Crisis Averted

Ok, first off, the music time limit crisis is over. I have a new cut of the music that brings it down to less than the 1:40 limit so yay! My coach assured me that we will be fine :)

Second, I emailed Brad Griffies asking him which color crystals would work best with the new dress. I really didn't expect an answer but he wrote me back! Neat! So now I have some expert opinions about stoning the new dress once it gets here (the ship date is December 21st). His first suggestion is that, if I really want the sparkle, I should go with the classic crystal AB. However, for a more subtle sparkle (which is what I really want) he likes to use jet hematite on the black fabric and either a black diamond or a crystal silver night on the steel fabric. I'm glad he said this because that confirms what I was thinking in the first place so that is probably what I'll go with then. He also suggested that, once the dress arrives, I can go to a craft store like Michael's and I can buy some small packs of Swarovskis in these colors and place them on the dress to see what looks best before I commit to ordering 6 gross of stones just to discover that I don't like the way it looks. That's a good idea. Ugh, let's just hope I don't screw it all up. That would be a very expensive mistake.

Third, I went to APEX last night for some practice but it was super busy. Really, it was difficult to get anything done. I figured it would be busy (it usually always is) but I thought I would at least have room to work on small jumps from a stand-still or some spins. Alas, that was not the case. I ended up staying 45 minutes and didn't really have any victories in terms of progress. One thing that I have noticed lately is, since I've started practicing the flip jump in a small area and really slow, the fear is virtually gone now. However, I guess it's a give and take type thing because now my problem is the technique is way worse. I'm spending way too much time turning on the launching toepick and not enough time actually in the air. It's a garbage jump now but at least I'm not scared. I feel like I will never get this together properly.

Morning Panic

We started our Winter Contract this morning and I'm pretty much on the same schedule as the Fall Contract (Tuesday and Saturday mornings). It was a productive practice and I was able to improve the opening to the new program. I've decided that the three jump sequence (toe loop-side toe hop-waltz jump) will work best with the music and I can get there from the opening steps with just one forward cross roll! So, now I have a pretty solid opening to my program that I'm excited to show to Christopher on Saturday. Hopefully he's on board.

I also ran some field moves, spirals, miscellaneous jumps including the flip, and one (just one) spin. I simply ran out of time to mess with spins today and I'm regretting not managing my time on the ice better. Alas.

On the way home from the rink, I was at a red light thinking about how awesome this program is going to be when it hit me! Holy S&it...Christopher cut this music using the Bronze free skate time limit of 1:50. When I skate this at sectionals at the pre-bronze level with a 1:40 time limit, I'm going to get a deduction from the judges for going over the time limit!!!! ARGHGHGHGH! (*cue panic*)

So, my options are:

1). Panic and flail (the easiest of the options but not the most productive)

2). Skate the Geisha program for sectionals while still working on the Star Wars program for a later date (maybe)

3). "Move up" to Bronze for sectionals but then I will also have to skate Bronze compulsories and I just can't even (but hello extra move up points!)

4). Have the music re-cut or sped up slightly (it's only 2 seconds over).

So much anxiety about this now!

Loop-loop combo progress

The Birth of a Program

Ok, first, Happy post-Thanksgiving! We are in between contracts and there was a week of holiday drop-ins which really limited my ice time so practicing was scarce. Oh yeah, and then add in the week when I was dying of plague and I was really a hot mess on the ice on Wednesday for our lesson. To be expected, I suppose.

