Small Victories

I got back to work this morning on all of the things!

Moves - My forward Power Circles are coming along. I was actually surprised at how not terribly scary the forward CCW ones feel. It's a horror story going the other direction, though! Backward Power Circles were just okay. I worked on all of the Double 3s. Something happened today that was sorta delightfully surprising - my LBO 3 turn (you know, the one that took a year and a half to get) was just so easy today. Like, really easy. That's a pretty amazing development! I also had a good day with the Backward Circle 8! I was able to make it around the outside circles without a foot down! My LBO is my weaker side and I've been having a difficult time with stability but today, it worked! Finally, Brackets. No progress here. I still cannot do the LFO bracket away from the wall and I still can't get the backwards brackets to work but the other ones are still there. That's something. 

Spins - Christopher gave me some spin homework and I worked on it until things started to get worse instead of better. However, my backspins are feeling good. They are flamingoed but I have control over them. 

Jumps - I worked on the Lutz exercises Christopher gave me and I don't feel like I made progress but maybe it's like the Circle 8 where it just gets better really slowly over time until it's good. 

Program - Didn't run it. I'll do it next time. 

Dances - I ran all three without the music. They are okay. I'm trying to lean back more on the backward chasses and swing rolls on the Swing Dance and I think I made some progress on that.

Frightful Lesson

Well, it's the day after Fright Fest and I sent my Freeskate video to Christopher so we could talk about what worked and what didn't. There was plenty that didn't so we had lots to work on today!

Lutz - Um yeah...like I said in my previous post, the Lutz jump is not good. It has never been good. It's worse than the flip and that's pretty bad because my flip sucks too, lol. He gave me some different exercises to work on and they seemed to help a bit so I'll keep on working on those. I wish it were a fear thing like what I had with the flip but it's a mechanics issue. My brain knows what to do but my body says "nope." Super frustrating. 

Camel - He agreed that the camel was nice but I need to do better with holding it. It would have been nicer had I actually completed the required three rotations. He had me work on camel-sit again and even a camel-back sit. Since I don't compete again until March, I have some time to work on increasing the difficulty of my spins (which will be much needed when I move up to Silver next season). We talked briefly about my nausea issues with the layback and he suggested that, instead of saving all of my laybacks until the end of my practice, I should split them up by doing half at the beginning and the other half at the end of the session so I don't dump the sickly spinning on my body all at once. Seems logical. I'll try it!

Dances - We ran all of the dances and had a discussion about whether or not I'll test them at the Standard Level or the Adult Level. He said they will definitely pass at the Adult level but with some time cleaning things up, I could pass Standard. I haven't registered yet because I'm still undecided about what level to test.

2021 Fort Collins Fright Fest

Here we go!

Practice  - I had practice scheduled for 8:00am and my event wasn't until noon so I didn't wear my dress for practice ice. This is the first time I haven't worn my dress during competition practice ice and I was worried I wouldn't feel like it's competition day. Well, it totally felt like competition day! Not in a bad way but the vibes were still there and I had enough anxiety and adrenaline to do well. Christopher wasn't able to make it to Fright Fest this year but I worked on all of the things he would have told me to work on. My spins were good (such a relief!) so I decided not to change them for my event. So, camel spin and scratch spin it is! My jumps felt good too. Honestly, this was the best practice I've had in a while so I'm glad my skills showed up today!

I had a few hours to kill before my event so I spectated until it was time to change and "zone." 

Freeskate - There are only two of us competing Adult Bronze this year so I was guaranteed a medal but I still wanted to kick ass. I wanted to compete as if I were up against an entire group. My five minute warm-up was good with no falls and my spins spun just fine. I was the second skater to skate. Other than feeling a little sluggish, my program went well. My camel happened but I overestimated the rotations. It felt like three but it was only two. Ugh. I ended on time with the music and I was happy with how I did. 

Results - I got FIRST! Woo! The podium was decorated super cute and the medals were spooky as well. I got to watch the video (you can watch it too if you dare but please ignore the obnoxious kid screaming at their dad in the background halfway through, lol). I made a mental note to find a way to make my Lutz jump an actual Lutz. I know Christopher wants to challenge me by having it my program but it really doesn't look good. I understand the technique of it but I cannot get my body to make it look even remotely close to a Lutz. I guess I just have to keep at it. Someday it will look like a Lutz, right? Right?!

Down to the Wire

 I was able to squeeze in some practices this week to give some extra love to my program before Sunday's competition. The speakers are still broken at the rink so I had to run my program with my phone on full blast in my zippered pocket. 

Mostly, I'm still struggling with consistency on my camel. I tried switching it to a sit spin since those have been nice lately but that actually made everything worse. Ugh. My scratch spins have been really good lately. So good, in fact that I'm spinning forever which would be nice but I only have so many seconds for my final spin and I'm having a difficult time stopping in time with the music. To fix this, I have reverted back to the spin that Christopher originally choreographed as my final spin - the layback. I stopped working on it because I was getting really nauseous but I think I might put it back in. It's slower so I have a better shot at ending on time with the music. But man, I practiced it a lot this morning and I'm still feeling queasy several hours later. 

I think I'm ready for Sunday.We'll see how it goes and what spins I do. I'll know more about what I can do when I get on practice ice the day of the competition. Anything could happen, lol.

