Last lesson of the 2019 and it was a lackluster end to the year, actually. I didn't get a chance to practice since our last lesson and it clearly showed. I was a bit of a mess today. We just worked on moves and, since my last lesson was just jumps, I haven't touched moves in like what, two weeks? Ugh.
Eight Step Mohawk - LOL. This was a joke. I actually forgot the steps! Sigh. And then when I remembered the steps I did an inside mohawk instead of the outside mohawk on my bad side. What a hot mess! At one point I told him "clearly I haven't practiced this." Oops.
FO-BI 3 Turns - Good side was okay. I don't even remember if he asked to the see the other side. That's how remarkable these were.
FI-BO 3 Turns - Again, trash. We worked a bit on the LBO since that is where I struggle the most getting around. He reminded me to turn my head with the turn as it makes things much easier.
Cross Strokes - Forward was okay but he would like to see me cross on the ice earlier. Backward was steppy so he had me do the step but hold my free leg in front for 2-3 counts. Tricky.
Power Pulls - We spent some time working on the forward pulls. I have a tendency to have my free leg go out to the side instead of keeping it nicely crossed in front.
Sprials - We didn't get to these in the lesson but I continued the torture by working on them for a bit once the lesson was over. These don't feel terrible, oddly.
So, yeah, I had a string of good lessons and then this one. To be fair, the holiday drop-in times are not the most accommodating to working adults as they usually start at around the same time I need to be at work. Once January hits and we are back on the contract schedule, I'll be fine.
I'm doing a Goal Post soon to recap the year and talk about 2020 goals. Stay tuned :)
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Monday, December 23, 2019
Bungee Cord of Doom
Lesson today! Christopher just got back from a Skate Camp in Vail this past weekend and was eager to try out some new coaching techniques with me! Exciting. We decided (well, I decided because I haven't had a jumps lesson in forever) to just focus on jumps today. I told him of my waltz jump woes so that is what we started with.
Waltz - It actually wasn't as bad today as it has been but it obviously needs adjustment. He gave me as exercise that has me doing alternating jump preps down the blue line making sure to bring the free leg up into a nice "h" while at the same time bringing my arms up and out and meeting in an upside-down "v" with my hands. After two alternating preps, I jump. This helped rewire my brain about how I approach this jump and it's so needed right now since it feels so different with these new skates. I'll keep at it. I feel like this is good prep for an eventual axel (#AxelBy50).
Salchow - He then asked to see my salchow and, since it has pretty much always been garbage, we spent a lot of time trying to fix it. As always, I'm relying on the spin to get the jump going so we worked on flattening out the three turn and holding the exit of the turn for as long as possible before swinging the free leg around for the jump. It's a weird feeling for sure.
Toe Loop - We skipped this for some reason and went right into...
Loop - He watched me do one and said it wasn't bad but he wanted to fix my arms so he gave me the "bungee cord of doom" (my term, not his) and told me to grasp both ends. Then, I'm to do the jump while holding it out in front of me and not letting go. Holy $hit this was scary! Even though I was holding on to the thing it felt like I didn't have arms. I didn't realize how much I relied on my arms to help the jump until I didn't have my arms anymore! Whoa.
Flip - We worked on this briefly. Mostly, he still wants me to get a better "pick and draw" and learn to vault off of my toe pick. I'm still two-footing the takeoff somehow.
Backspin - We spent a hot second looking at my backspin progress. I told him of my eureka moment of realization regarding the twisting of my upper body so he had me position my arms a bit differently (basically holding them out in front of me like I'm hugging a giant beach ball instead of bringing my arms in under my right boob). This seemed to help keep my upper body from twisting in the opposite direction so I'll keep doing it this way in practice. I've determined that this is the reason for my lack of progress in the cross-legged backspin. I can clearly do a backspin in the flamingo position but when I cross, the weight of my skating leg is different and my upper body is trying to compensate somehow by twisting in the opposite direction. So, if I can train my upper body to not do that, I think my "proper" backspins will start to improve.
