It's Still Not Low Enough!!!???

Lesson today! I started our lesson by asking Christopher his thoughts on me switching the first spin in my Silver FS to a sit spin. Of course he wanted to see it before he gave his answer so I reeled one off for him that I thought was lovely. It had speed, it had rotations, it felt really low. Alas. He said "If this were an IJS event I would say don't do it, it's not low enough. But since it's 6.0, go for it." I was like "It's not low?!" It certainly felt hella low. So he took video and yeah, it's lower than it's been in the past but it's not 90 degrees low. Damn. He gave me some tips on getting it lower. Basically, it's not so much an ankle thing as my ankle is bent enough to get to 90 degrees. Instead, I really just need to push my ass lower. He said working on single leg squats will help a lot (preferably with some TRX cables as an assist). 

Warm-up Practice - In preparation for Casper in a couple of weeks, Christopher wanted to see me do a full 4 minute warm-up as I would on competition day. So, I started with about two laps of stroking, backward power stroking, forward cross strokes, and backward power pulls. Then I did some spins and jumps in the order that I would do them in the program. Finally, the footwork sequence to round things out. That was exhausting and I hate skating with that kind of pressure. Since I was good and tired, he wanted me to immediately run my Silver Free Skate. 

Silver Free Skate - The speakers weren't working (why does this happen so frequently at every rink I skate at?!) so he had to follow me around as I skated with the music blasting from his iPad. I'm not gonna lie, it was really hard to hear some of the subtle musical cues I'm used to and I bet it was hard for other skaters to know that I was skating my program and to move out of my way. It was challenging but I got it done. It wasn't a bad program but I could definitely feel my soul leaving my body during the final 30 seconds where I'm doing six jumps and a spin. It was a little sloppy with the technique but I finished on time with the music. He immediately told me to take a lap (for endurance) and by the time I skated back to him I wanted to die. We spot checked some stuff and then moved on to the Free Dance.

Solo Free Dance - I was exhausted! But I skated anyway and got through it. 

I felt like he was pushing me extra hard today and I know it's to help with the stamina issues I've been having so I know it's going to help me in the long run but damn, I'm so freaking tired.

Sunday at the Y

Wonderful practice today at the Y. There were about 8 skaters (half were adults, yay!) and the rest were higher level teens. So it was busy on the ice but everyone was respectful of space and giving each other room to run programs. I stayed for an hour and 15 minutes and worked the whole time so I guess that means my stamina is gradually improving. 

Free Dance - After my standard warm up and Moves practice, I got right to work with running programs. I started with the Free Dance because there's no jumping and I hadn't warmed up my jumps yet. It was nice! I'm ready to skate this in Casper. 

Silver Free Skate - After my Free Dance, while others were running their programs, I warmed up my jumps for the Silver FS. Jumps felt good today besides the same technique issues I always have with my Flips and Lutzs. Soon it was my turn to run my program so I got my music spooled up and got into position. It went well. In fact, I feel like I'll be proud of this program if I skate it this well in Casper. I know one of my competitors already and she's an absolutely beautiful skater! I'm not aiming for Gold in Casper because she's gonna kill it but I think if I skate like this, I could at least not be embarrassed to share the video. I've been thinking a bit about my spins, though. I'm doing two camels and they count as two spins of a different character because one is a combo and the other isn't but, to me, they really seem too similar. I thought about changing the first camel to a sit spin. So I practiced sit spins for a bit and they felt fast and low so I think I'll bring it up to Christopher tomorrow and see what he thinks. 

Bronze Free Skate - This will be my Nationals program so I need to run it too. By the time I run my third program, I have no gas left in the tank and I'm just all over the place. Maybe I should practice it earlier in my session. It's just not as high as a priority since I won't be competing with it until April so I don't want to waste what good energy I have early in the session on running a program I'm not competing with anytime soon. Ugh, I'll figure it out. 

