9-11-2007

8:18p
Tuesday Night Skating
Skating tonight went really well. My group lesson is the highlight of the week.

Tonight we started by doing backward outside edges, to prepare for back outside 3-turns. My turns weren't bad, but Andy said I was really throwing my weigh forward. I wasn't aware that I was doing this at all, but apparently it's because I'm not bending after the turn. So now I need to practice bending my knees more.

Then we worked on back inside three turns, which are not nearly as easy or fun as outside ones. My first few were not good at all, then I got a few. BUT it's more of a back inside three-stop. Cause in a turn, I think you are supposed to keep gliding! But I was able to get the foot turned around more often than not, so that's an improvement, and I did a couple okay ones.

Then we worked on spins. Andy spins REALLY well- so this is always fun to work on with him. Instead of doing scratch spins, we started on sit spins. Um, not so good. First off- I'm not even close to low enough, but that's not my main worry. I have such a hard time getting my knees together. Andy had us put our arm on our turning leg to help hold the weight better, but I also had a hard time with that "cheat". I did a few spins that felt really good, but they probably weren't. He told me I need to be more willing to fall, but I'm just really not there.

Then we worked on camels. HAHAHAHAHA. Saying they were horrid would be generous. I don't lean my upper body down enough, or pick my skating leg up enough. The position is just WRONG. I also can't 'hook' into the turn. The biggest problem I have is I can't practice these. I'm just not comfortable doing them on public sessions. SO I did a lot of them during the lesson.


Then I skated for 30 minutes, concentrating on mohawks for synchro. I also did 5 of each element on my test, waltz jump, toe loop, two foot spin, scratch spin, spiral. I guess I left out the crossovers... I also did a bunch of half flips, and now that these are getting better, I'm wondering if I should do it instead of the toe loop, which is usually okay but I blow it sometimes.

Then I did more sit spins, and fell backwards on it. It wasn't a hard spin, but it shook me up, so I came home. This is why I don't like to fall!