2019 Sherwood Invitational

I competed 3 figures at the 2019 Sherwood Invitational, the same 3 figures I did last year (FO8, FI8, and BO8).  Here's the story.

The figures portion of the competition was all early Sunday morning.  We had a total of 8 skaters and 19 starts, with 6 judges split into 2 panels.

Figures practice ice was at 5:40 a.m. (eeep), just 20 minutes.  I actually got to the rink quite early (5:05) as I was taking a Lyft to the rink and was concerned about being late.  Kelli met me there around 5:25 and I got my skates on and got ready.

Practice ice went pretty well.  We spent about 8 minutes on the FO8, about 4 minutes on the FI8, and another 8 minutes or so on the BO8.  The FO8 was more or less okay. I was a bit nervous but got over it.  The FI8 was looking pretty good so we just did the one and moved on to the BO8  BO8 was mostly okay but I was not doing a good job on return to center and Kelli worked with me to get me to implement the things I'd worked on with Danette the last few weeks -- looking into the circle (esp. on LBO) and holding the free foot in front longer, moving free foot back from the knee and not the hip.  I had been worried the last couple of weeks about my flow as I was having trouble getting around the circles on the FO8 in particular, but as I'd hoped, Sherwood's fast, hard ice meant I had great flow and no problems with getting around the circle.  Whew!

After practice ice we had an hour to kill so I ate a banana, then helped with the freestyle practice ice and did some prep work for music for the rest of the day.  Around 6:45 or so I put my skates back on and got myself ready.

I was 5th (last) to skate FO8, then there was a break, then 2nd of 2 to skate the FI8 and BO8.

Around 7:15 or so they called me out for warmup.  Kelli was helping her other student who was skating before me.  As I pushed for my first RFO, I felt an excruciating pain in my R foot.  I tried to disregard it and keep practicing but after a couple of minutes it became clear I had to fix this, so I stepped off the ice,  pulled my boot off and rearranged my sock and the tongue of my boot.  Argh! I'd never had such an experience with these boots, generally they are very comfy.  Got back on the ice and had just a little time to finish warming up the FO8.

Finally they called me over to skate, and I skated to patch 5, picked a spot (I was able to align my short axis with a hockey dot that was a few feet away), marked my center, took a deep breath and pushed off. 

This FO8 was not my best -- in particular I think I was a bit wobbly on the first LFO -- but it was okay.

After that we had about a 15 minute break, then started the second half of the competition.  I came out for warmup on my FI8 and it was pretty good.  My nerves were somewhat all over the place, though.  They called me out to patch 7 and I found an okay spot, marked my center, took several deep breaths and pushed off.

The first RFI was okay; the LFI.. I'm not sure what happened but I found myself on a flat and wound up having a really nasty skid, right in front of the judges (of course).  I managed to recover and get around that circle okay.  The remaining circles were fine.

After that I had to go start warming up my BO8.  The warmup seemed okay although I was having a bit of trouble finding my center.  Finally they called me over to skate, I think it was patch 8 or so.

I've had a hard time figuring out (pardon the pun) what happened here (I'll have to wait for the video).  I think the first RBO was okay, but the LBO didn't come back to center and so the 2nd RBO was a bit wonky and then got out of control so much that I wound up doing a large oval around to the side where the LBO should have been and sort of came back to center in such a fashion that I'd basically switched sides.  From there I did an LBO that was sort of better, and another RBO that was relatively okay; but then I was coming back to center and I think because of the direction I was going, I forgot that I was on my R foot and so I ended the figure there without doing the last LBO.  At this point I was so disgusted with myself that I kind of didn't care, I wanted to just apologize to the judges for wasting their time (I did not actually do this) and run away!

