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:
- 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.
- 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!'
- 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
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