Practice makes progress

 So, it's been slow going with all of my Gold Moves. I haven't worked at all on the Power Circles and I feel guilty about that but I have been working on the other stuff quite a bit. 

Forward Double 3 Turns - Until today, I was only able to get the FO-BI side done but today I was able to make the other side (the FI-BO) consistent as well. It's that damn LBO 3 turn that was holding me back. I feel like it will always be a problem. Sigh. But, I was able to do a bunch that turned properly so yay! This is now getting to the point where I can start practicing the full Move in the pattern. 

Backward Double 3 Turns - This is still a struggle. I'm getting the BO-FI side done but it's hella sloppy. The BI-FO side isn't happening at all even though BI 3 turns are typically easy for me. The issue with these is adjusting to a new way of entering the BI turn. Instead of having my free leg out in front, it is now crossed underneath for the turn and there is a certain amount of fear associated with this new thing. I'll get over it eventually and I'm sure it will be a breeze but until then, it's kind of a hot steaming pile of garbage. 

Backward Circle 8 - I was able to get around both BO circles! They are by no means perfect and I wasn't able to replicate it but this is a start! Heck yeah! I've been warming up my Circle 8 with BO and BI edges down the line. I haven't done edges like this since Pre-Bronze so it's nice to see that they have improved so much. Anyway, I think revisiting edges is helping me get a better push and better edge quality for the Circle 8. 

Bracket Hell - This really is hell, ya'll. The FI brackets are okay but I'm still only able to do the RFO brackets and not the left ones. And even though I spent some time at the boards trying to get some Backward brackets done, that is still a mess too. I feel like this is going to be my biggest struggle with Gold Moves

Program - Oh yeah! I ran my program today too. Ummm...it was rough. I haven't run my program since my competition at CSI (btw, I have added the video to that post in case you are interested). Everything happened but  it was just sloppy and really scratchy. My next competition isn't until the end of October so I have some time to freshen it up a bit.

Brave Things

 I've been trying to do "one brave thing" during my practices lately. I don't want to leave the ice frustrated that I didn't at least try something scary. Today's brave thing was trying the FO brackets away from the wall. I sorta succeeded. 

The FI brackets are still there! So I moved on to the FO brackets by the wall and I noticed that the turns themselves are pretty smooth most of the time. No toe scratching after the turn and everything is gliding nicely. So, I did a brave thing and moved over to the hockey goal and attempted the turns without something to hold on to. The RFO bracket happened! I mean, it's hella scratchy because of fear but I did the thing! I wish I could say the same for the LFO bracket but it's getting there. In fact, it probably would have happened today but I left the session 15 minutes early because I can't read a clock apparently. I was already in the car before I realized I had cheated myself out of precious ice time and I was so close to the LFO bracket too! AGHGHGH! I'm so mad at myself. I guess I'll try again when I go back on Thursday. 

So yeah, I did brave things but I'm not going to count it as a win until I can do both right and left sides. Still, this is progress and I'm pretty stoked about it!

Test Ready?

 Lesson today!

Movez - We started with brackets. I'm still not able to do the FO brackets without holding on to the wall and to hell with the backward brackets! Those are not even being attempted at this point. So, we spent some time looking at the backward brackets to get me more comfortable with them. He was able to clear some things up for me, too! Because the point of the turn happens outside of the circle, I was under the impression that I needed to face outside of the circle for all brackets. Turns out that isn't true for backward brackets and that's why I was having such a difficult time wrapping my head around these damn turns. For the backward brackets you face inside the circle! What?! Things make so much more sense now. I mean, I still can't do them but at least I understand them now! Woot! We moved on to the backward double 3 turns. These are still a mess. Sigh. 

