Freeskate 3 - Lesson #2

From spectacular to craptacular is how this lesson went. First off, I wasn't even going to go to my lesson because I have been sick all week and I have not practiced at all. My head aches and it feels like the inside of my nose is starting to disintegrate from all of the nasal spray, wiping and blowing. But, being the trooper that I am, I went even though I felt like I was going to throw up all over the ice at any time. Luckily for everyone, no vomiting took place :)

I didn't do much in the public session before my lesson besides some spins and BO/BI three turns. It was so crowded that it was nearly impossible to work on anything else. Most of the time I skated in circles or got off the ice entirely to just watch other people skate in circles. Not very productive at all. 

So my lesson started and Gigi wanted to go through the forward and backward crossovers in the figure eight pattern (AKA MITF). Forward crossovers were ok but I still feel as though I need more underpush on my CW crossovers. CCW had the underpush, though. Backward crossovers were "Steady and Controlled" according to Gigi. She liked the way all of my crossovers looked. I think they are quite test-able! 

Next up was the waltz eight pattern. Gigi was actually impressed that I do the three turns in this pattern with an extended freeleg! She says she always teaches this pattern with closed position but the fact that I do it so nicely with extension and pointed toes will win me extra kudos from the judges. 

And then it was all downhill from there. We moved on to the backspin which has either deserted me completely or is on sick leave along with the rest of my body. I could barely get one revolution. She asked me if I was having a hard time finding the outside edge. No, I think I just suck at spinning. She had me go into the spin several different ways to see if that would make a difference. It didn't. It's just so weird. I spend 40% of my time practicing edgework, another 40% on spins and the last 20% on jumps and other stuff. One would think that since I spend nearly half of my practices spinning around and around that I would be better at it. Ok, My one-foot and two-foot spins are good. Scratch spins are there most of the time, and camels get anywhere from two or three rev's which is respectable for my level. But these darn backspins are killer! I wish I could just do them already! I know how they should be done. I know where my body parts should be whilst doing them.....SO WHY CAN'T I DO A BACKSPIN!!????!!!??

Lame.
Anyway, I'm off to self medicate.