2019-2020 Adult Competition Series

Last week, the USFSA released the new Adult Competition Series Handbook for the 2019-2020 competition season and I'm excited by some of the changes they made! Since I plan on competing at the Adult Bronze level this season (provided I pass both tests by the end of the summer), I was pretty worried about the Bronze Compulsory Moves which included a backspin and BI 3 turns. However, they updated the compulsory moves for this next season and the backspin is gone! Yaaaaay!

I am able to do a backspin but it's just not pretty to look at and I really didn't want that to hurt my placement at competitions. Now, I am allowed to do any solo spin as long as there is no change of foot. They also got rid of the waltz-toe loop combo and replaced it with a skater's choice of jump combo or sequence as long as it's not a lutz or axel. Neat! That gives me some freedom to play around with jumps. The BI 3 turns are still there but I think if I really buckle down and work on them I can make it happen by my first competition in September. I used to be able to do these about 12 years ago but now they are pretty terrifying. Once my moves test is done on Friday, I'm going to ask Christopher to work with me on these to get them back up to speed.

So, I have updated my links to include the 2019-2020 ACS Handbook on the left-hand side of this blog under "USFSA Resources" in case you want to take a peek. But, here are the Adult Bronze CM requirements in full:

• Single Salchow
• Jump combination or sequence consisting of 1/2 revolution jumps and/or full revolution jumps (no lutz or axel) - max 2 jumps in combo and 3 jumps in a sequence
• Solo spin with no change of foot (min. 3 revolutions)
• Backward inside 3 turns - right and left
• Spiral sequence (min. 2 spirals)

If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a child

I was really hoping that my Thursday sessions would be less of a zoo but alas. Same children, same danger. Don't get me wrong, they are cute as hell but they are everywhere!! Needless to say, I don't really feel like I made progress on anything today. Every pattern I did was interrupted so as not to run into a child. I mostly worked on whatever I could wherever I could. I'm going to attempt to go back to the Sport Stable to skate on a Sunday afternoon public session and see how that goes. I've been back once since I broke my leg there two years ago and it was a bad experience. I was still sort of recovering and the ice was rutted and dangerous. I felt like I was going to break again just being there. So yeah, I'm apprehensive about going back there but I'm getting close to test day and I need to be able to get some meaningful work done on these moves. I remember their Sunday afternoon sessions not being terribly crowded so I'm hoping not much has changed in that regard. In addition, they just recently took down the ice to paint curling circles so I'm also hoping that the new ice won't be as bad (or dangerous) as I remember. I'm bringing my husband in case I need to be driven to the hospital.

In other news...I bought another Brad Griffies dress and I spent more money on it than I'm comfortable revealing here. Just know that I get a little sick feeling in my stomach when I think about how much was spent. But it's GORGEOUS! It's a prototype dress that comes already stoned and it's such a fun design. I think I have music already picked out that should match it but, of course, I won't be starting any new programs any time soon. I have to get through this season first but I'll be ready when it's time! It's good to be prepared. Poor, but prepared :)

Test Prep

Lesson today and it's also the start of the summer contract. I always get a bit excited every time a new contract starts. It's a bit like the anticipation you feel on the first day of school when you're a kid and you wonder who is going to be in your class. It's always fun to see who is going to be skating on my session for the summer. This excitement wore off quickly, though, when I discovered that I'm sharing my summer ice with a lot of very small children who still need their parents to tie their skates. I have nothing against the children, it's just that very young beginners often lack situational awareness and that kind of ramps up the danger factor. Because they don't watch where they are going, that means I need to focus less on technique, speed, and power and more on dodging little girls. Sigh. By the time Christopher got on the ice for our lesson, I had already been skating (and practicing my duck and weave technique) for about 40 minutes so I was properly warmed up.

Power Perimeter Stroking - We went through the whole test in order. Again, he reminded me to be mindful of the axis although he said it was slightly better than the last time. Also, don't forget to step onto an inside edge after the forward crossovers and really extend the underpush on the backward crossovers.

