Power-3s, 5-Step Mohawk

My lesson with Holly on the 1 p.m. session at Gilbert.

I had about a half hour to warm up.  It's getting better and I'm feeling a lot better on the ice.

Today's lesson:

• power-3s -- we started by working on 3s on the big circle  Ugh.  As usual the LFO3 was much better than the RFO3. Then we went on to work on the move.  I did get through it so I guess that's something.  I worked on not throwing the free leg around so much, which is hard for me to do but does help.
• 5-step mohawk -- About 8 minutes on these. Holly had me working on keeping the shoulders down and level and the head up and this actually did help it not be so flail-y.  Also working to flex the foot on the BO so as to keep off the toe -- also need to stand up straight more here.

I only skated for an hour, that's about my max for now.  It's getting better.

Edges & 8s

My figures lesson with Danette on the 9:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.  About 6 skaters on the ice.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- we started off with edges.  These are actually not bad, tho the FO were a little wobbly but hey -- no warmup!
• FO8 -- Still not quite managing to get around the first RFO.  Control is also a bit lacking.
• FI8 -- These remain my best 8.  Not bad, really.
• BO8 -- Ugh. The initial RBO way huge, LBO too small and offset.  Yuck.  Really need to work to get back the control on these BO edges.

Starting next week we'll move to Thursdays on the adult FS session at lunchtime.  About the same number of skaters but should be a slightly better environment, plus I should get to warmup most of the time.

Perseverance

I once again skated the 6 p.m. FS at Chandler for free skating practice.

I worked mostly on moves -- I did some power 3s (I chickened out and did the left side only), a bit of 5-step mohawk and some time on circle-8.  These last were a bit better, but still not passable IMHO.

I spent the last 10 minutes or so on spins and jumps. Spins were about the same as Monday.  I did some waltz jumps and fell on the first one -- my first fall since I've been back.  Glad to have that out of the way! (I'm fine).  I also tried some salchows which were pretty bad.  I walked through the toe loop on the boards but chickened out trying it on the ice.

As I was getting off the ice I briefly got to see skate buddy Julia who was getting on.  Yay!  I miss seeing people.

Alas, it appears that Chandler will be going back to a more normal schedule next week -- no late freestyles.  On the positive side there will be an adult-only freestyle Tuesday-Thursday 11:45 - 12:45.  On the negative side it's $14 (for 60 minutes) -- less than this week's freestyles were ($12/30 min) but an increase from the pre-Covid rate of $12/hour.  FS rates are now $12/45 min or $14/hour.

The other negative is that they've raised the maximum occupancy per session to 20, which is what it was pre-Covid.  This seems not a good idea.  I told Danette I'm not skating any sessions where there are more than 10 people on the ice.  Fortunately the adult sessions are usually not that crowded.

Patch Perseverance

I skated the 6 p.m. (30 min) FS at Chandler for patch practice.  Since this is right after the ice cut and I had the ice to myself, it was a great environment!

I spent the first 15 minutes working on edges.  I actually think my back edges are better than my forward for some reason.

I spent the remainder of the time on FO8, FI8 and BO8.  FO8 was mostly okay although my flow is just barely sufficient to get me around. On the FI8 the RFI feels just a little ... fragile, off-balance.  Yuck.  The BO8 was bizarre - the RBO was really strong (too strong, almost) but then the LBO not so much.  Oh well!

Perseverance

I skated the 6:30 p.m. FS (30 min) at Chandler for FS practice.  Private ice!

I mostly worked on moves, especially crossovers and the RBO from the BXOs to BO edge move.  I did a little better on not being up on my toe so much, so that was good.

I did try some 3s (meh), a couple of spins (first was really horrible, 2nd was actually not bad), and one teensy waltz jump (kinda sloppy, but oh well).

Other than the price ($12/half hr) I'm really liking these uncrowded sessions.  We'll see how long that will last.

