Perseverance

 I skated the 1 p.m. FS at Chandler for freestyle practice.  Okay ice and a lot fewer people than Wednesday.  

This was pretty much a carbon copy of Wednesday's skate; I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs, circle-8 (wasn't happening today), and BXOs to BO edges.

After that I went back to working on 3s for most of the session, followed by a bit of socializing.

Perseverance

 I skated the 1:30 p.m. FS at Chandler for freestyle practice.  I had considered taking my patch skates instead, but decided against it -- and a good thing too as the session was fairly crowded, including 5 hockey boys.  Eeep.

I warmed up with stroking, then ran through perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges, and circle-8.  Then I spent a bunch of time working on LFO3 in isolation and in the power-3 pattern. Ugh. It is so hard not to revert to old, bad habits!  I can't believe how much time I've spent trying to fix these.  I know it will be worth it in the end, but geez.  After that I ran through the 5-step mohawk just for grins since it's been a while.  They were a little rough.

I spent the last 15 minutes or so doing spins, waltz jump and salchow.  I got one decent salchow.  Spins were actually not too bad.

Perseverance

 I skated the 1:15 FS at Chandler for freestyle practice today.  Decent ice (freshly surfaced but still a little rough even so), but pretty crowded (like 15 skaters!).

I warmed up with stroking and then perimeter XOs.  From there I went to work on 3s -- just LFO3s.  I still tend to turn them a little earlier than I'd like, but I did practice them in the power-3 format and was able to make myself do a real BXO *and* actually a decent step forward.  The key here seemed to be to have a good BXO, and then to be sure to really pull the shoulder back and be facing into the circle during & right after the BXO.

I finished up with a really nice waltz jump, then totally biffed it on a spin and fell.  Not sure how I managed that :-).  No harm, no foul.

Edges, FO8, BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler Ice Cafe. Beyootiful ice; about 7 skaters.  I just had time to scribe circles before my lesson.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- FO were a little wonky, but the others were pretty good.
• FO8 -- meh.  Posture is still a problem, and I was having problems getting around the circle.  I notice that specifically I have issues with breaking at the waist for the first part of the circle; after I rotate my arms I'm okay. Ugh.
• BO8 -- these are actually not so bad.  Danette worked with me to look into the circle more.  I did a better job of keeping the free shoulder back on the initial push and keeping the free foot in front, so that's something.

3s, Spins, Jumps

 My lesson with Holly on the Gilbert Adult Skate.  Between Holly breaking her arm (!) and Danette's schedule and my own I've been off the ice for what seems like forever but was only 9 days.

Today was good ice, about 9 skaters.  I warmed up with stroking, circle-8 (I made it around!) and perimeter XOs.

Today's lesson:

• 3s -- about 10 minutes on these.  LFO3 was relatively okay though I was rushing them a little.  RFO3 still doesn't happen unassisted.  Ugh.  We made sure to practice them with the step and BXO after as in the power-3 move.
• spins -- I did a really nice one! 5 revs!  And then they were awful after :-(
• jumps -- I did a really nice waltz jump (good height!).  Then a bunch of bad salchows.  My timing was just off.  Off.  I couldn't get myself to hold the BI edge, nor hold the free hip back.  Yuck.

 

FO8, BO8, BI8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler 9:45 a.m. FS.  Beyootiful ice and just 3 skaters.  I warmed up with edges and scribed circles.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- these were not so great last week, so we dived in.  Much improvement (having good ice helped).  When I have problems with these it's almost always weak posture.  We also worked a little on getting a better push.
• BO8 -- nice flow on these.  Again, more work on posture and controlling swing in the upper body. Eeep.  They're fun tho. We worked on leaning into the circle more.
• BI8 -- just a couple of minutes on these.  Small circles.  Flow was okay, but again, posture, and really bending to push into the new circle.

3s

 My lesson with Holly on the 8:45 a.m. FS at Gilbert.  Just 2 skaters, kinda rough ice.

I warmed up with stroking, perimeter XOs, BXOs to BO edges, and a (bad) circle-8.

For today's lesson we continued working on the FO3s.  We spent some time on the LFO3, and practiced continuing from the 3 into the next lobe of the power-3 sequence.  After some time on that we worked on the RFO3 some more.  These are still very slow in coming.  Ugh.