Anyway, I hung around so we could take our usual group photo.  The results were posted, and I got last in each event (5th in FO8, 2nd in FI8 and 2nd in BO8).  I'm not surprised or discouraged, I just have a lot of work to do and in particular I need to find a way to get my nerves under better control.  You'd think after competing these several years it would be better, but figures competition are IMHO worse than testing!  Ugh.  Still, I'm happy I did it and very grateful to coach Kelli for putting me on and dealing with me in these situations (not to mention getting her butt out of bed at crack of dawn on a Sunday!).

2018 Sherwood Invitational

I competed three figures today at the 2018 Sherwood Invitational.  Here's how it went.

Practice Ice -- I thought this was scheduled for 6:45 - 7:15 but apparently there was a last minute change to 7 - 7:30.  Oh well, I was early, no big deal. Coach Kelli met me before and then we got on the ice.

Since we had assigned patches for this competition (we hadn't done that at previous competitions) I tried to skate in one of them (patch 8).  We started off with FO8 and it was a little rough at first, but got better.  Then FI8, which was relatively okay.  Then we spent I think 15 - 20 minutes on the BO8. At first it was kind of all over the place.  I managed to get my pushes under control but still having some issues finding center.  On the positive side I was able to easily see my traces so that part was golden.  One of the issues with finding center was that I was tending to wait until I could see the center mark, by which point I was already past it :-( ; so we worked on anticipating that so I pushed more close to the mark.  This was somewhat successful.  The half hour of practice really flew by, and then it was time to get off.

FO8 -- I had one competitor (Tina) for all 3 figures and she was always before me.  We got approximately a 5 minute warmup on patches 1&2 (in practice it was a bit more than 5 minutes).  I got on to warmup the FO8 and at first I was so nervous I couldn't even hold an edge, and of course that scared me.  Eeep!  Kelli talked me down and I was able to get it together.  Then they called me up and I went to compete the FO8 in patch 4.

I did my best to choose a spot that was relatively findable.... and pushed off.  I can't remember specifics much but in general it went better than the warmup.  I think my first LFO was a bit small but after that it was okay.  Return to center was generally okay and I was reasonably happy with this.

FI8 -- after my FO8 I went back to warmup FI8 as I just had a 5 minute warmup between while Tina did her FI8.  The warmup was relatively okay.  Then they called me up to compete in patch 6.

I found a spot that was on a (small) slightly dark paint spot.  Marked my center and pushed off.. and a wave of nervousness went over me and I was on a really bad edge and was off balance... and I PUT MY FOOT DOWN. AGGGHHHH.

I picked it up immediately of course, but by then I figured I was toast and all I could do was skate the best I could as some kind of proof to the judges that I'm not totally inept.  The rest of it went relatively well, actually.  Finished it and got off the ice.

I'm so upset with myself. FI8 is my best figure!  I can't believe I did that.  In all the time I've been competing I've had sucky skates and issues but I don't think I ever did this before.  Oh well.

Then we had a short break.

BO8 - after the break, same deal, 5 minute warmup for BO8.  I asked the referee and he let us move our warmup patch down since 1&2 were pretty well beat up.  So I had cleaner ice to warmup the BO8.    Warmed up and felt relatively okay about it.

They called me out to patch 8 to skate.  I choose a spot a couple feet from the blue line and right in line with one of the red dots so I would see it as I returned to center.  Pushed off... good flow, but return to center was a little too far out.  Pushed to the LBO and I made a rather small circle... ugh.  The rest of it went okay other than I still was not pleased with the return to center, but I had good speed and flow and my circles were reasonably controlled.

And I was done!

Results -- I got 2nd of 2 for each figure.  Took a picture with Tina and we had our usual group picture.  Not happy about the FI8 but in general I was reasonably happy with it, and grateful as always for the opportunity to compete figures.

2017 Sherwood Invitational Waltz-8, FI8

My figures competition at the 2017 Sherwood Invitational today.

