Music

On Monday, my coach brought me some music to listen to and pick something out for my program. It's a CD of Spanish guitar music, and I love it. Hopefully we can piece something good together that will work.

What did I do at practice on Monday? After a bit of a warmup with stroking and power pulls and two-foot turns, etc. I did some 3-turns down the line and took a quick look at my new Jr. Bronze Skills patterns. After a lot of searching I finally found them on the Skate Canada website, so I printed them out. But, it was too crowded to have my nose buried in a sheet of paper while skating around so I will try them another time.

As usual I put a large fraction of my session into spins. I have quite a number of them to practice now! The upright, sit, and camel version on both feet makes six. Then there are combinations and variations and the occasional layback or attitude making quite a significant number of spins that I like to practice. And now I have my new flying camel to add to the mix! I tried to focus on the ones that we were experimenting with for my program. Sit-broken leg is not too bad as long as I don't screw up the entry (sometimes my free blade scrapes the ice). I did one of them that felt really good and solid and then I saw the trace and it had traveled badly, sigh. It hadn't even felt like it was traveling! Then I experimented with camel-layback-backsit, and it is a mess. The layback is hard to centre, and I get up onto my toe, yuck. If I can get it down this will be a cool, and probably less common, combination, but it might be wise to pick something I can actually do well. If I can get a bunch of time to practice it, we'll see where it goes.

I always get in a few spirals and leg pulls before I get to camel spins for a bit of a stretch, and they were alright. I tried my catchfoot spiral again, but my balance gets messed up and my free arm ends up sort of desperately reaching out to the side which must look ridiculous. I tried doing something with it like bringing the hand up to my face or taking the hand back to my free knee, but it threw my balance off. This is going to take some practice! I tried a leg pull going backward but was too frazzled trying to watch for traffic that it didn't go so well. Will have to wait until Friday.

After that I started working on jumps but I felt a sharp pain in my left knee during the takeoff of a Salchow. I've had issues with my knees for years and it's exactly this type of thing that sets them off, but this time it didn't just shake off right away. I went and sat on the bench for a minute and it felt ok so we went ahead with my lesson, but we focused on elements that keep the weight on my right foot like backspins, loops, and flips. I had one terrific backspin and my coach was really impressed with the newfound height in the free leg. Unfortunately I couldn't repeat it but that's the way with skating, sometimes you do something cool and you don't know how you pulled it off! For loops she had me try doing 4 in a row after I mentioned having accomplished this the other day. My first attempt was ok but she says not to jump again immediately after landing, but hold the landing edge for a few moments before doing the next one. And to try making those edges less curvy, haha. I did better the next time but the upper body was a bit wild, so that's something to aim for improving. For my flip it was the same old story about needing to check the 3-turn better, and a new bit of advice about keeping my arms still for longer. I tend to sort of pull them in as I initiate the jump, instead of waiting until I have already left the ice. That's going to take some time to get into that new habit!

In our group lesson we ran through our number for the Christmas show again. It was not too shabby. I have to remember to ask on Friday what I am supposed to wear to it. I am guessing I shouldn't wear my silly elf hat :)

Channeling Bobby Orr

I was so tired on Sunday that I didn't blog after my hockey game! We lost our game and were quite badly outplayed, but it was very memorable for me because I scored a goal! When I played back in the day I might have had a garbage goal or two, but this one was pretty. My teammate sent me a nice pass as we were breaking out of our zone and somehow there were only two defenders between me and the goal. They didn't challenge me at all. Somehow I managed to hang on to the puck and fire off a wrist shot from the slot. I wasn't aiming for any place in particular just generally toward the goal on an angle, but it beat the goalie on the opposite side. Whee! Good thing those defenders just stood and watched :) I hope to practice this type of thing more frequently.

Beware of Flying Camels

Yesterday was my last Saturday practice of the year. It was very eventful!

My coach had a good idea. I have a 1/2 hour timeslot each week to practice Skills, but she has other students during that time. Another coach teaches two students who are at my level in that timeslot, so my coach suggested that I join them and then we can learn the next level together in a group lesson. Everybody wins! I think that usually you're not supposed to get lessons from another coach once you have your own coach, but my own coach suggested the whole arrangement so if she is happy, I am happy. Group lessons are cheaper and my coach admits that she's not super excited about teaching skills anyway.

