I know this is temporary. I'll just work harder and show my coach that I'm not a bad investment :)
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Beautiful Disaster
I've had a lot of stuff on my mind lately and that has clearly started to affect my skating. My lesson on Friday was a complete mess! It almost felt like I had 20 lb. ankle weights strapped on to me. I just felt heavy and slow and inept. I'm glad the test date got moved to May because as I am now, there is no way I would pass the test. I actually forgot my program halfway through and had to fake it for a few seconds before remembering what to do next. I feel like a disappointment and am embarrassed that I looked so clumsy. I know I'm capable of doing this. I have skated well before. I know I know my program. I hate that I'm letting outside influences affect my performance on the ice. I'll be better next time.
I know this is temporary. I'll just work harder and show my coach that I'm not a bad investment :)
I know this is temporary. I'll just work harder and show my coach that I'm not a bad investment :)
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Lesson Time
Today's lesson was all about proper technique. We worked exclusively on three things - The crossover pattern, perimeter stroking, and backward edges.
Crossover Pattern - interesting comment from Christopher was that I seem more comfortable with technique on my bad side than on my good side. Go figure. We worked on emphasizing the underpush on the forward crossovers and on making my backward crossovers wider and stronger.
Perimeter Stroking - So, I made the necessary fixes in terms of the number of strokes and crossovers. Now, I need more knee bend! I need to be down in my knees more going down the length of the rink. Oh! And hold my arms out in front slightly more rather than a straight line out to the sides while stroking and hold that back arm higher on the crossovers.
Backward edges - Again with the arms. If I could just remember what do to with my arms I think I'd be okay.
Next week, since it's spring break, they replaced the regularly scheduled freestyle sessions with drop in sessions (I'm still not quite sure why they do it that way but I have to pay for the drop in session where my pre-paid contracted session should be). So, I'll be skating on Friday morning instead of Thursday and we'll be having our lesson on the blue rink instead of the red rink. Anyway, I made mention of how disorienting it is to learn the choreography facing one way on the red rink and practicing it facing the other way on the blue rink so he said from now on, we'll run the program facing the same way on both rinks to avoid confusion. On Friday, we'll run the program and we'll see where we're at with it. I've actually never skated my program to music on the blue rink so it will be neat to see how that feels/sounds on the big rink!
Crossover Pattern - interesting comment from Christopher was that I seem more comfortable with technique on my bad side than on my good side. Go figure. We worked on emphasizing the underpush on the forward crossovers and on making my backward crossovers wider and stronger.
Perimeter Stroking - So, I made the necessary fixes in terms of the number of strokes and crossovers. Now, I need more knee bend! I need to be down in my knees more going down the length of the rink. Oh! And hold my arms out in front slightly more rather than a straight line out to the sides while stroking and hold that back arm higher on the crossovers.
Backward edges - Again with the arms. If I could just remember what do to with my arms I think I'd be okay.
Next week, since it's spring break, they replaced the regularly scheduled freestyle sessions with drop in sessions (I'm still not quite sure why they do it that way but I have to pay for the drop in session where my pre-paid contracted session should be). So, I'll be skating on Friday morning instead of Thursday and we'll be having our lesson on the blue rink instead of the red rink. Anyway, I made mention of how disorienting it is to learn the choreography facing one way on the red rink and practicing it facing the other way on the blue rink so he said from now on, we'll run the program facing the same way on both rinks to avoid confusion. On Friday, we'll run the program and we'll see where we're at with it. I've actually never skated my program to music on the blue rink so it will be neat to see how that feels/sounds on the big rink!
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Progress?
I feel like I will never get used to waking up this early in the morning. My body resists any attempts to get out of bed and then all it wants is coffee which I can't supply until after practice. Ugh. However, I did a lot in the one hour practice that I had and I feel like I made some progress (some being the key word).