After practice ice, I had about an hour so I took my skates off and tried to relax (ha!).  At 8:45 I got my skates on and we gathered at the ice door at 9 for some last minute instructions; then we got to our warmup patches and warmed up for a bit (5 or 10 minutes, I'm not sure).  The event was double-paneled so they took us two at a time, "low" events and "high" events (mine were "low", of course).  Waltz-8 was the first low event, and I was 2nd to skate that figure, so I had a little extra warmup time.  Warmup was not great (I actually fell once!) but okay.

Finally they called me out for my figure.  Kelli gave me some advice on choosing a starting spot.  I found a good spot, marked my center and pushed off!  It's kind of a blur from there.  The R side was generally okay although I was skidding a lot on the BO edge.  Sherwood's ice is really hard and fast and I didn't feel I had a good grip on it.  The L side turns were mostly really nice but my return to center was not too great, at least one time I came in 1-2 feet to the right of center.  Ugh.  In the end I managed to do the figure without falling, so that was a relief.

After I finished I returned to the warmup area and began warming up my FI8.  There were 3 of us competing that figure and once again I drew the last slot (yay!). So I ran through it 3 - 4 times and it was pretty good.  The girl before me had just finished so I skated down the side of the rink and waited for them to call me.  Kelli and I discussed good spots to start from, again.  Finally they called me out and told me they wanted me to move down the rink to a new patch (#14 to be exact).   This was nice as I could line up a few feet off a red hockey dot in a spot that wasn't too bright (they had the lights turned down so we could see our tracings better).  Again, marked my spot, took a deep breath, reminded myself to hold that darn R shoulder back (!) and pushed off!  R side was a little shaky the first time but I managed to hold a good edge and keep the shoulder back until I returned to center.  The LFI is always really nice for me so once I got to the first one I felt more confident and it was fine thereafter.  I think my R circle was still a bit smaller than the L side, but my tracing was pretty good on the L side for sure and also I think on the R side.  I was really pretty happy with it.

After I was done I skated down the side of the rink and got off the ice, put my guards on, got a drink of water and went to watch the last figure - Heath doing the RFI/LBI counter.  Eeep.  Maybe someday I can do that?

After we were all done we gathered for a group picture on-ice.  Kelli and I went to wait for results; the waltz-8 was up and I got 2nd (of 2) as I expected.  I met my fellow-competitor Jessica and we went and got our medals etc.  Waited around a bit more in the hallway for my results and when they came out, I got first (of 3) with all 1st place ordinals!

WHEEEEEEE!!!

I think the last time I felt that happy about something was when I passed my APB MITF test on the 3rd try (2008).

2017 Sherwood Invitational Figures Practice Ice

My experience at the figures competition of the Sherwood Invitational today.  This post is just for practice ice, the actual events will be posted above.

I had figures practice at 7:15 a.m. (half an hour) with Kelli. I don't remember what we've done in previous years, but we were assigned a practice patch that was the same as our patch for the warmup for competition.  I was kind of hoping we could pick our own patch, so that I could try to get a patch that was the same or close to where we would be competing (Zamboni end of the rink, vs. lobby).  As it happened I was assigned patch 4, which was conveniently right by the door.

I did an FO8 first just to warm up, then a couple of FI8s.  They were a bit rough but serviceable.  Then we ran the waltz-8 a number of times.  They were quite rough and I was skidding and scraping around and having a hard time getting back to center.  They did improve, though.  Sherwood's ice is like glass -- pretty but quite hard, and it was 50 degrees in the rink (by the time we competed it was 48!).  I was actually doing relatively well on the R side, but the return to center on the left was still giving me a lot of grief. I was also having a hard time staying in my patch -- I was not a good patch-neighbor, alas.

By the time we had to get off the ice (7:45 a.m.; figures events were at 9 a.m.) I was feeling a lot better. Not that I felt confident in general, but I felt I probably wouldn't fall.  Realistic goals :-)

Waltz-8

I'm in Oregon and had a figures lesson with Kelli on the 6:15 FS at WSC.  It wasn't too crowded and people were pretty tolerant of the old guy working on figures.  Yay!