Lessonz: We scheduled our lesson this past Wednesday (the day before turkeyz) because the rink was closed over the weekend for the holiday. I know he had to squeeze several of us in on this one session so I wasn't sure where in that hour I would get to work with him. Since I was the first to arrive, I was the first up. Needless to say, I got one lap of warm-up and then we got right to work. Since I was using it as a warm-up, we started with the power perimeter stroking. He fixed my arms going forward and wants me to do a more deliberate under-push on the back strokes. Otherwise, I think they might be in okay shape. I feel like I get good flow with these so now I just need to work on the technical details. Next up were my power 3-turns. It was a really busy session so I had to break the pattern a few times but I think they might be okay as well (at least I can't remember anything that he said that required major fixing on my part). That took up half of our lesson and we still needed to get started on the beginnings of the Star Wars program. He finally sent me a cut of the music a couple of days prior to our lesson and holy smokes, it's speedy! I mean, it all sounds like fun in your head and then you hear it over the speakers in the rink and it's like "oh yeah, I need to, like, actually skate to this now!" Yikes! Time was limited so we didn't get too much done but we were able to work out some kinks with the spiral sequence and choreograph the first 15 seconds. Thankfully, he was amenable to me recording him doing the opening moves so I was able to study it and practice at home in my living room over the holiday weekend. He also sent me home to think about what I want my opening jump(s) to be so I spent a lot of time analyzing the music and how much time I will have to get into position for jumping and, although the music really calls for a three jump sequence (I thought a toe loop-side toe hop-waltz would work well), I'm not really sure if I'll have time to get into position for that. So now I'm thinking a flip-toe loop combo (I think future Mandi is really going to hate me for this). I'll work on both tomorrow when I have some time to play around with things. Doing floor jumps at home makes me believe I will have time for the three jump sequence but in reality, I may only have time for two unless I get super speedy overnight (which isn't likely to happen). Since I'll be competing with this before I use it for testing, there is a bit more flexibility in terms of combos and sequences so I want to do as much as possible to get those pointz! If I'm able to fit the three jump sequence in at the beginning, that leaves room for the loop-loop combo I've been working on later in the program. I shot video of my progress on this a month or so ago. I'll see if I can find it to post it here. Mostly, I think it's in good shape but I still need to work on crossing my leg in front on the second of the two jumps. The first jump is properly crossed, the second one is flamingo'd. Oy, with the flamingos already!

So.Much.Work.To.Do!

Edit to add: I just posted the loop-loop combo video in a separate post because blogger is rude and wouldn't let me tag it onto this one. Boo, Blogger.

Leaving that Geisha life Behind

I've been sick all week and skipped all of my regular practice sessions as a result. It was just a cold but it knocked me on my ass. I was feeling slightly better enough to have a lesson today but was pretty worried about the state of my skating since I haven't been to the rink to work on anything since the last time we had a lesson. This should be interesting.

Lessonz: Christopher got on the ice earlier than our scheduled lesson time so I didn't feel like I had a lot of time to warm up properly. Usually, I do about 15 minutes of moves and 10 minutes of jumps/spins before our lesson but today I only had about 10 minutes before he was there ready to start our lesson. Cool. I'm adaptable. He asked what I wanted to work on today and I said "Anything but spins please" because I already felt like my head was spinning from the sick. So, of course, what do we start with? SPINS! I just kept hoping that I could keep everything from coming up all over the ice. Ugh. Per usual, we worked almost exclusively on the entry. He gave me an exercise where I do spin entries from a standstill all the way down the blue line. That's enough to make me hurl on a good day so I had to work extra hard to keep it from coming up today. After that torture, we talked a bit about Bronze Free Skate planning. Last week, he asked me to think about music for Bronze and now that things have been decided I am happy to announce the new program! I'll be skating to "Rey's Theme" from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I found a really pretty violin cover of it and it has a little bit more speed to it than I'm used to which is nice because it will get me to skate with a little bit more....force (eh?).

Programz: So, we didn't do much today since the music hasn't been cut yet but we played around with some things. He had me do a spiral sequence that includes a RFO spiral with a LFI mohawk into a LBO spiral where I grab my right free leg with my left hand (I'm not sure my body bends that way yet so it looks like more stretching is in my future). We also messed around with the footwork sequence. He asked me how I felt about twizzles and I was all "hells yeah, let's do some twizzles!" I've always wanted to learn twizzles! It looks like he wants twizzles in both directions so we worked on that for a bit. Later, when I was practicing, I noticed that the LFI twizzles are easier than the RFI twizzles which is weird because isn't that supposed to be my bad side? Anyway, these are fun and tricky but I'm excited to work on them! We also played around with some chained 3-turns and alternating mohawks. I asked him what his intentions are for this program in regards to a time frame. Like, am I keeping the Geisha program for sectionals and then testing the Star Wars program after? Nope! Looks like I'm debuting this beast at sectionals in March! So, not a lot of time to get it together but it's going to be fun. I imagine there will be a flip jump thrown in there as well as the sit spin we've been working on. Yikes!

Dressz: I also have a dress picked out for this new program! It's this Brad Griffies dress but with black over grey instead of black over red (to represent light side vs. dark side). I'm ordering it plain and will try my hand at stoning it myself. I'm thinking jet hematite crystals for the grey portion of the dress and some AB clear crystals for the black part (to represent stars). I think when it's done, it's pretty much going to look like the Death Star, lol. Wish me luck!

Hey, look at that! Flip jumps!

