Shark on the Ice!

Since nationals is over, I can relax and have some fun! The library I work at checks out non-traditional items such as fitness equipment, telescopes/microscopes, board games, musical instruments, and more. It feels like every week we get new things that people can check out. We just got a bunch of inflatable costumes and I got a hold of one and decided to try it out on the ice. :) 

My experience as a shark: Okay, first of all I'm short. These things are not made for short people so I felt a little top heavy and my arms didn't reach to the ends of the fins. Also, I had fins! I couldn't take my guards off (thank you, husband!) and when I fell, I couldn't get up on my own (Thank you, Leslie!) because my fins didn't have grip. Basic skills were pretty difficult. Since the shark legs were puffy and short, I couldn't do a nice spiral, jumps, or a scratch spin. But I did manage to do some turns in both directions.  Enjoy the video here :)

Moves, Dances, and Musings

I didn't get a chance to write about last week's lesson (oops). Anyway, here's what we worked on this week. 

Lesson - Christopher caught me working on (and struggling with) the Forward Double 3 Turns. I lamented about how I was able to pass Silver Moves with good backward 3 turns but now I am struggling with the same turns at Gold. He suggested going back to working them in the Silver Moves pattern to get the feel for them again. I'll try it. But like, it's not like I don't practice these every freaking day. Why are they getting worse and not better? It's so frustrating. Moving on, we looked a bit at Brackets. My FI brackets are lovely. No problems there. My FO brackets are turning but I struggle with momentum after the turn. Backward brackets are non-existent. Even doing them at the boards is a struggle. These truly feel impossible to me. The backward brackets are the one thing on the Gold Moves test that I just can't do. Like, at all. Ugh. After that torture, we took a look at my Backward Circle 8. These have seen some improvement. I'm getting around almost every time but I could still use stronger pushes and some better placement of my feet in the center when I push. To round out the remainder of our time, I requested we look at dances. I feel pretty solid with my Hickory Hoedown so we spent some time working on the Ten Fox. This is one of those weird dances that actually feels better partnered instead of skating it solo. His main criticisms were to not block him (I do that all the time mostly because of anxiety) and to have neater feet on the end pattern. I feel like if we practice this a bit more, I can test this in the Summer. 

So yeah, I'm back to working on Gold Moves, my Silver Free Skate (which I'll keep for another season since I only got to compete with it twice) and choosing music for a new Free Dance. I asked Christoper to pick the theme - Fun and Flirty or Soft and Dreamy. He chose Fun and Flirty to contrast more with my Free Skate which is already soft and dreamy. I have dresses ready for whatever he chose and I'm really excited that he chose Fun and Flirty because my dress for that is amazing! I was able to snag one of the 25 coveted spots that Brad Griffies offered earlier this year so I ordered a dance dress that has a black skirt and a hot pink crop top. Once I bling it up it's going to look hot! Excited for something new!

2023 U.S. Adult Figure Skating National Championships - Solo Free Dance Edition

Today is a new day and another chance to skate great! Today is Bronze Solo Free Dance and it's a large group since they combine both the I and II age groups. 

Practice Ice - My practice Ice yesterday was so good. All of my spins were hitting and I was feeling pretty confident. Today was the exact opposite. I could not center even a simple one foot spin and the more I tried and failed, the more anxious I became about things. Aghghghghg. Thirty minutes was over before I knew it and I had just enough time before my event to take my skates off and decompress a bit. Decompressing helped. And I remembered Christopher's advice to do some breathing exercises. That helped too. 

Warmup Ice - Right after our warm up was concluded, the Referee called us to the podium to remind us to skate around the slushy hole.  I was not a victim to the slush today! Wahoo! 

Solo Free Dance - You know all those troubles I had with spins earlier? They were not a concern by the time I got out there and skated my program. In fact, this is the best I have ever skated this routine. EVER. My timing was spot on with the music, I had expression, my spins spun, and my twizzles twizzled. It was awesome! This is what I wanted to feel when I stepped onto Nationals Ice! 

Results - LOL. Oh, the results. Well, despite skating beautifully, I still only placed 10th out of 12 skaters (ordinals were 8,10,10,11,8). And you know what? I'm okay with that. I allowed myself to be disappointed for little bit but watching the other dancers perform their routines, I can see that there is more to do to enhance my skills. My good friend and Unicorn Sister, Cheryl, said that I need more skills performed on one foot, there was a lot of two footed skating happening. I really appreciate that kind of honesty and she's right. There is a lot more work to be done still as I grow in Ice Dance. But anyway, that's future Mandi's problem. Right now, I'm focusing on the fact that I'm done! I made it! It's over! I survived 2023 Adult Nationals!

Final Thoughts - OMG! I had so much FUN! My events were the first two days and then I got to spend the rest of the week watching amazing skating by even more amazing adults. The oldest of whom was 83 years old! Wow! That means I have roughly 40-ish years to continue to enjoy this beautiful and challenging sport. I'm inspired and in awe of everyone who participated. It takes courage to get out there and do what we do and I just felt like I was with my people. Next year is Cleveland, OH and you better believe I'll be there. 10/10 would recommend :) 

I come home empty handed but with a full heart.

