3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate. Nice ice and just 3 skaters.  I warmed up with edges.

For today's lesson, we worked exclusively on 3s.  We did a little warmup at the boards, and then worked them (L and R) on the scorekeeper box semicircle.  I am at least attempting to do them, so I guess that's something.  Actually, Danette was able to show me conclusively at least part of why I'm making it harder than it needs to be: during the turn the skating arm (that should be trailing) is coming forward and it just throws me off.  I tried working this a little bit in the scorekeeper doorway, trying the turn without the glass to keep my back arm (skating arm) from coming forward.  Yup!  This makes a lot of sense as to why it's a problem.  I'm not sure how I solve it, but at least I know what's going on.

Perimeter XOs, Spins, Jumps

 My lesson with Holly on the 2:20 FS at CCIC.  My first lesson with her in... 2+ months!  Geez.  I was able to get away from work for a quick lesson.  No warmup!

Today's lesson:

• perimeter XOs -- actually not bad.  BXOs were fairly powerful.  FXOs still a bit wimpy, but really not bad especially considering how long it's been.
• spins -- eep.  Not a good one in the bunch.  And I found ways to make them bad in a different way every time!  Geez.
• waltz jump -- better than yesterday.  Good height, but landings a bit wonky still (but better).
• salchow - ha!  This just didn't happen. Oh well.

It was really nice to see Holly and a bunch of the club skaters.  I don't think I'll realistically make this time slot (especially after my work moves to Chandler next month).  Eeep.

It's Been A While

 I skated the Chandler adult skate today for freestyle practice.  I had not skated in these skates for ...2 months? Maybe longer. I had them sharpened in August when I was in Portland and this was my first time in them since then for sure.

I ran through most of the Bronze moves (I skipped power-3s).  Not surprisingly they were pretty tentative.  Really, as usual when I am off the ice for any length of time (for some reason, patch and freestyle are entirely separate spaces in my head), the first 15 minutes or so were pretty scary.  It got better.

I also did a couple of pretty bad waltz jumps (well, nice takeoff but landings were wonky) and a couple of not so great spins.  Still, it was good to be back at it again.

Edges, 3s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 7 skaters.  I was first lesson, so no warmup.

Today's lesson

• edges -- better than usual.  Posture was mostly okay.  Still need to work on more consistent lobe sizes on BO and BI edges.  Eeep.
• 3s -- we worked these on the wall and as the start of the waltz-8.  I worked really hard to not do a 'push & turn' forced 3.  I succeeded in that, but I barely made myself turn (these were all on the R foot).  Ugh.  These got so bad. :-(

After my lesson I worked for a bit on FO8 and FI8.  Meh.

F8, BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Good ice, 8 skaters.  I scribed circles and warmed up all my edges.  They were better than I expected!

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- mm.  Still working on posture.  It's a bit better though.
• FI8 -- not bad, I made it around on the R side but not L
• Back push -- we worked these on the line again.  I really need to get to the gym, as I can't get the darn twist I need between the upper and lower body. Ugh.
• BO8 -- a little rough at first but they did improve.  Still not getting around the circle though.

After my lesson I stayed a few minutes and worked the BI8 a little. Eeep.

Edges, B8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 7 skaters.

I just had time to scribe circles, no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• edges -- posture issues on FO, so we did them again. The rest were okay.
• BO8 -- eeep. I'm not making it around the circle.  Lots of posture issues here.
• BI8 -- posture issues here too. I'm still tending to throw myself off balance when I push -- my bottom goes out but my upper body doesn't follow.  Geez.  We did sort of fix this.

I had a couple of minutes after to work on FO8.  I'm getting around about 3/4 of the circle, but posture was better.