Bronze Moves & Brackets

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Really nice ice!  About 10 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking and circle-8.

Today's lesson:

• perimeter XOs -- these were really nice!  I was really happy with them and so was Holly.  I actually had some flow, and the pattern was really good.  Yay!
• power-3s -- mostly okay.  I had some issues on the first time through the R side; so we did them again and it was better.  I realized midway through the L side that I am doing the BXO too late so I did them a bit earlier in the pattern and that helped me be set up for the step forward a bit better.  They're still kinda rough.
• BXOs to BO edges -- pretty good!
• circle-8 -- ugh.  I made it around all the circles (RFO just barely) except for the final RFI.  Urph.
• 5-step mohawk -- meh.  I'm up on my toe again on the BO edge, so we worked on trying to use the push onto the BO to settle me back on my blade a bit.  Some progress.
• brackets -- just a few minutes at the end, still working on the RFOB.  Holly's still holding my hand though.

All in all a good lesson!  I managed to skate 4 days this week, which hasn't happened in a while.  It was good!

F8s & 3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Really nice ice, 10 skaters.  I had first lesson, so no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- not bad.  We spent a little extra time on the BI first lobe/push to try to get a bit more control.
• FO8 -- mostly okay, though not as good as yesterday.
• FI8 -- not bad.
• 3s -- we worked on these on the crease.  The turns are not bad, actually, but I still lack control to just do them without using the inertia from the initial push.  Ugh.

After my lesson I worked some more on 3s.

Patch Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for patch practice today.  I'd not had a chance to just skate patch (w/out a lesson) in quite a while.  5 skaters.  Ice was deeply rutted (Wednesdays we are on the west rink).  Ugh.

I had a really good skate!  I ran through edges, then FO8 and FI8.  Both were really quite good and I had no issues getting around.  Then I went on to BO8, which was also pretty good. Even BI8 was kind of okay, though my circles were quite small.  Still, I was pleased.

I finished off with some work on waltz-8.  Not so great, but I did get some nice LFO3s.

Perseverance

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

I ran through Bronze moves.  In general, not too bad except I'm still stuck on the circle-8.

After that I spent a few minutes on spins (got one good one) and a waltz jump.

Brackets & Toe Loop

 My lesson with Holly in our new time slot on the Gilbert adult skate.  Nice ice, 10 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking, circle-8 and perimeter XOs.  I managed to catch my toepick on the circle-8 (on the RFO) lol.

Today's lesson:

• BXOs to BO edges -- I was working on these when Holly came on the ice.  She wanted me to make my lobes a little wider.
• brackets -- we continued working on these.  They are improving.  We've mostly worked on the RFOB but I did try a couple on the L foot.  
• toe loop -- I wanted Holly to hold my hand on these to make me slow the beginning of the jump (after the 3) down.  It did help, but I'm still struggling with this.

3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  I had to move this lesson from tomorrow due to a work commitment.  Great ice, 10 skaters.  I had first lesson, so no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- okay.  I did the FO8 twice because the first was a little shaky.
• 3s -- Danette wanted to work on 3s, so we did -- just a lobe with a 3 at the top.  Ugh.  So hard for me to not turn early, and they were rough.  They did improve.  For the last couple of minutes we did an RFI3.  Eeep.  I'm glad we spent some time on these, we should probably do it again to be honest.

 

Edges & 8s

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

Today's lesson:

• edges -- not bad.
• FO8 -- I actually got around!  Yay!  Posture was actually better today.  I did have some control issues but I think that's from the lack of warmup.
• FI8 -- Pretty nice, actually.
• BO8 -- Actually, pretty good!  Some issues returning to center, and I really need to watch my upper body on the push.
• BI8 -- meh.  Verrry small circles, and RBI not so great. LBI posture is awesome, though, and good flow!

Spins & Brackets

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate. Nice ice, about 10 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- it had been a while.  I felt kinda clunky but eventually I did manage to get a good one.
• brackets -- I had told Holly I wanted to learn brackets. It's been so long since I learned something new! So we worked on them for while, just the RFOB.  Holly held my hands for most of them.  It's a really weird feeling!  I tried one at the end by myself.  It more or less happened but I lost my balance right afterward. Ugh.

Moving my lesson to Fridays starting next week!

Edges & 8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Great ice, about 8 skaters. I had first lesson, so no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- mostly okay.  Still some posture issues on the FO.  B edges were pretty nice.
• FO8 -- Urph. The RFO still has lots of issues, mostly my difficulty in controlling my upper body.  We worked quite a bit to hold the free shoulder back and maintain a good edge.  Eep.
• FI8 -- pretty nice, for the most part.
• BO8 -- actually, not bad at all.  Posture on the LBO is waaaay better than the RBO, though.  We worked on improving it.
• BI8 -- Just a couple minutes on these.  Push is lacking and the RBI lacks control.  LBI was actually pretty nice.

After my lesson I worked a bit on the BI8, and some time on waltz-8.

Moves

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate. Good ice, about 10 skaters.

I warmed up with stroking and circle-8.  

Today's lesson:

• BO8 -- just for grins I was working on these (don't normally do this in freestyle blades) so we spent a couple of minutes on it.  Apparently I am up on my toe a bit much; I could feel some drag that I don't get in my patch blades.
• perimeter XOs -- not bad, actually.
• power-3s -- mostly okay.  Holly said the first LFO3 was kinda whippy, and I agree.
• BXOs to BO edges -- pretty good.
• circle-8 -- we tried this a couple of times.  Blech.
• 5-step mohawk -- okay.  Mohawks are a bit rough.

Patch Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe today for patch practice.  Ugh!  I'd not skated in my patch skates for several weeks so it was pretty rough. Ice was clean, but really bumpy. Nine skaters.

I skated edges, FO8, FI8, BO8, and BI8.  Still having issues with the FO8; the FI8 was better.

Perseverance

 I skated the 2:45 p.m. FS at Chandler so that I could start my New Year on the ice.  3 skaters and ice was pretty good.

I had an okay skate -- worked on Bronze moves as usual; they were about the same.  A bunch of spins and a few salchows.  I did get one good spin at the end but the salchows were pretty much all bad.  Oh well.