It was a jam-packed lesson but I learned a lot. I have some new techniques to try and some new insights into why some things work while others don't. Neat!
Waltz - It actually wasn't as bad today as it has been but it obviously needs adjustment. He gave me as exercise that has me doing alternating jump preps down the blue line making sure to bring the free leg up into a nice "h" while at the same time bringing my arms up and out and meeting in an upside-down "v" with my hands. After two alternating preps, I jump. This helped rewire my brain about how I approach this jump and it's so needed right now since it feels so different with these new skates. I'll keep at it. I feel like this is good prep for an eventual axel (#AxelBy50).
Salchow - He then asked to see my salchow and, since it has pretty much always been garbage, we spent a lot of time trying to fix it. As always, I'm relying on the spin to get the jump going so we worked on flattening out the three turn and holding the exit of the turn for as long as possible before swinging the free leg around for the jump. It's a weird feeling for sure.
Toe Loop - We skipped this for some reason and went right into...
Loop - He watched me do one and said it wasn't bad but he wanted to fix my arms so he gave me the "bungee cord of doom" (my term, not his) and told me to grasp both ends. Then, I'm to do the jump while holding it out in front of me and not letting go. Holy $hit this was scary! Even though I was holding on to the thing it felt like I didn't have arms. I didn't realize how much I relied on my arms to help the jump until I didn't have my arms anymore! Whoa.
Flip - We worked on this briefly. Mostly, he still wants me to get a better "pick and draw" and learn to vault off of my toe pick. I'm still two-footing the takeoff somehow.
Backspin - We spent a hot second looking at my backspin progress. I told him of my eureka moment of realization regarding the twisting of my upper body so he had me position my arms a bit differently (basically holding them out in front of me like I'm hugging a giant beach ball instead of bringing my arms in under my right boob). This seemed to help keep my upper body from twisting in the opposite direction so I'll keep doing it this way in practice. I've determined that this is the reason for my lack of progress in the cross-legged backspin. I can clearly do a backspin in the flamingo position but when I cross, the weight of my skating leg is different and my upper body is trying to compensate somehow by twisting in the opposite direction. So, if I can train my upper body to not do that, I think my "proper" backspins will start to improve.
It was a jam-packed lesson but I learned a lot. I have some new techniques to try and some new insights into why some things work while others don't. Neat!
Friday, December 20, 2019
Combo Post
I didn't blog about Wednesday morning's practice so I'm just going to combine Wednesday and today in one post. Overall, skates are feeling better each time I get on the ice. One of the biggest things I've noticed is how quiet I am now. I was a very scratchy skater before but now I'm not! Going backwards in the old skates, I always felt toe heavy and you could hear me scratching from the other side of the rink. Now, I'm like a stealthy ninja! So silent! I'm not sure if it's the blades or the boots or a combo of the two but, whatever it is, it's working for me!
Movez - I worked on all of the Silver Moves! On Wednesday, I feel like I was really making some progress with my weaker backward three turns but then today I struggled. I don't mind skills disappearing as long as I know they'll come back. Hopefully these will. I also feel like I made some headway on the power pulls. Going forward on my right leg feels less scary and I'm even able to do some backward pulls on my left leg now. It's getting there!
Jumpz - I spent the second half of my practice working on jumps and spins. I have been able to get my jumps back with the exception of (oddly) my waltz jump. Today, however, I figured that I just had to change my approach a bit. If I jump up more instead of out I'm able to do a better jump. Toe loops feel pretty good now and my loops are less scary. Salchows were a hot mess before the new skates and they still kind of are. Alas. I tried a flip jump. I almost died so I didn't try another.
Spinz - These were feeling pretty centered today so I tried some camel spins. Ooooh boy...that was awful! But hey, I tried. I'll just have to keep trying until they start to look less awful.