So yeah, I'm exhausted but I got a lot of work done.

No Testing For Me

Welp, I won't be testing anything on Feb 9th. I went to go register for the test and right there on the website was a big red notice that basically said they weren't running any dance tests this time because they couldn't secure any dance judges. 

It's fine. I've waited almost a year to test, what's another month or two more? Sigh.

Pushing Myself Again. I Never Learn

I went to Apex today for an afternoon session and it was just me and a fellow Unicorn Sister on the ice. Nice! I had a lot to work on, including three programs, so I had to be strategic. I figured I'll run my Solo Free Dance at 15 past the hour then run my Silver Free Skate at half past and finish up with Bronze Free Skate at quarter to. 

Solo Free Dance - It was nice. I did an attitude spin instead of the layback and I'm wondering if that would look better. I'll bring it up to Christopher during our next lesson. 

Silver Free Skate - Full disclosure: I haven't run this with the music since before my surgery back in November so I was worried about how this was going to go. I've been working on sections of it without the music during my practices but today is the first time with tunes. You know what? It was nice! I didn't hate it. :) 

Bronze Free Skate - My stamina was waning again but I needed to run it. It was sloppy but I got it done. 

Immediately after finishing my session, I went home and changed for a cardio Pilates class. Yeah, I never learn. I was already tired and then I did more things. Stupid. I didn't throw up though so yay for that and it's nice to be back in the Pilates studio. I missed it. My abs missed it! I treated myself to a "welcome back" gift: a set of double loop Pilates straps so I don't have to use the ones that everyone sticks their hands/feet into at the studio. They are pretty and colorful and I can't wait to use them :)

The Resurrection

Because the Y didn't have a Sunday session this week, I decided to skate two sessions today at the Promenade. Because I'm still building back stamina, I thought it would be best to not do back to back sessions but instead do a one hour session followed by a one hour break and then get back on for another hour (when I will have my lesson). Ugh, it was still a bad idea. 

The first hour was great. I worked hard, did the things, ran my Free Dance. Lovely. I chilled out for another hour and felt great. I got back on the ice and worked on things until it was lesson time. Christopher wanted to see me run the Free Dance, which I did, and then he wanted to see my newly resurrected Bronze Free Skate. At this point I was completely exhausted and was messing up footwork and botched some jumps. After I hit my end pose, I felt nauseous and it was everything I could to not throw up. I just think it may still be too early to be pushing myself as hard as I did before my surgery. 

We rounded out the lesson with some Ten Fox and I was glad that the session eventually finished and I could go sit somewhere and get back to myself. 

Testing - I've been doing some thinking about testing in Casper. It doesn't make any sense to test in Casper by myself on Feb. 10th. My club has a test session on the 9th and Christopher can be there so it seems better to do it that way. I haven't registered yet but I'll definitely sign up to test my Solo Free Dance but I'm on the fence about whether or not to throw my Silver Free Skate in there too. Why not, right? Throw it at the wall and see if it sticks.

National Attention

Lesson today! Before we began, we talked a bit more about upcoming competitions. He already knew about Casper in February but I added that I had my heart set on going to SLC for Nationals in April but that dream was dashed because I wasn't able to test my Silver FS by the deadline and you aren't allowed to skate up at Nationals. I told him I didn't want to skate Bronze because I don't want to piss off my friends (who were really happy that I moved up and wouldn't have to compete against me anymore). He told me he really wants me to do it anyway. Bronze is still technically my level and we don't know when Nationals will be this close to Denver (normally, I think they happen on the east coast). He made a point in that, skill-wise, I'm really a Bronze level skater. He's right. I'm still struggling with Camels and backspins are nonexistent. My Lutz is cheated and my Flip is a disaster. I'm a strong Bronze level skater but my technique is sloppy so, even if I did enter at Bronze, it's not a guarantee that I would even make the podium. He encouraged me to go for it instead of missing out on something I really want to do just because I'm worried about what other people think. I have until February 1st at midnight to decide. But I'm thinking I might do it. He was so excited for me and that got me excited about it again :)

Power Circles - Not a lot of time to look at Gold Moves but, since the session was light, he wanted to see the Power Circles. He said it looks better in terms of pattern size but it still needs a little work to expand it out even more. Again, my bad sides look better than my good sides and backwards is better than forwards.  But, hey, it's coming along. I'm glad he sees improvement. 