Power Three Turns - This was tough to get through because of all of the "little people traffic" but I did what I could. I think he understood. I need to work to get my bad side a bit more powerful.

BX-BO Edges - Again, this was tough to get though since I really had no desire to take off anyone's head with my knife shoes but I got through what I could. Same thing as the backward power strokes, exaggerate the underpush and PUSH going into the BO edge.

Circle 8 - I did this really well and nobody got in my way. When I skated back to him he seemed very pleased and didn't have any corrections. Yay!

Five Step Mohawks - We spent a bit of time on this just smoothing out the steps a bit and making sure I don't cheat the lobes.

Overall, he seemed okay with everything. He said that he really liked the Circle 8 and the progress I've made on that. This was such a struggle for me because of my injury but the time I invested in it has paid off and now it's my strongest move. Maybe I should dedicate that kind of time to some of my other really weak elements like the backspin, BO/BI three turns, and flip jump.

I have just a few practices left and one more lesson and then I take my test. I feel pretty confident. I'm definitely feeling more excitement than nervousness or anxiety so that's quite a bit different than last year's Pre-Bronze test. I've come a long way :)

Haste will not help you

Including today, I have only 5 practice sessions before I skate my test. That's not a lot! Because time is limited, I really wanted to slow things down today to make sure I'm skating with proper form and technique.

Off Ice warm-upz - First of all, why the hell is it snowing outside?! It's almost June, dammit! So, I walked quickly from my car to the entrance of the rink (it's not a short walk) and almost ate it on a slippery bit of sidewalk. Cool. So, I walked more slowly even though I knew my hair would get wet and then refreeze inside the rink. Pneumonia > broken bones :) Once inside, I walked two laps, ran one, stretched, and finished off the rest of my squats for the day (day 21 = 180 squats!). One of the unexpected benefits of this stupid squats challenge is that my bad ankle is starting to feel a bit more flexible so, when I do my dorsiflexion stretches before hitting the ice, my ankle feels a bit more loose. That's nice.

On Ice warm-upz - Laps, edges, and a ton of Circle 8s.

Movez - Ooooh, I spent so much time on these! Since I did a bunch of Circle 8s (or is it Circles 8?) during my warm up, I didn't include them here. I started with Power Perimeter Stroking making sure to pay attention to the axis. My lobes felt smaller but they were true to the axis. Next up were the Power 3 turns. Before I ran them, though, I just did some RFO 3 turns on one of the hockey circles since I tend to skid on them when I do them in the pattern. I think this is also a contributing factor to my bad side being less powerful. Once that was done, I ran the whole thing several times making sure to increase power throughout the end pattern so I have more speed going into my bad side. On all of the patterns I did, I was able to get 3 and 3. Progress! BX-BO Edges were next and those are feeling really good now that I am paying more attention to the axis and that little push right before the BO edge. Finally, Five Step Mohawks. I finished off my lobes, tried my best to keep my feet together during the mohawks, and focused on extension. I think these are okay enough.

Jumpz & Spinz - Even though my test is quickly approaching, I don't want to neglect the other stuff. So, my last 20 minutes was evenly split between jumps & spins and the free skate program. Since my ankle was feeling really strong today, I did a bunch of sit spins. I felt like I got a bit lower today so I took some video. It was lower but just ever so slightly. These little gains will add up over time so I was determined not to get too discouraged. Camels were a straight disaster today so I moved on to backspins. I wasn't able to cross my leg at all so these are still flamingo'd. I'm still getting 5-6 revs on them so, again, I'm trying not to beat myself up over it. It's frustrating though. I've been working on these for too long for them to look like this. Finally, attitude spins. These were acceptable today! I had a few that were actually centered! What?! I ran through all of my jumps (except the flip because I forgot) and, once these were comfortable, I started working on the program.

Programz - I feel like I made some progress on this! I'm still doing things very slowly hoping that speed will naturally increase over time the more confident and secure I feel with the new choreography. I'm starting to get a feel for where everything should go. Also, an unexpected benefit to practicing this is that I'm doing a lot of spirals. I used to hate working on spirals but now I do them without thinking and they don't feel scary anymore. This will get there but it's slow going. Moving jumps around and adding additional footwork to this thing makes me feel like I'm starting from scratch. But, I'm determined to make it great :)

Registration Complete!