Movez - I feel like I finally made the necessary fixes to my perimeter stroking. I did four extended strokes on outside edges down the length of the rink and did four strong crossovers at the ends. Doing only four strokes instead of six actually felt a bit better. It just felt like it flowed more. So yeah, my coach was right. He's always right! Consecutive edges improved in one regard but not in another. My forward edges felt great once I made the corrections Christopher gave me. Four lobes did the trick and actually forces me to slow the thing down. However, my backward edges were just so weak today. My initial push just had zero energy. I really hope it was just a today thing because usually my backward edges are decent. Crossover pattern got sped up but then I didn't place the transition in the correct place. Frustrating. With the waltz 8 I tried to pay attention to my arms on the first three turn and I think it went well. Finally spirals. Even though I stretched this morning, I chickened out on doing them on the ice because, frankly, I'm embarrassed of them. I'm sharing the ice with some amazing skaters and I'm the old lady who has no flexibility. I know I shouldn't care what others think of me and remember that they were beginners once too but it's still something I'm self-conscious about.
Spinz - Of course I worked on the two-foot and the one-foot spins but I was feeling adventurous and threw in a few scratch spins as well. I have not done a scratch spin since before my injury so I wanted to wait until I was stable enough to spin consistently on my left leg before I did a scratch spin. The first one out the gate was beautifully centered. I would have taken a picture of the tracing if phones were allowed on freestyle ice. Sadly, the more I did them the worse they got. But hey, it's a start.
Jumpz - Waltz jumps felt fine today so I spent more time on the salchow trying to really check that three turn going in and checking the landing coming out so the landing doesn't spin into itself. These started to feel better so I moved to toe loops and half flips. The half flips still really hurt but I only have one in my program so I can bear it. Toe loops are still toe waltzy. Bad habits are hard to break. Finally, bravery kicked in and I tried the approach to the loop jump since Christopher has hinted at me starting these again. The backward crossover entry is how I broke my leg so I think if this is a jump I'm going to do now, I need to approach it differently. So, I worked on approaching it from a right forward inside three turn. I just did the approach and didn't jump. I want to get comfortable with that at speed first before I launch myself. This is probably the most terrifying thing I've done since coming back. Trying to do the thing that broke me will be a HUGE hurdle! So, baby steps on this one.
Programz - I didn't have anyone to run my music for me so I worked on sections without the music. The part where I was struggling two weeks ago, the part after the two foot spin, feels so much better now with Christopher's fixes in place. In fact, the whole thing feels pretty good. I'm still working on placing everything where it should be but I think the timing is fine and it feels deliberate. I hate that the thing I worry about most with this is facing the right way when I exit the two-foot spin. Am I making it more difficult than it needs to be?
Once I worked on all the important stuff I spent the last ten minutes or so working on Bronze MIF, namely the five step mohawk and the power three turns. I think I'm doing them correctly but we'll look at them during my lesson on Saturday since he said he wanted to introduce me to Bronze Moves so I don't get bored. Fun stuff!
Movez - I feel like I finally made the necessary fixes to my perimeter stroking. I did four extended strokes on outside edges down the length of the rink and did four strong crossovers at the ends. Doing only four strokes instead of six actually felt a bit better. It just felt like it flowed more. So yeah, my coach was right. He's always right! Consecutive edges improved in one regard but not in another. My forward edges felt great once I made the corrections Christopher gave me. Four lobes did the trick and actually forces me to slow the thing down. However, my backward edges were just so weak today. My initial push just had zero energy. I really hope it was just a today thing because usually my backward edges are decent. Crossover pattern got sped up but then I didn't place the transition in the correct place. Frustrating. With the waltz 8 I tried to pay attention to my arms on the first three turn and I think it went well. Finally spirals. Even though I stretched this morning, I chickened out on doing them on the ice because, frankly, I'm embarrassed of them. I'm sharing the ice with some amazing skaters and I'm the old lady who has no flexibility. I know I shouldn't care what others think of me and remember that they were beginners once too but it's still something I'm self-conscious about.
Spinz - Of course I worked on the two-foot and the one-foot spins but I was feeling adventurous and threw in a few scratch spins as well. I have not done a scratch spin since before my injury so I wanted to wait until I was stable enough to spin consistently on my left leg before I did a scratch spin. The first one out the gate was beautifully centered. I would have taken a picture of the tracing if phones were allowed on freestyle ice. Sadly, the more I did them the worse they got. But hey, it's a start.