I think at this point, my moves are better now than they were before the new skates and injury. I definitely feel more confident doing them even though they are still nowhere near testing. Progress is being made in very small increments but I'll take that over no progress at all.
Movez - I worked on all of the Silver Moves! On Wednesday, I feel like I was really making some progress with my weaker backward three turns but then today I struggled. I don't mind skills disappearing as long as I know they'll come back. Hopefully these will. I also feel like I made some headway on the power pulls. Going forward on my right leg feels less scary and I'm even able to do some backward pulls on my left leg now. It's getting there!
Jumpz - I spent the second half of my practice working on jumps and spins. I have been able to get my jumps back with the exception of (oddly) my waltz jump. Today, however, I figured that I just had to change my approach a bit. If I jump up more instead of out I'm able to do a better jump. Toe loops feel pretty good now and my loops are less scary. Salchows were a hot mess before the new skates and they still kind of are. Alas. I tried a flip jump. I almost died so I didn't try another.
Spinz - These were feeling pretty centered today so I tried some camel spins. Ooooh boy...that was awful! But hey, I tried. I'll just have to keep trying until they start to look less awful.
I think at this point, my moves are better now than they were before the new skates and injury. I definitely feel more confident doing them even though they are still nowhere near testing. Progress is being made in very small increments but I'll take that over no progress at all.
Saturday, December 14, 2019
Not so bad, actually!
Lesson today! Yesterday was a drop in day and I was sick so I didn't practice as scheduled. As a result, I was kinda nervous for today since that means I only really had one hour of practice since my previous lesson. We just focused on MIF today which is good. I need it and I'm not really into jumping lately. We touched on everything except spirals. I need to work on those more in practice.
Eight-Step Mohawkz - It was a busy session so this felt impossible to do while others were sharing the ice and running their programs. I tried, however, and from what he was able to see me do, he had corrections for. All steps should have an even cadence! I'm taking some long pauses in between things so I really have to be more mindful about keeping my steps nice and even. He also emphasized neat feet.
Forward and Backward Cross Strokez - My forward strokes are much better. He didn't have much in the way of corrections here so I think I've finally gotten the hang of it! Woo! Going backwards is a different animal. I still need a little more finesse and I should be stepping backward almost in a T position keeping my feet together as much as possible. But hey, at least I'm not toepick stepping anymore!
FO-BI 3 Turnz - I was able to do both sides relatively well. It's still evident that my LBIs are the weaker side but I'm at least able to get them done down the length of the rink without splatting. Still needs work, though.
FI-BO 3Turnz - We only looked at my good side because I'm still not quite there yet with the LBO 3 turn. It's the last of the four backward 3 turns that I haven't mastered yet.
Forward and Backward Power Pullz - You know what I hate? Power Pulls! Like, I super loathe them! I warned him ahead of time that my forward pulls are pretty bad but after I did them he said they weren't as bad as I made them out to be. Huh...ok, neat! They still need a hella lot of work though. He gave me an exercise that helps; Two forward slaloms into two forward pulls. Wash, rinse, repeat. The backward pulls aren't so bad but, again, you can definitely tell which leg is the weaker leg. Something to work on.
It was a good lesson! I feel so much more at ease just working on moves. I'm glad I decided to sit the rest of the season out. It's so much healthier for me right now! He asked when I planned on returning to ballet and I told him I'm not quite ready now since I started a new job recently and things are a bit hectic. But I plan on returning soon.
Eight-Step Mohawkz - It was a busy session so this felt impossible to do while others were sharing the ice and running their programs. I tried, however, and from what he was able to see me do, he had corrections for. All steps should have an even cadence! I'm taking some long pauses in between things so I really have to be more mindful about keeping my steps nice and even. He also emphasized neat feet.