Moves

My lesson with Holly at Gilbert.  My first time in FS blades since 3/11. Eep!  So right now for Gilbert the principle is that you skate a session with your coach and some portion of her students.  Holly's assignment for this last week (it will be different next week) was 2-3:30.  So for today I was sharing the ice with Shelby and Jose.  Ice was pretty nice.

Shelby took first lesson and I was second, so I had a half hour to warm up.  Eeep!  I worked on moves but avoided any 3s, and no jumps or spins.

Today's lesson:

• perimeter XOs -- eep.  Actually not that bad.  Unlike in warmup I stayed on pattern and had good speed.  Still not happy with my CW crossovers. Holly wants me to do two BXOs when I start the 2nd half so I'll have more speed.
• BXOs to BO edges -- Meh. I am way up on my toe on the RBO.  LBO is better.
• circle-8 -- kind of okay, but I'm still not getting around the RFO. Grrr.

I didn't stay longer after my lesson as I was already pretty tired.  I am out of shape!

In general I felt reasonably safe in this environment, there was nobody breathing on me and it seemed okay.  I'm told we'll have more people in the ice per session in the future, so we'll see.

Edges & FO8

My lesson with Danette on the 9:30 a.m. FS at Chandler.

I should say a couple of words for posterity on the setup for this during our Covid-19 pandemic.  The rink cut the number of skaters per session (was originally going to be 7, then 10) and doubled the price (now $12/30 min).  They marked out spaces for people to put their skates on that are 6' apart, and similarly to line up to get on/off the ice.  We were told masks would be required in the lobby, but not on the ice.  In practice, I was told today via email (in response to my query) that masks are not required but 'encouraged' in the lobby. Alas in Arizona in the part of our pandemic response, that means a very few people wear them and most do not.  Staff were wearing them though. 

For this session there were 6 skaters (me, Aly, John, Mary Jane, Grace ? Maybe it was Rebecca -- she was wearing a mask -- and a young skater I don't know).  3 coaches I think.  The ice was really gorgeous!

Since my lesson and my practice session are the same, no warmup. Today's lesson:

• edges -- really glad I was able to practice last night by myself.  They are not great, but better than last night, so that's good. I'd say about 60% of where I was before.  Mostly notably I'm lacking good posture, speed, and just confidence.
• pushing -- Danette had me see how far I could go on one push forward and back, on each foot.  Yuck.  Forward, about half the width of the rink.  What a far cry from before!  Back was not so great, but then I've never really liked backward stroking anyway.
• FO8 -- just a few minutes at the end. My circles were really bad -- kinda egg shaped.  Getting on a good edge took me a while and I didn't make it around on one push, even once.  Ugh.   Oh well!

I had my concerns about the health and safety of the current setup.  I was told they "can't" enforce a mask policy, but Costco sure can!  It really means they won't.  For the most part for now I think it will be okay so long as I stay far, far away from the hockey people (I hate to sound like I'm stereotyping, but that was my observation) since they seem to act like nothing at all has changed.

10 Weeks

It's been 10 weeks to the day since my last time on the ice.  Today I made it back!

Rinks here reopened Monday on a very limited basis.  Chandler has freestyle time from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., ($12 per half-hour session -- no walkons), so I was able to skate the 7 p.m. freestyle and have the ice all to myself.

I skated in my patch blades since I am having a lesson with Danette in the morning -- my new time slot for now.  (in the era of Covid-19, everything is 'for now').

As I expected, the first 15 minutes were... interesting.   I took it VERY easy -- my only goal was to do all my edges.  I did manage that, though there are a lot of flats right now and posture is often horrible.  Still, I managed it and by the end of the session it was kind of okay.  Success!

I tried to skate in my mask (even though I had the ice to myself) but it just won't work. It's not a question of breath -- it's that my glasses are constantly fogged and I just can't see.  Oh well.

I'll have a half hour with Danette on Friday mornings, and it looks like I'll be skating with Holly on Saturday afternoons.  I will see if I can get more of these uncrowded session at Chandler in the weeks to come, since I'm working from home for the foreseeable future.