Jumpz - Waltz jumps felt fine today so I spent more time on the salchow trying to really check that three turn going in and checking the landing coming out so the landing doesn't spin into itself. These started to feel better so I moved to toe loops and half flips. The half flips still really hurt but I only have one in my program so I can bear it. Toe loops are still toe waltzy. Bad habits are hard to break. Finally, bravery kicked in and I tried the approach to the loop jump since Christopher has hinted at me starting these again. The backward crossover entry is how I broke my leg so I think if this is a jump I'm going to do now, I need to approach it differently. So, I worked on approaching it from a right forward inside three turn. I just did the approach and didn't jump. I want to get comfortable with that at speed first before I launch myself. This is probably the most terrifying thing I've done since coming back. Trying to do the thing that broke me will be a HUGE hurdle! So, baby steps on this one.
Programz - I didn't have anyone to run my music for me so I worked on sections without the music. The part where I was struggling two weeks ago, the part after the two foot spin, feels so much better now with Christopher's fixes in place. In fact, the whole thing feels pretty good. I'm still working on placing everything where it should be but I think the timing is fine and it feels deliberate. I hate that the thing I worry about most with this is facing the right way when I exit the two-foot spin. Am I making it more difficult than it needs to be?
Once I worked on all the important stuff I spent the last ten minutes or so working on Bronze MIF, namely the five step mohawk and the power three turns. I think I'm doing them correctly but we'll look at them during my lesson on Saturday since he said he wanted to introduce me to Bronze Moves so I don't get bored. Fun stuff!
Saturday, March 17, 2018
May Day Test Day!
Remember how I was excited about testing in April? Yeah, that's not going to happen. Because our club's spring show takes place on April 14th and 15th, they didn't want to host a test day on April 13th because they thought that might be a bit much. So, they moved it to Wednesday April 11th. I can take a Friday off from work to test but I cannot take a Wednesday because those are usually my busiest days at work where I'm going to meetings, teaching classes, and meeting with students. So, when Christopher told me about the change it cemented my new test date in May. I guess it's a blessing in disguise because with all the other stuff going on my personal life (ahem, buying a house), it's getting a bit overwhelming. Now, I will have an additional 4 weeks to get ready for test day and that takes some of the pressure off.
Lesson - For our lesson today, we didn't look at the program at all but instead ran the MIF test from beginning to end. Perimeter Stroking felt great. I actually remember thinking while I was doing the move that this was the best I had done it. When I was done, I skated back to Christopher thinking he was going to tell me that he noticed improvement. Imagine my disappointment when he said "Yeah, I would not have passed you on that." The problem? I did six strokes and he wants four nice long powerful strokes with extension. I did three steppy crossovers at the ends and he wants four proper crossovers with a noticeable underpush. Back to the drawing board on this one! Next up were my edges. For the forward edges, he would like four total (two lobes on each side of the line). On the backward edges, it's okay to do six total (three lobes on each side) as long as I'm consistent and have the same number of lobes on my BO edges as I do on my BI edges. He also made some corrections on my head and arm positions. We moved on to the crossover pattern and with this he wants more speed. I have spent so much time these past couple of weeks trying to get my forward crossovers the same speed as my backward crossovers that I slowed the whole thing down considerably. So now that they are more equal, I need speed. The transition was fine but because there was a student also working with her coach at the hockey circles, I didn't place it in the correct spot because I was trying to avoid a collision. Waltz 8 was improved in terms of timing, he just had corrections to make with my arms. Finally, sprials. Lucky for me, his back was turned during the first half (aka my bad side) so he didn't see the disaster but he did notice that I need to hold the move for longer at the end of each side. I'm bringing my free leg down too soon.
Overall, these are not things that would prevent me from passing the test. This is Christopher making sure things are perfect and holding me to the same standards as he does with his younger standard track students. That's what I want. I know that this first test is an "encouragement test" and if I were to test tomorrow I would easily pass but I want it to be a clean test and, most of all, I want to represent Christopher well. And for my own personal satisfaction, I will not be pleased if I get a pity pass. I want the judges to have very little to say in terms of corrections. I have worked so hard and long for this that I don't want to just pass, I want it to be a good strong pass. He also seems to not be be worried at all about the Free Skate program. If he's not worried, why the heck am I so panicked over it? What is he seeing that I'm not? I guess since this is my first program, I'm worried that it won't look good and that I'll look awkward and stiff but he seems pretty confident that I'll do well. Go figure.
