Sunday Practice

I got to the Stable for my Sunday practice and the ice was AWFUL! It was super torn up from the hockey session before and, even though they zam'd the ice, it was still riddled with ruts and gashes. I did the best I could with what I had. I worked on:

MIF: after my warm-up I started with some stroking paying close attention to where I was placing my crossovers at the end so I don't "cheat" the move. I was only able to work the CCW stroking due to how many skaters were on the ice. I ran through all of my edges and the waltz 8 and those seem comfortable. I briefly ran through spirals but, again, it was busy so I was timid. Where I spent the bulk of my time was on the CW forward crossovers. I wanted to make sure I got a good strong underpush on these. Also, the swingroll/mohawk transition coming out of the CW crossovers is a mess so I spent some time on that as well. I'm not sure how much I improved but I know this is my weakest part of the crossover move so I need to pay particular attention to it to ensure it's done well.

Jumpz: I worked mostly on combos and sequences today. The waltz/toe loop combo will be on my upcoming Bronze Freestyle test so why not start to get comfortable with it now, right? I can land the sequence but I want to be more deliberate with where I pick in for the toe loop. I feel like I'm still toe-waltzing this. I also worked on the waltz/falling leaf/ toe loop sequence. I need to slow the falling leaf part down. In reality, I probably need to slow the whole thing down. I tend to rush through jumps. I should remember to count. I made some great strides with my waltz-loop combo! I feel like these are really becoming more consistent. The key is speed. Some things are just easier when you are moving at a quicker pace (think riding a bike in motion vs. trying to balance on a bike while it's not moving). Going into this combo with a bit more speed really made the difference. I think this was my "aha!" moment. It seems obvious enough but for some reason, the fear I had was making me approach this too slowly. I ran through a bunch of these just to make sure it stuck. Speaking of fear...the flip jump. Ugh. So, weeks ago I was so proud of myself for breaking through that fear barrier and landing my flip jump. I landed it several times in my lessons and even have a video of me doing one so there is proof that it exists. However, the fear has returned and I'm scared to do it again. It makes no sense. I don't know why the fear is back, it just is. I'm at least trying it, though. The weird thing is, I'm not two-footing the landing, I'm two-footing the takeoff. Don't even ask me how I'm managing to do that. What I need, is crash pads. I'm thinking of investing in some leggings with the crash pads built in. Maybe having that extra security will help the fear issue.

Spinz: Scratch spins are much better! I'm definitely getting better at finding my center. I briefly worked on camels and sit spins (which are more like squat spins right now because of my back). Those are...meh. I was able to find one tiny patch of ice that seemed smooth so I worked on back spins for a good 15-20 minutes. I have moments where I magically find the rocker and get 3-4 rotations but then I have those that I can barely get around one time. They are getting better but god, it's slow progress!