For today's lesson we worked exclusively (per my request) on the waltz-8.  We focused on holding the exit from the 3 (keeping straight up after the turn) and fixing the body position on the BO edge into the step forward.  Kelli had me really working on keeping the free foot tucked in on the BO edge so that I wouldn't be leaning forward.  We made some good progress on this.  The 3s were a bit better too.  Good progress.

For homegirl sightings, I got to see Madison and also Kris.  Yay!

Roman Holiday....

... in Oregon, lol.  I had a lesson with Kelli at 6:30 a.m. at WSC.  I got on the ice at 6:15 and stayed 'til 7:15 so I straddled two FS sessions (6 - 6:45 and 6:45 - 7:30).  The ice was really, really nice, and just me, Kelli, Sierra and Nakira. 

Today's lesson:

• stroking & edges -- of course.  Kelli said my stroking was nice but on the FXOs I was not holding the crossed position long and the underpush was lacking (duh!).  Edges were relatively okay though I need to stand up a little straighter, and she'd rather I brought my leg through more promptly.
• FO8 -- hadn't done these in FS blades much.  My push is lacking and I'm still working on standing up straight and keeping control of the shoulders and upper body.
• power-3s -- hmm.  Actually the 3s were not that bad.  Kelli was not so happy with my back lobe, though, esp. since my BXOs didn't really have any "cross" in them at all.  I was just happy to do the 3s.

After my lesson I worked on perimeter stroking and did some spins, including a really nice 3-rev one.  That was a pleasant surprise.

Power-3s

I was in Oregon today and had a lesson with Kelli at WSC on the 7:45 a.m. FS.  Fresh ice and got to see my skate buddy Kris, which was very nice :-).

We worked on power-3s the whole time.  Kelli worked with me on making the "front" lobe (lobe with the FO3) smaller/shallower -- I had known that the diagram shows it that way but I certainly wasn't doing it that way.  It was a little bit of an adjustment but it helped a lot since I was on a better edge for the turn.  Then we spent some time working on the back lobe which has definitely been an issue;  I wasn't doing a good job of pushing to the inside edge.  Kelli pointed out that there are 4 pushes on the back lobe -- push to the BI edge, then push to the other BI edge, then the crossover (or you can think of these as the 2 pushes in the crossover) and then push on the step forward.  Yow.  We spent most of our time on the LFO3 side but we did work on the RFO3 side a bit at the end.

After my lesson I worked a bit on 5-step mohawk.  The LBO edge is really weak so I spent some time just holding that.  Yow.  I need to work on them for the LBO3 also.

Spins & Program

I had a lesson with Kelli on the 8 a.m. FS at WSC.  I was running a bit late but since I was nicely warmed up from my session at Sherwood it wasn't a problem.

Today's lesson:

• spins -- I really wanted to work with Kelli on spins; I've worked with so many people on them but never really Kelli, and I was hopeful she had some words of wisdom to impart on these.  She did!  We worked on them just from a standing start, and she focused on holding the free leg back longer and getting a longer and deeper edge before the 3-turn.  The point was to get me over my left side and keep me from forcing the turn.  That seemed to help a lot.  She also emphasized getting the left arm out and around and not worrying too much about the R side.  I did some pretty good spins (for me!) in this format but when I tried it from BXOs I wasn't able to duplicate my success.  I need to work on this more but I have some thoughts about it.
• program prep -- we worked on some elements from the program as prep; Kelli reminded me to look up during the toe loop ("look confident!") and to not short-change the prep on the salchow entrance.
• program -- we were almost out of time, but had time to run the program once with music.  It was okay; the last spin was actually pretty good.

I had not skated at WSC in quite some time.  Ice was decent (not as nice as Sherwood's or Gilbert's but better than Chandler's morning ice); there was a young dance team working which was pretty cool to watch.

Back home this afternoon and no skating until Monday it looks like.

