B8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 10 skaters.  I scribed circles and warmed up with edges.  They were pretty good, actually.

Today's lesson:

• BI8 -- Most of our lesson.  The initial push is getting better. Key correction for today is to keep the free hip BACK more to keep from being too square and spiraling in to the center.  This really helped.  In addition, working to keep the free arm/shoulder more firmly back as well.  It's the whole position.
• BO8 -- Just a few minutes on these. Need to keep the free hip up here also, to stay on that edge and not get pulled onto flast.
• Push practice  -- a couple minutes on the wall practicing these back scooter pushes.  I really stink at this -- not having a top toepick makes it harder, for sure. 

F8s, BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice.  I scribed circles and warmed up with edges.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- Still working on posture and a better push.
• FI8 -- as usual these are better, but I still need to stand up straighter, more quickly, after the push.
• BO8 -- just a few minutes on these.  Push is lacking, and Danette wanted me to do a helper push and I really struggle with that as I tend to do more of a half-swizzle push.  
• Helper push (backward) -- we spent about five minutes on these (mostly on the wall).  It's kind of tricky in patch skates.  One key learning: as the feet come together, both legs need to bend more so that the toe picks can stay engaged and upright.  Eeep.

 

3s To Center

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 12 skaters.  I warmed up with edges and scribed circles.

Today's lesson:

• FO 3s to center -- eeep.  We had not looked at these in a long time. We worked them on the circle and on the boards also.  Chief problems are not rotating into the circle enough, and then the leading hand stays in the circle instead of moving to be forward again.  Also my 'down-up-down' has tended to be more 'down-downier-down'.  Ugh, that just doesn't work.  The L side is MUCH easier than the right.
• FI 3s to center -- we just did the R side, which is of course easier.  It was better than the FOs.

Edges & 8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate. Nice ice, 11 skaters.  I was running late so I scribed circles but didn't get any warmup done.

Today's lesson

• FO edges -- posture issues, and Danette said it was slow.  So we moved to..
• FO8 -- we worked these a bunch.  Still having issues with posture (not standing up straight).  It took me a while to get on a good edge.  Bleah
• FI edges -- Mostly nice.
• FI8 -- These were actually pretty good, all things considered.  Still need to work on standing up straight immediately after the initial push.
• BO edges -- pretty okay.
• Push posture exercise -- this is the push to a back flat, arms out to each side and look at each hand.  Forward is okay.  Back, I still wind up curving to whatever side I look toward first.  Ack.

B8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Really nice ice, 10 skaters.  I scribed circles and warmed up all my edges.

Today's lesson:

• BO8 -- Danette decided to hold my hand for these, and gave me a little push when needed so I didn't have to give myself a helper push.  We worked some issues with the initial and subsequent pushes -- they weren't horrible, but they are taking too long.  All in all not bad.
• BI8 -- similarly to BO8.  Posture could still use some improvement, and my tracing is just so-so.  Still, not too bad. 

All in all not horrible, but my flow is still insufficient to get me around the circle.  Bleagh.

F8s, BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice (a bit frosty, though) and 11 skaters.  I warmed up with forward edges and scribed circles.

Today's lesson:

• back edges -- just quickly through these.  BO were okay. BI were pretty nice except the first lobe is still too small.
• FO8 -- on the circles. Flow is a little better though I'm still not making it all the way around.  Posture on the LFO is not bad, it's the RFO that's a problem.
• FI8 -- pretty decent.  Almost making it all the way around (sometimes I do).
• BO8 -- we worked the push for a bit (pushing just to a flat) and then on the circles.  I'm just so inconsistent!  When I do the things I get good results but I have a hard time consistently doing all the things, lol.

3s & Step Forward

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 10 skaters.  I scribed circles and warmed up with forward edges.

Today's lesson:

• back edges -- Just once through inside and outside.  They were okay.
• 3s -- we worked on these on the circle and also on the boards. Still pretty wonky.
• Step forward -- main issue is still posture -- I did a little better on standing up straight but still needs work.
• falling practice -- at the end of my lesson, Danette wanted Donna and I to practice falling and getting up, so I did a couple of lunges where I fell down and then got up.  It was pretty funny.