Skating Goals for 2019

It's going to be 2019 soon so I wanted to recap the year, check up on goals, and set some new ones for the new year. This year had ups and downs but overall I think I came out on top. Earlier today, I was thinking about how much work I put in this year to recover. It's been 11 months since I made my official return to the ice (this is "official" because it includes lessons and contract ice rather than just the "feeling things out" public sessions I was going to). I've come a long way and I'm SUPER proud of myself! I got a lot done in those 11 months and, to be honest, I think I'm a much better skater now than I was before I broke my leg. Of course, it helps that I have a very patient coach and a husband who supports me in all ways (including driving to the rink to bring me pants when I rip a hole in the crotch of my other ones!).

So, let's talk about my 2018 goals before I start yapping about new ones. I had two official goals and one bonus goal. The first goal was to test my Pre-Bronze MIF and Free Skate. I tested in May and, although there were hiccups and I was hella nervous, I passed and it was a great learning experience. This particular goal is much older, though. I actually set this goal in 2005 when I first started skating down in Texas. Something always came up (moving to Colorado, new job, new rink) and then I left skating for a bit to finish school. So, this was something that I really felt was unfinished business. I really wanted to get it out of the way so I could finally move forward. The second goal was to start learning Bronze MIF (at the time, I was still unsure whether or not jumping would be in my future so I left the Bronze Free Skate out). This goal was also accomplished. I have been devoting about half of my ice time to Bronze moves and I think they are almost testable. My bonus goal was to possibly learn the first three ice dances (again, I didn't think jumping was in my future so I was thinking of a back up plan). I didn't even touch this one because obviously, I'm a freestyle skater at heart and I need to JUMP! So, overall, a success in term of goals achieved! YAY! That brings us to...

Skating Goals for 2019!

Goal 1: Pass Bronze MIF and Free Skate - I'm not really sure when in 2019 I'll do this but it will more than likely be after Midwestern Sectionals in March. Maybe May maybe June but it will get done before the summer is finished.

Goal 2: Start preparing for Silver MIF and Free Skate - Silver Moves is going to be rough so I know this is going to take a while. That's why I'm just leaving it as a learning goal that will be ongoing and not a goal that I plan to finish in a set time frame.

Goal 3: Compete - I would like to skate in at least two but maybe three competitions in 2019. I already know I'll be at Sectionals and I'll probably do the Colorado Springs Invitational again but my dress is so pretty and I'm working so hard on this program that I feel like I owe it to my coach (and Brad Griffies) to showcase "Rey's Theme" quite a bit this year. Please note that this goal says nothing about winning. I'm not competing to win (although winning is nice when it happens). I just want to skate my best and be proud of what I'm able to do. :)

Fitness Goal - Yeah, I'm adding a fitness goal in here as well! My flexibility typically sucks but over the past few months I've seen actual improvements with my skating due to all of the stretching I've been doing. I'm more confident on the ice, falls hurt less, and skills are easier. So, I'm going to take it a step further and continue the stretching until I have achieved full splits (forward and straddle). Ugh, my thighs hurt just thinking about it!

Anyway, Happy New Year to all two of you who read this blog, lol :)

Done!

I haven't been updating lately but I've actually been spending quite a bit of time on the ice. I'm on vacation from work for the next two weeks which means I have free time in the middle of the day so I can actually skate on some of those mid-afternoon adult freestyle sessions. It's nice skating with people my own age. I miss adult sessions.

I've been working hard trying to get this program up to speed. I have all of the elements and my spins have improved a bit but now I have the issue of keeping up with the music. I ran the whole thing the other day with the music and I struggled to keep up. I think I just need to gain some confidence. With confidence comes speed! Right? RIGHT??!!!

Lessonz - Lesson today and our goal was to finish up the choreography. We got the footwork sequence, final jump (toe loop), and final spin (attitude)! Good thing I've been practicing my twizzles because he threw a 1 1/2 rotation RFI twizzle in there. Up to this point, I've just been practicing the 1 rotation twizzle so it took me a while after our lesson to add that extra half rotation in. But I did! And it's fun! So the footwork sequence is lovely and includes chasses, swingrolls, mohawk-crossover, ballet jump, a twizzle, and a neat backward glide pseudo-hydroblade looking move. Final toe loop, final spin, a lunge, and ending position and WE'RE DONE! Now I just have to practice the hell out of this. I've got 10 weeks and it's all starting to feel pretty real.

