Snow and Skate

It's snowing outside! For once it was actually warmer in the rink than it was outside. I love this! It's so pretty outside. It put me in the right mood to skate!

I decided to print out a list of all of the USFSA Freeskate 1-6 elements and bring it with me on the ice. I want to make sure I not only practice the things I am currently learning but also to be sure to review all of the things I've learned thus far and maybe, if I have time, look ahead and work on new things. So, needless to say, I worked on a lot of stuff today! I reviewed everything from Freeskate 1 and 2 and so far, none of it has left me yet. I spent some extra time on the BO3 turns because they felt a little unstable. Oddly enough, the CW versions of both the BO and BI three turns are better than their CCW counterparts. I don't know why...weird. 

I worked all of my spins. Scratch spins were really nice and centered. I wish I could see how fast I am doing them. They don't feel very fast but they do feel like they are going at a moderate speed. Bringing the arms overhead helps to center them, thus increasing my speed, so I will continue to do it like that instead of bringing them down towards the pelvis. I had a bad backwards fall doing a backspin. I did the best backspin I have ever done....and then ruined it by trying to exit the proper way and fell. I have been taught the proper exit to the backspin but find that exiting on the spinning foot is a lot harder than it looks. Something to work on. So yeah, a nasty backwards fall on my left cheek...sucks. 

Jumps were really nice. No issues today, not even on the toe loop. Now that I am thinking about where my picking foot should be I am placing it better on the ice. Half Lutz is more of a half flutz. I'm having a hard time getting on the outside edge before the pick in part. Maybe I should stop doing half flips for a while?

I worked all of my edges, forward and backward. I did a few nice waltz eight patterns and some forward and backward crossovers in the figure eight pattern. I finished off my practice by looking at one of the Freeskate 4 elements - FI spiral, FI mohawk, BO spiral. I only did it CCW but will try it on the other side once I get more comfortable. 

Oh, and I have to stop rewarding myself for good practices. I spending too much money on lattes and smoothies. It was a good idea when my practices were crap but now I'm practicing better and progressing faster than I thought....and it's killing the bank account :(