Moves

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Not so great ice -- 10 skaters and 3 coaches.

I got my freestyle skates back from my amazing tech on Monday, so I wasn't looking forward to the adjustment period.  I had about 20 minutes to warm up, though, so by the end of that I was fine.  Once again we worked on Bronze moves.

• circle-8 -- I was hoping that newly sharpened blades would fix all my issues with these, but alas it was not so.  Indeed I was having trouble even on the LFO, which had been okay in the past.  We worked on it a bit without much success, then moved on.
• 5-step mohawk -- not bad, actually.  I'm doing better at remembering to really push back onto the 3rd step (BO edge).  I did have some issues on the first left foot set but other than that pretty good.
• BXOs to BO edges -- these were pretty nice.  I'm doing a better job at really pushing into each BO edge and getting a nice rip.  Hopefully that will impress the judges :-)
• power-3s -- I'm still cheating the step forward (2-foot entrance) for the R foot.  It's all getting better though.  We worked on holding the entrance a bit longer and making some progress on that too.  They're still not as clean as I would like but I feel like I'm making progress.

All in all a good lesson!

Waltz-8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Since I had not sent my patch skates off for sharpening we were able to have a lesson.  I had first lesson, so no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- generally okay.
• waltz-8 -- we were back to these.  We spent more quality time (with the stick!) working on the step forward and the 3.  Danette emphasized that I really need to stand up straight before the 3.  We did a bunch at the wall.  Still frustrated with this.

3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  I had a 12:30 lesson so I had plenty of time to scribe circles and warmup with edges.

Today's lesson:

• 3s -- we spent this lesson working on 3s, starting in the context of 3s to center.  The goal was to have more control over the 3.  We started with the RFO3.  Working to turn into the circle more and to hold the free hip back before the turn, and then to not turn so square after the turn (check the hip also).  I just don't have any timing on this anymore.  Ugh.  The LFO3 was a bit better.  We spent a little time on these on the wall, too.  Finished up with a little bit of waltz-8, again -- just the 3.

I'm pretty frustrated with this right now.

Waltz-8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe. I was first lesson, so no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- mostly okay.  My lobe size on the BO was not at all consistent, they were mostly too large.  Ugh.  Still, for no warmup I guess I shouldn't complain.
• waltz-8 -- the bulk of our time.  We worked a bit on the 3, but most of our time was spent on the step forward.  We used the stick to give me more awareness of where my arms are.  We did make some progress, primarily due to two factors -- 1) getting me to actually turn my head and look where I'm going before the turn, and 2) bending my knees on the BO edge (these were actually on two feet today) so that they are bent while I'm trying to step forward.  Anyway this really helped. 

After my lesson I had another half hour of skating, so I worked some more on the waltz-8, and also some time on FO8 and FI8.

Patch Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for patch practice today. Normally I'd have my freestyle lesson at Gilbert, but my boss moved our 1 p.m. meeting from Friday to today for some reason.  And, I'm sending my freestyle skates for sharpening tomorrow so I can't do a lesson Friday.  So patch it was!

I ran through all my edges for warmup. Okay, although my BI lobes were first too small, then too large. Uck.

From there I worked on FO8, FI8, BO8, and BI8.  On the BO8 the RBO was good but LBO was too small.  The BI8 was really weak. Ugh.

I finished up with waltz-8, including trying to skate the BO edge on two feet to work on the step forward.  Ugh.

Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for freestyle practice, my last before I send my skates off for sharpening.  I spent most of my time on Bronze Moves.  Some extra time on power-3s and they were about the same, which is actually good.  On the other hand I tried several sets of circle-8 and didn't make it around once.  Uck.

I did finish up with a waltz jump, a bad salchow, and a couple of spins -- the last was really nice.  Yay!

The Stick

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  I warmed up with forward edges and scribed circles.  Nice ice and only 5 skaters.

Today's lesson:

• B edges -- these were pretty nice!
• BI8 -- our whole lesson on this.  As we started, I asked Danette if she had The Stick (it's a hockey stick). She didn't, so she went and retrieved it.  We used it to work on posture/body position on the BI8.  Urph.  The LBI is kinda okay (of course at this point I am NOT making it around the circle, despite the fact I competed this... what, 2? 3 years ago? grrr).  The RBI... this is where the stick is really handy.  It's very clear to me when the R arm/shoulder is not where it's supposed to be as the stick shows it.  We worked it a bunch, first with Danette holding the stick with me and pushing me around, then by myself.  This did help.  We'll need to work on it a bit more but I'm glad we made some progress.

Moves

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Good ice, about 10 skaters.  I had about a 25 minute warmup, so I did circle-8 and perimeter XOs.

Today's lesson:

• power-3s -- ran them twice.  They were better!  The threes were better, even on the RFO3.  Gliding backward on two feet before the step forward is helping me do a better step.  Hopefully I'm building muscle memory.  Holly says eventually we'll trick me by picking up one foot :-).  We'll see. Still need to hold the entrance a little longer but even that was bette.r
• circle-8 -- just like in practice yesterday, I was able to get around the whole time -- barely.  I did make the circles a little smaller too, which helped.
• 5-step mohawk -- we did these a couple of times and then just worked on the L foot.  I use this mohawk for my spin entrance (it's okay there), so I tried to go into it as if I were going to do a spin.  I think that helped, because I was able to hold the BI edge (2nd step) a bit longer so it wasn't so choppy.  These are better.

Holly wants me to test, and I do too, but  I still feel like I need to be a bit more solid on this.  I need more ice time!

I'm going to send my skates for sharpening next week or so.  It's definitely time.

Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for freestyle practice today.  Nice ice, 7 skaters.  

I spent most of my time on Bronze moves.  I did the circle-8 three times and was able to make it around (starting on the L foot) all 3 times, although just barely.  I'd like to have a bit more margin for error there. I ran the power-3s twice, trying the backward-on-two-feet thing before the step forward.  It's still pretty wonky.

Finished up with a couple of spins (both pretty good!) and a waltz jump.