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!

Bloody Monday

Lesson today!

I was feeling great, my energy was up, and practice throughout the week was nice. I did my off-ice running, stretching, and jumping then got on the ice for on-ice warmups before my lesson with Christopher. Totally normal, right? Ugh, not so much. 

I had just finished a really nice camel spin when it felt like my nose was dripping. Um...it was dripping all right. Blood! I was dripping blood from my nose onto the ice! So I rushed to my rinkside bag and grabbed some tissues and started to clean myself up before Christopher got to me but it wouldn't stop!!! I titled my head back, I squeezed the bridge of my nose. I tried everything but it was still bleeding when Christopher skated up to me to start our lesson. He was kind about it but we have work to do so he told me to plug it up and get started. Seriously, my mose was bleeding for the whole 40 minute lesson. I had to keep going back to switch out the tissues because I was soaking through them. Not ideal. 

Free Skate - After warming up my jumps, we ran my Free Skate with the music. It went well but I could have held the landing on my loop jump longer and he wants me to have a bit more expression. It's kind of hard to smile and emote with tissues sticking out of your nostril, ugh. He also wanted to take a look at my entry into the Lutz-Toe Loop. I'm currently doing a mohawk cross step thing but that puts me in a weird position to pick in so he wants me to take it out for now until I have better control over my Lutz. Other than some details that need smoothing, my Free Skate is looking pretty good for Nationals. 

Free Dance - This was okay too but I ended the routine about a second earlier than the music (which never happens!). Honestly, skating with a bloody nose was really distracting and it was all I could focus on. I'm not surprised I was doing out-of-the-norm kind of things. 

Christopher said he was proud of me for powering through despite my face hemorrhaging. And, of course because it could be no other way, as soon as I got off the ice and started taking my skates off, my nose stopped bleeding. I hate my stupid face.

Too Pretty

I didn't update this past week again but here's what happened at my lesson on Monday.

Christopher had me start with a 4 minute warm-up for Free Dance as I would do on competition day. When I was doing this, it felt like I had plenty of time so I skated up to him for a time check and he said I was over time. Oops. Anyway, we went right from this into my Free Dance. 

Solo Free Dance - I thought it went well. When I skated back to him, his main criticism was "it's too pretty." Since the music has some attitude to it, he wants me to be expressive in that way. He wants my movement to be "harsh" and powerful. So I ran the footwork with that in mind and he was pleased. Christopher has been my coach for 6 years (!) and I love that he has taught me to "be pretty" with my movements so it really takes some thought to move a different way. All part of the process, I suppose. 

Next up was a warm up of my jumps and spins to get ready to run the Free Skate. 

Free Skate - This went mostly well except I two footed the salchow because I was getting tired. When I compete with this in a few weeks at Nationals, it will be on fresh legs so I'm not worried. This isn't a typical mistake. Christopher said he liked that I skated it a bit more harsh like the Free Dance and he said he didn't hate the camel spin but would like one more revolution and a bit more speed. Three revs is the minimum but of course I should always shoot for more. So we worked on that a bit before moving on to Axels on the harness.  

Axels - So, my biggest problem with this is the pull in into the backspin position. Seeing as how that's a problem for me when I just do a regular backspin, I'm not surprised that this bad habit has carried over into my Axels. I had a couple that were landed but they were still really open. I really need ankle to ankle, not ankle to mid-calf. I'm at least crossing my legs which is good. I just need to bring it in tighter. He said I have enough height for the Axel, I just need the snappiness to bring it all together.

Nationals - The schedule it out! Looks like there are 11 of us in Bronze Ladies Free Skate II and 14 of us competing in Bronze Solo Free Dance I/II. Aghghghghggh! Once Nationals is over, I'll retire my Bronze Free Skate (again) and get back into getting my Silver Free Skate ready to test. I really want to test this summer and become "official" with my levels for Free Dance and Silver FS. It feels pretty dirty to compete at the Silver level this season except for Nationals where I'm skating Bronze. Sigh.

Nats Prep

I've been sort of bad at updating this blog. I've been practicing and getting ready for Nationals so preparations are still ongoing. I've got my registration done, music uploaded, forms signed, and cat sitter acquired. The only thing I'm still waiting on is the schedule to come out, the practice ice selection that goes along with that, and my hotel reservations (which is dependent on the schedule). 

I've been running my two programs every practice and continuing with Pilates every week which really helps my core (and subsequently, my spins). My employer also gave me a $100 fitness credit to be used on equipment, gym memberships, or fitness attire. Last year, I used it to upgrade my old FitBit Inspire to the new FitBit Sense (which I love!) and this year, I bought myself a Bosu Ball! I've been using them at the Pilates Studio and they are great for balance training and core work so I'm excited to get that set up and start using it. AND! It comes in pink! Who knew!?

Lesson - My lesson this week was just jumps. Seriously, he picked everything apart which is great. I need it. Most of the time was spent fixing my Toe Loop again. I tend to fall into bad habits (Toe Waltz) when I'm rushing so we slowed things down and really focused on the reach back and pivot. They are improved, but I still need work on the reach back. In addition, my arms were wonky. I really need to keep my left arm out in front and slightly across so that I don't rotate too early. Next up was my Lutz. I'm still not picking up my free leg early enough and I'm hella pre-rotating. However, my Lutz is a lot better than my Flip so there's that. We also spent some time looking at my first jump combo in my Bronze Free Skate (Salchow-Loop-Toe Loop) to try to get better flow. Finally, footwork. It looks good but he wants me to have more eye contact with the judges and more emotion. 

So yeah, things are happening. I'm preparing to kill it in SLC. I'm determined to not suck :)

Unsupervised

Christopher is on a much deserved vacation this week with his family so I've been left unsupervised! I practiced at the Y on Sunday and then at the Promenade on Monday. 

Sunday at the Y - All is well. I had some big jumps on fresh legs as soon as I got on the ice so I wanted to take advantage of my energy and run my Bronze Free Skate early. I was having some issues getting my music to loop so I had to run the second half of my program first and the first half of my program second. Super weird but I got it done. Same situation with my Free Dance. It was a weird music day anyway. My music was too loud for one of the other skaters on the ice and every time I turned it down, they asked me again to lower the volume. Finally, I just turned it off completely for a while because my phone was not allowing me to lower it any more. I'm not sure if it was my phone reacting to the cold but my phone was acting hella goofy. During the silent portion of my practice, I worked on Gold Moves, specifically Double 3s and FI & FO Brackets. When I had about 10 minutes left, I put the music back on and ran some pattern dances. I did the Hickory and the Willow Waltz with the music but ran the Ten Fox without music since I'm still trying to get the end pattern right. If I slow it down, it's less scratchy but as soon as I do it to the music, I'm riding my toe picks. 

Monday at the Prom - I skated an earlier than normal session since I didn't have to work with Christopher's schedule. Like Sunday, I ran my Bronze Free Skate early on in the session to take advantage of fresh legs. I got through the program with energy and expression and hit all of my elements! Yay! I worked some Moves and Dance for a while and then ran my Solo Free Dance. This also went well. Actually, this was the first time since my surgery that I ended the program with a ton of energy to spare. I wasn't even winded. Neat! I'm feeling more and more like myself every passing day. By the time Nationals comes around, I'll be in really good shape.