Dodgy

 I skated the 615:am at APEX this morning and got to skate on the West rink for the first time in months. They took the ice down for maintenance so I've been on the East rink exclusively and it sucks because I never skate well on the East rink. I'm not sure if it's the lighting or just the vibes but I'm never at my best on that ice. So, I was super excited this morning when I found out we were skating on the West rink! Yay! I usually skate well on the West rink! Except...

There was a HOLE! In.the.ice! And right next to it was a yellow ice mound of something gross that was dripping from the ceiling. Oh, and the rink smelled mostly like gasoline. Cool. 

So I made a mental note to dodge that area and I warned the other skaters getting on the ice that, you know, they could die if they skate over there. 

Anyway, I spent the first 30 minutes on Moves. My Power Pulls felt slightly better today. Speed helps. My backward cross strokes were also slightly better. I think I even heard some teeny tiny rips! The FO-BI 3 turns were okay but the FI-BO had a foot down after every BO 3 turn. Not only is that disappointing but it's kind of scary knowing I'm testing these bad boys in a month and a half and I still have moments where I'm putting a foot down. I think I might have to add another morning to my schedule. APEX has a 5:45am session on Wednesdays and a 6:15am on Thursdays. Both of those are good options for me to get some extra time in before the test. I just really hate mornings, though :( 

I worked on the program and was having a couple of issues with the new corrected choreography Christopher gave me from the loop jump leading into the salchow. It makes total sense on the floor but doesn't translate well to the ice. Also my end pose after the final layback spin is super precarious. I'll have him take a look on Monday. Maybe I remembered it wrong again and that's why it's so goofy. Or maybe I'm just bad at this.

I still have a lot of work to do on this program and, although my first competition isn't until September, I don't feel like I have a lot of time to get it together enough to compete with. I'm still having timing issues and I'm struggling with those little in between moments of choreography. I think I might do another "Program Challenge" like I did earlier this year. It really got my ass into gear and motivated me. Plus, the end result was fantastic. I had my best freeskate ever at the Cody Spring Classic and I'm pretty sure it was because of the "24 Program Challenge" that I made myself do. I'll think about it some more and come up with a good number. I don't think 24 will be enough.