Solo Free Dance - Getting it spruced up for Casper! We ran sections of it first without the music. He seemed pleased. The camel is still a problem. Ugh. So, I ran it for him with the music and (no surprise here) the camel didn't go. Everything else was nice. He even said my emotion was better. But we have to do something with the damn camel! It's just too inconsistent right now to put it in so we are changing it to a layback. He asked to see it and it's okay. He pointed out that I'm spending too much time in the open position before I go back into the layback. He would really like for me to get into position sooner. So yeah, change of spin it is!

Pattern Dances - We didn't do any of them to the music, just audible counts. We started with the Hickory. This is nice. I really need to watch my tracking on the end pattern. I'm just a little off to his left side and that's making it difficult for him to turn forward. I need to be right in front of him for it to work smoothly. Next, we worked on the Willow. This is coming along. Finally, the Ten Fox. The end pattern really needs work. It needs to be sharp movements with neat feet. Overall, these are looking like progress is happening. 

So yeah, this is going to be a big year for me in terms of skating. I'm still working on my Silver FS and now I have to resurrect my "In the Air Tonight" Bronze FS. My Solo Free Dance is getting ready for testing and the pattern dances are getting polished as well. Gold Moves are continuing to evolve. I'm tired just thinking of all of the things that need work.

2023 GOAL POST!

Well, 2022 was a wash. I didn't achieve any of the goals I had set myself. I did not anticipate being plagued with health issues/surgery in the Fall so that really threw me off. I feel like I was on track to at least make 2/3 of my 2022 goals. Sigh. 

2022 Goals - I had three goals for myself this past year. Goal 1 was to pass all three of my Bronze Pattern Dances. The plan was to test them in the Fall and we know what happened with that. All three dances have been learned and are currently getting worked on again so it will happen. I'll roll this goal over to 2023. Goal 2 was to test and pass my Solo Free Dance. I did an exhibition with it back in May that went well and I competed with it this past September and that also went well. It's ready to test. It's been ready to test. I just couldn't make it happen while I was benched. I'll roll that one over as well. Finally, Goal 3 was to be able to run the entirety of the Bracket pattern from Gold Moves. While the other two goals failed because of being sidelined by surgery, this one failed because of fear. This one is totally on me. While I conquered my fear of the FO Brackets (which took months), I'm still struggling with the backward Brackets. Until I can do those reasonably well, I cannot run the complete pattern. I'm not going to beat myself up entirely on this because I have made a lot of progress on these turns. Like I mentioned, the FO Brackets brought out so much fear but I have been working on them a lot in practice and can do them fearlessly away from the boards. I'm practicing the BO/BI Brackets (even though I'm still stuck at the boards on these). So, it will come in time. Remember, it took me a year and a half just to get the LBO 3 turn and well over a year to finally get a grip on the Backward Circle 8. So, things are happening. I just need to keep at it. Now, on to new goals!

2023 Goals 

• Goal 1: Test the Things! - As I told Christopher earlier this week, this is the Year of Testing! All of the tests that I didn't get to do last Fall are getting done this year. I'm looking to pass all three Bronze Pattern Dances (Hickory, Willow, and Ten Fox). I want to be #OfficiallySilver and test my Silver Free Skate. Finally, I've been skating my Solo Free Dance for almost a year. It's time to get that one tested too. 