Dancez - Oh hey! We skated the Fiesta Tango at speed with the music! I don't think we've done that before. Yay! It wasn't bad actually but he would like my arms to be a bit snappier with the change of hold in the end pattern. We did some Swing and ended with the Cha Cha. When we were finished, he said the dances are "passing" (even though I have doubts). He's never lied to me before so I guess they are passing. I'm just thankful that I have another month-ish before the next test session because there are still some things I would like to clean up. But, if I pass all three, I will not only have finished another ice dance level but I will have passed my 7th test this year! That's pretty neat.

Feeling like a beginner again

 Some people might think I know how to figure skate but man, let me tell you the truth of it all. Today? I could not skate. Like, I felt like a beginner again. This is largely due to lack of ice time over the last few weeks. I have skated maybe a few times since the end of August (not counting competition) and it's starting to show. Combine that with the fact that my right boot is pretty broken down and I have stability issues with that and it really does make me look like a beginner. 

Complaining aside, I think I have my new skate schedule figured out and I'll be back on track soon. Monday will be at the Promenade with Christopher for our lesson and then I'll wake up at the ass crack of dawn to skate at Apex on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Not ideal but I cannot continue to suck like this on the ice. It's depressing. 

I was able to sneak a Saturday practice in this morning since my work schedule allowed me to. My practice this morning was pretty blah. I worked on BO-FI double 3s and I dabbled in FO-BI double 3s. These have such a long way to go and that's just half of the patterns. I worked on FI brackets away from the wall and FO brackets at the wall. I think there is some improvement with the FO brackets as I'm finding that I'm not holding the wall as much. I think if I were to be brave and try it away from the wall they might just happen but it's a confidence thing. I'm just not ready (or brave) enough yet. 

I did some jumps and spins but not too much and I definitely didn't run my program. In fact, I haven't skated my program since CSI a couple of weeks ago. Sigh.

Breaking Down Brackets

 Lesson today! Truth be told, I have not really practiced because the local rinks have changed their schedules once again now that summer has ended. I am scrambling to find ice time and, with a working adult's schedule, it's not always the easiest thing. 

Before our lesson started, I had time to cram a week's worth of practice into the space of about 15 minutes. Luckily, my FI brackets were still there so I tried to mess around with the double 3s and the backward Circle 8. Ugh, not enough time!!!!

Brackets - I told Christopher how proud I was that I was able to do FI brackets on my own without wall assistance so of course he asked me to show him. They are not the best turns but they are happening. They still need a lot more work but I feel like at least I'm getting the snap needed and my free foot placement is sort of okay, albeit a little swingy. So, we moved on to FO brackets and I warned him that I am not courageous enough yet to do them away from the wall so he offered to hold my hand. Still scary! The biggest issue is that, because of the fear, I'm super heavy on the toepick after the turn so there is no glide out - just a stop. Finally, he introduced me to the dreaded backward brackets! I admitted to him that although I've watched videos of people doing these, I'm still not quite sure how to do these. We went to the boards and he broke it down for me. This just seems...weird. Like, why would anyone want to do a backwards bracket when they can do a backwards 3 turn? Do.not.like. 

Backwards Circle 8 - Turns out I've been facing the wrong direction when I've been starting this on my own. I'm glad Christopher pointed it out early on in my learning of this move. With the way I was facing, I was actually going outside of the circle in order to start the RBO. When I start the LBO, I'm cutting the top of the circle short so that was another thing he pointed out that needs fixing. We didn't even get to the Back Inside Circles. This has a long way to go. Sigh. 

Dances - We didn't have a lot of time left but we partnered the Swing with music and it was much improved. I think it will be ready to test soon. We also did the end pattern of the Fiesta Tango without the music to get a feel for that weird switching of the hold position. 

So yeah, it looks like the Y has removed their Sunday sessions and Apex won't bring back the 6:15am Saturday session so now I'm scrambling to find two sessions during the week that will work. I'm going to miss the Sunday Y sessions. It was two hours for $10 and about half the time I had the ice to myself or I shared with 1 or 2 other skaters. It was luxury. RIP Sunday Session :(

Turnsday Thursday

 I was at Apex this morning and decided to just focus on Dances and Turns!

