This week is the first week of the new summer contract and I have my lessons on Thursdays now. I'm liking this new cohort of Thursday morning skaters. It's a nice mix of levels including two other adults besides myself! Don't get me wrong, I really don't mind skating with upper level skaters (if anything I get in some good practice with dodging techniques) but there are times when I feel inadequate compared to them. Skating with other adults, even if it's only a couple of them, makes me feel more...capable. Like I belong and stuff.
Warm up: Before Christopher got on the ice I warmed up, did some spins, but mostly worked on jumps and the Circle 8. Today's theme was overcoming physical and mental barriers. I wanted to show him that I have it in me to get over some of the things I'm struggling most with, namely the LFO portion of the circle 8 (physical) and the loop jump (mental). During my last practice I feel like I made some headway with the loop. I was at least able to attempt it (which in itself is a huge first step) and was even able to land a few that were two footed. This morning was sort of a repeat of that until I did one in combo with a waltz jump and landed it ON ONE FOOT! I wasn't able to repeat it and didn't want to push my luck so I moved on to the circle 8. But guys, I was thrilled!
Lesson: Once he got on the ice, I told Christopher about today's theme so we went right into the loop jump. I told him that entering from back crossovers may not be an option for me anymore. If I do this jump, it's going to have to be from a RFI three turn. So, we worked it out by the boards with me doing the three turn, keeping the free leg crossed, and doing a small hop. Then we took it to open ice...and IT HAPPENED! It was definitely more of a loop hop than a loop jump but I broke through the fear barrier and got it done! As my coach said, "baby steps." We crossed the biggest hurdle, now we can spend some time working on technique. So, of course, the dreaded backspin was reintroduced into the line up. I have never been good at this spin. I think it's because I have a tendency to work on it for a solid minute or so, get frustrated, and then move on to other things. So, I'm not putting in the time. Christopher suggested not focusing so much on time but rather trying to work on it until I get one solid revolution in a crossed leg position then work on it some more until I get two and so on. Again, baby steps and time.
And then he really threw me for a loop (eh?) when he asked me how my flips look. Like, what? I haven't even thought about the flip jump since almost a year ago. I really wasn't expecting this. So, again, we worked it out by the boards and he had me do an exercise where I do two half flips in succession making sure my free leg is in the "h" position. This is tough. But now I have the flip to worry about in addition to the loop. Joy.
On to the Circle 8. He showed me a neat trick to make my circles the proper size for my height. If you stand in the center of your 8 and extend your arm out to the side and look at where the ice meets your fingertips, that's how big your circle should be. Cool. As predicted, he seemed okay with my circles except for the LFO. So we worked a bit on free leg position and balance, keeping the arms where they should be and facing outside the circle slightly. Now that he has fixed my upper body position, it's clear to me that the problem is my edge. It's an either/or kind of thing. I'm either on too deep of an edge or too shallow of an edge. I need to find a nice in between :)
So, yeah. I made strides today. I did scary things and I didn't die or break any bones. I feel like this is a turning point :)
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