Lesson today and I have officially decided that I want to test my Bronze Moves on June 7th per Christopher's suggestion. I told him what I've decided and he said he wanted to see the entire test before he gives me the go ahead to actually register for the thing.

Perimeter Power Stroking - My main issue with this is staying true to the axis. If I can just focus on that, I think this move will be okay. I just have to even things out a bit. He also made a small adjustment to the backward crossovers at the end. He would like me to do 3-5 back crossovers all the way around the dot on the opposite lutz corner. Make it BIG .

Power 3 Turns - The first time I did the move I did 3 lobes down and 4 lobes coming back. Christopher reminded me that "power" doesn't mean "quick" so it's okay to expand things out more as long as I push. Keeping this in mind, the second time I did it, I was able to get 3 and 3. He would also like me to be a little less timid going into the second half of the move (the end pattern). I'm "walking" into it when I should be going in with some more speed and power. That will give me the momentum I need to get the 3 lobes on my bad side.

BX-BO Edges - He seemed pleased enough with these. He reminded me to really push into the extension at the top of the lobe.

Circle 8 - He was generally okay with this as well. My LFO circle is still my weakest but I'm getting around consistently on it and it's not entirely awful. He told me to keep my extended foot lower. I was extending it out too far.

Five Step Mohawk - He would like to see neater feet and I have a tendency to rush getting into the next lobe such that I'm not entirely finishing the previous one. I think the metaphor he used was that I'm that person who is cutting people off in traffic because I'm in such a rush to get to where I'm going. So, I just need to make sure I'm taking my time and really finishing off each lobe properly. I also need to start the move with a properly shaped lobe. I went in a bit at an angle. Follow the hockey circle all the way around. He didn't say anything about me being scratchy on the 4th step so maybe I've succeeded in correcting that problem.

So, overall, I still have some polishing up to do but it's mostly minor stuff. I'm just cleaning things up a bit to make them more presentable. He gave me his blessing to go ahead and register for the test so that's what I did! I'm taking this test on June 7th! Yikes!!!

Breakthrough!

I've been thinking a lot about what Christopher proposed last week regarding taking my Moves test in June instead of July. Honestly, I'm feeling pretty comfortable with my Moves (more comfortable than I did with my pre-bronze moves!) and there is no excuse for me not to test them in June. Another 4 weeks of drilling them will not really improve much of anything. Why not just rip the band-aid off, so to speak, and just get it out of the way so I can focus on making my free skate better? Earlier this week, I thought about how, if I do test in a few weeks, I really don't have anything to wear. I don't really feel like I could wear black pants and my club jacket (seems too plain) or one of my two free skate dresses (they might be too dressy). So I went online to a dance wear site thinking I could just get a simple black leo and matching skirt and it would be a whole lot cheaper than buying a test dress. I should be getting them tomorrow and hopefully they fit because I got them both on clearance (to save monies!) and there are no returns or exchanges. Fingers crossed! I'm posting pics at the bottom of this post. The whole ensemble should be basic enough to test in but just fancy enough to let the judges know I'm serious :)

Perimeter Power Stroking - All is good here. These felt nice and flowy.

Power 3 Turns - Here is where I had my breakthrough this morning! If you've read my last few posts you can see how much I was struggling getting 3 lobes down the rink on my good side and 3 lobes coming back on my bad side. I thought I would have to change it to 4 and 4 but today I was able to do 3 and 3. I think this happened because I wasn't trying too hard. I wasn't overthinking! I just trusted that I knew how to do it and relaxed and everything kind of fell into place. Yay!

BX-BO Edges - Nice.

Circle 8 - These felt quite lovely today so I did two rounds and then moved on. I remember how much I struggled with these a year ago and now they are so comfortable, they are almost therapeutic.

Five Step Mohawks - These were fine today as well. I focused mostly on quieting down that 4th step.

