Edges & Waltz-8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Beautiful ice, 10 skaters.  I scribed circles but didn't get to warmup before my lesson.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- not bad.  Back edges were really nice!
• waltz-8 -- my 3s were pretty ukky but we decided to spend most of our time on the step forward.  Like my lesson with Holly yesterday, I worked on skating backward on two feet before the turn to try to fix my posture issues.  Some success.  I really need to learn to not lean out of the circle!

I'm going to need to get my blades sharpened soon.  I might try to send them off to Jim at NW Skate Authorities over Thanksgiving when I'm gone for the Championship series.

Moves

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I warmed up with stroking and perimeter XOs.  Nice ice, 8 skaters.

Today's lesson:

• circle-8 -- still having issues with the RFO.  Ugh.
• 5-step mohawk -- this was actually not bad.  I'm doing a better job of pushing back and not dragging my toe on the BO edge.  Just need to take my time.
• power-3s -- these are actually better.  Holly's relatively happy with the 3 and so am I; though I still need to hold the entrance edge just a little longer.  We spent some time working on the step forward.  Holly had me skate on two feet after the BXO to help me stand up straighter before the step forward.  The idea is to get some muscle memory for standing up straight (not hunched over).  I'll work on this.

Posture

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  I had a 15 minute warmup, just enough time to scribe circles and do my forward edges.

Today's lesson:

• B edges -- actually, not bad.
• FO8 -- meh.  The theme for today seems to have been "posture" as in why can't I consistently stand up nice and straight!?  I'm always breaking at the waist.  We did work on it and it did get a bit better.
• FI8 -- "same thing", particularly on the R foot.  Urph.
• BO8 -- I do love these but I was having a heck of a time on the L foot to not cut the circle in.  Yech.

I didn't get to skate patch last week so I guess it's not too surprising that it was a bit iffy.  Oh well.

Moves

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I had to move my lesson this week due to work commitments. Nice ice, 8 skaters.

Today's lesson:

• perimeter XOs -- a couple of times through these.  They were actually pretty nice.
• power-3s -- most of our lesson.  The first time through I totally didn't remember to lift my free leg/hip on the 3 until the very last 2 on the L side.  Ooops.  So I did them again and while I did do that, they were actually worse.  So we spent a bunch of time, first with Holly holding my hand, on the RFO3s.  Not surprisingly, when she's holding my hand I actually stand up straight on the the BI edge before the step-forward.  We spent a bunch of time trying to get me to hold the RFO before the turn, with a little success.  Ugh.

Circle-8, Jumps

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  I warmed up with stroking and circle 8.

Today's lesson:

• circle-8 -- We worked a bunch on the push.  Still kinda rough, but starting with the LFO does help.
• waltz jump -- just a few of those.  I can do a nice one if I try, but too often I'm sloppy. 
• salchow -- just a few minutes.  Still inconsistent.  Heather M. was doing some really nice double sals right next to me and I was like "ah! that's what I want!".  Not a double (let's be real) but the way it's just a very easy unrushed entry with a nice edge.  Urph.

Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for freestyle practice.  Really nice ice, 5 skaters.

I ran through most of the moves (I skipped power-3s).  I worked on the circle-8 starting on the L foot and was able to do it successfully a couple of times -- though, just barely.  Still, I will keep working them this way.  The rest of the moves were generally okay.

Finished with a waltz jump and some spins.  Only one decent spin today.

Patch Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for patch practice.  Unfortunately I was running late, so I only got 30 minutes of ice time in.

I warmed up with edges, then worked on FO8 and FI8.  I don't know what my problem was today but I couldn't make it around on my R foot to save my life.  Ugh.  Really horrible.  Oh well.

Spins

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Nice ice, 7 skaters.  Holly had some work stuff so I had a somewhat abbreviated lesson (10 min) and a lonnng warmup time.  I warmed up with stroking, then worked on some Moves (circle-8, BXOs to BO edges, and perimeter XOs) as well as a waltz jump and some salchows.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- the first was really really good!  About 4 revs, nicely centered and controlled!  Alas, the ones after were not as good.  I need to work these more, so that I can get more consistent.

Edges & BO8

 My lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  As usual now, I had first lesson so no circles and no warmup.  Nice ice and only 5 skaters.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- Mostly okay.  I'm getting a good push on the B edges but I need to be more consistent on my lobe size on them.
• BO8 -- I'm now at the point where the RBO is pretty good, and I'm getting around fine.  The LBO is still a problem, and as far as I can tell it's all because of posture.  I really need to feel that R shoulder pulled back firmly and looking into the circle.  Eeep.  It did get better, but needs more work.

After my lesson I spent some time working on the waltz-8.  Bleah.

Waltz-8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  I had 15 minutes to warmup so I scribed circles and did forward edges.

Today's lesson:

• back edges -- since I didn't get to these in my warmup. Not bad, but my lobe sizes on BO were not at all the same so I did them again.  BI were okay.  Good pushes.
• waltz-8 -- most of our time on these, we had not worked them in ages.  Most of our time was working on the R side, and the RFO3 specifically.  We finally got to the point that RFO3 was almost in the right place and wasn't too scratchy.  The whole thing needs a lot more work.