BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler 1:15 FS.  I scribed circles and warmed up with edges.  Nice ice and only 3 skaters - me, John and Squid.

Today's lesson:

• pushing -- Danette had me push to see how far I could go.  We did forward and back on each foot (flats).  Weirdly on the backward pushes I can only hold a flat for so long before I fall onto a BI edge. I swear I was holding my free hip up!  Oh well.
• BO8 -- we really worked on fixing my posture on these -- standing up straight after the push, and then not breaking at the waist after I pass my arms.  Urph.  I think there was some progress tho.

F8s, Posture & BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the 1:15 PM FS at Chandler.  Nice ice except where it was abused by the FitSkate folks :-) and 8 skaters.  I scribed circles and warmed up with edges.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- eep.  A bit rough, and not good flow.  I was having a hard time staying on a good edge.  It got better though.
• FI8 -- just a little time on these.  Mostly okay, but still not as good as they used to be. Grrr.
• posture -- Danette had me push to a two-foot glide and then pick up one foot. We did this along the boards so I could see my reflection in the glass.  Aside from looking fat (lol) I really do need to stand up straighter.  We made some progress, I think, I just need to be more cognizant of this issue.
• BO8 -- we finished up with these -- mostly working on posture. I have an issue when pushing to the subsequent circles where I don't push immediately to an outside edge so I have trouble getting speed.  The fix is that I need to turn the pushing foot before I set the new skating foot down (on an outside edge).  Much more power this way.

No freestyle lesson for me this week due to appointments, school starting, and competition this coming weekend.

3s & Spins

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate, my last in this time slot for.... a while.  Nice ice, about 10 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs and circle-8.

Today's lesson:

• 3s -- we continue to work on these.  Ugh. So discouraging.  The LFO3 is better but the RFO3 is still a hot mess.
• spins -- we'd not done these in a long time and I wanted to do something fun.  I actually got several good ones!

No lesson next week, and then after that I'll be in a morning time slot.

Waltz-8, B8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler 1:15 FS.  Okay ice -- still foggy.  About 5 skaters.

I scribed circles and warmed up with edges.

Today's lesson:

• step forward -- we worked on the step forward for the waltz-8.  Right now we are doing a two-foot back-to-forward turn rather than the actual step.  This has improved a lot, actually.
• BI8 -- we'd not touched these in a while.  My push still needs a lot more... push.  Other than that it's actually not that bad.
• BO8 -- just a couple of minutes on these.  They're okay.

3s & Mohawks

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert adult skate. Nice ice, 10 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking, circle-8, perimeter XOs and BXOs to BO edges.

Today's lesson:

• 3s -- we continued working to fix these so I can pass Bronze moves.  Ugh.  A little progress, but I'm really inconsistent. We spent a lot of time on the RFO3.
• mohawks -- the last 10 minutes on these.  They actually ARE improving.  Holly wants them to be smooth, though, i.e. no toepick on the BI edge and I'm still getting some of that.  They are improving though.

Only one more lesson in this time slot!  When school starts 8/24 I won't have an opportunity to skate at lunchtime... until next summer.  I'll have some kind of class every day at noon, unless I wind up not getting the requested time slot for voice lessons (Mondays at lunchtime). We'll see.

Waltz-8, Still

 My figures lesson with Danette on the 1:15 FS at Chandler.  Still foggy!  And rainy inside the rink. Ice was relatively okay though (this session is right after the ice cut) and about 10 skaters.

I scribed circles, and warmed up with edges.

Today's lesson:

• pushing -- we spent a little time just working on pushing on a flat straight down the red line.  This really did illustrate to me how important posture is, as it was poor at first and when I fixed it, big difference!  We also did backwards... eep.  I can't steer very well backwards, my weight was too far forward on the blade for good control.
• step forward -- we spent the rest of our time working on the step forward in the waltz-8 (we worked on this a bit last week also).  Danette had me work on doing a back two-foot turn to work on standing up straight and getting around.  Eeep.  We did make some progress though.

Perseverance

 I skated the 1 p.m. FS at Chandler for freestyle practice.  Still foggy.  Ice was not bumpy, but kind of crusty.  Yuck.  About 10 skaters, including our new dance couple.

I warmed up with stroking, then perimeter XOs and BXOs to BO edges.  Then I spent most of the rest of the time working on 3s and mohawks.  I'm having some serious mental blocks on these 3s. Yuck.

I did do a couple of spins (got one good one, yea!) and a waltz jump too.

Waltz-8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe.  Still slightly foggy but ice was good.  About 10 skaters.  I had just enough time to scribe circles and do forward edges.

Today's lesson:

• back edges -- pretty good!
• waltz-8 -- pretty much all our time.  We worked on the 3s (especially the RFO3 that I had not worked on on Tuesday).  I really need to get myself to chill out about these if they are ever going to be good.  Ugh.  Then we worked on the step forward, especially from the RBO.  Ugh. I really need to stand up straight and lean back into the circle just a little.  It's such a struggle!

My schedule is going to be all over the place for the next few weeks between 3 competitions and school starting.  Eep.

Patch Perseverance

 I skated the Chandler Ice Cafe for patch practice today.  10 skaters.  Ice was as bad as yesterday -- no change.  I warmed up with edges, then worked briefly on 8s but ice was so crusty I had no flow.  I then spent some time working on 3s.  Ugh.

Not the most productive skate :-(

Perseverance

 I skated the 1:15 p.m. FS at Chandler for freestyle practice.  There was an ice cut immediately before so the ice was good for a while, but after 10 minutes or so the rink started to fog up again and it was again raining/dripping in the rink (it was pretty bad over the weekend for Arizona Ice Classic, unfortunately).  Only myself and Jaclyn, which was nice.

I warmed up with stroking, then did circle-8, perimeter XOs and BXOs to BO edges to work on integrating the feedback from my test.

After that I worked on 3s and mohawks.  Very frustrated with the 3s.... Jaclyn suggested I go back to two-foot turns, which is one of those pieces of advice that sounds absurdly obvious as soon as someone else says it :-).  So I did that.  The CCW are okay... wow, the CW ones are bad!  Like really bad.  After that I worked the last 5 minutes or so on mohawks, on the big circle.  They are getting a little better, I have to really remember to open the hips and bend the knee.