Lesson - For our lesson today, we didn't look at the program at all but instead ran the MIF test from beginning to end. Perimeter Stroking felt great. I actually remember thinking while I was doing the move that this was the best I had done it. When I was done, I skated back to Christopher thinking he was going to tell me that he noticed improvement. Imagine my disappointment when he said "Yeah, I would not have passed you on that." The problem? I did six strokes and he wants four nice long powerful strokes with extension. I did three steppy crossovers at the ends and he wants four proper crossovers with a noticeable underpush. Back to the drawing board on this one! Next up were my edges. For the forward edges, he would like four total (two lobes on each side of the line). On the backward edges, it's okay to do six total (three lobes on each side) as long as I'm consistent and have the same number of lobes on my BO edges as I do on my BI edges. He also made some corrections on my head and arm positions. We moved on to the crossover pattern and with this he wants more speed. I have spent so much time these past couple of weeks trying to get my forward crossovers the same speed as my backward crossovers that I slowed the whole thing down considerably. So now that they are more equal, I need speed. The transition was fine but because there was a student also working with her coach at the hockey circles, I didn't place it in the correct spot because I was trying to avoid a collision. Waltz 8 was improved in terms of timing, he just had corrections to make with my arms. Finally, sprials. Lucky for me, his back was turned during the first half (aka my bad side) so he didn't see the disaster but he did notice that I need to hold the move for longer at the end of each side. I'm bringing my free leg down too soon.
Overall, these are not things that would prevent me from passing the test. This is Christopher making sure things are perfect and holding me to the same standards as he does with his younger standard track students. That's what I want. I know that this first test is an "encouragement test" and if I were to test tomorrow I would easily pass but I want it to be a clean test and, most of all, I want to represent Christopher well. And for my own personal satisfaction, I will not be pleased if I get a pity pass. I want the judges to have very little to say in terms of corrections. I have worked so hard and long for this that I don't want to just pass, I want it to be a good strong pass. He also seems to not be be worried at all about the Free Skate program. If he's not worried, why the heck am I so panicked over it? What is he seeing that I'm not? I guess since this is my first program, I'm worried that it won't look good and that I'll look awkward and stiff but he seems pretty confident that I'll do well. Go figure.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
RIP Friday Freestyle
Last week I was so excited about my 6:00am Friday Freestyle session because I was the only one contracted for that time and I had the whole ice to myself. I should have known the joy wouldn't last. Everything I love goes away; celebration pie from Village Inn, Potatoritos, pretty much every favorite TV show, Volkswagen Beetles. So it wasn't a big surprise when I got the email from the ice rink's office manager telling me that they cancelled my Friday session because it was a liability to have only one skater on the ice without a coach or skate mom monitor. So, I was moved to Thursday mornings for the duration of the contract. And yeah, it's not even close to private ice. It's actually pretty packed with higher-level skaters working on doubles while I'm just trying to stay out of their way. Alas.
So, I skated this morning and started with running through the entirety of my Moves test, including spirals. I spent a good chunk of time on the waltz 8 trying to get my free foot to be closer to my skating foot while maintaining the proper count. Then I worked on sections of my program. Mostly I was just focused on trying to orient myself to where to place everything on the Blue Rink. Everything is flipped around from how I learned it on the Red Rink so I'm finding it a challenge to try to place everything in the right direction to where the judges will be sitting on the Blue Rink.
In other news! My pink dress came in and it fits!!! It also oozes glitter (which I love but for some reason my husband has this whole anti-glitter campaign going on). I made sure to hug my cat right after trying it on so she could sparkle too! GLITTER FOR EVERYONE!
So, I skated this morning and started with running through the entirety of my Moves test, including spirals. I spent a good chunk of time on the waltz 8 trying to get my free foot to be closer to my skating foot while maintaining the proper count. Then I worked on sections of my program. Mostly I was just focused on trying to orient myself to where to place everything on the Blue Rink. Everything is flipped around from how I learned it on the Red Rink so I'm finding it a challenge to try to place everything in the right direction to where the judges will be sitting on the Blue Rink.