Swing Dance - When we worked on this on Monday, Christopher pointed out that my Chasses were not exactly chasses since I wasn't picking up my free foot enough. I worked on several patterns of Swing in order to really make sure I was picking my feet up as well as getting that nice turn out on the swing rolls. I think I made some improvements on this!

Cha Cha - Since this is my most familiar dance, I only ran a couple of patterns but I tried to focus on stepping on that inside edge after the first progressive. 

Fiesta Tango - I think I spent the most time on this because I haven't really touched it at all in months. I remember the steps just fine but I know it needs a lot of polish, especially when I end one pattern and start another. That's a little disjointed and I'm not sure why. I'll have Christopher take a look next Monday. 

Forward Double 3 Turns - My lobes are pretty small right now and I'm not really going full out with the amount of speed I need but at least I'm working on them. I think I made some progress with the FO-BI turns in terms of waiting after the first turn and resetting for the next. Not so much on the FI-BO. Those are still a mess. I'm not doing any of these in the full pattern yet, just taking it slow to get a feel for them. They feel a bit different than the ones from Silver Moves. 

Backward Double 3 Turns - Well, these are a full on disaster. I just did the first side, the BI-FO and not much progress was made. Damn.

Brackets - Once again, I started to work on these by the boards because I'm still not stable but I noticed that my FI brackets felt better than the FO ones so I decided to be brave and try it out in the open. I moved over to the goalie area and used the small half circle there as a guide. Hey! Guess what? I did both sides of the FI brackets! YAY!! They were tiny and apprehensive but they were legit brackets! Why are the inside ones easier than the outside ones? I decided to count this as a win and not push my luck today so I moved on to some spins and jumps to round out my session. 

*Achievement Unlocked* Forward Inside Bracket Turns! :)

Welcome aboard the Struggle Bus!

 So, I was able to enjoy the high of winning for what? 24 hours maybe? Today was lesson day and we started with Gold Moves. I told Christopher I was able to putz around with some of the moves but there is a lot I don't really understand. 

Forward Power Circles - Oh man. These are actually pretty difficult. Like, when you watch videos of people doing them it's like "no problem, it's just forward crossovers." But it's not just forward crossovers! No more than 15 crossovers are allowed but I already started out making the spiral pattern too big and I was only on crossover 8! And then the faster you go, the smaller your crossovers need to get and all it would take is just one "click of death" and you go flying! Yeah, nightmare fuel. We did both directions and they were equally terrible. 

Forward Double 3 Turns - Ahhh, the return of my nemesis - the backward 3 turns! The first problem was that I was turning too early and the second problem was that I wasn't giving myself time to reset after the forward turn so I could do the backward turn properly. We did both sides and they were equally terrible. 

Backward Double 3 Turns - These look fun but I didn't try them out on my own because I wasn't sure how to set them up properly. It looks so different than how I did my backward 3 turns for Silver Moves. So, for the back insides you do a back crossover and it's on the push under that you turn. That's just weird for me to wrap my head around. I do like how flowy this move is and the extensions are pretty but it's a struggle for now. We did both sides and they were equally terrible. 

Christopher wanted to go over Pre-Bronze Dances so we'll work on the rest of Gold Moves next week. 

Swing Dance - Oh it's been months since we've worked on this! I was forgetting steps and I didn't have any turn out on my swing rolls so Christopher had to warm me not to stab him with my toe pick. Ugh. Embarrassing. It was a disaster. We'll get it together. I would at least like to test Swing and Cha Cha in December. 

Cha Cha - Speaking of Cha Cha, since this is so fresh, we partnered this today without the music and it was in good shape. His main critique was to remember to step wide on the inside edge after that initial progressive. Other than that, this is probably testable right now. 