Video EviDANCE

 Lesson today and I brought my husband along to take video per Christopher's request. Since Christopher can't record us while we're dancing, it's nice to have someone there to do it. My hubby is super supportive of my skating (and I'm so thankful for that) so he was a willing participant. Watching these videos later was very illuminating. Of course, Christopher has told me to fix certain things but it doesn't really hit home until you see it for yourself. Here is what I witnessed:

Fiesta Tango - Oh hey speed! This looks good in terms of our tempo and our first change of hold looks ok. But man, that second change of hold right before we start the pattern again is a little dicey. It needs more snap and I can clearly see how I'm still shoving Christopher out of the way. There are some timing issues as well where I can see that I'm just slightly behind Christopher. It's making things look sloppy so I gotta fix that. Finally, the swing roll change of edge right before the mohawk looks...not good. My extension right before the mohawk is kind of out to the left slightly instead of behind me. These are all things I can fix (at least I'll try) before test day. The skills are there and so is the speed so I think things just need polish. 

Swing - The main thing I noticed was how far apart we are! It looks like we are awkward teens dancing for the first time at a Middle School dance. It doesn't look bad but it would look better if we were closer. Actually, this is probably the better looking of the three dances. The one thing besides distance I should work on is that little slide chasse I do right before we start the pattern with him going backwards. My leg is slightly bent and it's so subtle that it doesn't even look like a slide chasse. Oh! And pretty much all of my chasses need to be...chasse-ier :)

Cha Cha - Ok, I need to talk about how ugly that cross behind step is on the end pattern right after the swing roll. Christopher's looks great (of course) but my free leg goes up so high that it's looking a little flamingo. Oddly, the one I do during the Fiesta Tango looks lovely but this one is wonky. There were some slight timing issues as well but overall, I think this one looks okay to test. I still have time to clean it up before test day, though!

So, yeah. The videos helped a lot! Again, these are all things that I know need to be improved but seeing it was a huge reality check.

Swingin' in Paradise City

 I skated at Apex today and the speakers (or the thing that operates the speakers?) weren't working. The speakers are never the best anyway and I guess today they just decided not to work at all. Normally, this would be fine but I have a competition in a week and a half and I need music for my program. Aghgh. Instead, they were able to pipe in some random music just so it wasn't so quiet (which is nice) but then I couldn't hear my program music from my cell phone (not so nice). 

Moves - I worked on every double 3 turn - forwards and backwards. I tried the whole "passing my arms through" thing but all it did was destroy my balance. I'll keep working on it. Luckily, the turns themselves are turning so I just need to adjust to the set up and where to place the turns on the lobes. I tried some brackets today. No progress. Backward Circle 8 is still meh. 

Program - Well, I ran it twice without the music and it was okay. I'm still struggling with the camel. Yesterday, my camel came back but it seems to have gone AWOL once more. Frustrating. 

Dances - So, they were piping in a weird mix of music because of the speaker issue. It was all over the place in terms of genre. Some country, pop, R&B, and rock. "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses came on and it was almost exactly the right tempo for the Swing (who knew?!). So yeah, I ran my Swing patterns to GnR and I didn't hate it :) 

When I was taking my skates off, I had a nice conversation with one of my unicorn sisters and it was refreshing to hear that the things I am currently struggling with in Gold Moves are things that she was terrified of as well back when she was working on them. She's a beautiful skater and her brackets and 3s look amazing so it gave me hope. I know I haven't been working on them for too long but it's hard not to feel defeated by them sometimes.

Ice Dance Psychology

 Lesson this morning and we had to do a 6:15am session at the Promenade to make up for my usual Monday afternoon slot. I had an all day staff training event at work and couldn't do Monday. Alas. So, here I am on a Wednesday morning instead. I had an "oops" moment when I was taking my skates off at the end of my session. The morning sessions here are 45 minutes instead of an hour. My brain knew this but my body skated the whole hour. I feel like I stole those extra 15 minutes. Normally, I would call and pay the extra $2.50 or whatever but I remember a few weeks ago when I accidentally left 15 minutes early because I was too tired to read a clock properly. So, I figure it all balanced out. Right? 

Moves - We only had a 20 minute lesson today since his schedule was pretty booked but we got a lot done during such a short amount of time. We started by looking at the forward double 3s. I'm getting it done but the turns aren't placed exactly where they need to be and I'm doing some weird stuff with my arms. After the first turn, I should reset for the second turn and pass my arms through and then turn. So much control needed for this!

Dances - We moved on to dances, starting with the Fiesta Tango. My change of hold on that mohawk is much better (yay! I've been working on it) but the second change of hold on that last step is still wonky. I keep bending at the waist and I'm kinda shoving Christopher away. I'll spend some extra time on the end pattern leading up to test day next month. Next up was the Cha Cha. This is fine. He just wants me to polish some things - more chasse here, less chasse there. Finally, we worked on the Swing. This is getting better too and I think it might be okay for next month. I'm doing better at the first end pattern where I go towards him to get back into waltz hold but when it's his turn to come back to me, I tend to block him. I lock my arms and don't let him get close. This is an unconscious behavior. I have anxiety about people getting too close and it makes sense that it's easier for me to come to him. It's on my terms, sorta. But when he needs to come back in close to me, I react as I would with anyone trying to get too close - I push them away/don't let them in at all. So, basically this means I just need to make a conscious effort to let him in. Ah, the psychology of Ice Dance, lol.