Memorial Weekend

It's a holiday weekend and because of that, there are no sessions at the Promenade so no lesson this week. I took this opportunity to get some meaningful work done at other rinks. I'm testing next week (!!!) and just got my schedule. Looks like I'm in front of the judges at 10:30am and I'm in the last group of the day. ALSO! Unicorn Sister Katherine is testing her Gold Moves so I get to be there to cheer her on. I'm so excited for her!

Practice at the Y - This was busier than usual. I'm not sure if it was because of the holiday and people have more time or if it was because of the Promenade not offering sessions. Either way, it was a bit crowded. At least everyone was respectful of space and made way for programs. I ran my Free Dance first and did really well. It's as ready as it can be. I'm just excited to be done with it. I cooled down for 10 minutes and then ran the Free Skate. Outside of my Flip jumps being wonky because I'm rebuilding them, it was actually a nice program. So yeah, the Flip jump. I have basically broken the jump so I can start from scratch and build it back the right way with proper technique. This has been so tough, ya'll. The jump feels so different now and I'm not sure if it's because it's finally correct or if I'm just doing it even worse than before. I feel like most of the time, it feels good but then I put it in a combo and I slip right back into bad habits. It's the same thing with my Toe Loop. On it's own, I can get a good one that isn't waltz'd but then in combo, it's a mess again. Bad habits are really hard to break. I finished up my practice working on Gold Moves. At this point, progress is so minimal but I can see it poke its head out every now and then. For instance, my Backward Circle 8 gets around almost every time now and I was able to do a whole pattern of LFO-LBI double 3s without a foot down. All of those skaters who told me that Gold is easier than Silver are liars, lol. Gold is humbling me. 

Practice at APEX - Ahhh, home ice. I love it here! I just really haven't been spending a lot of time here lately because of all of the construction. It's a real pain in the ass to get there and back but since it was a holiday, at least traffic wasn't too bad. The ice was so nice! And I was sharing it with only one other skater. I ran my Free Dance, Free Skate, Cha Cha, and Hickory. I also worked on the entirety of my Gold Moves since I had so much room. I saw some improvement with the Power Circles! I think I'm starting to get the knack of the whole increase-the-size-while-increasing-the-speed thing. It's not perfect yet but it feels better than it has been. Overall, practice here was nice and it was good to skate on test ice before the 8th hits. Looks like they did some upgrades since I was last there. They improved the sound system, I think, and the lighting is different. It's a lot brighter which is nice but it's that white light that gives you a headache after an hour. Sigh. 

I also did a good Bosu workout this morning for 30 minutes. I got the Bosu Ball a month or so ago and haven't really been using it but I'm going to start incorporating these workouts in with skating and Pilates to see how it goes. It's definitely challenging and so very versatile. Today, I just did some planking, bridges, and core balance type stuff but that was enough for me to break a sweat. 

So yeah, getting ready for test day and then before I know it competition season will start up again. Ahghghg.

Progress?

Busy week!

Sunday Practice - I'm always better on fresh legs so 15 minutes into my session at the Y, I put my Free Dance music on. This is fine. It's ready to test. I'm kind of tired of hearing this music every practice for the last year. So ready to move on. I cooled down for another 15 minutes while I worked on spins, jumps and footwork for my Free Skate and, feeling ready, I put that music on and ran that as well. I didn't have the best camel spin during my run through but everything was okay, not great but okay. It definitely shows that I put it on the back burner for two months when I was prepping for Nationals. With my programs out of the way, I focused on Gold Moves, Bronze Pattern Dances, and the new little bit of dance choreography that Christopher gave me. He also gave me some spiral homework to do. My new Free Dance needs a short edge element and I really don't want to do the same backward catch foot spiral I've been doing from this last program so I played around with a forward catch foot spiral. This is infinitely more anxiety inducing than going backward but I was able to do it. My kingdom for a spread eagle or one of those really long dramatic Ina Bauers. Sigh. 

Monday Lesson - In practice, I felt like I had a breakthrough on my Flip jump and was really excited to show it to Christopher to see if I'm finally doing it correctly. It felt bigger so I thought I was finally getting that vault from the toe pick. Alas, he saw it and confirmed that it was higher but still incorrect. So, I was basically just doing it wrong differently. Ugh. We spent some time on it and I had one that had the proper pick in and a bit of a draw but then I freaked out mid-jump and landed it two-footed. It was a shame because that would have been an almost properly done Flip. Stupid brain freaking out over doing a good thing. We moved on to looking at some camel spins and these were looking better than usual today! I just need to still arch my back and straighten my spinning leg a smidge. My attitude spins were looking pretty decent as well so he put the music on and I ran the Free Dance. It's looking good, just need more expression (which I am able to do just fine when it counts but struggle with during practices). Finally...backspins. Lots of them! These were better. I was able to get my leg crossed on all of them but I struggle with crossing tight at the ankles like I need to for the Axel. But like, they had the proper checkout and everything which was nice because I've never really been able to do that. Yay progress! So now, Christopher wants me to really work on those Axel walk throughs with the waltz jump into the backspin. Yikes. 

Anyway, things are progressing albeit at a glacial pace. I'll take it. It's better than nothing :)

Testing and New Free Dance

 Been awhile again, I know. Sorry. 

Okay, I'm officially signed up to test my Adult Bronze Solo Free Dance on Thursday June 8! Wahoo! It's tricky testing dance at my home club because they have a difficult time getting dance judges for tests. I emailed the test chair well in advance to let them know that I would like to test so that they have plenty of time to get dance judges and...they did! So I registered and can finally test my "Lifts" Free Dance and move on to my new one for next season. 

I sent Christopher my music for the new Free Dance and he approved! It's sassy and flirty and I'm so excited to have a different vibe to my Free Dance this go around. I'm not going to announce the music until the new season starts so you'll just have to be patient. ;) 

At our lesson this past Monday, he put the new dance music on the rink speakers and we played around with movement for a bit. He gave me a little bit of choreography to work on that might go in the routine and I can already tell he's trying to challenge me with new skills. Also, he brought back the damn hydroblade. I swear he not going to give up on me doing this until it actually makes its way into one of my routines. But also, I'm old ya'll. My body really doesn't fold up like it needs to to do a proper hydroblade. I'm going to work on it for him as promised but if it looks bad, I'm pretty sure it has no place in my routine. It's one of those things you really shouldn't do unless you can do it well. 

So yeah, I'm excited for new stuff. My new Brad Griffies dance dress came in last week and I tried it on and DAMN it's sexy! Can't wait to make it sparkle. I'm thinking fuchsia, light rose and crystal AB stones for the crop top and some jet black for some extra sparkle in the belt of the skirt.