Attemption

Yeah, attemption. It's like an attempt at redemption. I can make up words if I want to...I'm a librarian, dammit. :)

I've been doing a bunch of loops at home on the floor and not only have I been landing them, but a few were slightly over-rotated by about a 1/4 turn. I felt like I was ready to maybe try them for real on the ice. This isn't a matter of being able to land the jump, this is purely a psychological thing. Before breaking my leg on this jump 10 months ago, it was the one jump I was the most confident in. I was landing it each time and was just working the kinks out on some of the technique with my freeleg. I knew this particular jump would be my biggest hurdle after coming back from my injury and I wasn't wrong. I made some attempts at the loop today and I chickened out on each one. The closest I got was by putting it in combination with a waltz jump and even then I two-footed the landing. Why is doing it on the floor so much easier? I really want to get this back on my own without the use of a harness so I'll keep plugging away at it. This is, by far, the scariest thing I've attempted after coming back. I'm terrified of breaking again. The way I see it, though, it's like that first fall. Once it finally happens, I can move on and skate with confidence. It's just a matter of when at this point. I'm at least trying and I feel kind of proud of myself for that. I will conquer this jump. I will not let it conquer me!

Outside of the the loop attempts, I worked quite a bit on Bronze MIF:

Perimeter Power Stroking - I worked on trying to even things out a bit by making sure I'm doing four forward and four backward. Fitting in four forward power strokes was really no different than the perimeter stroking from Pre-Bronze, I'm just adding a crossover in between the strokes and extending things out more. The backwards ones, on the other hand, were more difficult. I need to makes these strokes bigger otherwise I tend to add more than the required four. I also worked a bit on the end pattern to make sure it was correct and that it flowed nicely.

Power Three Turns - I discovered that the quicker I go, the easier it is but stepping forward after the crossover at speed is pretty scary so that's the trade off. Once I get more comfortable, these will be awesome. I'm just not sure what to do at the end of the rink when I'm switching sides. I don't see any kind of specific end pattern on the judging form so I'm not sure how best to skate this so that it flows well. That will be a question for Christopher.

Alternating Backward Crossovers to BO edges - Didn't get worked on because it was a bit of a crowded session and it felt dangerous for that reason.

Forward Circle 8 - Again with the LFO edge. No matter how many times I work on it, it's just not getting better. I really don't know what to do at this point. The other three circles are just fine.

Five Step Mohawk - This is my favorite of the bronze moves. It makes me feel capable. Like, if I can't do anything else, at least I can do this. I'm getting five lobes down the length of the rink. I just need to work on bending my knees more.

I threw some spins in there as well. I am determined to spend some time on the backspin each time I get on the ice. The sit spin is a disaster because my left ankle is so stiff. I can barely bend my knee on that leg much less sit so this is going to be a big project. I need to improve my dorsiflexion on that  ankle or it's never going to happen. I can't afford physical therapy so I'll just have to come up with some exercises on my own or enlist the help of my good friend YouTube.