding my hand, and they were somewhat better but still landing on 2 feet.  From there we worked hard to have me wait on the RBO edge after the 3, and after some work we were able to get me to do this, which improved the toe loop enormously.   I did a bunch in a row that were pretty good (though I'm pretty sure they are still cheated).  From there we went to work on them in the waltz-toe combo and had similar issues at first until I got myself to make it curve around more on the landing of the waltz jump and pause just a moment before picking in, AND to look to where I'm jumping.  This helped a lot and they were much, much better!
• spins -- just  4 minutes or so.  First couple not so great, then a pretty good 3 rev one, nicely centered.  The difference was that I managed to really bring the free leg in.  Yay!

All in all a really good lesson, I'm pretty stoked!  PCAS is in 2 weeks!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Free Skate Video

For those that couldn't attend, here's the video! Very happy with this skate!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Free Skate Program

I skated my "Exorcist" free skate program at the MidWinter Warmup today.  It went really well! The only other APB free skate was a woman, so we were combined (at mutual request).

I had some time to relax in the middle of the day, then got into my costume and boots around 3:30.  My event was supposed to start at 4:20 but it wound up being more like 4:15.  For some reason I was agonizing over having to do another bunny hop until, shortly before the warmup, I remembered there's no bunny hop in the free skate.  DUH!

They called us out for warmup, and I was feeling a bit cold and not as warmed up (naturally) as this morning.  I warmed up all my jumps and spins.  I fell doing my waltz jump (hasn't happened in a while) but no worries.  My salchow was not cooperating but later on I managed an okay one.  I spent too much time on it though.  Finally we were out of time and I got off.

I skated 2nd (of 2) so I had just a moment or 3 to catch my breath, drink some water, and get my jacket off before I was called out to skate. 

It went really well!  I had good speed, I did all my elements.  I finished a smidge late and I don't know why, but it was okay.  I was really happy with it.

In the end, a miracle occurred -- my first-ever win in a free skate.  I had 3 1st place ordinals and 2 2nds, so not exactly resounding; but, a win is a win!  I was pretty stoked!  My friend Lora said that my initial toe loop was the best she'd seen me do.  Yay!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Showcase Dramatic Program

I skated my "Years" showcase dramatic program at the 2019 MidWinter Warmup today.  It went reasonably well.

The event started at 10:15. They called us out for warmup and I had a decent warmup -- I had just skated my light program 2 hours earlier and practice ice before that so I was feeling pretty good.  I warmed up my bunny hop, toe loop, waltz jump and spins.  Then I ran through some chunks of the program, and then it was time to get off the ice.

I skated 3rd (of 3) so I had a little time to relax, then they called me out, and I took my position and off I went.

Things started off well, but then when I came out of the first spin I got momentarily confused as to what came next!  Not long, but enough to put me a little off.  So instead of backward stroking to the end I kind of meandered a bit and then headed back into my groove toward the boards on the judges side. In some ways this was kind of okay because I had wanted to move the "beauty pass" further along so it would be closer to the judges (if the judges were on the left hockey boxes as I'd originally choregraphed for, this move would be right in front of them).  As it was I came out of it okay but forgot one move (arms) just before the little side toe hop.  The rest of it was pretty much okay.  Going into the bunny hop->lunge I had this moment where my brain was convinced I was totally going to biff the bunny hop and splat on the ice, but I made myself do it anyway... and it was fine.  Toe loop was more or less okay, and I finished from there just a couple of seconds late (it would have been more but my last spin was horribly short).

I went and bowed and got off the ice, relieved and grateful.  I wound up getting 3rd of 3.  My placements were a bit weird though as I had 2 1st place ordinals, 1 2nd place, and 2 3rd place.  Oh well, showcase is a crap shoot!

I felt reasonably good about this skate, but a bit annoyed at my brain fart after the first spin.  On the positive side I was proud of myself for making myself do the bunny hop.  I also had a very, very nice compliment after from a skater who said she found it inspiring.  That was really heartwarming and appreciated!

2019 MidWinter Warmup Showcase Light Program

I skated my "Jenny" showcase light program at the 2019 MidWinter Warmup today.  It went pretty well!

The event started at 8:10.  I had two competitors, both female.  The called us out for our warmup and I felt pretty good (I'd just had practice ice 30 minutes prior).  I warmed up my elements and ran some key parts of the program -- spins and salchow.  Salchows were not cooperating and I spent too much time on them before I finally got a good one.

I came off and then waited since I was starting second in the order.  Finally my time to skate came and I skated out and off I went!

In general it went pretty well. I had re-oriented the program to accommodate the judges being on the right side hockey boxes instead of the left, but that was fine. Unfortunately I forgot a chunk of my choreography -- at the beginning, after the chaine' turns I was supposed to come out of them backward and then skate backwards with the "rope-pulling" gesture.  Instead I came out forward and then was confused for too long... so I skipped that whole part and just went ahead to the waltz jump instead.

Shortly after that (this program always feels like it goes by really quickly!) I have the section where I'm supposed to do a bunny hop->lunge and I don't know whether I chickened out, or I got confused because that's one place where I wanted to move the direction of the program to the right so as to be closer to the judges.  Anyway, the result was that I didn't do the bunny hop, just the lunge :-(.

The rest of it was pretty okay, and the salchow actually more or less came off okay, so I was really happy with that.  Finished on time and all was good, I skated off.

I wound up getting 2nd, with a pretty split decision from the 3 judges - ordinals of 1, 2, and 3.

2019 MidWinter Warmup

I competed at the LAFSC's Adult MidWinter Warmup Open.  This post will describe how it went in general and I'll have a specific post for each event I skated also.