2023 U.S. Adult Figure Skating National Championships - Free Skate Edition

We're in Salt Lake City!! We got here yesterday afternoon after the most boring drive ever through Wyoming. Since we couldn't check into the Airbnb yet, we stopped by the rink to get registered and walk around the facility. I'll be skating both of my events on the East rink. We grabbed dinner then tucked in for the night since I had practice ice super early. 

Practice Ice - The ice here is hard. Not like Casper hard but a bit more solid than I'm used to. However, all of my spins were Amazing! Super centered, fast, controlled. My jumps were bouncy and consistent. Basically, it was a great 30 minute practice and I was feeling really confident. After practice, I had some time to head back to the Airbnb and get dressed and do hair and makeup before needing to get back to the rink for my event. 

Warmup Ice - This also went really well. I tested out my camel spins again to make sure they were still good and they were. I was ready to go!

Free Skate - Oh man, here we go. I think this is the least nervous I have felt for a competition. The practices I've had recently were great and the warmup ice was great. I was cool, calm, and collected. I hit my starting pose and the music began. First jump combo was good, I made eye contact with the judges on my way to the opposite Lutz corner for my second combo. That combo was good. Lots of expression going into my camel spin and then... I went down. Ugh. I have been competing for 6 years and have never taken a fall during a competition but here I am at Nationals and I fall on the camel entry. Not trying to make excuses here but if you have been following the "East Rink Drama" on the Adult skaters page on Facebook, you know all about the roof leak and the soft ice (and the ensuing cone followed by the bucket affectionately named Herbert to catch the rain water). I went down right there and it wasn't the typical camel fall. It looked like I just sat into the fall in the spot were the ice was a bit soft. So yeah, I feel like that spot is cursed. But here's the thing, I got up, did a quick one foot spin to kill time and then went right into my footwork sequence. I slayed the rest of my routine because I was skating angry and somehow that lent itself well to my music. I finished everything as planned and ended on time with the music. Outside of the fall (which may or may not have been due to "Pre-Herbert" shenanigans) this was the best I've skated this routine. 

Results - Out of 9 skaters, I placed 7th after a tie breaker. Ugh. The ordinals were all over the place (4,6,6,9,8). I think what stung the most was the one last place ordinal because I didn't think I skated the worst. And the judge who gave me that last place ordinal was from Denver. Double ouch! Anyway, I was really proud of how I got up after the fall and basically badass'd the rest of my routine. My overall goal for coming to Nationals was to skate a routine that I was proud of and, you know what? I was damn proud! :)

Final Practice!

I got it! I finally got my wish of getting to run my programs without having to abandon elements! Woot!!

No lesson with Christopher because the Promenade was closed to figure skaters today (I think for a hockey tournament?) but APEX was still open so I went to an afternoon session and I was the only skater for the whole hour! Just what I needed the day before leaving for Nationals!

Free Skate - Heck yeah! This was as clean as it could be. My spins especially were solid!

Free Dance - Also clean!

Since I got both programs out of the way and they both ran clean, I spent the rest of the session just skating around to music I love and embracing the joy of skating. I didn't work on anything. I just skated and had fun. No stress! It was a nice mental cleanse :) 

I leave for Salt Lake City bright and early tomorrow. Eeep!

Final Lesson before Nationals!

I swear, I have not run a clean program in weeks. Every time I run a program, someone is in my way for at least one element (sometimes more) and I have to abort. Hopefully, I can get some emptier ice (or more courteous ice mates) to make it happen just once before Nationals. I can rest easy knowing that I'm comfortable with my programs and on competition day, it will be just me on the ice by myself. 

My practice yesterday at the Y was particularly annoying. There was an ice dancer (late teens) running her program over and over...and over. I feel like the typical program etiquette is running a program no more than twice in a one hour session. But to commandeer an entire session like she was doing is a bit rude. Nobody could work on Moves or anything else without breaking their pattern to make way for her. I was able to squeeze in a run through of both my Free Skate and my Free Dance so at least that got done. Sigh. 

Lesson - We started with a look at my program jumps and spins and then we ran the Free Skate. Per tradition, I had to abort my loop jump for a young skater who didn't move for me so Christopher had me skate that part again. We spent some time looking at the Lutz-Toe Loop to get me to wait a bit more in between the two jumps and to make sure I'm keeping my left arm checked in front before the Toe Loop. He also took a look at my Camel spin combo. I'm taking my time pulling in on the scratch spin and he wants me to pull in immediately after the camel so I can get more revolutions in. Plus it looks nicer when it's faster. We moved on to the Free Dance and everything looks okay here. He had me do my dance spin again and it was better the second time. Overall, I think I'm in okay shape. He gave me some encouraging words and a reminder to breathe and then gave me a big hug for good luck. So yeah, Nationals next week. Yikes!