• Skating Skills: So we started in on learning the Junior Bronze Skills level. One of the girls was away so it was just two of us. The pattern we learned is a series of crossovers around two hockey circles that get progressively faster. So the first two pushes are held for a count of four, the next four held for a count of two, then the last eight are one count each. After going around one circle forwards, we switch to the other circle and go backwards. The transition is just a Mohawk but I get going very fast and it's scary! The backward circles aren't quite crossovers though. They are a push-and-lift, and underpush instead of push-and-crossover. The feel a bit like figures for the four-count hold, but the others just feel like weird crossovers. Anyway the pattern goes backward in each direction and then one more transition back to forwards for the other forwards circle. After that, two steps takes you toward the blue line and then a T-stop is supposed to end the whole thing. These are not easy and by this point I am going ridiculously fast so I'm going to have to practice those.
• CanSkate: It was our last lesson of the year and I got into the spirit with a cheesy elf hat from the dollar store. I also got out my lightbulb earrings and necklace. The kids loved them! All my kids got their badges for the next level. I think I will kinda miss them...sniff sniff. The coaches gave me a Christmas card and a chocolate shaped like a skate as a thank-you for helping out in the lessons :)
• Group lesson: More practice for the Christmas show. We didn't do too badly. Still need to pick a good spin and jump....eh. I noticed that like 5 other girls did flips so I changed it to my new Sal-toe combination like my coach suggested.
  
• Spin lesson

1. Backsits- I asked to work on these because they are just not there for me anymore. My coach says it's a matter of a 'snap and square'. Snap into the the spin and square up the body position. She says I've got the hang of that generally, I think it's still a matter of balance or something.
2. Sit-change-sit - the next natural thing to work on after backsits. I dunno, I used to be able to do this spin a couple of months ago but it's just not working for me right now. The change is tough, it's important to step down with the weight overtop of the new foot, and not with it out to the side. Meh.
   
3. Back camel - my coach was really into the backspins today. She said that you go into a back camel the same way as the other backspins. But unlike the other backspins, the free leg doesn't come in toard the midline of the body, so it is much harder to really get the spin going. My first attempt was extremely poor, but my second attempt was surprisingly good. I might have pulled off two revolutions. Clearly more practice is needed. I have only tried these a couple of times before, it was fun to learn something new.
4. Flying camel! - this was a bit of a surprise, but my lesson-mates are now working on their Jr. Bronze freeskate elements so it shouldn't have been a surprise really. Coach says that for the entry, you start like you are going to do a forward camel. Then at the moment when you would initiate the spin, jump and scissor the legs to land in a back camel. We tried it at the boards and I watched the others try theirs a few times before trying it myself. I actually did not too badly! I tried it a few times. Coach says that I have the right timing and snap/pivot action into the jump, which is cool. But she says my back camel position actually looks like a camel, and that sent all four of us into a giggle fit :P

• Freeskate - Fresh off the flying camel lesson, I wanted to practice my new element. I had a few that were about the same as my attempts in the lesson. Then, I had one where I didn't really get my foot underneath me enough and I sort of crumpled forwards onto the ice. I landed on my right chest and shoulder with my right arm underneath me. I could have landed on my face! One of the coaches asked if I was ok and one of the girls too. It's nice, this other coach is always looking out for me :) Again I was surprised that the fall didn't actually hurt. But today my arm and shoulder were sore, and that is probably why. After that I took a break from flying spins! I worked on my other spins and even my jumps. Forward camels are still going decently well. They're not always strong, but when I fight for them I can usually complete the spin instead of falling.
• Lesson - we spent some more time talking about elements to put in my program. This time we focused on spins. Coach likes my sit-broken leg spin, especially (as she says every time) if I can get into a deeper position. For a combination spin we experimented with some new combinations. Coach surprised me by suggesting camel-layback-backsit! I was working on this combination a couple of months ago with some success but stopped for a while because my layback just didn't seem to be going anywhere and it's a more advanced element anyway. I tried her suggestion which was to transition from camel into an upright position with the leg in front, then take the leg back into the attitude position. Before I had been doing it directly from the camel into attitude, but this way we think that I pick up a bit more speed. Attitudes are definitely easier once you already have a centred spin going on, so I will make sure to practice this. The way my backsits are going though, I'm not sure I want to have it in my program yet. But I still have a couple of months.
  