So yeah, I have a lot of homework and today was humbling. I mentioned to Christopher that I'm giving myself a two year deadline to get Gold Moves test ready and he seems to think I can get it together in a year. I kept thinking he'll change his tune once we start working on brackets because those are the hottest of messes, lol.

Colorado Springs Invitational - Day Two

Coming off the high of my freeskate from yesterday, I was ready to go into today with a kick ass mentality! 

Practice Ice - I had another practice session reserved but this one was only 15 minutes instead of 30. All was well and I was able to practice my intros and fiddle around with some exit choreography (which, yeah, I should not have waited until competition day to figure this out but here we are, lol). 

Dutch Waltz - There are only 3 of us competing in the Adult Preliminary Solo Pattern Dances so no matter what, I'm going to make the podium. I still wanted to do my best though. My music started and my intro choreography was nice, I stayed on beat throughout the dance, and my exit choreography looked nice even though I was wingin' it. My only critique was that my left progressive was a little steppy on both patterns. Meh. 

Canasta Tango - Twenty minutes after my waltz, I got into position for my Canasta. My intro choreography was spot on, my timing was okay (I've done better), and my exit was great and retained the theme of the music even though I was wingin' it yet again.

Results - I won both dances!!!! Wooo! I was given two gold medals, one for each dance, even though I explained to the awards people that it's really just one event with two dances and that I should technically only get one medal. They said "whatever" and handed me two. So, I have two gold medals for today. Why not!

The Ashleyann Carlson Memorial Cha Cha - So, this event is just for fun. It was a $5 entry fee and a lot of my unicorn sisters were doing it so I thought, sure, let's do it. The thing about this particular event is that since it's a memorial dance, it's open to all levels. ALL LEVELS! So, I was competing against Senior level skaters. Needless to say, I wasn't planning on placing (spoiler alert: I did not make the podium, lol). But it was fun nonetheless and it was neat to be "competing" against Senior level skaters. I came in 10th out of 14 so at least I didn't get last place. I skated well, though, so I can't be too disappointed in how I placed but now I know for next year that this event isn't so much about your timing and knowing the steps but more about the entertainment factor. One senior skater did her Cha Cha to "I'm a little tea pot" and she absolutely killed it! It was so much fun to watch. Next year, I'll make it more of a production because apparently originality matters in this particular event as opposed to a traditional Cha Cha event :)

I'm not ordering video from today but my husband took a really nice picture of me on the podium with my double Gold! 

Colorado Springs Invitational - Day One

It's time!

I only had one event today but it's the one I care about most - the freeskate!

30 Minute Practice - I registered for a 30 minute practice so I could get a feel for competition ice. In the past, my practice ice sessions on competition day were filled with bloopers and anxiety. This time, however, I was calm and collected and everything went as planned. Yay! 

5 Minute Warm Up - After my practice session, I had enough time to take my skates off for a brief spell before needing to put them on again for the warm up and main event. I was able to listen to some relaxing music and zone out for a bit and I think that was really helpful in getting me to that calm place where I perform at my best. It didn't feel like a lot of time but it did the trick. When we all got on for our warm-ups, I was as cool as a cucumber! Everything in the warm-up went as planned. I landed everything and my spins were fine. In fact, with just a minute left in warm up, I was done. I just wanted to get out there and skate! 

The Main Event! - I was the third skater to go on so I still felt plenty warmed up and the urge to get out there and kick ass was still strong. So, how did it go? Honestly, I think this was the best I've ever skated my program! My camel spin was one of the best ones I've ever done, I had expression, my jumps landed, and everything had flow. I got the job done!

Results - Out of seven skaters, I placed FIRST! Gold Medal! If you want to watch the video, here it is!

