Compulsoriez - On the day of my compulsory event, I have a 30 minute unofficial practice ice scheduled so that will be a good opportunity to get familiar with the quality of the ice and orient myself to where the judges will be so I can be sure to make that all important eye contact. No program music will be played but I'll have Christopher at the boards to remind me to breathe, relax, and watch my arms on those spins. After the practice ice, I'll get another 4-5 minute warm-up right before the compulsory event starts and, since the skating orders have been posted, I know I'm skating first in my group. I'll be ready to go! We ran through the compulsory program today and I clocked in at 1:25 so at least I'm pretty consistent with my times. He would just like to see more of an outside edge on my spiral but he complimented me on my toe loop. As long as I don't rush the toe loop, I know I'll be able to do a proper uncheated jump which should earn me some extra points.
Warm upz - On the second day of competition, I have a 15 minute warm up and then the obligatory warm up right before the free skate. So we ran through the plan for the short warm up since I only get 4-5 minutes. I'll be doing one full lap of stroking with extensions and power (because first impressions count), my jumps in each quadrant of the ice, my two spins, and one section of the program (this will be my footwork sequence). That should easily take up the time allotted for the warm-up and will get rid of any jitters (theoretically). I know that I'm skating second in my group for the free skate so, even though skating early is not the most desirable, at least I know that I'll still be warm when it's my turn to hit the ice! The important thing is to breathe and not rush anything.
Free Skatez - We ran the program and I landed all of the jumps and spins and ended on time with the music. At one point, I got about a beat or two behind the music because I held my sit spin just a wee bit too long and I ended up rushing the jump sequence to catch up. When I was done and skated back to him, his main criticism was that it looked rushed in that section. Well, yeah. I think if I do this on competition day, I'll skip the stag jump right before the jump sequence to stay on track. Hopefully, I'll just do everything correctly and won't have to resort to skipping elements but it never hurts to have a plan. This is the one section where I consistently fall behind the music so I need to work on this for Tuesday.
Fluffz - Finally, we worked on how I will enter and exit the ice and my final bows. This is just fluff stuff but, you know, how you present yourself matters quite a bit so it's good to take a glance at it before the competition.
I had a good skate today! Was it perfect? No! But I skated my best and I think if I skate like I did today at the competition, I'll do alright for myself. The biggest confidence boost was Christopher saying "you're ready." It means so much to hear that he believes that I've done what I can to get to this point. Now, I need to just remember to have fun, breathe, relax, and trust my training.
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