From Zero to Hero

 It's getting down to the wire and I don't have many days left before the competition next week so I went back to the Sport Stable (ugh) for a 2 hour session. My main goal was to work on Moves, spins, and flip jumps.

Thursdayz - This was Sport Stable day and it was a disaster. I fell on EVERYTHING! It was weird. I was falling on pretty much every single jump, even the easy ones like salchow and loop. I could not center a spin to save my life. Basically, it was embarrassing. One of my adult skate buddies that I regularly train with (she's also a student of Christopher's) was there and pretty much asked if I was okay? She said something along the lines of "I see you land these jumps all the time, what's up?" I went through the whole session thinking I was just having a mental block about being at the Sport Stable. It wasn't until I got off the ice and looked at my skates that I saw the problem. I had deliberately tied my right boot (my landing leg) looser than usual because the ankle pain started up again. Normally, I can just deal with the pain on a one hour session but this was a two hour session and I didn't want my ankle to fall off so I tied it tight enough to give support but loose around the part where my ankle hurts. I must have tied it too loose and I'm really surprised I didn't figure out that this was the reason I couldn't land a jump. I felt so dumb. I essentially wasted an entire session because I couldn't complete any skills with a loose boot. Stupid. But...I did feel better knowing that it wasn't me as a skater who sucked and that it was just me the dumbass who laced her boot too loose. 

Fridayz - This was lesson day and I made sure I was laced up properly. It was one of the better lessons I've had in a while and now I'm feeling a little extra confident going into the competition next week. We started off looking at spins. He emphasized the long edge on the step forward into the spin and how I need to lean forward more (basically I should be bent enough that I could hold a dollar bill in the crease where my thigh meets my torso). I asked him if I should have a Plan B spin in case I mess up the combo spin right off the bat. His answer: there is no Plan B, just do the spin correctly the first time. Nice. We then moved on to flip jumps. When I remember all the things I'm supposed to remember, I can do a nice flip jump with good technique. In fact, I had one where I got an audible "YESSS!" from Christopher. The difference was I picked in farther behind me, had a longer draw, and kept my chest up. It felt really good! Yay! Finally, we ran the program and besides someone spinning where I was supposed to do my final loop jump it went well. I was still able to do the loop, I just had to skate around her first. It was mostly clean. The combo spin was better than it usually is but it still could have been better. Even still, I felt good about it. 

Monday is my last lesson with Christopher before the competition so it will be my "dress rehearsal." I'm excited to get to wear my dress but I'm worried about the weight of it. I added a lot of stones and the dress feels heavy to me. I don't think it will affect my jumps too much but this is the heaviest dress I've skated in so we'll see. Then I practice on Friday (the day before I compete) and I've designated that as my "relax day." I will focus on moves, spins, flips, and run my program one time but I'm not going to stress about anything if it goes wrong. When I get home, I'm going to make some tea and read. I'm not going to obsess. I've trained for this and I'm ready and no amount of fretting will change things.