Overall, I really do feel ready to test these! I'm going to talk to Christopher about it tomorrow during our lesson and officially get his permission before I register. Yikes! This is happening! Like...in 3 weeks!

Under push, chasse, back push

I'm posting this for future Mandi to refer to since her under push is so weak. Perhaps this exercise will help :)
 

I've got moves, they're multiplying

I got to the rink late this morning (I was still on time but I didn't leave myself a lot of time to warm up as I usually do) so I only had time to run one quick lap and stretch for a hot minute before it was time to lace up and get on the ice. I am proud that I sprinted my lap, though! I usually jog but because I was running out of time and still wanted to get it done, I hauled ass! Good to know that I could potentially survive the zombie apocalypse if it ever happened. Cool.

Warm upz - Some laps, some edges, some Circle 8s.

Movez - Since I did 3 passes of the Circle 8 as part of my warm up, I moved on to Power Perimeter Stroking. I decided today that I was going to multiply my moves by 3 instead of doing only one or two passes so I did three rounds of Perimeter Stroking making sure to make my forward lobes a bit smaller and extennnnd on that 2 count one foot glide before the mohawk. Next up, were three passes of the BX-BO Edges. These feel much better than they did on Saturday. I was only able to do one pass down the center of the rink before another skater needed the middle for spins so I did the other two down the sides. For the test, I'll go down center ice and make it BIG! Five Step Mohawks were a lot less scratchy on that 4th step because I actually remembered to bend my freakin' knees this time. What a concept! Finally, the Power 3 Turns. I actually did more than 3 passes because these need the most work. Where I struggled the most was with the number of lobes (again). I think I might have to do 4 and 4 instead of 3 and 3 because I'm having a real hard time getting only 3 lobes on my bad side. I'm just not powerful enough on that side yet. So, if I do 4 there, I have to 4 on my good side. But, then the problem is that I'm too powerful on my good side and then it's hard to squeeze in 4 lobes before running really close to the boards. Such a silly problem to have.

Jumpz & Spinz - I did some spins on the blue line before moving to the center but I had a couple that were relatively centered. I had one decent camel where it felt like I got 2 solid revs so yay! I did some backspins where I forced myself to cross the free leg in front. I've actually been practicing these on the floor at home and I think that's helping a bit. I was able to do a couple where I had my free leg crossed for one revolution. Not a big deal but I'll take any small progress I can get. Moving on to jumps, I ran through all of my jumps (including flips) and focused on my free leg being crossed in front. I think I had a couple of loops that were properly crossed!

Programz - I ran my program slowly and without music with the new choreography and it's getting there. It's not where it should be AT ALL but it's getting closer and I'm feeling a bit more comfortable with the changes. This is going to take a while for sure.

Moves bish, get out the way!

Today's lesson was all about bronze moves. At this point, I feel like I can perform them for the test and likely pass, however, I'm overthinking again (no surprise there) about all of the little details. Because the session was reasonably crowded, we didn't look at the Circle 8 today but I assured him it's solid. I think he trusts me. I'm not confident about most things skating related but I've been working on the damn Circle 8 for a year and a half now and, with the exception of the occasional inability to do them because of a bad sharpening, I am pretty consistent with this one move. So, there's that.

Power Perimeter Stroking - These are fine but I'm still having some issues staying true to the axis. He suggested next time bringing the marker out and drawing the axis for me. Embarrassing. I know where the axis is and I try my best to stay true to it but sometimes my brain doesn't talk to my body and so the result is wonky, lopsided lobes. So, I just need to focus on that. Other than that, the move itself is fine.

Power 3 Turns - I have a couple of little kinks that need to be worked out with this. For one, I am getting 3 sets going down the length of the rink on my good side but 4 sets coming back on my bad side. He would really like to see 3 and 3. Because my bad side is, well, my bad side, I don't have as much power therefore the lobes tend to be smaller and more plentiful. Something to work on. The other thing I need to work on is making sure I step onto the BI edge after the 3 turn. Even though I feel like I'm doing it, I'm clearly not (or at least it's so slight as to render is non existent in the eyes of observers). So, I need to exaggerate it more so that it's more obvious.