Final Thoughts - I feel like I have finally found the thing that works for my anxiety. It worked in Cody when I slayed on my freeskate, it worked on test day when I passed Silver Moves, and it worked today. Tuning the world out and listening to calm music really gets my heart rate down and stops me from obsessing and overthinking about what I'm about to do. It took me four years of testing and competing to figure this out but hey, now I know and now I can use this every time I'm about to do a big thing :) 

Dress Rehersal

Today was my final lesson with Christopher before the competition next weekend. He literally has not seen the entirety of my program with the music since we finished choreography so this should be interesting! I slapped on my new freeskate dress and some sparkly tights and got started.

Dances - Before we made it to the freeskate, we had some cleaning up to do with my dance intros. I choreographed all three intros myself so I was hoping he would be okay with everything. He was! The only one he made adjustments to was the intro to the Dutch Waltz and let's just say his choreography is soooo much better! I admitted to him that my dances have taken a backseat to everything else I've been working on lately so they might be a little rusty. He gave me some last minute reminders but I think overall, they are okay. 

The 27 Program Challenge (27/27 COMPLETE!) - Oh hey! I completed the challenge today when I did my run through in front of Christopher. It was a good run through but my camel got a little off center because there were people standing close to where I needed to spin and I got distracted. Overall, it was a good run through. He had me reskate the camel to the end one more time once the area was free and clear and I got the #slowclap! Yay! We spent quite a bit of time on the dreaded Lutz jump. This jump and the flip jump haunt me. I just don't ever feel like I can vault the way I need to so my technique is always so sloppy. But Christopher said, in a pinch, it's better to get the rotation than the correct edge (ideally, it would be lovely to have both). 

I'm ready for next weekend's competition. I haven't been obsessing about it like I normally do. I'm much more relaxed. All of this relaxation work I've been doing lately has me a lot more chill about things. That's nice compared to two years ago when I needed to see a therapist friend of mine to help me with performance anxiety. Although I'm not sure if it's me learning how to be more relaxed or me being more comfortable with my skills so that I'm not stressing about whether or not I'll get the job done. Maybe it's a bit of both. 

I have two more practice days scheduled and then it's showtime!

Boots - My skates went in to get sharpened and my sharpener said that the tongue on my right boot was pretty broken down and soft. I know this but I've been in total denial about it because I've only been in these boots for a year and a half (although I've been skating hard during that time). I've noticed that my loop jumps in particular are very unstable and that my right boot is super loose around the ankle halfway through a session. But man, having it confirmed like this sucks. So, he said I can visit a cobbler and see about getting the tongue reinforced or I can look into getting new boots. I wonder if I can just get a new right boot. My left boot is still pretty stiff. Luckily, my blades have plenty of life left in them so there's that at least. Ugh, I'm not ready to do this! $$$$!

Double Run Through

Note to self: Wednesday mornings at Apex are the best! For the first half of the session it was me and two other skaters but during the second half, it was just me. The whole ice to myself! It was awesome and I definitely took advantage of it and got some good work done. 

Moves - Day two of Gold Moves. I spent quite a bit of time working on the backward circle 8 and those forward double 3 turns. I didn't make any progress. Everything is pretty gross. Later when I had the ice to myself, I tried a forward power circle. Oh man. It was bad. I pretty much have two speeds: slow and sorta moderately fast, lol. There was none of that gradual increase of speed like there should be. These are deceptively difficult. I also messed around with some brackets by the boards. The forward inside and outside feel better than they did the last time I tried them but I'm still not ready to move away from the boards and try them out in the wild. I attempted a backwards bracket and my brain exploded. I'm going to need Christopher to help out with explaining these to me. 

The 27 Program Challenge (26/27) - Since I had the ice to myself, I ran this twice back-to-back! It was exhausting but I know it's good conditioning. They were both okay. I had a couple of bobbles but no falls and I ended on time with the music. 

Dance - I did DW, CT, and Cha Cha. The patterns are fine but I'm concerned about whether or not my intros are good and reflect the character of each dance. I don't usually choreograph things on my own for a reason - I'm just not good at it. But, I have a lesson with Christopher this Friday and hopefully we can run all 3 of these with the music.