In other news! My pink dress came in and it fits!!! It also oozes glitter (which I love but for some reason my husband has this whole anti-glitter campaign going on). I made sure to hug my cat right after trying it on so she could sparkle too! GLITTER FOR EVERYONE!
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Saturday Lesson
Today was a half and half day as we started out working on the program and finished with Moves. I have to say that I look forward to my lessons each week not only because of the instruction but also because I feel so capable afterward. Empowered even! So yeah, having that guidance and being able to use it to get better as a skater works wonders on my soul :)
Programz - Straight away, I asked him to fix something that's been kind of eluding me in practice. After the half flip, I'm supposed to do a LFI mohawk - crossstep - then start the three turn sequence. I guess I remembered the choreography wrong because in my practices I had been adding an extra three turn in the opposite direction and it was really throwing me off. Thankfully, Christopher got me back on track with this and made the corrections. I was unnecessarily making it more difficult than it needed to be. Once that was corrected, we ran the program in its entirety (I didn't fall!) and he made some small corrections. Mostly, it was what he had told me last time; I'm still not making full use of the ice. Something to work on for sure. We talked a bit about testing dates and both of us agreed to shoot for the April test date but with the option to extend to May if I'm not ready. My new pink dress shipped on Friday so not having a dress is no longer an issue!
Movez - I asked him to look at my crossover pattern and my Waltz 8 because I wanted to be sure that I was indeed making improvement and not just learning different mistakes. With my crossovers, he surprisingly had nothing to say about the transition so I'm assuming I'm doing it up to standard now? I'm still going to keep working on it because, although it feels right, I'm not feeling much of the change of edge. He did have some advice on the back crossovers. He would like to see me extend that underpush more. He knows I can do the crossovers but he wants to see POWER! So, fewer crossovers but the ones I do should be strong. On to the Waltz 8, he seemed okay with them but really wants me to remember to count and not rush. Hold every part of each turn for the proper amount of time. Also, make it BIGGER and keep the free-foot closer to the skating foot. So, I have some homework. Just when I think I've got it there is always something that needs improving. I'm okay with that. Oh, and of course we weren't done because he knows how much I loathe spirals and he wasn't about to let the lesson end before making me do them. Frickin' spirals, man. Ugh. They pretty much looked exactly as they did yesterday during my practice with the left one being wonky as hell and the right one being passable at best. These need work.
Programz - Straight away, I asked him to fix something that's been kind of eluding me in practice. After the half flip, I'm supposed to do a LFI mohawk - crossstep - then start the three turn sequence. I guess I remembered the choreography wrong because in my practices I had been adding an extra three turn in the opposite direction and it was really throwing me off. Thankfully, Christopher got me back on track with this and made the corrections. I was unnecessarily making it more difficult than it needed to be. Once that was corrected, we ran the program in its entirety (I didn't fall!) and he made some small corrections. Mostly, it was what he had told me last time; I'm still not making full use of the ice. Something to work on for sure. We talked a bit about testing dates and both of us agreed to shoot for the April test date but with the option to extend to May if I'm not ready. My new pink dress shipped on Friday so not having a dress is no longer an issue!
Movez - I asked him to look at my crossover pattern and my Waltz 8 because I wanted to be sure that I was indeed making improvement and not just learning different mistakes. With my crossovers, he surprisingly had nothing to say about the transition so I'm assuming I'm doing it up to standard now? I'm still going to keep working on it because, although it feels right, I'm not feeling much of the change of edge. He did have some advice on the back crossovers. He would like to see me extend that underpush more. He knows I can do the crossovers but he wants to see POWER! So, fewer crossovers but the ones I do should be strong. On to the Waltz 8, he seemed okay with them but really wants me to remember to count and not rush. Hold every part of each turn for the proper amount of time. Also, make it BIGGER and keep the free-foot closer to the skating foot. So, I have some homework. Just when I think I've got it there is always something that needs improving. I'm okay with that. Oh, and of course we weren't done because he knows how much I loathe spirals and he wasn't about to let the lesson end before making me do them. Frickin' spirals, man. Ugh. They pretty much looked exactly as they did yesterday during my practice with the left one being wonky as hell and the right one being passable at best. These need work.
Friday, March 9, 2018
New Dress Alert!