Dressz - On Christmas Eve, my Brad Griffies dress was delivered to my door step! It's here and it fits perfectly! Now I just need to order all of the crystals and get it stoned :)

Spinny the Pooh and Eeyore thoughts

No amount of coffee can make getting up this early okay. Ever. I really wish there were adult only freestyle sessions during the evening hours when us regular folk get off work. I will never stop complaining about skating this early. It's pretty awful. I'm so not a morning person. Blegh.

Movez - I did the things and they were alright. My BX-BO Edges were particularly good today as was my Circle 8. What didn't feel so awesome is my bad side on the Power 3-Turns. They felt overly twisty and I was scared I was going to twist an ankle or something. The good side doesn't feel this way. I'm sure the answer to this is to work on it more. Nobody ever likes to work on their bad side and I am no exception. I need to change that. Five Step Mohawks and Power Stroking felt okay too.

Spinz - My spins were really nice today! My first spin right out the gate was perfectly centered so I did another that was also centered. I made a mental note to myself that today must be a good spin day and to take advantage of this rare moment. So I did a lot of sit spins and even tried some camel spins. Lately, I've been feeling really good about my sit spins so I decided to record myself to see how much progress I've made and I was so disappointed when I played it back and it actually wasn't as low as I thought. I guess the good feeling isn't so much that I'm getting lower but that I'm just getting more comfortable doing it. I guess that's a sliver of success and I should be just be happy with that...but I'm not. Sigh.

Jumpz - I ran through all of my program jumps in isolation and then worked a bit on the stag jump and getting the landing correct before I worked on the program. I think I have the gist of it now. Doing them at home on the floor helps. I've discovered that if I focus on my arms rather than my legs I can eek out a decent stag jump (odd, I know). I really wish they were more dramatic though, but maybe that just comes with time.

Programz - Again with the chunks. I don't think I have actually run the whole thing in its entirety yet and that has me worried. I'm just having a hard time connecting things. Like, I have the choreography down so I know what comes next but just can't run the whole thing without needing to stop to fix major problems. There is so much packed into this program and I'm worried about speed, elements, grace, and strength and my poor anxious brain is feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. I'm waiting for that moment where everything just "clicks" and I can blast through this with confidence. Until then, I'll just keep plugging away at it.

I just read all of this back and this whole post just feels kind of depressing. I'm sorry about that. Maybe I'm just frustrated. We all have good days and bad days and I suppose today is somewhere in between. It's just kind of meh. It's all going to get better though. I know it will! This is part of the learning process. But, let me leave on a high note. My leg didn't hurt too much today even with the stags and the sits. My edges feel more secure and I'm confident enough to skate with a bit more speed. Progress is being made! I guess sometimes I need to reflect back on how far I've come rather than obsess about how far I have yet to go.

Saturday Freestyle Madness

No lesson today but that allowed me some time to focus on improving program elements and getting faster. Saturday morning freestyle sessions have become a bit more crowded but I was still able to make things work. Nothing special to report back on except that my sit spins have been feeling better and better each time I practice. I hope that lasts! I also worked on scratch spins because I'm assuming that will be my final spin once the choreography is finished.

Sectionalz - The announcement for sectionals is finally up which means I can now register for the competition! I'll wait until after the holidays, though, because Christmas is eating up a lot of my monies. Aghghg.....but this is exciting! I just hope I can get this program up to snuff in time. I've got like, what? Two and a half more months? That's really not a lot of time!

Testingz - I know I said I wouldn't ever do this again because it was very stressful last time but I'm seriously considering taking both my Bronze MIF and Free Skate tests on the same day. It just makes sense in terms of scheduling. Tests are always on a Friday and, if I take both on the same day, then I only need one day off of work instead of two. Considering this, maybe I'll take my tests during the May test session instead of taking the MIF in February and the Free Skate in May. As an additional bonus, I'll be done with sectionals so I will have already skated my Star Wars program in front of an audience and I'll still have time to work out any kinks, if necessary, to make it test worthy. And then I think I'll stay in Bronze for a while. I feel like Silver MIF is going to be the death of me so I'm in no rush to go there yet and I'll probably need a couple of years to get it good enough for testing. I don't think I'll feel like a "real" figure skater until I pass Silver because it's a tough test. So, yeah, I'm okay spending as much time as I need to make sure I pass it on the first try.