As we have most years (except last year), we had a group that carpooled from Phoenix.  This year we had myself, Melissa, Lora and Heidi in the car.  We all managed to pack somewhat light this time so we actually were pretty comfortable.  We left Phoenix a little after 8 a.m. Saturday and arrived in Artesia a bit after 2 (even with a stop for lunch) so we made good time (about 7 hours with the time difference).

Lora, Heidi and I attended the SkateFest exhibition (see below) while Melissa stayed and rested as she was not feeling well.  We grabbed some dinner after (Melissa had dinner on her own) and then came back to the hotel and called it a night.

Sunday came and we met in the lobby as we were all on the 7:20 a.m. practice ice together.  Whoa!  I'd forgotten how hard and fast the EWIP ice is.  Yikes!  I was flying.  Also (note to self) it was good that I took the time to reorient my light program as the judges are indeed on the right side hockey boxes at EWIP.  Good catch.  I was already in my light costume (except the wig) so I was ready to go.

After practice ice I only had about 30 minutes, then I skated my light program.  After that I hung out and watched skating and had my podium shots etc., then changed into my dramatic costume.  I skated my dramatic at 10:15. 

After my dramatic I hung out 'til about 11:30 to watch skating, then I left to make a side trip to visit Chapman University where my friend Madison had attended before she got sick.  I was hoping to visit the memorial wall there but alas it was locked and I couldn't get in to it.  Grr!

After that I grabbed a quick lunch and came back to watch more skating, then changed into my costume and got my boots on.  I skated my free skate at 4:20 (actually we were a little early).  After my skate I hung around for podium shots, then changed and hung out to watch skating until about 7:15 at which point we were all pretty cold and tired so we left and had a nice dinner with a couple of other Arizona skaters.

All in all it was a very long, busy day but a really terrific experience.

SkateFest 2019

Our carpool to MidWinter Warmup arrived around 2 p.m., so three of us (myself, Lora and Heidi) went to attend the CalGold Synchro Team's "SkateFest" show over at the Paramount rink. My friend Sam skates with their adult team and tipped me off to the show.

It was really cool!  They had a number of really good soloists (Goku Endo! Caroline Zhang! Grant Hochstein!) and the CalGold beginner, adult, and intermediate teams each performed.  The CalGold senior team did both of their programs.  I can't say enough about how terrific this was. Getting to see Sam skate again after all these year was really special also :-).

They had public skating during the intermission, so the 3 of us took advantage to get on the ice and warmup a bit.  I'm really glad I did! I hadn't skated freestyle since Wednesday, and I have to say the first 10 minutes were really horrible!  After that it was better.  I'm really glad I got that out of the way before tomorrow.

Posture!

My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Nice ice and just 4 skaters.  For most of the session it was just 3 skaters, all male!  How bizarre is that?

I had not skated patch in weeks and boy did it show!  Eeep.  I warmed up with edges, scribed circles, then ran FO8 (yikes, this was rough), FI8 (better) and the BO8 (eeep!).

Today's lesson:

• posture -- Danette wanted to work on FO8 and FI8 with an emphasis on posture. She's really trying to help me fix my tendency to slouch.  So now it's "King Gordon" posture (stand up straight, head held high :-) ).  She had me skate along the end line so I can watch my posture in the glass reflection.  Eeep!  All I could think of is how chubby I am right now :-(.  From there we worked on FO8 and really trying to stand up straight and bring those hips forward.  When I can make that happen it really does help, and I'm sure it will help fool the judges into thinking I know what I'm doing :-) .  After a bunch of time on the FO8 we moved on to FI8 which was better although still challenging.
• BO8 -- just a couple of minutes on this.  Danette wants me to fix my initial push so that I turn my soon-to-be-skating foot out all the way to start on a true RBO.  This didn't used to be a problem, that I recall, but it is now.  Anyway we worked this at the boards a bit.  She wants me to really bring the knees together and then turn the foot and place it down without widestepping. Eeep.  We made some progress, then came back and did it on the scribed circles.  Hmmph.

It was nice to get to work on this stuff more.  I need to find some way to get more ice time in but doesn't look promising until the school semester is over :-(.

Last Program Practice

My lesson with Holly on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  I worked out last night at the gym and while I applaud my efforts, apparently it was not the best idea, or at least not well-executed, as I was very sore in my left hamstring/glute area.  It made it hard to move well.  Ugh.

I warmed up as best I could with stroking.

For today's lesson we started by running my light program so I could solidify the changes we made to accommodate judges on the right side.  It went reasonably well (I skipped the salchow and bunny hop).

After that we ran my free skate (skipped the first toe loop, and the salchow).  It was also reasonably okay.  After that we worked a bit on the footwork section, and then a little time on the waltz-toe combo, and finished up with some work on spins.  Ugh.

Competition is Sunday!

Program Review

My lesson with Holly on the 7:30 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  I had not skated since my last lesson (!) as life is a bit crazy right now between school and work.  I warmed up with stroking and then waltz jump and salchow.

We worked first on my light program and ran it twice.  I realized that for MidWinter the judges may be on the right side hockey boxes as you face them (I'm not really sure, actually) so we programmed some alternative movements to deal with that case -- different starting position and ending and one other small change in the middle.  First run through was okay except I chickened out on the bunny hop, and I biffed the salchow.  The second runthrough was better (did the bunnyhop, yay!) but I still biffed the salchow.

After that we ran the free skate once and was mostly okay except, again, the salchow.  We took some time out to work on them and I did a couple good and a couple not so good.  I think I am rushing after the 3....  We ran the free skate one more time at the very end of the session (or maybe a couple of minutes late, even) and it was much better, even the salchow.  Yay!

MidWinter is only a week or so away.  One more lesson left!  Eeep.  We are moving that to Wednesday since there's no ice Friday due to the usual hockey tournament.