B Push & Posture

 My lesson with Danette on the Chandler Adult skate.  Really nice ice, 5 skaters.  I scribed circles and then warmed up with forward edges.

Today's lesson was spent working on posture in the context of the backward push.  We spent some time just pushing to a B edge (later, on two feet) down the line and working to keep the upper body turned to the side, completely.  Uck.  From there we added in doing a back two-foot turn, which I hadn't done in a lonnnng time.  These were really bad, my timing was just so off and the Fear Monster raised its head as well.  

All in all I felt like this was all remedial skating 101, but I guess I needed it.  Ugh.

BI Push

My lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, but a bit crowded (13 people).  I scribed circles and warmed up with forward edges.

Today's lesson:

• BO edges -- we did these a couple of times to work through some issues, trying to get a more consistent lobe size and improved posture.
• BI edges -- ran through these a couple of times and they were okay although here also, first lobe too small and working to do a better job of free foot in front and stand up straight.
• BI push -- from there we segued into trying to improve my initial BI push so that it's stronger and I can have both a better push, eliminate the wide step and and try to prevent that initial BO edge that's so often present in the first push.  We wound up hitting on having the R foot inclined up to rest on the (vestigial) toe pick, then turning it and rolling down as the push happens.  This sounds more awkward than it is.  It forces me to not wide-step, to keep the feet close together and then to settle back better as the push continues.  It's still difficult to turn the R foot enough to avoid that initial BO edge, so it will take some work.  I do think it really helped though.  We practiced it a bunch. It doesn't come naturally.
• BI8 -- we just had 3 minutes on these to try to put the new push to work.  It's still too weak to get around the whole circle, but it did result in a much better start on the circle -- circle size was much closer to what it should be.

I am really excited to have made some progress!

Back Edges & 8s

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, about 8 skaters.  I scribed circles and warmed up with forward edges.

Today's lesson:

• B edges -- not bad, actually.
• FO8 -- the LFO was actually pretty good, the RFO not so much.  Posture on LFO was pretty good and push was okay so I basically made it all the way around, which hasn't happened in a while.
• FI8 -- not bad, but issues esp. on LFI where I'm a bit off balance immediately after the push.
• BO8 -- the initial push was actually pretty good, but issues after.  We had a tangent to work just on skating a flat backwards and looking to each side, just to work on isolating the upper body from the lower.  We also tried this with me holding my hands behind my back, which help to pull the shoulders back and stand up a bit straighter.
• BI8 -- just 3 minutes on these.  Circle size was small and not making it around.  Ugh.

FO8, BO8

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, 8 skaters.  I was running a little late so I didn't scribe any circles, but I did manage to warm up all my edges.  They didn't stink.

Today's lesson:

• FO8 -- we laid these out at a random spot, which we'd not done in a while.  The posture was a bit better re: standing up, but we spent some time getting me to hold that free shoulder back.  Also some good work on getting my circle size and shape to be a bit better.  Not bad, all things considered.
• BO8 -- Posture, posture, posture.  Actually in many respects these weren't bad, though I am not making it around the circle.  I remember when I could! How frustrating.

Edges & F8s

 My figures lesson today on the Chandler adult skate.  Nice ice, but a bit crowded (11 skaters). I had some time to warmup (forward edges) and scribe circles.

Today's lesson:

• FO edges -- I had had some wonkiness on these in my warmup, so we spent a little time on them, mostly fixing upper body position and posture.
• B edges -- BI was pretty nice, BO actually was good for once after some initial issues with the first push.
• FI8 -- These were really pretty good!  Not quite making it around the LFI but I did on the RFI.
• FO8 -- a lot of time on these.  Posture issues similar to on edges, but not too bad. Still not making it around though.

Edges & Step Forward

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate.  Ice was a little rough, and a bit crowded (9 skaters).  Since it's a 60 minute session and I had first lesson, no warmup.

Today's lesson:

• F edges -- FO were a bit rough (no warmup) and way too much breaking at the waist, so we spent some time on them.  FI were mostly okay.
• B edges -- BO also a little rough; we worked the initial push a couple of times to improve the posture and push.  BI were actually pretty nice.
• waltz-8/step forward -- so we did a right foot waltz-8 and then decided to spend some quality time (almost all on the R side) on the step forward.  Still struggling with this, in general I tend to be forward which means that I'm leaning outside the circle when I'm trying to step forward, which is why I can't stay on the circle.

Edges

 My figures lesson with Danette on the Chandler adult skate, coming back after Danette's trip.  Ice was nice, but really crowded -- 15 skaters!  I was running late so a very brief warmup.

Today's lesson:

• FO edges -- no warmup so posture and flow not good.  They did improve.
• FI edges -- okay.
• BO edges -- more or less okay.  Lobe sizes not even, though.  Ugh.
• BI edges -- I managed to push my feet out from under me on the first push and do the slo-mo fall, lol.  It was pretty funny, really.  That's what I get for widestepping.  These were better after that.
• 3s -- just a couple minutes of these on the wall.