Earn that Latte!

I pretty much always treat myself to Starbucks after my Tuesday morning practices but I told myself today that I would upgrade to a triple venti instead of my usual grande if I did especially well. I feel like I earned it! I worked hard today! Plus getting out of bed was half the battle. I was really cozy and could have lived there for awhile if given the chance. That alone deserves a reward.

Movez - I ran through the whole thing today and then spent some time doing a couple of the patterns over again because I didn't like the way they felt the first time. Perimeter Stroking felt awesome! I feel like it had flow and a smidge more power than I usually have. Neat! Power Three Turns felt pretty good as well, I was a little toe heavy on these this morning so there was some scratching but overall they felt controlled and smooth. I did the BX-BO Edges twice because I didn't feel stable the first time through. This isn't usually an issue and I'm not sure why it was today but the second go around was better so maybe it was a fluke. Circle 8 was also done twice, not because I wanted a do-over but because it felt so good that I wanted to do it again. Just a few months ago I was lamenting that I would never be able to do this move with my bum ankle and now look, I'm doing it twice FOR FUNSIES! Progress! Finally, the Five Step Mohawks got done twice because they didn't feel as clean as they usually are. These were just okay today, but not bad :)

Spinz & Jumpz - I spent just a few minutes running through my program jumps and spins before working on the thing as a whole. Yep, flip is still MIA. Ridiculous. Loop-loops were okay but I wish I had a little more power on the second loop. I did some waltz jumps, half flips, toe loops, salchows, and stag jumps to round it out before moving on to spins. Ok, the stag jump was a mess today. The takeoff and midair positions are fine but for some reason my body wants to keep landing this on the wrong foot. So frustrating. When I'm practicing these at home on the floor, this isn't a problem. I'm landing on the left foot every time. But once I take it to the ice, my brain goes full on derp-mode. I'll just keep plugging away at it. It's still new. Moving on to spins, I had a couple that were perfectly centered for once. I was so excited I wanted to take a picture of the tracings but didn't feel like getting my phone. So I gazed in admiration for a second then moved on. I had one really good sit spin that was right on the rocker and felt effortless. I even felt like I got down farther in position too!

Programz - I took it in chunks so I could focus on one section at a time.  The good news is that I didn't have to stop at any point to remember what comes next. Yay for memory! I did things pretty slowly to make sure I was getting everything the way it's supposed to be. The Ina Bauer into the sit spin actually worked today! I did it a few times because it's fun! The bad news is that I didn't run my program with the music because the other skaters were rehearsing for the Christmas show that's happening this Friday. My program can wait and they looked too cute to interrupt.

Hello, Ina!

Lesson today! I think we are now over the halfway mark in terms of the amount of choreography we have so I'm feeling pretty good. We still need the footwork sequence, one more jump, and another spin. I'm hoping during our next lesson we can get that last remaining bit done because then the Christmas drop-in schedule starts and I'm not sure when we'll be able to have a lesson. Stupid holidays ruining my routines :)

Lessonz - Okay, so we started with a review of what we already have and he filled in some of the gaps in my memory from the week previous. I felt super accomplished when he said "I can already tell you are skating faster." Yay! I have exceeded "adult speed"! It's actually noticeable! That was one of the reasons why I considered this piece in the first place. I really wanted something that would force me to skate a little more aggressively. I have a tendency to play it safe since I'm so scared of getting injured again so it's nice to have something that pushes me out of my comfort zone. Moving on, he added the next little bit of choreography and this part has some new and interesting elements for me, namely an Ina Bauer into a sit spin and a stag jump strategically placed right in front of the judges stand! My first two attempts at the Ina were laughable at best but my third one looked almost recognizable. I'll keep working on it as it's something that I've always wanted to learn and, done effectively, can be really beautiful. With the stag jump, I landed a few on the wrong leg for some reason but then I had a couple that were okay. Again, something to work on especially if it's a "statement" element right in front of the judges. The last thing I want to do is showcase a mistake right in their laps!

