Edges, 3s, Waltz-8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Good ice, but a bit crowded.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- generally pretty nice.  I'm really liking the flow I'm getting on my back edges.
• 3s -- we worked on 3s on the crease a bit.  Some actual improvement, I'm remembering to bend my knee more before the 3 and having a bit more control, which was nice.
• waltz-8 -- mmm.  3s were okay.  Step forward still weak.  

5-Step, Brackets, Toe Loop

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate. Good ice, about 10 skaters in the middle of my lesson but a few more came before I left. I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs, circle-8 and 5-step mohawk.

Today's lesson:

• 5-step mohawk -- we worked on this a bit.  Some improvement on the BO edge but I still need to settle on the blade and flex the ankle so I don't go up on the toe.  Worked a little to improve the slide chasse also, with some success.
• brackets -- more work on these.  I managed to do a LFOB just holding one of Holly's hands.  We'll keep working on them.
• toe loop -- on the line.  About the same.  We spent some time working on an exercise that I've not done for a while (and I saw Melissa doing!) of just doing the RFI3 into a back pivot.  Eeep.  I need to work that more.

Perseverance

 I skated the Gilbert adult skate for freestyle practice today.  Nice ice.  Not too crowded initially but more folks showed up about half way through my skate.

I ran through the Bronze moves.  Generally not bad, except that the circle-8 is still a problem, and I'm really dragging the toepick on the BO edge on the 5-step.  I worked on that a bit more without much improvement.

Finished with some spins and got a really nice 3 rev spin that was centered.  Yay!

Edges & 8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Nice ice, but a bit crowded.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- really, pretty nice.  Good speed and flow.
• FO8 -- we laid all these 8s out in a random spot so there was the challenge of finding my center mark.  Eeep.  I did okay.  I got a bit forward on the very last LFO and couldn't make it back to center.  Grrr! In general though it was pretty good.
• FI8 -- pretty good!
• BO8 -- I was really happy with this.  Good flow, pretty good tracing and made it back to center.
• BI8 -- still a work in progress.  Circles are small, but flow was good.  Having issues finding my center again though, but again with a random layout much more challenging.

After my lesson I stayed and worked on waltz-8 for a few. 3s are actually much better, but the step forward... not so much.

Circle-8, Brackets, Spins, Toe Loop

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Pretty good ice, but quite crowded today; about 12 during my lesson.

I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs and circle-8.

Today's lesson:

• circle-8 -- I had Dave K look at my skates on Saturday, and he moved the heel end of the R blade slightly but said that it looked to him like they were really not too far off.  Unfortunately, while I did feel like the flow was a little improved, I'm still not able to do this RFO circle.  Holly had me skate some RFO long held edges around a circle to look at it.  Not sure what to think or do at this point.  I can have him move it more aggressively but it's tough because it's such a long drive and there's no ice.  The pandemic doesn't help -- ordinarily I could have worked with Jim H. in PDX on this.  Ugh.
• brackets -- just a few minutes on these to keep working on them. Holly held my hands.  I'm getting a better feel for the 'snap' they need to have.
• spins -- actually not too bad.  Even the worst one wasn't that bad.  Still need to focus on relaxing and not rushing.
• toe loop -- I'm landing on one foot (yay!) but they are pretty cheated.  We worked on getting me to slow it down and bend the knees and let the R foot come around.  Ugh.

Edges, B8s, 3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Nice ice but 12 skaters.  Eeep.

• edges -- not bad.  FO was a little rough so we did them again.
• BI8 -- a bit uncontrolled, but good flow.  Circles are too small, still.
• BO8 -- good speed and flow.  I do need to work on controlling my arms on the LBO and to look into the circle.
• 3s -- we worked these on the crease. These are actually better!  I distract myself by worrying about getting my free foot tucked so that I don't turn quite so early.  I did a bunch and only two of them weren't good.  Encouraging!

Skate Maintenance, Spins, Jumps

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert Adult Skate -- we moved my lesson from Friday this week due to hockey (no ice Friday).  I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs, power-3s and BXOs to BO edges.

Today's lesson:

• skate mainenance -- I brought my patch skates in so Holly could compare the blade alignment with my freestyle skates.  It really does appear that the back of the right blade is too far to the outside.  I'm going to try to get it fixed.
• spins -- still inconsistent.  I think my biggest issue is to try to not rush the entrance.  If I take my time I seem to have time to make other stuff happen.
• jumps -- a quick waltz jump to warm up (it was good!).  A couple of salchows and I got a good one!  Then the rest of our time on toe loop.  Holly had me working to get a better rhythm on the jump. 

BO8 & Brackets

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  This was a makeup for last week since I missed my Thursday lesson (forgot to buy ice, argh!).  Nice ice today, about 8 skaters.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- pretty good.
• brackets -- I asked Danette to work with my on brackets since I'm working on them with Holly in my freestyle skates.  Eeep.  I held the hockey stick (and Danette held it too :-) ).  Just the LFOB and RFOB.  Kinda rough, but okay.
• BO8 -- really good flow and speed on these, but I was really lacking control.  Ugh.

After my lesson, I worked a bit on BI8 (small circles, but good flow) and then a bit on 3s.

Brackets & Circle-8

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate.  Good ice, about 10 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking, crossovers, and circle-8.

Today's lesson:

• brackets -- we continued working on these, both the L and R sides.  We worked mostly on the L side since we'd not worked on these.  Holly's still holding my hands but for the last part, just the back hand.
• circle-8 -- about the same.  Still having issues on the R side.

We spent some time looking at/talking about my blades.  This used to be my best move, and for the last... 2 years, or something? Longer? I can't get around.  I used to think this was because of residual weakness from breaking my ankle (I broke the L ankle and that's the foot I'm pushing with), but now I'm not so sure.  Holly asked me to compare the blade alignment on my patch skates with my freestyle and see if that is instructive.  It's worth checking out.

Patch Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for patch practice today.  Nice ice, 7 skaters.  I scribed some circles.

I warmed up with edges, then ran FO8 and FI8.  Both really good!  My tracings were more precise than usual.  After that I worked on waltz-8 for a while, mostly on the 3s.  Got some good ones, actually.  I finished up with BO8 (pretty good!) and BI8 (circles way too small, but flow was okay).

Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for freestyle practice.  Nice ice, 10 skaters.

I pretty much worked on Bronze moves the entire time, except for a couple of minutes at the end for a waltz jump and a (bad) spin.  

I'm really pleased with my moves now, in general.  It's just this stinkin' circle-8 that's holding me back. Grrrr.