Back in January I ordered a dress that I was hoping to use for testing. It was just a basic black dress with virtually no adornments since I wanted to keep it simple for the test. I was told it would take about three weeks until it would ship. Cool. I didn't need it right away anyway, just planning ahead for the Spring. Toward the middle of February, I still had not received a shipping confirmation so I emailed a representative from the place I ordered from, Northern Ice and Dance. She assured me that I should have it by the end of February. Fast forward to the second week of March and I have still not received a shipping confirmation. I sent another email this past Tuesday and they said they would check on it. I still have not heard back.
So...I ordered another dress. I saw this dress online through a different vendor and it seemed to fit the theme of my program more than basic black. I think it looks like a cherry blossom, fitting for a Memoirs of a Geisha routine. I called first and they said this dress was in stock in their warehouse so as soon as my credit card is processed, they will ship it out, probably later today. I'll wait another week or so before cancelling the order for the black dress because I would still like to have it. I'm just really disappointed with their customer service. So yeah, stay away from Northern Ice and Dance. 10/10 would not recommend.
Here is the new dress, though! Pretty :)
So...I ordered another dress. I saw this dress online through a different vendor and it seemed to fit the theme of my program more than basic black. I think it looks like a cherry blossom, fitting for a Memoirs of a Geisha routine. I called first and they said this dress was in stock in their warehouse so as soon as my credit card is processed, they will ship it out, probably later today. I'll wait another week or so before cancelling the order for the black dress because I would still like to have it. I'm just really disappointed with their customer service. So yeah, stay away from Northern Ice and Dance. 10/10 would not recommend.
Here is the new dress, though! Pretty :)
Private ice so nice!
The new Spring contract started this week and I have added a Friday 6:00 - 7:00am time slot onto my contract since I'm not going to APEX as frequently. You know what's nice? Having the entire rink to myself for the whole hour since nobody else is contracted for that time! It was lovely! I could practice sections of my program, work on moves, and make stupid mistakes like falling on lunges without feeling like I'm being judged by upper-level skaters. I got a lot done in one hour.
Movez - After a few warm-up laps, I ran the entirety of my MIF test. Perimeter stroking felt nice and controlled. I'm getting about 4 good long strokes (cue childish laughter here) down the length of the ice and, now that my crossovers are more controlled, I'm getting about four of them in at the ends of the rink. Consecutive edges were slow and controlled just like they should be. I think I like them quite a bit. Of course I wouldn't mind a stronger initial push on those backward edges but it's something I'll continue to work on. Forward and backward crossovers in a figure 8 were next and I paid special attention to making sure they all have the same speed and rhythm. Since nobody was sharing the ice with me, I placed it right in the center of the rink and I made it BIG. My swingroll/mohawk transition feels pretty good now that the fear is gone. I did the Waltz 8 on center ice as well and it feels really nice and swingy. Dare I say waltzy? No more problems with finding my way back to the center now that both ankles feel strong and stable. This is shaping up to be my most comfortable (and enjoyable) element on this test. Finally, the dreaded spirals. I did several passes because these are just that bad. My right spiral is just fine. I feel plenty confident with that one, although more flexibility would be nice. But my left leg spiral...I just still feel so unsure about it. It's absolutely a mental thing. So yeah, the first half of the spirals look dreadful but then the second half is decent. I'm promising myself now that this will get worked on more often, especially now that I'll be by myself and won't feel self-conscious about how bad the left ones look.
Programz (and Jumpz) - I worked on sections of the program as Christopher suggested during our last lesson. I started with just the first 20 seconds or so before I enter the back crossovers into the waltz jump. The problem here is that stupid lunge. I can get down into it just fine but my guiding skate has a tendency to fall onto an inside edge forcing me into a lunge three turn. However, if I focus on staying on a flat, my trailing leg swings wide and I'm thrown off balance. My only falls today were on the lunges. So dumb. Once I was tired of falling I moved on to the next section. This is the CCW back crossovers to the waltz jump-airplane-wavey arms-two foot spin. This section is pretty stable. I just had a bit of difficulty with orientation. I was skating on the blue rink today and it was difficult to get my spin to end facing the right direction since I'm so used to skating on the red rink. I think I got it figured out, though. If I see the Mountain Dew sign to my right, I'm facing the right way. If I see the Pepsi sign on my right, I'm facing the wrong way. If they decide to advertise other carbonated, high calorie, sugary beverages and switch the signs out, I'm screwed. Exiting the two foot spin, I start the "footwork" sequence. I made sure to hold out the landing of that half flip and I got the three turn sequence a little more polished up. What I struggle with here is expanding everything to cover more of the ice surface. Also, my salchow might be over-rotated as my landing just kind of circles in on itself. Finally, the last section. Same problem, I need to use more of the surface of the ice. I think I'm just scared of wasting time by making things bigger and then potentially not finishing on time. Being the only one in this icy ghost town, I had nobody to run my music for me. Alas.