Lesson this morning! With my last couple of practices, I've been focusing on starting small with the flip jumps so I was ready to show Christopher some flips without hesitation. I've been doing them pretty much from a standstill on just a small patch of ice and I've just been drilling them over and over. I don't know if the technique has improved too much but the fear and hesitation is certainly a lot less than it was. So, before Christopher got on the ice this morning, I made sure to do at least 5 little flips as a warm up.

Lessonz: When he got on the ice, I was working on the Five Step Mohawks so we started with that. It's a good thing too, because I really feel like I'm starting to overthink (and consequently ruin) these. His main criticisms were that I need to make sure I stay on the axis, don't start the next lobe too soon, and to have a much deeper knee bend on that last step. We did a few more before moving on to the Power 3 Turns. I think these have a more deliberate flow now but they are still lacking power. I feel like, with these, I'm only improving one thing at a time. For example, I feel like I'm doing better at staying true to the axis but then I don't get on the inside edge before the crossover. Someday, I'll get it together. Finally, we worked on flip jumps. We did many. I'm consistently landing them on one foot which is nice and the hesitation is pretty much gone but I still need a lot of work on these. They are far from where they need to be. Today, we mostly worked on getting the free leg in the proper position (aka getting it crossed in front like I do in the loop jump). Progress is slow but it is still progress!

At one point I stabbed myself in the leg with my blade. I covertly checked my pants to be sure there wasn't a hole in them (Hey, skating pants are expensive!). I didn't care so much if I was bleeding, I just didn't want any holes. Priorities. Anyway, I have a nice little bruise on my right leg now as evidence that I'm willing to bleed out just so I can get a nice flip jump.

Brain vs. Body

This morning during practice:

Brain: Okay, time to work on those flip jumps!
Body: Cool. I'm ready! Let's do this!
Brain: Well, before we can begin, let's think of all the ways we can get hurt while doing this.
Body: Really? No, that's stupid. I got this.
Brain: Did you know that 90% of figure skating accidents happen while attempting flip jumps?
Body: I'm pretty sure that's fake news. Shut up and let me jump.
Brain: What kind of coffee do you think we should get from Starbucks after practice? They have red cups now and I hear their toasted white mocha tastes like a Christmas cookie.
Body: Oh.My.God...SHUT UP!

Five minutes later, finally working on those flip jumps: 

Brain: Are you sure your foot is supposed to pick in right there? Shouldn't it be...somewhere else?
Body: Look, I've done this before. I know what I'm doing. Trust me.
Brain: I mean, okay. But remember the last time I trusted you and you broke like two of our bones?
Body: That was a while ago. We're smarter now. Get ready...

Sets up for jump, does mohawk, picks in...

Brain: WAAAAAIT!!!!!!
Body: *aborts jump* What now?
Brain: Hi :)

Sitz and Flipz

With all the extra stuff I've been doing lately like stretching and working on the flexibility in my ankle, I'm finally seeing some noticeable improvements. One of the most obvious signs of improvement is that I'm just more comfortable on the ice overall. When my joints are stiff, I don't feel as though I have much control over anything but now I feel more pliable and able to save a landing or control a spin slightly better. I feel stronger and it's nice :)

Lessonz: Since Christopher saw my sit spin video, that's what he wanted to start with. I'm still not holding that LFO entry edge long enough and, even though the spin in the video was centered, most of the ones I do still travel. So, back to the blue line! Things to remember include keeping my left arm out in front, keeping my free leg out behind me as long as possible instead of swinging it around, and hold hold hold that entry edge. Doing a sit spin from a stand still is a lot more difficult than from the wind-up. Ugh. So much work to do on this! It sounds like he wants to get it to the point that we can add it to the Geisha program for Midwestern Sectionals. So, yeah, I'll be spending a lot of time on this for sure. We moved on to the flip jump. He asked to see one and I was able to do one that was decent (and by decent I mean it was at least landed on one foot). When I skated back to him he said "that's a lot better than what I'm used to seeing" (thanks?). There is still a lot of work to be done on this, though. He got the iPad out and did some Dartfish video and my free leg is so high right before I pick in! We worked on getting rid of that mule kick because not only does it look atrocious but it actually prevents me from having control over the jump. Ideally, the pick-in technique I use for the half flip should be the same as for the full flip. Again, I'm making things more difficult than they need to be. We also worked on a better check after the mohawk so that's another thing to keep in mind when I practice. We talked briefly about jumps for Sectionals and he mentioned a flip combo of some sort (yikes). I have until March so if I really put the time in and practice with a purpose I think it's an achievable goal.

Sit spin (kinda)

This is from earlier this week. I'm getting the rotations now and my back is straight so yay for progress. Now...to get lower ;)