Sudden Rush

I check the web frequently for competition postings, hoping that a local competition with adult categories will come up. Well one finally did! It's in February, yikes! That's pretty soon considering that I don't even have a program and have real consistency problems in many of my elements. But I mentioned it to my coach anyway. I wasn't sure how she would react, but she is into it and wants to help me find music and get a program. There are not a lot of adult competitions and if I miss this one it might be six months or even a year until the next one, so we figured I should just go for it. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my coach is interested, this is more what she does than teaching Skating Skills.

We spent some time today talking about what kind of elements we could put in my program. She likes my spirals and leg pulls and wants to put them in as a spiral sequence. I tried a catch-foot spiral but it's a bit wobbly. I'll need to practice it to get my balance. I know I said that I hate leg pulls, but I can actually do them, and I don't think they look so awful in a backward glide. But they are more difficult going backward! Two jump combinations are allowed in my category so my coach had me try out some Salchow-toe loop and loop-loop combinations. They didn't go too badly considering that I've never done loop-loop (that I can recall) and it's certainly been a long time since I did any combination in fact. My coach was relatively pleased with my efforts. Then her charity ran out when she took a look at my flip, and decided that I need more control on the 3-turn; that's a shocker :) So now I am supposed to practice them and make sure they are not too curvy. It's surprisingly difficult!

I spent the rest of the time going back to fundamentals mostly. I put in a good chunk of time on edges and even forward circle eights. The forward edges are getting a bit better and I am on the edge for more like 3/4 of the lobe instead of only 1/2. But the circle eights are still on the flat from about the halfway mark. Figures are all about balance and lean, which are obviously going to take me some time to develop. On the bright side, the size and shape of my circles were quite good.

I managed to get in several laps of stroking both forward/backward, and CW/CCW. I haven't done that in a while. Also worked on crossovers in all directions, feeling motivated knowing that they are in the next Skills level!

I put in some good practice on my spins probably managing at least 5-10 of each type. Backsits and forward uprights are still a bit crappy which means I should be doing more of them, but I did fewer oops! Camels were going well for me, I had several that were quite good and I didn't fall out of any of them. Some of them did not really come together, but I didn't fall out or have to give up on them. I tried to reach back for a catchfoot position, but while I can reach my blade I can't quite reach far enough to grab the part that you can hold on to. It takes a surprising amount of hamstring strength. Other than that, I didn't try any wild positions, just trying to get the basics down a little more. Consistency is key!

I Survived!

My test, that is!

It went pretty much the way I remember them being. Except my last test left me in tears and I wouldn't put my figure skates back on for sixteen years. Not this time! It went pretty well all things considered and I passed it. Just like my coach expected, duh. I expected to be nervous but I was surprised how much it impacted my performance. I had a lot of toe-scratching and general shakiness. However I didn't forget any of the moves or lose track of the music, and held it together pretty well. One of my arabesques was pretty sucky and some of my 3-turns jiggled a bit but otherwise I was generally happy with it. Two of the girls were a bit frazzled by nerves and made some small mistakes but myself and an older girl did a bit better. She didn't even have any toe-scratching! Jealous. Heh. The judge said I have a nice flow on the ice, she didn't say much else but I guess when I get the test paper I'll see if there is some constructive criticism. My coach sounded a bit peeved that she didn't really tear into me!

After that I stuck around to watch some of the other tests. I saw two teenagers do the Junior Bronze Skating Skills test, which is what I will be learning next. It has some backward 3-turns, changes of edge, and T-stops, so I know it will not be as easy as the Preliminary level was. Also there is a pattern with some fast crossovers that will be challenging, the girl had to reskate it.

