Saturday morning was my first lesson with Christopher since my injury. It felt good to be back at my home rink on a freestyle session but it felt even better to feel normal again. Outside of some soreness, I felt pretty good. I had nearly a half hour to warm up so when he got on the ice I was ready to go. We talked a bit about goals and then we got to it. Today, he just wanted to work on Pre-Bronze Moves test elements:
Perimeter Stroking - too many strokes therefore not enough extension. I think he said no more than six strokes down the ice with really nice extensions. Don't forget to get on those outside edges! He wants me to enter the end crossovers with a little more speed and power than I currently am. We did both directions.
Crossovers in a Figure Eight - After I told him I was having some fear issues on the forward to backward mohawk transition, we spent some time at the boards working it out. When it comes right down to it, the issue isn't fear so much as the fact that I'm still having a difficult time with stiffness in my ankle so I'm not able to bend my knee as much as I should. Doing a swingroll into a mohawk is scary if you can't bend your knees! So, I just need to work on it some more and get those knees bent and it should be fine.
Edges - We only looked at the forward edges and there were two main criticisms - my lobes are too big and I'm going way too fast. I need to slow it down and make my lobes a wee bit more shallow. See, I always practiced them with big lobes because I know that one of the main criticisms with adult skaters doing edges is that their lobes are typically really shallow. I guess I overcompensated too much, lol. He would like me to take my time and be more precise, which lead into...
Circle 8 - Yes, I know, this is a Bronze move but he said that practicing this basic figure will improve my edges so I guess I need to work on this now during practices. It wasn't until I tried the circle 8 that I realized how little control I actually have over my edges. Ugh, this is tough!
Spirals - You know how much I love spirals, right (said with the most sincere sarcasm I can muster)? On my first attempt, I put my foot down on my left leg spiral because I'm still having balance/stability issues. I tried again and was able to make it cleanly down the ice but I was hella wobbly. Also, I need a stronger push when switching sides. These need work.
All in all, it was a good lesson. I don't think he was expecting much but I really do wish I had done better than I did. Everything improves with time, though. I asked him if he thought an April 13th test date was realistic and he said yes. That's cool. That's what I'll shoot for then :)
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