Good Day, Bad Day

 Yesterday's practice was splendid. Today was not so much. But I still worked on all the things I needed to. 

Friday Lesson - Since I have a fancy new LBO 3 turn, we started with that. You know what's crazy? These have better technique than the RBO 3 turns I've been working on for the past year and a half. What gives? Anyway, we worked on the RFI-LBO pattern and Christopher would like to see me wrap my right leg around a bit more when I'm doing the turn and work on stabilizing my arms after the turn happens. They tend to want to keep turning. I think that will get better with time. I'm just excited that I can actually do ALL the moves on the Silver MIF test now! From here until the end of the year, I just have to clean up technique and I think I'll be ready to test. Woot! We also worked a bit on the Forward Power Pulls. They are happening but he really wants me to emphasize the "power" in the pull. So he had me exaggerate the edges and it felt dangerous and unsure but the whole point of the move is to show how strong one's edges are. I need to work on that. 

Dances - We ran all three Preliminary dances and they all still look pretty good. I'm excited for next Friday when I can finally test them and be done with them. I don't know if I've mentioned this here yet but I'm really not a fan of the Dutch Waltz. I might use it in the future for warm-ups but I really don't see myself skating it with music ever again after this. It's like how I hated the two-foot spin in Pre-Bronze and was happy to never have to do it ever again after I tested it. Good riddance. I'm excited to start working on the Pre-Bronze dances more seriously once this test is over. I've been keeping up with them so I don't lose them but we haven't partnered them in a while. I hope we can get back into them without too much trouble. 

Moves - So yeah, I've been working on all of my Silver Moves because I can! I feel like only half of my 3 turn patterns are good. LFO-RBI is my best followed by RFO-LBI. The Inside to Outside patterns are still pretty weak with a foot down most of the time. But I'm determined to really focus on these so that they are consistent!

24 Program Challenge (9/24) - Yesterday's run through was better than the one I did today mostly because today my spins were wonky. Overall, I'm hitting my marks and I'm feeling more confident about the program overall. I think once I get to Cody in March, I'll be in a good place with this program. The competition in Cody will be my last time skating my "Fix You" program before I retire it. So far it has earned me a gold medal at both of the competitions I have participated in this season. It would be nice to earn one more with it in March. Fingers crossed. 

Cody Spring Classic - I'll be registering tonight or tomorrow. I always like to wait until the deadline to register for comps because I'm always so worried about being ready even though I know I am. I plan on competing in 4 events! Yes, FOUR! Of course, I'll be competing in Bronze Freeskate but I'm also planning to register for Preliminary Dance (which will be the Canasta and the Rhythm Blues), Bronze MIF (which will consist of Forward Circle 8 and Forward Power 3s), and finally, I'll be registering for "Survivor." So basically, Survivor involves each competitor being timed on three things: How long you can hold a spiral, how long you can hold a spin, and how long you can hold a landing position. They add up all the times for each competitor and whomever has the longest time, is the ultimate survivor. It's silly and I can't wait to compete in it. My goal for Cody is to come home with a "Triple Golden Buffalo." The medals are shaped like buffalo heads and I would love to bring home gold in each of my "serious" events. Survivor is just for fun so I don't really care if I get gold there (although it would be cool to bring home a "Quad Golden Buffalo").