The following test was the Preliminary Freeskate test for two of the girls that skate under my coach. They are very cute girls and have very solid elements, but nerves also got the better of them a little bit as well. In spite of their nerves they fought for every element and didn't have to re-skate a single thing. I feel a bit of a special attachment to them because we take spin lessons together and have the same coach. I was proud! I passed this test once back in the day but I would need some more consistency in my spins, especially when nervous, to be able to do it now.

The final test was a combined Jr. Bronze/Sr. Bronze Freeskate test. I skate with one of the girls that was testing and I recognized another girl from the rink I was training at in the summer. They all did quite well for a while and nailed their axels. Unfortunately one of the girls was having an off-day for flying camels and had to repeat hers quite a number of times to get the required number of rotations. She also struggled in her program after falling on some crossovers, the poor thing. I think that nerves were bothering this group as well. Generally though I was very impressed and saw them complete a number of elements that are a long way off from being in my repertoire.

I learned a lot on test day, both about skating and myself.

Last Chance to Practice

On Monday I had my last practice before my skills test. I ran through all the patterns and they are mostly fine. My coach didn't even really have too much feedback. Maybe she just doesn't want me to overthink it. She does want me to lift and extend more in the two arabesques that come at the end of the 3-turns pattern. For three months I have been practicing this sequence and she never mentioned anything about the stupid arabesques! Now I'm worried about my arabesques and spirals instead of sloppy three-turns and following the timing of the music. Ha.

Other than that I did the usual 25 minutes of freeskating practice that I get on Mondays. I worked on some of the stuff that we usually do in the group lessons like 2-foot turns, power pulls, etc. Also I practiced some spins and had some luck with camels when I really paid attention to thinking about leaning to the left. Lately I am having a terrible time with back-sits, not sure what's up with that. Just the same balance problem I'm having with my upright backspin I guess. Oh and I practiced spirals and leg pulls!

Something cool that I have learned at physiotherapy is a balancing exercise that should help with my spins and glides. My physiotherapist got me standing on a Bosu with the flat side up, first on two feet; then on one foot holding on to a support; then not holding on; then adding a one-leg squat; then doing a one-foot squat and throwing a small ball at the wall and catching it. This progression took place over about two weeks. The first time I got on the Bosu it would wobble back and forth like crazy! This morning I got up to the part where I throw and catch the ball and it's fun. I can use the Bosu like this to practice my position changes in spins. If I feel it wobbling, I know that I would have travel in my spin at that point. Kinda cool!

Tomorrow is my test. Apparently I can come a bit early and get a little bit warmed up but not too much. Nobody will make a big deal about it but me so it's just up to me to stay calm.

Still Chasing Camels

Yesterday I had a good skate. I was excited to get to the rink and practice my moves for my test, which is coming up on the 9th.

• Skating skills: This is what I will be tested on. I had half an hour to practice it all. I tried them all cold, just stepping out on to the ice and doing them (essentially what the test will be like). That part went ok, but of course everything got better after practicing it for a while. I made sure to practice lots of spirals so they won't be so "bad" for the test! Generally I feel good about my test material. When I start getting all perfectionist about it, I remind myself to just look forward to the next level.
• Group lesson: These are now practices for the Christmas Show (still don't have a date for it). It was a bit sloppy as the coaches tried to remember/change the choreography. I attempted a camel spin for when we all do a spin, but I fell out of it, haha. Maybe I should just do an upright spin. A big scratch spin would look good even if it travels.
• Spin lesson: We practiced all our basic spins but I didn't get a lot of feedback. Surprisingly though, I had the most centred upright spin out of the four of us. That was a shocker. Bet I can't repeat it on demand! Coach reminded us that the centring comes from a long inward spiraling entry edge, and 'pressure on the ball of the foot'. She has said this about a hundred times to me already, and I think that it means you have to keep your centre of mass overtop of the ball of the foot. This is especially hard in the first part of an upright spin when the leg is way out to the side, and during changes of position.
• Private lesson:
  