BX-BO Edges - By the time we got to this, it was so crowded and nearly impossible to do without running into small children. I had to abort a couple of times but, other than a small hiccup getting it started where I drew a blank and forgot how to start the move (lol), I think these might be fine.

Five Step Mohawks - His only real criticism on these was that I was a bit scratchy on the 4th step so we just worked on bending the knees a bit there to quiet things down a little.

So, toward the end of my lesson we had a brief discussion about Bronze moves and I asked him if he thinks I'll be ready for a July test. He said it's just the small details that need some work but he thinks I'll be ready for June. I'm like, "wait, did you say June?" and he just gave me that look. That look that says he wants to push me out of my comfort zone again. Dammit. So yeah, maybe June, maybe July. Who knows at this point! I feel like he would not have suggested June if he didn't think I was ready. I'm just panicking and doubting and overthinking again. I really need to trust my training more and just own it!

Stumbling through life

Or, at least, stumbling through skating. I missed Tuesday's practice because I really needed the extra rest. I'm feeling a bit better these days but I still have a lingering headache. I'm not sure what's wrong but I'm pretty sure it's just the stress of still putting together this new library plus it's finals and it's been non-stop research consultations with students as they finish up their final research papers. I'm just exhausted. I'm sure I'll start to feel better soon now that classes are wrapping up for the semester.

Warm upz and Edgez - I didn't do any running this morning. Today is test day at the rink and there are people everywhere and, frankly, I'm kind of embarrassed to have people see me run and get winded so easily. So, I skipped it. I did, however, finish up my squats for the day (it's day 10 of the squats challenge so I did a total of 105). I got laced up and on the ice. I only did 3 laps of warm ups before starting in on edges. I really just wasn't feeling it today and I wanted to get right to work on all of this new footwork since I have a lesson tomorrow and I'm feeling really unprepared for it. Because skaters were warming up moves and free skate for their tests, I felt guilty taking up the center to do the Circle 8 so I skipped it for today and just did forward and backward edges on a line before moving on to Bronze MIF.

Movez - Now that Christopher wants me to do the BX-BO Edges down the center of the rink instead of down the side, I'm not sure how to start the move anymore. I'll ask him tomorrow. The move itself isn't bad at all but getting it started is now a problem since everything has shifted. Five Step Mohawks didn't feel as solid today as they have felt in the past. I think they are still passable but they felt choppy. Power Perimeter Stroking felt fine and the Power 3 Turns felt okay. I think since we are getting closer to the July test date, I really want him to look at everything. I feel like things are just okay but perhaps they can be better. There are probably a lot of corrections that still need to be made.

Jumpz and Spinz - Once moves were done, I warmed up all of my jumps and spun a little. Salchow felt really sloppy today but the other jumps were fine. I actually two-footed a waltz jump this morning which is something I haven't done since I learned the waltz jump. Yikes! But I did several after that just to make sure nothing was wrong with me. Spins were okay. Still trying to get that camel to rotate and I'm still trying to get lower in my sit spin. Ongoing projects.

Programz - Although I missed Tuesday's practice, I have at least been getting the new stuff together at home. I finally got it to the point where I figured out the timing of things and there weren't any lapses in memory with the new steps. However, once I got on the ice, everything felt different. Unexpected edges happened and things are no longer placed where they used to be. I did my best to get through it all but it was really sloppy and nothing flows quite the way it should. Also, everything is really slow and hesitant. I know eventually I'll get it all up to speed but I'm having serious doubts that that time will come before the July test date. Hey, worst case scenario, the free skate isn't ready and I just test moves. I really want to start the new season as Bronze but if I'm not ready, I'm not ready.

Lesson tomorrow. This should be interesting....

Open can, worms everywhere!

