The last time I was on the ice I was a disaster but I've had some time to think about it and work off ice to try to get myself together. I have to register for the Bronze Free Skate test by next Friday and then the test itself is in 3 weeks. This is no time to be skating so poorly. I got to the rink today with a new positive attitude and the determination to fix everything wrong with my skating lately. I have reawakened the force within me!
Off Ice Warm-upz - I spent a lot of time running, stretching, and flexing. I've been icing my right hamstring at home quite a bit and, although it still hurts, I can at least stretch on that side now without wanting to scream. Once I felt like I was limber enough, I made my way downstairs to get laced up and on the ice.
On Ice Warm-upz - Typical laps and edges but I've also been incorporating the 3 turn patterns into my warm ups. I made it down the length of the rink with my LFO-RBI pattern without a foot down and I was super proud of that so progress is happening! Yay! I tried to repeat that success with the RFO-LBI but I put my foot down on a couple of the LBI 3 turns. Still, it's improving, just at a slower pace than the other side.
Jumpz & Spinz - I ran through all of my jumps and landed everything which is much better than on Tuesday when I fell on almost every jump I attempted. In fact, my free skate jump combo (the toe loop-loop) felt so good that I decided to add a salchow to the beginning of it. That seemed to flow better than the 2-jump combo so I'm going to run it by Christopher on Tuesday to see what he thinks. I did some more loops, flips, and salchows before working on the combo from my compulsories (the flip-toe loop). This jump is happening but I have very little momentum coming out of it. I feel like I need to jump out more rather than up. Something to work on. Moving on to spins, I just worked on the sit spin and the attitude spin. Attitude seems to be better today than it has been in a while but the sit spin is just...gone. I think in my attempts to get them lower, I lost the the feel of the rotations. If I attempt a lower position, the spin just goes to hell but if I just get as low as I'm comfortable with (which admittedly is not very low at all), the rotations happen. It's like I just can't have both. I definitely feel like if there is one element from the free skate test that the judges won't pass me on, it will be this. I'll just keep working on it but man, there is not a lot of time left. I'm just not the best spinner.
Programz - Because I promised Christopher I would run my program in practices with the music, I brought my CD out to the ice and, once I was properly warmed up, I went to go get the sash on. Except...the ice monitor was gone! Luckily, my friend Carl was willing to press play for me but I felt bad taking him away from what he was working just to do me a favor. Anyway, I got the sash on, the music started, and off I went. I decided to try adding the salchow-toe loop-loop combo to see how it would fit in the program and it works well, actually! I didn't forget the footwork sequence this time (yay!) but it wasn't placed where it should have been (boo!). That's a minor fix. Basically, jumps got landed, spins were spun, and I ended on time with the music. The only thing that was not test-worthy was the quality of my sit spin. I'm just really worried about it now. Sigh. When I was done, I thanked Carl again and then started in on my compulsory moves.
Compulsoriez - I'm still struggling with the back 3s, particularly the left one. The sit spin was gross and the flip-toe combo was weak. However, all of the in-between elements were pretty and I felt awesome doing them. I won't be judged on the in-between stuff, though, so if I'm going to compete with this in about a month and a half, I really need to get everything at the same level.
Overall, it was a really productive practice. I don't normally get hot and sweaty when I'm working on the ice but today I did so I know I was working my ass off today. Mentally, this was just what I needed. I feel a bit more confident now. Physically, I'm hurting. I'm actually thankful that I'm not back on the ice until Tuesday because between ballet kicking my ass, Tuesday morning's fall extravaganza, and today's effort on the ice, I kinda feel like a truck hit me and that my bones are on the verge of disintegrating. I feel like a walking bruise :(
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