Today is my first lesson in the new skates. I haven't had a lesson in a couple of weeks because of the holiday but at least I was able to practice a bit and be slightly more confident in these things.
Equipment Check - Christopher had me do some glides on a line just to make sure the alignment of my blades was okay. Everything looks good here. Next we worked on some stops and then moved on to backward glides where I rise up on my toe picks to get a feel for where the rocker is. It's not as easy to rise up on my toes as it used to be in the old skates (this is a good thing).
Jumps - We went through my entire repertoire of jumps (but no combos) to see how these are looking. I told him I wasn't able to do a loop from back crossovers so of course he made me do one. I was able to to do it! It wasn't my best but I got it done (I'm always a bit more brave when I've got my coach nearby). My jumps are not as bad as I thought they were. He even said I had nice spring on my waltz jump.
Spins - Ok, so my scratch spins are lovely in these skates! They are so much faster and centered. However, my camels and sits really are gone. When I get in position, I start rocking trying to find that sweet spot and that usually doesn't end well. I'll get it eventually. We did some backspins and while most were garbage, I had one that had what felt like 5 revs.
Turns - I told him that my backward 3 turns were gone and he held my hands to try one. Turns out, they are not gone, I'm just in my head about them. I was able to do them without him holding my hands after that.
Free Dance - I ran my Free Dance without the music and it was okay, except I did a splat on the final knee pose. Figures.
Silver Free Skate - He cut the music and I think he hates me for it. (JK, he just had a difficult time with it since the phrases are so long). He played it over the speakers and it sounds lovely! We didn't have time to start any kind of choreography on it but I'm sure that will come soon. I'll be skating to one of my most favorite pieces of music in the world: Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.
Husband Observations - My husband came with me to the rink to see how the new skates are working out. When I was done, he told me what he thought. First, he mentioned how quiet I was! I was completely silent throughout my warm up so he couldn't hear me at all! No toe scratching! Next, he said that I was fast. I thought that was weird because I was skating very carefully since I'm still a little unsteady in these skates. Imagine how much faster I can be once I'm comfortable with these skates! A friend of mine has the same blades and she refers to them as little "race cars." I believe it!
I had to reorder new guards from a different website since the ones I ordered back in May still haven't shipped. I'm tired of walking on my toe picks. They should be here by the end of the week. I ordered the Edea guards since those will stretch to fit most blade sizes. I got them in green (Dinah's favorite color 💓).
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