I finally had a lesson! We did a 30 minute lesson instead of our usual 20 minutes since it's been a while. One of the first things I mentioned was my thoughts on moving the new bit of choreography to the beginning of the program as a lead in to the loop jump. He agreed that that part of the program seems a bit empty but he didn't move the new footwork there as I expected. Instead, he changed my choreography all around! I mean, don't get me wrong, what he did makes sense and it's lovely choreography, it's just that I'm not the best at learning new choreography. I'm pretty sure he was ready for a few beers after having to deal with me stumbling about for 30 minutes trying to learn something so simple. Anyway, here's what we did:

• Opening is the same
• I do a neat extension/swoosh with my arms and then right into the waltz-falling leaf-half flip
• Build up lots of speed and enter the spiral which is now longer and more pronounced
• Aim the salchow at the hockey goal instead of the lutz corner
• We took out the pretty arms/one-foot glide into the Ina Bauer and replaced it with more advanced movements
• Ina Bauer entrance into the sit spin remains the same
• Stag jump in front of the judges
• Mohawk into prep for the loop jump
• Push under right after landing the loop jump and start the footwork sequence (which starts with the new footwork I learned and connects directly to the old footwork making it a bit more obvious). 
• Toe loop
• Attitude spin
• Lunge and final pose

So, the footwork sequence is now more advanced and is more obvious that "hey, footwork starts here!" The jumps are still the same, just in a different order and there is now one loop instead of two in combination. Spins are the same as well. I spent some time at home working out the new timing of things to the music. A lot of my former musical cues are replaced by different ones so it's almost like relearning the program. I've run this program so many times with the former cues that it's tricky changing up that muscle memory. However, the new stuff is neat and, once I get to the point where I can competently perform it, it should look pretty cool. It was also pretty neat that I was skating to Star Wars music on May the Fourth. How fitting :)

We talked briefly about a July test date for both MIF and Free Skate so it looks like that's happening! Yikes! 

Maintaining the Things

I haven't been feeling the best lately. Just kinda hurty all over. It's mostly work stress. I never knew that a person could get so stressed out that they feel like they've been hit by a bus. Ugh. Now I know!

Off-ice warm upz - I ran my two laps and walked a cool down lap. Running today didn't feel awesome and I needed to use my inhaler once I was done. I'm really hoping this gets easier the more frequently I do it. I also had to start my 30 day squat challenge over because I missed a bunch of squats a few days ago when I really wasn't feeling well. It's fine. I started over on May 1st and I'm already on day 3 (60 squats). I did some light stretching and then went downstairs to put skates on.

Lapz & Edgez - I spent the first 10 minutes doing various flavors of warm up laps and then did my edges on a line. Circle 8 was next and I did two rounds of that. My push off on each circle is much better now. There's a part of me that really wants to start working on the backward Circle 8. I mean, it took me a year and a half to get the forward Circle 8 to the point where it is consistent and passable so I know it's going to take quite a while to get the backward version of this to place where it looks decent.

Jumpz - I feel like my jumps have improved slightly since attending that clinic a couple of weeks ago. Nothing major but I would say they are better by 5%. I don't even think people would notice but I can feel the difference. They just feel a bit more secure. I'm still struggling with getting my salchow to slow down and be less like a tornado. I feel like I'm holding that LBI for a long time but then when I rewatch the video, it still looks rushed. Flips were sparkle trash today but my loops felt good so everything balances out, right? Toe loops were nice.

Spinz - I did the exercise on the blue line and I had maybe one that was good. The others barely made it back to the blue line before they started to rotate, therefore they traveled. I worked on some camels too but I only had one good one where I somehow hit the sweet spot and got 3 revolutions. It was a fluke for sure but I was happy for it. I feel like this will be a fun spin for me once I get the hang of it.

Footworkz - I worked on the new footwork that Christopher gave me and it's coming along. I have a lesson tomorrow morning and I'll talk to him about the placement of it and see what he says. I really like it as a lead in for the loop jump so I hope he's on board with that.

So, no real breakthroughs today, just maintenance on a bunch of things to keep them up to speed. I felt a bit lost today and I'm not sure if it was because I feel so icky or if it's because I really haven't had any lessons these past couple of months (I think I've had two?). But, now that the ice show is done and Christopher doesn't have to be at competitions for other students, we should have more time for lessons. They are desperately needed. I'm a mess.