1. For my private lesson I wanted to work on my spins. My coach really wants to work on my backspin position, and after seeing them on video, I know why now. The first part of the spin is really muddy looking, just sort of undefined positions as I struggle to get my balance. After that it is usually not too bad. We got down to the nitty gritty of balancing on the start of the spin. I practiced the change of position (the 'snap' that initiates the spin after the spiraling edge) at the boards while my coach got down on the ice and wiggled my foot back and forth. This was to find where my balance point was. We found that when I snap the spin from 'hips open, foot behind' to 'hips closed, foot in front' my weight shifts too much into my toe and I get up onto the picks. When it feels like my weight is more in my heel, then it's actually in the ball of my foot. So I need to think more about my heel. We didn't have any big breakthroughs on it but it's certainly food for thought. I just need to practice them some more.
   
2. We also worked on the sit-spin and discovered that my weight rocks back and forth on the blade during the spin. When it rocks back too much I feel the blade scraping and I lose my balance. Also for the hundredth time she told me that I will have to squat down lower. This is hard for me because I have knee problems but I tried a bit harder in the next spin and was rewarded with 'Amazing!'
3. Camel spin is still a very inconsistent spin for me. It is the spin I work on the most though because it is the one that has the worst failure mode. A bit of a crappy-looking sit or upright spin is not great, but a crappy camel = falling over and not even being a spin. I showed her what is happening and I got the predictable advice to lean more onto my left side. This makes sense because I fall over to the right side, but I just can't seem to get it through my head and actually DO it! It seems silly but what helps me get this a bit is to be looking to the left and thinking of my left side. You almost have to aggressively attack the spin and think left, left, left. I did do a couple of better ones after that. Something she said in group lesson stuck with me too which is that the timing of straightening the skating knee is very important. When everything goes well, I feel my toe hook into the ice and the knee slowly straighten when I pay attention to being patient. The camel can't be rushed. Unfortunately I tend to rush it and things go downhill. Coach gave me a new piece of 'icework' which is to do 5 spirals on each leg every practice, focusing on getting into the full expression of the position as quickly as possible.

• For freeskate I dedicated (even more) practice time to spinning. To improve at spins you really have to put a big contiguous chunk of practice into them. I pulled off some decent combination spins and broken-leg sit spins. They travel massively, but they are fun :) I kind of want to see how mine looks, but kind of not in case they look awful, haha. Also I tried some leg-pull spins and figured out why the are so hard. When I go to stand up into the position my balance gets all out of whack. I tried them just on a curving glide and confirmed that I am wobbly getting into the stretch. Once I'm in the stretch I'm ok. So again the key is to not rush it. I don't need a coach, I just need a tape player that says "Don't rush, keep the weight in the ball of your foot, and point your toe". Sheesh.
• Oh I also did my jumps. I probably scrimped a bit with the exercises but there's only so much practice time. For my flip I tried to think about keeping my right knee straight even as I pick into the ice and stay up on my toe. For the others I wasn't really focused on any one thing too much, just trying to get it all into my muscles. I didn't do any Lutzes, oops.
• Did my 5 spirals a side and some leg pulls to round out the session. I'm getting more comfortable with the right-foot spirals and the pulls. Also they are making us do a leg pull in the Christmas show >:( so I better practice them.

There just isn't enough practice time to do all the things I want. I didn't even get to doing footwork or any of those moves they teach us in enhancement class. The coaches are always screaming at us that we aren't practicing them enough and we look shitty. Well duh, we are too busy practicing jump exercises and camel spins, aren't we? :D

Bad Spirals

This morning I ran through all my test sequences again with my coach. We spent a bit of time cleaning up the circles, otherwise she thinks the only thing worth improving right now are my 'bad spirals' at the end of the mohawk pattern, haha. I think I will be fine on the test as long as I don't get too nervous or have a big wipe out. It's not an important test, but it's important to me, and I don't want to look like a chump :) Only six more days then I get to learn some new stuff. My coach asked me if I have a skating dress to wear for the test, but I don't really feel like spending money on that right now, and I would just be putting a sweater on over it anyway. Fortunately she agrees that my skating skirt will be fine. It would be nice to get a pretty dress but not just for a silly skills test...