I feel pretty confident that I could pass the Moves test once I get my left spiral under control but I feel like I'm starting all over with the Free Skate now that I'm doing a program. If I were skating the individual elements without music, I feel like I could easily pass. Skating a program is a whole different animal. Don't get me wrong, I love my music, my choreography, and the fact that I get to be artistic on the ice for the first time. I guess I'm just anxious to get Pre-Bronze over and done with.
Movez - After a few warm-up laps, I ran the entirety of my MIF test. Perimeter stroking felt nice and controlled. I'm getting about 4 good long strokes (cue childish laughter here) down the length of the ice and, now that my crossovers are more controlled, I'm getting about four of them in at the ends of the rink. Consecutive edges were slow and controlled just like they should be. I think I like them quite a bit. Of course I wouldn't mind a stronger initial push on those backward edges but it's something I'll continue to work on. Forward and backward crossovers in a figure 8 were next and I paid special attention to making sure they all have the same speed and rhythm. Since nobody was sharing the ice with me, I placed it right in the center of the rink and I made it BIG. My swingroll/mohawk transition feels pretty good now that the fear is gone. I did the Waltz 8 on center ice as well and it feels really nice and swingy. Dare I say waltzy? No more problems with finding my way back to the center now that both ankles feel strong and stable. This is shaping up to be my most comfortable (and enjoyable) element on this test. Finally, the dreaded spirals. I did several passes because these are just that bad. My right spiral is just fine. I feel plenty confident with that one, although more flexibility would be nice. But my left leg spiral...I just still feel so unsure about it. It's absolutely a mental thing. So yeah, the first half of the spirals look dreadful but then the second half is decent. I'm promising myself now that this will get worked on more often, especially now that I'll be by myself and won't feel self-conscious about how bad the left ones look.
Programz (and Jumpz) - I worked on sections of the program as Christopher suggested during our last lesson. I started with just the first 20 seconds or so before I enter the back crossovers into the waltz jump. The problem here is that stupid lunge. I can get down into it just fine but my guiding skate has a tendency to fall onto an inside edge forcing me into a lunge three turn. However, if I focus on staying on a flat, my trailing leg swings wide and I'm thrown off balance. My only falls today were on the lunges. So dumb. Once I was tired of falling I moved on to the next section. This is the CCW back crossovers to the waltz jump-airplane-wavey arms-two foot spin. This section is pretty stable. I just had a bit of difficulty with orientation. I was skating on the blue rink today and it was difficult to get my spin to end facing the right direction since I'm so used to skating on the red rink. I think I got it figured out, though. If I see the Mountain Dew sign to my right, I'm facing the right way. If I see the Pepsi sign on my right, I'm facing the wrong way. If they decide to advertise other carbonated, high calorie, sugary beverages and switch the signs out, I'm screwed. Exiting the two foot spin, I start the "footwork" sequence. I made sure to hold out the landing of that half flip and I got the three turn sequence a little more polished up. What I struggle with here is expanding everything to cover more of the ice surface. Also, my salchow might be over-rotated as my landing just kind of circles in on itself. Finally, the last section. Same problem, I need to use more of the surface of the ice. I think I'm just scared of wasting time by making things bigger and then potentially not finishing on time. Being the only one in this icy ghost town, I had nobody to run my music for me. Alas.