Forward and Backward Cross Strokez - My forward strokes are much better. He didn't have much in the way of corrections here so I think I've finally gotten the hang of it! Woo! Going backwards is a different animal. I still need a little more finesse and I should be stepping backward almost in a T position keeping my feet together as much as possible. But hey, at least I'm not toepick stepping anymore!
FO-BI 3 Turnz - I was able to do both sides relatively well. It's still evident that my LBIs are the weaker side but I'm at least able to get them done down the length of the rink without splatting. Still needs work, though.
FI-BO 3Turnz - We only looked at my good side because I'm still not quite there yet with the LBO 3 turn. It's the last of the four backward 3 turns that I haven't mastered yet.
Forward and Backward Power Pullz - You know what I hate? Power Pulls! Like, I super loathe them! I warned him ahead of time that my forward pulls are pretty bad but after I did them he said they weren't as bad as I made them out to be. Huh...ok, neat! They still need a hella lot of work though. He gave me an exercise that helps; Two forward slaloms into two forward pulls. Wash, rinse, repeat. The backward pulls aren't so bad but, again, you can definitely tell which leg is the weaker leg. Something to work on.
It was a good lesson! I feel so much more at ease just working on moves. I'm glad I decided to sit the rest of the season out. It's so much healthier for me right now! He asked when I planned on returning to ballet and I told him I'm not quite ready now since I started a new job recently and things are a bit hectic. But I plan on returning soon.
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
Feelin' Good
Today was the first day where the new skates felt good and didn't leave my ankles sore. Progress! Again, I focused mostly on Silver Moves but I threw in a bunch of spins and a few jumps as well.
Movez - I feel like I made the most progress today on the backward 3 turns. It's been a journey getting the feel for these again in the new skates but I was able to improve the consistency of my LBI 3 turns and I was able to get a better glide-out after my RBO 3 turn. There were no earth shattering improvements but things are getting better slowly. I worked a bit on the other moves but spent more time on the cross strokes trying to get the glide across better on the forward strokes.
Spinz - These felt really good today. I have discovered that with these new blades I'm hitting the sweet spot more often than not and it feels really nice to see centered tracings on the ice for a change. I even worked on some scratch spins now that I'm not traveling much anymore! The one thing I struggled with today were the backspins. Christopher gave me some homework which is to glide backwards in the backspin position to get the proper alignment but I keep twisting! It's weird because when I do the same position going forward, it's fine. Going backward, I twist. I know this is why I'm struggling with my backspins but I'm at a loss for how to fix it. This only happens when I cross my leg over for the backspin but not when I'm flamingo'd. I think I'll make fixing my backspin one of my goals for the new year!
Jumpz - I did them. Nothing fabulous but they got worked on briefly. They feel more secure now that the skates are feeling more comfortable. My loop doesn't feel as big as it used to though so that's disappointing. It was the one thing I could at least do sorta well.
Movez - I feel like I made the most progress today on the backward 3 turns. It's been a journey getting the feel for these again in the new skates but I was able to improve the consistency of my LBI 3 turns and I was able to get a better glide-out after my RBO 3 turn. There were no earth shattering improvements but things are getting better slowly. I worked a bit on the other moves but spent more time on the cross strokes trying to get the glide across better on the forward strokes.
Spinz - These felt really good today. I have discovered that with these new blades I'm hitting the sweet spot more often than not and it feels really nice to see centered tracings on the ice for a change. I even worked on some scratch spins now that I'm not traveling much anymore! The one thing I struggled with today were the backspins. Christopher gave me some homework which is to glide backwards in the backspin position to get the proper alignment but I keep twisting! It's weird because when I do the same position going forward, it's fine. Going backward, I twist. I know this is why I'm struggling with my backspins but I'm at a loss for how to fix it. This only happens when I cross my leg over for the backspin but not when I'm flamingo'd. I think I'll make fixing my backspin one of my goals for the new year!
Jumpz - I did them. Nothing fabulous but they got worked on briefly. They feel more secure now that the skates are feeling more comfortable. My loop doesn't feel as big as it used to though so that's disappointing. It was the one thing I could at least do sorta well.