Last Gasp

I had arranged a lesson with Kelli, my old figures coach here in Portland, for tonight at the Sherwood club skate.  I got to the rink just in time for the club skate after my skate at Lloyd Center (it's not that far but it was  a Friday rush hour).  I had a couple quick moments to greet some old friends (yay!  I love being "home" at Sherwood!) and get my skates on.

We had a good lesson.  We worked mostly on FO8, and while Kelli addressed mostly the same issues she tends to state things differently than Lynne so the combination is helpful.  Kelli suggested I place my hands more into the circle on the push-off and to find a spot *inside* the circle to spot for to help me make a smaller circle.  We spent most of our time, though, just trying to get a better edge.  I did eventually get a pretty good edge on the RFO8, and once on the LFO8.  It was all we had time for though.  After we were done but before she left I had a chance to show-off my BO8 to Kelli -- what a good feeling that was!  She was impressed and I was really proud.  It almost made up for my FO8s :-)

I had a lot of problems with layout at Sherwood.  I thought this was kind of ironic :-).  At Chandler there are so many imperfections in the paint, etc. -- pressure cracks, lines from the pipes under the ice, etc. -- that it's easy to find a 'memorable' spot in the ice to center on.  At Sherwood, since I was staying away (as usual) from the painted lines etc. -- it was really hard.  Sherwood's ice is SO nice there really are almost no imperfections to choose for a center!  Oh well.  A nice problem to have :-).

No skating tomorrow.  Sunday morning practice ice is at 6 a.m.  Kelli is putting me on the ice for which I am very grateful!

Lessons with Kelli (Figures and Moves)

[10/20/09 -- I've created this list and backdated it to the end of the month with my last lesson with Kelli. Kelli was my secondary coach for Figures and later Moves]

Lesson #51 "Forward Perim. XOs & 5-Step Mohawk"

Lesson #50 "Power-3s"

Lesson #49 "Bronze Moves"

Lesson #48 "5-Step Mohawk & Power-3s"

Lesson #47 "More Bronze Moves"

Lesson #46 "FI8/FO8 & 5-Step Mohawk"

Lesson #45 "Stroking & FXOs"

Lesson #44 "Power-3s & Spins

Lesson #43 "5-Step Mohawk & Half Lutz"

Lesson #42 "T-Stop, Spread Eagle & Spins"

Lesson #41 "3-Turn Pattern"

Lesson #40 "Test Prep"

Lesson #39 "Stroking & 3-Turn Pattern"

Lesson #38 "3-Turn Pattern"

Lesson #37 "BO Edges & FO3s"

Lesson #36 "Stroking & XOs"

Lesson #35 "FI8"

Lesson #34 "BO Edges"

Lesson #33 "F Edges & FI8"

Lesson #32 "FO Edges"

Lesson #31 "Serpentine"

Lesson #30 "Back Edges"

Lesson #29 "Edges, Still"

Lesson #28 "Potpourri"

Lesson #27 "FO8, FI8, Waltz-8"

Lesson #26 "Edges & FO8"

Lesson #25 "BO Edges"

Lesson #24 "Edges, Still"

Lesson #23 "Waltz-8"

Lesson #22 "Edges & Waltz-8"

Lesson #21 "Edges, Edges, Edges"

Lesson #20 "Edges & Waltz-8"

Lesson #19 "BO Edges"

Lesson #18 "Edges and 8s"

Lesson #17 "FI Edges"

Lesson #16 "FO8"

Lesson #15 "FO Edges"

Lesson #14 "FI Edges"

Lesson #13 "Patch Blades!"