• Goal 2: Organize the Things! - In my last post, I talked about being more organized with my practice sessions to ensure that everything gets a chance to get worked on (even the scary things that I tend to punk out on). I've already come up with a practice strategy and tested it out and I think it will work for me. I just have to stick with it.
   
• Goal 3 - Stop Being Scared of Things! -  I feel like this is always a goal but one that I'm not very good at sticking with. Skating in your 40s is hard, ya'll. Bones break, you're not as bendy as the small children, and fear is REAL. I'm not going to sit here and vow never to be scared because that's just not realistic. But, what I do have control over is pushing myself to give time to the elements that scare me. Even if that time is spent at the boards for a few months working on Brackets before I'm brave enough to try them out on open ice. I've already made strides with this. I'm forcing myself to work on the things that scare me during practices and, by organizing my sessions, I'm making sure that I set aside time to do that so that there are no excuses. 

So, there you have it. These are relatively modest goals but they are ones I think I can easily achieve this year (provided my body doesn't try to kill me again, lol). 

Catching up

Monday Lesson - Before we started out lesson, Christopher asked me if I had any upcoming competitions in mind. I'm considering Casper. I did it last year and it was well run. I'm really glad he asked, actually, because I saw that the day before competition day, they are hosting a test session and I wanted to see if I'm allowed to get on the ice for a test even though he won't be there. He said "I don't advise it" which, yeah. I would rather have him there for sure but considering I wasn't able to test in the Fall like I had originally planned because of my surgery, this seems like a good moment to knock one out. Specifically, the one I would like to knock out is my Free Dance since I have been working on it for almost a year and things keep cropping up that prevent me from testing (new skates, surgery, etc.). He eventually acquiesced and gave me his blessing to at least test the Free Dance so, yay. Anyway, since we were talking about it, he wanted to see parts of it (step sequence, spins, emotions). He said the ending is looking really good but he would like to hear a little less scratching on the twizzle. Overall, I think it's in good shape for testing. Moving on, we partnered all three of the Bronze dances starting with the Hickory Hoedown. This is my strongest dance out of the three but I've been practicing it solo. When I partnered it with him today, it felt like a totally different dance. The changes of hold and positions is something I can't practice on my own very well so we spent some time trying to get that under control. Especially difficult was the transition from waltz hold back to Killian in the end pattern. He wants me to do this fancy arm thing to make it look a little better. Moving on to Willow Waltz and Ten Fox, mostly I need need to be stronger with my holds and have neat feet. That damn outside mohawk in the Ten Fox is killing me, though.

Tuesday Practice - I realized I haven't done my annual Goal Post (I'll get that on the blog soon). However, I have decided that I want to be more organized with my practices so I can be sure everything gets worked on. No more punking out on a skill because of fear or lack of time. So I experimented today with that. I did my typical warm up laps, then I moved right into pattern dances (all of them) because I feel like this is a nice warm up for my edges at the beginning of a session. Next, I ran through ALL of my Gold Moves. Finally, I warmed up jumps and spins, ran programs, and spot checked problem areas. Everything went as planned so I think this is a practice schedule I should try to stick to. I even spent some time working on those damn Brackets. I picked a hockey circle and just went back and forth with the FI and FO Brackets. I dabbled in some BO Brackets too but wasn't very successful. I might need a refresh from Christopher (and by refresh I mean he might need to hold my hands on these again). I'm able to do them at the wall but out on open ice I flounder. 

Overall, I'm feeling back to 100% and am ready to work hard this year. I told Christopher that this is "The Year of Testing." I have all three Bronze dances, my Free Dance, and my Free Skate to get out of the way. Because I couldn't test in the Fall like I had planned, I will not be able to meet the deadline to go to National in SLC (*sad trombone*). I cannot skate up to Silver at Nationals and I think it would be weird to step down to Bronze (even though that's technically my level). So, I might do Sectionals instead. We'll see. Kinda bummed about Nationals but...things happen. I'll deal with it.