I feel pretty confident that I could pass the Moves test once I get my left spiral under control but I feel like I'm starting all over with the Free Skate now that I'm doing a program. If I were skating the individual elements without music, I feel like I could easily pass. Skating a program is a whole different animal. Don't get me wrong, I love my music, my choreography, and the fact that I get to be artistic on the ice for the first time. I guess I'm just anxious to get Pre-Bronze over and done with.
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Program run-through
Ugh. So, ok...I didn't practice at all this week. I have a good excuse, though! We are in the process of buying a house and things have just been a little crazy with phone calls and inspections and whatnot. In fact, I warned Christopher that things will probably be a little crazy for the next few weeks until after we move. I suspect this means that I might have to put off testing until May but, for now, I'm going to try to keep that April 13th test date. Because goals.
Before we ran through the program he hinted at maybe putting a fourth jump into the program (perhaps a toe loop). He was looking at the rule book and if I ever want to compete with this program it would need one more jump. He suspected he could possibly fit it in during the last 30 seconds or so of the program so he had me just run that without the music so he could see where it would fit best. I was a hot mess. All over the place! I skated back to him and he simply said "maybe we won't put a fourth jump in." Wise call, Christopher. Wise call. I mean, hey, I'm not opposed to adding one once I get this program solid but for now I'm just trying to keep this thing from looking like a wonky freak show. Give me time :)
So, we ran the program for the first time from beginning to end with the music and, although it was sloppy as all hell, it got done and I didn't fall. I was so concerned about fitting all of the elements in, I made no attempt to connect with the music. I suspect that will come in time. His main criticisms were that I really need to hold those landings (even the half flip!) and that I need to work on that entry to the one foot spin at the end. I've been a musician my whole life and I was always taught to extend the phrase. Same thing applies to landings. Hold them! Finish them out and don't be in such a rush to move on to the next thing or it will seem unfinished. With the one foot spin entry, I've become so accustomed to entering from the wind-up from back crossovers that my body just refuses to do anything else. It's really just a matter of retraining my brain and breaking the muscle memory. It's so simple too! I mean it's the same entry I use for the two foot spin except I just pick up my right leg to make it a one foot spin.
So, overall, it needs polish and fluidity. Everything needs to look like it's being done with purpose instead of me just stumbling through to the next thing. It will get there. One thing he did mention at the end of my lesson that gave me feels was that he noticed how much more confidently I'm skating lately! That really means a lot because recovering from an injury while doing the thing that caused the injury takes moxie! I've been working hard at getting back to where I was pre-break and it has been no easy feat! I'm glad he has noticed :)
Before we ran through the program he hinted at maybe putting a fourth jump into the program (perhaps a toe loop). He was looking at the rule book and if I ever want to compete with this program it would need one more jump. He suspected he could possibly fit it in during the last 30 seconds or so of the program so he had me just run that without the music so he could see where it would fit best. I was a hot mess. All over the place! I skated back to him and he simply said "maybe we won't put a fourth jump in." Wise call, Christopher. Wise call. I mean, hey, I'm not opposed to adding one once I get this program solid but for now I'm just trying to keep this thing from looking like a wonky freak show. Give me time :)
So, we ran the program for the first time from beginning to end with the music and, although it was sloppy as all hell, it got done and I didn't fall. I was so concerned about fitting all of the elements in, I made no attempt to connect with the music. I suspect that will come in time. His main criticisms were that I really need to hold those landings (even the half flip!) and that I need to work on that entry to the one foot spin at the end. I've been a musician my whole life and I was always taught to extend the phrase. Same thing applies to landings. Hold them! Finish them out and don't be in such a rush to move on to the next thing or it will seem unfinished. With the one foot spin entry, I've become so accustomed to entering from the wind-up from back crossovers that my body just refuses to do anything else. It's really just a matter of retraining my brain and breaking the muscle memory. It's so simple too! I mean it's the same entry I use for the two foot spin except I just pick up my right leg to make it a one foot spin.
So, overall, it needs polish and fluidity. Everything needs to look like it's being done with purpose instead of me just stumbling through to the next thing. It will get there. One thing he did mention at the end of my lesson that gave me feels was that he noticed how much more confidently I'm skating lately! That really means a lot because recovering from an injury while doing the thing that caused the injury takes moxie! I've been working hard at getting back to where I was pre-break and it has been no easy feat! I'm glad he has noticed :)
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