Lesson #12 "3-Turn Pattern & Waltz-8"

Lesson #11 "BO Edges, Waltz-8, BXOs"

Lesson #10 "Waltz-8"

Lesson #9 "FO3s"

Lesson #8 "Back Edge Workout"

Lesson #7 "FO8s & 3s"

Lesson #6 "Push-off & 3s"

Lesson #5 "FO8 & Waltz-8"

Lesson #4 "Waltz-8"

Lesson #3 "FI Circle-8"

Lesson #2 "Waltz-8/3-Turns"

Lesson #1 "Circle-8"

Trial Figures Lesson

Forward Perim. XOs & 5-Step Mohawk

Today's lesson was on the 6:15 FS as usual -- just 4 skaters on the ice... nice!

Today's lesson:

• forward perimeter XOs -- these are coming along very nicely. I'm getting more consistent about keeping my axis, and after a little bit of work I was doing a much better job of holding the extension on the FI edge. We worked the ending of the move (we'd never gotten that far before!) so I know how to finish it. I really need to work on my T-stops so that I'm comfortable doing them at speed... All in all Kelli was pretty happy with these.
• 5-step mohawk -- eeep. These are pretty stinky. These and the power-3s are definitely my worst Bronze moves. The issue really is the BO edge and step forward, just as it was in the waltz-8. I realized in our discussion that really the 5-step mohawk is almost the same as the waltz-8, except the 3-turn is a mohawk and there's a slide chass&eacute. But really, it's practically the same. So we worked on it. I really get on my toe on the BO edge; and I tend to let the free hip start the rotation right after the step to the BO edge, so I lack control. Grrr. These need a lot more work.

Alas, this was my last lesson with Kelli :-(. Also, probably, my last post for a bit. I am skating at club ice on Friday, and we are having a little get-together afterward, but my internet is going off on Friday so I won't be able to post about it until I am moved to Phoenix.

See y'all on the flip side! Smooth ice and sharp blades!

Power-3s

Today's lesson was on the 6:15 FS. Not too crowded, about 6 skaters. The amusing anecdote for today was just before my lesson started, "That's Not My Name" by The Tings came on the CD player and so Karly, Madison and I were standing around Kelli singing it to her. Okay, maybe you had to be there but it was pretty darn funny!

Today's lesson:

• power-3s -- we spent the whole lesson on these! They needed it. My biggest issues are not holding the edge before the turn (not placing the turn at the top of the lobe), not holding the BI edge after the BXO, and stepping forward onto an FI edge not an FO. Sheesh! As a result of these various problems my axis tends to look more like a sine wave than a straight line! We worked extensively on holding the BI edge after the BXO and then stepping forward. I tend to get stuck looking forward after the BXO and my shoulder blocks me from stepping forward. Not too surprising since I pretty much have issues with all my steps-forward. I could probably spend weeks just working on that. (I usually work on waltz-8 at most warmups just to work on the step forward actually) We spent most of our time on the LFO3 side; in retrospect we should have started with the other side since my RFO3 is a bit dicier than LFO3 (although I think that step forward is a little better).

Bronze Moves

Tonight's lesson was on the 6:15 FS as usual. When I got on the ice I was accosted (lol) by Madison, Karly, Emmy and Anna... "you can't leave! Why are you leaving!?" It was really very sweet. While I'm glad to be moving, I am really going to miss my skating buddies here at Sherwood. Thanks gang :-) You've been a real pleasure to skate with and to know. Thanks for your friendship!

Today's lesson:

• 5-step mohawk -- Kelli wanted to keep working on timing on this. The LFI mohawk is still a bit rough, I'm tending to do weird things with my free leg during the turn. The BO edge needs to be held better and I'm tending to curve it too much on the RBO so that the lobe is cut off. The step forward on both sides is a bit awkward (duh, I've been struggling with those for a while) but it is improving.
  
• Back perimeter XOs -- these are getting more confident. Kelli cracked me up because apparently I'm doing some weird sort of thing with my hands on the power shift ("bay window" as Kelli calls it) -- she compared it to the Karate Kid "wax-on, wax-off"... I was disbelieving that I was actually doing that but then the next time through, I caught myself doing it and just cracked up. Who says lessons aren't fun? I thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, stuff to work on but I'm happy with my progress.
  