Since memory is an issue with me, I went home and right away wrote everything I could remember down on a note pad. I also ran it on the floor a bunch of times to make sure I don't need to stop and think about what comes next. The goal is to get my memory solid enough so I can focus less on the order of things and more on the performance of the program. This program is pushing me waaaay beyond my limits but I love how it's challenging me. I know that Christopher wouldn't include anything that he doesn't think I'm ready for so I have to remember to be confident and trust my abilities. May the force be with me :)

Big Bite, Can't Chew

So, yeah, I feel like I bit off more than I can chew with this program. I feel like we are including all of these great elements but I'm not skilled enough to make them happen. Also, I'm having a difficult time remembering most of the stuff Christopher showed me on Saturday. Like, I know how to get from point A to point B and then to C, but all of the little in between nuances are gone. And I'm SLOW. Like sloth slow! I feel like I spent half of my practice this morning thinking rather than skating. Why am I so terrible at remembering all of those little steps in between?

Movez - It wasn't all bad, though. I spent 30 minutes just on moves and they all felt pretty comfortable. I think at this point I really just need to focus more on power and flow, especially on the moves that call for it. I am no longer worried about the Circle 8. It is consistently good and holding that LFO edge is easy now. I did a couple in the beginning of the session to get them out of the way because I don't want to use the center circle later in the session when people need it for spinning. Power Perimeter Stroking felt better with the adjustments Christopher made. Power Three Turns actually felt okay today, especially on my good side but I still need to make the end pattern look more deliberate. BX-BO Edges felt nice and Five Step Mohawks felt pretty good. So yeah, Bronze moves are alright.

Spinz - I worked on them. Nothing terribly earth shattering in terms of progress but they happened.

Footworkz - I don't have a choreographed footwork sequence for the program yet but he did give me some things to work on (twizzles, alternating mohawk crossovers, and chained 3-turns) so I basically just spent some time combining those all at once to create a simple footwork sequence to get a general feel for what it will be like. It wasn't awful.

Jumpz - I did a few of the jumps I already know how to do but I spent the majority of the time working on the salchow from a mohawk entry and, of course, the flip jump. Here is where I really felt incapable. My flip jump has left me once again. I was having such a good practice up until this point and then I started working on this stuff and I felt like a beginner again. How am I supposed to get this together in time for March?

25% Complete

Yeah, that's about as much of the choreography as we were able to get done for our lesson. It felt like way more than that but, when I got home and ran it all with the music on the floor, I realized that we actually didn't get as far as I thought. Part of this is my inability to pick up choreography quickly (because I'm still a noob!). I will say that what we have so far is super pretty and I'm really lucky to have a coach who is also trained in dance because it shows. It flows yet it's strong like the music. I'm super excited!

First of all, I was really distracted during our lesson because I was sharing the ice with a senior level skater from China and his coach (both of whom I've seen on TV but I can't tell you their names or which competitions I've seen the skater perform in). I just wanted to watch but there was work to be done.

Lessonz: It was all about the choreography, of course! We spent some time talking about which jumps might be included and so far we have:

• Loop-Loop combo
• Single Salchow
• Waltz-Falling Leaf-Half Flip Sequence
• Single Toe Loop 
• Stag Jump and Ballet Jump (these are not counted as official jumps)

For spins, we decided on a sit spin for sure (gotta get that up to snuff) and either a scratch spin or attitude. We spent some time getting the opening to the program sorted out. He spaced things out more so that my opening jump sequence is a little later than I originally thought it would be. He also changed the spiral sequence to just one RFO spiral for timing. In addition, looks like I'll be doing the salchow right after the spiral so, if I remember this correctly, I should be doing the RFO spiral to the lutz corner, swing roll and mohawk into the salchow. This is the same transition that was from the pre-bronze crossover moves in the field but adding a salchow to it is tricky. I've actually only ever done a salchow from an LFO three turn so when I tried it from a mohawk later in the practice, I couldn't do it. Needless to say, that's going to be something that I'll be spending time practicing on Tuesday. There were many other bits of choreography that he showed me that looked lovely when he did it but I just couldn't make it work when I tried. This is going to be a tough program but if I can work on some of these things and get them right, it's going to kick ass :)