Saturday, December 7, 2019
Lesson time!
Today was my first lesson with Christopher since I injured myself back in September. Yay for guidance!
We started out by discussing the new skates. I told him that there is a lot of pressure from the boot on my right inside ankle so he suggested that I get it punched out. I then told him that I think the left blade needs to be adjusted slightly since I'm having a difficult time getting on my left outside edge. Since I have a temp mount, it shouldn't be a problem. He had me do some one foot glides for him and, sure enough, I veer to the inside on that foot. Overall, though, I told him that the skates were a good choice and they should start to feel better the more I skate in them.
Spinz - After discussing the blades, he wanted to see how I'm spinning in them. One-foot spins look okay (he actually said they look a lot smoother now!) so he wants me to start crossing my leg over for some scratch spins. We moved on to some back spins (ugh) and those are still wonky. It's not the skates, it's me. But! I had a bit of an "ah ha" moment today while we were working on them! He had me just do a backward glide in the backspin position and I discovered that my upper body is turning away from the direction of the spin! So, in other words, my bottom half is turning in one direction while my upper half is going the opposite way. No wonder my backspins are trash! So, he tasked me with just working on the backwards glides in the back spin position focusing on keeping my upper body in alignment. I really hope this fixes things.
Movez - Obviously, I'm not going to Sectionals in March because of being off the ice for so long and trying to learn how to skate all over again with new equipment so I told him that I would like to just focus on getting skills back for the next couple of months. Mostly, I just want to work on Moves for now and then when my skates are broken in and I'm feeling more confident, I would like to start a new program for competition next fall. He agrees with the plan so we started with cross strokes. I made some progress with these today! He wants me to stay away from crossing the free leg over and instead glide it across on the ice. This helps with that underpush as well. w00t! Next, we tackled some backward 3 turns (the outside ones). I'm pretty much coming to a stop once I make the turn so we worked on having me keep the free leg crossed after the turn and that seemed to help. I've been neglecting the BO 3 turns in favor of the insides because of compulsories but now since I don't have to worry about competing anytime soon, I can make more time to focus on these again. We briefly talked spirals before the lesson ended. Basically, he wants me to work on getting five lobes down the length of the rink.
I have quite a bit to work on for next week but I've got my fire back! I think the time I've spent off the ice forced me to just regroup and refocus. It's silly that it took an injury to get me to do this but I'm happy that I have a better mindset now!
We started out by discussing the new skates. I told him that there is a lot of pressure from the boot on my right inside ankle so he suggested that I get it punched out. I then told him that I think the left blade needs to be adjusted slightly since I'm having a difficult time getting on my left outside edge. Since I have a temp mount, it shouldn't be a problem. He had me do some one foot glides for him and, sure enough, I veer to the inside on that foot. Overall, though, I told him that the skates were a good choice and they should start to feel better the more I skate in them.
Spinz - After discussing the blades, he wanted to see how I'm spinning in them. One-foot spins look okay (he actually said they look a lot smoother now!) so he wants me to start crossing my leg over for some scratch spins. We moved on to some back spins (ugh) and those are still wonky. It's not the skates, it's me. But! I had a bit of an "ah ha" moment today while we were working on them! He had me just do a backward glide in the backspin position and I discovered that my upper body is turning away from the direction of the spin! So, in other words, my bottom half is turning in one direction while my upper half is going the opposite way. No wonder my backspins are trash! So, he tasked me with just working on the backwards glides in the back spin position focusing on keeping my upper body in alignment. I really hope this fixes things.