• Forward perimeter XOs -- we just had a couple of minutes on these. Kelli wants me to work more on holding the extension on the FI edge a bit longer, all the way to the top of the lobe, *then* step to the FXO. These are gradually getting a lot more comfortable, although the CW FXO (L over R) is still a bit awkward at times.

All in all some good work. I think the best thing here is that I really like practicing these moves so at least there's some basis to believe that they will continue to improve without me having to use all my willpower to get myself to do 'em.

5-Step Mohawk & Power-3s

Today's lesson was on the 6:15 FS. Not too crowded, but there was a large puddle (Lake Sherwood!) in mid-ice for some reason. I've never seen that before at SIA.

Today's lesson:

• 5-step mohawk -- we spent about 20 minutes on this! Mostly working on holding out the first two steps so they aren't rushed. If I hold that FI edge for long I seem to get a bit stuck, but it improved a lot with work so that was good. Main correction was to (how many times have I heard this?) really turn into the circle so that the turn can happen.
• power-3 -- a lot of time on a similar issue, holding the FO edge before the turn. I think I tend to lock my knee in whatever position I'm in so it's hard to have a soft knee for the down-up-down. This got better with practice. Kelli was reasonably happy with the back lobe power-shift ("bay window") -- it really has improved a lot.
  

More Bronze Moves

My lesson with Kelli was on the 6:15 FS. Ice was a bit beat-up for some reason... there were about 8 skaters.

Today's lesson:

• BXOs to landing position -- I wanted to work these some more with some emphasis on getting better edges and more power. We worked 'em for about 20 minutes and made some good improvements. Main issues fixed were better posture (esp., keep the head/chest up!), sitting back on the edge more (not so much on the toe), and last, slowing down the tempo on the BXO. This last gives me a better BXO but also more power and tends to set up a better BO edge.
• Forward perim. XOs -- main issue here was to skate with more confidence. Kelli gave me some corrections on the pattern... I need to be more deliberate on the FXO so that I don't short change that part of the pattern, and be sure to step to the FI edge right at the long axis. For some reason I'm quite comfortable heading into the boards and less so heading out into center ice! That seems backwards from most people. Anyway, some good progress on these as well.

FI8/FO8 & 5-Step Mohawk

After work today I attended the 6:15 p.m. FS for my lesson with Kelli, my first with her since I got back on the ice. Since I had had a lesson with Sonya in the morning it was perhaps not the best timing, but it worked out fine. The ice had some hockey ruts in a few places that were bad, and it was relatively warm (I think it was 54!). Only 6 skaters, so that was nice.

Today's lesson:

• FI8/FO8 -- since I am not going to be able to take the Figures LTS classes for a while (I'm the only one who signed up :-() I thought it would be good to work on these with Kelli. We worked on regaining my control. Kelli asked me to maintain the position ("stay seated" as she says) until 3/4 of the way around the circle, at which point she wanted me to pass the arms forward at the same time as the free leg. This was a bit different than I'd been doing (previously I'd done the arms first, then the free leg, and I'd started at the 1/2 way point) and it took a while to get it but I did and it did seem to give me a bit better control coming back to the center. The nice part was that my circle size was pretty much spot on.
• 5-step mohawk -- on to the last of the Bronze Moves to work on. The main thing to work on here was to make the 5 steps have the same timing, which meant for me counting to 3 on each step and to (especially) not rush the first two steps. This is slowly improving. I think the big thing is to not rush in general, take it one step at a time and be somewhat collected in how I go about it. The BO edge and step forward still a bit rough but not too bad.

Stroking & FXOs

Today's lesson with Kelli, on the 8:15 FS. Per discussions with Sonya earlier in the week, we are going to focus on power, speed and flow.

