EPIC Lesson

This morning I drove up to Fort Collins to meet and have a lesson with the coach I'll be borrowing for Fright Fest. It was a great experience!

First, Coach Katie was lovely to work with! So positive and encouraging while also being real with me about some of the things I struggle with. Before she saw me skate, she had me map out for her my entire program so she could get a sense of what elements I'm doing and where they will go. It was also a sneaky way of getting me to visualize my entire program on unfamiliar ice. And this ice just so happens to be the very ice I'll be skating on for Fright Fest so I now know where the judges will sit, where I get on the ice, which way to face, and where to exit the ice. Really helpful for calming my nerves. I always like a plan. 

The biggest takeaway from our lesson is that she helped me a lot with expression. I confessed to her that, although my music is very emotional, I'm having a hard time expressing that emotion because I'm so focused on the elements. She had me skate my step sequence and noticed that I looked down at the ice the whole time (I know I do this and I still keep doing it, ugh!). She had me do it again but this time she wanted me to look up and out for the entirety of the sequence. DO NOT LOOK DOWN! Not even once! Because I'm so used to looking at the ice, it almost felt like I was skating blindly but I put my trust in my skills and got through it. She said the difference in the presentation was exponentially better! She also pointed out some other moments in my program where I can express my emotions and make eye contact with the judges. 

It was a productive session and I'm glad she made time for me to work on some of these things before the competition. She also gave me some tips for my camel spin and I had a bit of an "ah ha!" moment with it. It wasn't anything earth shattering but it made enough of a difference in my spin that I can consistently eek out an extra revolution. Basically, I just need to twist my torso more on the windup and look opposite of where I'm going right before I step forward on the entry edge. That allows me to get a bit more power on the entry edge and hook. 

I feel different about this competition. Normally, I overanalyze and overthink everything right up until the moment I step onto competition ice. I actually haven't even been thinking too much about this competition at all. Although it's important to do well for the sake of points for the Series, it's more important that I skate my best and I'm feeling pretty good about the progress I've been making these past four weeks. I'm ready!