The Aftermath

 Lesson scheduled for today (my first since the competition). I'm really thankful that we didn't talk about what happened on Saturday when our lesson started. I'm...embarrassed to talk about it? The more I think about how I skated the more I feel like I really didn't deserve my placement. The fact that I royally screwed up the camel spin combo and just did a one foot spin instead really bothers me. Today, I just wanted to focus on making things right. 

Before we got started though he spoke to me about the Fort Collins Fright Fest. This competition was just listed as part of the Adult Competition Series and I'm ready to register. However, Christopher will be out of town that weekend so that puts a kink in things. He said I could borrow a coach and he can make some calls and put me in touch with someone but since I know that my good friend Kim is also skating at the competition and her coach will be there anyway, why not get in touch with her? So I'll be reaching out to Coach Katie Holmes (seriously, that's her name) to ask if she would be willing to put me on the ice on October 25th. I'm also going to see if I can schedule a lesson with her beforehand so she knows what kind of a mess to expect, lol. Kim says she introduced me to Coach Katie the last time we skated together up in Fort Collins but that was forever ago and I don't even remember that happening. Maybe she'll remember me :) 

Movez - I confessed to Christopher that my Silver Moves have taken a backseat as I was preparing for the competition so that's all we did today. And, as a special kind of torture, we worked on the moves that are the most challenging for me (the Backward 3 turns and the forward power pulls). It's really frustrating that after an entire year of working on the back 3s, I still can't make the LBO turn happen. It is the only one of the four that won't go. So we spent the majority of the time on just that. It's not like I'm scared of the thing, it's just that I can't get it to go. When I look at the tracings it almost looks like the hook from a loop jump so clearly I'm on the wrong part of my blade. I've always had problems with my left leg since it's full of metal and screws and I feel like this might be part of the problem. It's not like I'm not trying though and that's why I'm so frustrated. Ugh. 

Practicez - After my lesson, I had some time to work on things so I spent a good chunk of time working on the two weakest elements from my program - the flip jump and the camel combo. I did some okay spins where I felt like I was better aligned and my flip jumps felt okay too. I also did a whole bunch of twizzles down the length of the rink because I tripped out of them when I skated the competition this past Saturday. I'm determined to skate a clean program in October! I want to feel like I earned my medal even if I don't get gold!