Today's lesson:

• stroking -- we started at the beginning, of course. I'm generating pretty good power and extension is good, of course I need to work on posture.
• FXOs -- Kelli says I generate pretty good power from the first push... of course the issue is the underpush. We worked on this for quite some time (both sides) to realllly get down in the knee and work to push that foot across and *through*. Kelli pointed out that the underpush should come off the ice just like any other stroke, i.e. pushing through and lifting so the last thing to leave the ice is the ball of the foot. This was a really helpful image.

We'll keep working on this stuff next week.

Power-3s & Spins

Today's lesson with Kelli on the 8:15 a.m FS:

• Power-3s -- continuing our work on the Bronze moves. The main things we worked on were holding the entrance/placing the 3 at the top of the lobe; getting a good transition into the BXO, and keeping the shoulder back to get a good step forward for the next lobe. I find these a lot of fun to do but it will be a real challenge to get the 3s clean, I think. We only worked on the L side (easier), we will have to address the R side at some point soon. I am reminding myself that my 3s for this will have to be a lot cleaner to pass than they had to be for pre-bronze. Fortunately I have a while to work on them.
• Spins -- continuing to work on these. Not much really to say, just slogging through.

Kelli is out next week, I am hoping to have a lesson with Leone. I am thinking when she's back it might be fruitful to spend some time working on power and skating faster since I really need to develop that for both testing and competition.

5-Step Mohawk & Half Lutz

Today's lesson w/Kelli was moved to club ice this evening due to a schedule conflict. Before the lesson I warmed up and worked on toe loop and back Russian stroking (a.k.a. back perimeter XOs). About 12 skaters & 3 coaches on the session.

Today's lesson:

• 5-step mohawk -- on to Bronze moves! This and the power-3s will be the hardest for me I think. We worked on (what else) holding the back edge longer and with more control. In general, not too bad. The LFI mohawk definitely needs some cleaning up, though, I can see Kelli grimace every time I do one :-). Right now a key is probably to relax and do these a bit slower and not too small of a pattern.
• Half lutz -- Sonya had asked Kelli to teach me these; I'm not sure why, really. Anyway, we worked on them for a while and I did a couple by the end of the session. At this stage they are (not surprisingly) not very different from my half flip, the biggest noticeable difference is probably the entry from a straight LBO (hopefully) edge instead of RFI mohawk.

There is so much other stuff going on! I'm getting music cut for my program, the Cactus announcement came out last week and I need to send my test stuff off along with the Cactus registration soon... need to start working on program and costume soon also. Also, I had my first chance to play with my new spinner, I worked with it for about 10 minutes this evening before I left work. Eeep! It's tricky. The best I did was 1.5 revs. It's going to take a lot of work, I'm going to try for 10-15 minutes every weekday.

T-Stop, Spread Eagle & Spins

Today's lesson with Kelli was on the 8:15 FS as usual. I had asked Sonya what we should work on and we agreed that we need to work on connecting moves so I will have some options for my program; and also spins for the freeskate test.

Today's lesson:

• T-stop -- I had suggested I work on these because although I can do them on my L foot, I can't on my R and I don't feel comfortable doing them at speed. So... we worked on them. Wow, that R foot stop is just uncomfortable -- I don't really know where my L foot is to try to put it down. Yuk.
• Inside spread eagle -- I had worked with Sonya on these once a looooong time ago. We worked on them some more and I think I will be able to get there with some practice -- but wow, I have very little turnout to work with. I hope I can improve that otherwise I don't see how I'll ever do outside spread eagles.
• Spins -- I'm getting increasingly concerned about these since I want to test in something like 6 weeks and I'm not getting 3 revs more than just occasionally. Anyway, we worked on them both from the windup (Kelli had never seen this stuff before and she really liked my windup), and also from a standing start. I did get one relatively nice one (2 revs) the rest not so good. It's going to take a lot of work.

No club ice tonight; there is a competition this weekend at the rink so no figures class tomorrow either. I'll be volunteering, doing both some accounting and some ice monitoring.