Movez - Obviously, I'm not going to Sectionals in March because of being off the ice for so long and trying to learn how to skate all over again with new equipment so I told him that I would like to just focus on getting skills back for the next couple of months. Mostly, I just want to work on Moves for now and then when my skates are broken in and I'm feeling more confident, I would like to start a new program for competition next fall. He agrees with the plan so we started with cross strokes. I made some progress with these today! He wants me to stay away from crossing the free leg over and instead glide it across on the ice. This helps with that underpush as well. w00t! Next, we tackled some backward 3 turns (the outside ones). I'm pretty much coming to a stop once I make the turn so we worked on having me keep the free leg crossed after the turn and that seemed to help. I've been neglecting the BO 3 turns in favor of the insides because of compulsories but now since I don't have to worry about competing anytime soon, I can make more time to focus on these again. We briefly talked spirals before the lesson ended. Basically, he wants me to work on getting five lobes down the length of the rink.
I have quite a bit to work on for next week but I've got my fire back! I think the time I've spent off the ice forced me to just regroup and refocus. It's silly that it took an injury to get me to do this but I'm happy that I have a better mindset now!
Friday, December 6, 2019
Baby Steps
I got to the rink this morning for my 7:00am session but there was a hockey game on the Blue Rink and they didn't look as though they were finishing up anytime soon. The Red Rink was empty so it looked like they just got on the wrong rink. Regardless, there were about 7 of us waiting around for them to finish up so the zamboni could get the ice ready for us. Finally, at about 7:15, we were able to get on the ice. This really sucked for me because, even though the program director came out and offered to extend our time to give us all a full hour, I still needed to leave at my originally scheduled time so I could make it to work on time. So, I only got about 30 minutes of practice. Boo.
Movez - I felt more comfortable in my skates today so I was able to do more than I did on Wednesday. I focused almost entirely on Silver Moves. My RBI 3 turn is feeling like it used to in the old skates. It's pretty consistent. But, I completely lost my LBI 3 turn (not like it was awesome to begin with)! I spent a good amount of time working on these to get them to a point where they aren't entirely terrifying. I made some small progress. I also worked on the Cross Strokes some more trying to get a nice underpush going forward and a little bit better flow going backward.
Spinz - These happened. My one-foot spins are feeling better so I might venture out soon and work on some other types of spins. Getting used to actually having a rocker now is interesting.
Jumpz - I tried a loop jump today! The first one was small but I landed it and the second one was a bit of a flaily mess. I almost died. I moved on to salchows, toe loops, and....wait for it....flips! Nothing was beautiful but at least I tried.
So yeah, not a lot of time to really do much of anything but I packed as much as I could into those 30 minutes.
Movez - I felt more comfortable in my skates today so I was able to do more than I did on Wednesday. I focused almost entirely on Silver Moves. My RBI 3 turn is feeling like it used to in the old skates. It's pretty consistent. But, I completely lost my LBI 3 turn (not like it was awesome to begin with)! I spent a good amount of time working on these to get them to a point where they aren't entirely terrifying. I made some small progress. I also worked on the Cross Strokes some more trying to get a nice underpush going forward and a little bit better flow going backward.
Spinz - These happened. My one-foot spins are feeling better so I might venture out soon and work on some other types of spins. Getting used to actually having a rocker now is interesting.
Jumpz - I tried a loop jump today! The first one was small but I landed it and the second one was a bit of a flaily mess. I almost died. I moved on to salchows, toe loops, and....wait for it....flips! Nothing was beautiful but at least I tried.
So yeah, not a lot of time to really do much of anything but I packed as much as I could into those 30 minutes.
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
Officially Back!
I started the new winter contract this morning and it feels good to officially be back on the ice. I can't say I was awesome today but some progress was made.