Other than that, I practiced my edges, power pulls, two-foot turns, spins, spirals, and leg pulls. My spins were just so-so. I find that I have to practice them every time I skate to just keep them at the so-so level, to keep the movement in my muscle memory. To actually improve at them I have to dedicate an extended, focused effort, and I haven't had time for that in a while. I always have a few good spins in each skate though, even if I struggle with consistency. Today I had several spins that were perfectly centred. I don't know how I did it, but it's cool that it's within my abilities. I just have to figure out what I did differently on those ones (the others travel madly). I finished the session with one really solid backspin and one solid combination spin. It's always nice to end on a high note!

I feel very tired this evening after getting up early this morning at the end of a busy week. I can't wait to go to bed and go skating in the morning.

Another Week in Skating

I had a pretty good week!

On Friday I put in a lot of solid work on basic skating skills and spins. No jumps.
My coach seems to think I'm ready for my skating skills test which is coming up, whee! That's exciting. I'm a little worried about it but generally I'm feeling more confident about it now.

On Saturday I had a good time in my long morning on the ice. I learned that there is going to be a Christmas show! We started practicing a group number for it which should be fun. I have to choose a jump and a spin to do in the show. Probably I will pick a flip jump but my spins are all inconsistent so I will have a hard time choosing something that will not look like total crap. We don't have very much time to practice, I wish we had started earlier.

In spin lesson we had a fun time trying to do some sit spin variations holding the blade, and then standing up into a leg pull. I can't do them but I did better than I expected. I can do the leg pulls in a glide but doing them in a spin is much harder! After the lesson I practiced them from both forward and backward sit-spins. I think that is why my outer hip muscles were ridiculously sore the next day! I have a new appreciation for Alissa Czisny's amazing leg-pull spin.
For private lesson we worked on jumps for the first time in a while. I am still not jazzed about the toe loop but my coach actually thought most of my jumps were looking basically not so terrible as they used to. She wanted to start with loop for the next lesson and get to flip and Lutz. Wow!
I had a major wipe-out on Saturday too, the worst one I've had since getting back on the ice 4 months ago. I was just skating along practicing my Waltzing Mohawks and my blades clinked together ominously. Suddenly I was sliding along the ice on my belly! The first time I've landed that way instead of on my butt, at least this time around. It was a shock to fall like that and also the way the ice stung my skin but it actually didn't hurt at all. That is a relief because I am afraid of falling especially when(if?) I get to doing bigger jumps but each time I fall I am reminded that it's not too bad.

So on Monday we did get to flip and Lutz. This time coach brought her video camera. It's very effective. She pointed out how my arms are sort of staying out at shoulder height in the flip, but instead the right arm should pump under and upwards. Seeing it on video made it easy to fix. Then we tried to fix how I bend my right knee before picking (it should stay straight, then bend after picking) but with less success. Also I need to keep my toe pointed in the picking foot to stay on the pick instead of falling back onto the blade. I need to channel my inner ballerina I guess. For the Lutz she had me going at a crawl around the circle before going slo-mo through picking and counter-rotating on the ice. Then she insisted that I try actually jumping and I squeeked one out. She filmed a couple of them and they are sad, but it's a start. The Lutz freaks me out a bit but I am pleased I can go through my bunny-hill version of it without panicking. After the lesson I tried a couple going a bit faster and screwed them up so I am going to keep it slow for now :)

Almost forgot to mention that I got my skates sharpened. I have been having a lot of skidding in three-turns and spin entries. I mentioned it to my coach and she suggested getting a sharper...uh...sharpening job. So I had long chat with my sharpening guy (apparently a former Novice-level Canadian champion!) and he agreed to decrease the radius of the hollow. My blades felt really grabby at first after that but my edges were so much more secure, I think it was a good move. I was hoping it would magically fix my spin entries too but alas, good edges cannot make up for bad technique ;) He also pointed out that I could have an alignment problem with the blades that can cause skidding. When I told him about how easily I end up on the flats in my figures he considered it even more of a possibility. After my test, I may investigate this some more. It's actually quite fascinating.