Ruh ROH

I got the day off from work today so I decided to drop in on a freestyle session at the Sport Stable. I never expect much from the quality of their ice but today the ice was pretty well maintained with the exception of one rough patch over by one of the hockey creases. Yesterday, I sent my husband to the sharpener (because I was at work) and told him to tell the sharpener that I would like my usual 7/16 ROH. However, the sharpener told my husband I really should be on a 3/8 ROH and so that's what he gave me. I was freaking out a bit because I'm not used to 3/8 and I have a test next week but as soon as I got on the ice I could feel the difference and it actually felt a bit better than what I'm used to. It's a bit grippier and much more stable so the sharpener was right! I should be getting 3/8 ROH from now on. I also have about 1 or 2 sharpenings left on these blades before they die so I need to make a decision soon on what to get next. I'm thinking of the new Jackson Legacy 8 since it's pretty similar to my Protegés but about 10% lighter according to the Jackson website (plus, I must admit they also look pretty snazzy). I'll wait until after the Colorado Springs Invitational so I'm not trying to compete with brand new blades. I think my boots could last another year so I'm not going to panic about those right now. I'll probably just end up getting another pair of Silver Stars since my current Silver Stars have served me well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it kinda thing.

Practice went well. I warmed up and then worked on edges a bit before focusing my efforts on backward 3 turns. My RBI 3 is really consistent now and the LBI has improved slightly so things are moving along. Once those were warmed up and I jumped around for a bit, I ran my new bronze compulsory moves routine a few times. This is getting better and I'm able to skate it with a bit more speed now but I'm still getting stuck on the back 3s as they just don't have as much flow as the rest of the routine. I think my anxiety about this part of the program is obvious and it shows when I skate it. I need to work on it more so that I'm skating it with confidence.

I was also able to run my program once. All of the elements got done and I ended on time with the music but I started my spiral a bit early and had a bit of a misstep coming out of it and going into the salchow. Not a big deal but it's something I need to clean up a bit. My sit spin got the rotations but it's still not nearly low enough. Sigh.

I still have 4 more practices before I skate my test for the judges (more than 4 if I can manage to drop in on a session or two and maybe fit in one more Sunday practice at the Stable). I'm not as worried as I was last week but I still have plenty of work to do to get this polished up enough for a pass.