New Skatez - This weekend, I replaced the laces that came with the skates because they were too wide. They were more like shoe laces than skate laces. I replaced them with proper skate laces and it makes all the difference. However, since the new laces are a bit shorter, I discovered that I can't use all the hooks on my boots at the same time. There will always need to be one set of hooks on each boot that goes unused. This is fine since the Premiere boot has like a gajillion damn hooks so it won't hurt to miss a set. So, now it's a just matter of choosing which ones to skip. I started out with all of the hooks laced except for the middle back hook but about 10 minutes into the session I realized I could not bend my knees. I got off the ice and relaced, this time using all of the hooks except the very top. That helped. I think I'll stick with this lacing pattern until things break down a bit more. Otherwise, the new boots/blades didn't feel as hurty as they did last time I got on the ice. It's still not entirely comfortable but it's getting there.
Movez - I started out with edges (forward and backward) before moving on to Bronze moves. I didn't want to just jump right in with Silver moves because I'm just not there yet so instead I worked on things that were more familiar. Once I felt comfortable enough, I dabbled in some Silver moves. I began with forward and backward cross strokes and then spent the rest of my time on FO-BI three turns. Let me just state that doing backward three turns was already a scary endeavor but now with new skates, the scary has intensified! I was able to get around on the LFO-RBI turns but not on the other side. I just need to get the feel for these blades.
Jumpz & Spinz - Seriously not a lot of time on these. It wasn't that I was scared to jump or spin, I just don't feel comfortable with these skates yet and I don't want to injure myself yet again. I did a few waltz jumps, one salchow that I fell on, a few half flips, and a couple of toe loops. They were all small and hesitant for reasons. Spins were okay. I just did a few basic one foot spins to get a feel for where my rocker is on these blades. When I hit the rocker, my spins are really nicely centered. Beautiful! I will venture out and do some sit spins, camels, and back spins on Friday when I go back.
Overall, it was an okay session. Not bad for my second practice since September. Once you factor in the new skates and the fact that I'm recovering from an injury, I think I did pretty well, actually. I'm back with Christopher on Saturday so I'm trying to get as much back as I can before then so I'm not a total disappointment.
New Skatez - This weekend, I replaced the laces that came with the skates because they were too wide. They were more like shoe laces than skate laces. I replaced them with proper skate laces and it makes all the difference. However, since the new laces are a bit shorter, I discovered that I can't use all the hooks on my boots at the same time. There will always need to be one set of hooks on each boot that goes unused. This is fine since the Premiere boot has like a gajillion damn hooks so it won't hurt to miss a set. So, now it's a just matter of choosing which ones to skip. I started out with all of the hooks laced except for the middle back hook but about 10 minutes into the session I realized I could not bend my knees. I got off the ice and relaced, this time using all of the hooks except the very top. That helped. I think I'll stick with this lacing pattern until things break down a bit more. Otherwise, the new boots/blades didn't feel as hurty as they did last time I got on the ice. It's still not entirely comfortable but it's getting there.
Movez - I started out with edges (forward and backward) before moving on to Bronze moves. I didn't want to just jump right in with Silver moves because I'm just not there yet so instead I worked on things that were more familiar. Once I felt comfortable enough, I dabbled in some Silver moves. I began with forward and backward cross strokes and then spent the rest of my time on FO-BI three turns. Let me just state that doing backward three turns was already a scary endeavor but now with new skates, the scary has intensified! I was able to get around on the LFO-RBI turns but not on the other side. I just need to get the feel for these blades.
Jumpz & Spinz - Seriously not a lot of time on these. It wasn't that I was scared to jump or spin, I just don't feel comfortable with these skates yet and I don't want to injure myself yet again. I did a few waltz jumps, one salchow that I fell on, a few half flips, and a couple of toe loops. They were all small and hesitant for reasons. Spins were okay. I just did a few basic one foot spins to get a feel for where my rocker is on these blades. When I hit the rocker, my spins are really nicely centered. Beautiful! I will venture out and do some sit spins, camels, and back spins on Friday when I go back.
Overall, it was an okay session. Not bad for my second practice since September. Once you factor in the new skates and the fact that I'm recovering from an injury, I think I did pretty well, actually. I'm back with Christopher on Saturday so I'm trying to get as much back as I can before then so I'm not a total disappointment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)